HC Deb 30 January 1891 vol 349 cc1388-9
MR. HUNTER (Aberdeen, N.)

I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for India whether he has any information that the districts of Chingleput, Nellore, Cuddapah, North Arcot, South Arcot, Tinnevelly, and Malabar, in Madras, with a population of about 12,000,000, are threatened with famine; and, if so, in view of the fact that, with the exception of Malabar, all these districts were famine-stricken in 1876 and 1877, some most severely, whether he will state what steps have been taken in the meantime to protect them from famine, and what results, if any, have followed from the taking of such steps; whether the primary cause of the threatening distress is the failure of the November rains; whether irrigated as well as unirrigated lands are threatened with crop failures; whether the Madras Government have taken any, and if so what, steps to carry out the declared intentions of the Government of India— That human life shall be saved at any cost and at any effort; no man, woman, or child shall die of starvation; and whether he will lay upon the Table all the particulars received by the Secretary of State respecting the impending distress, and also details as to the crop out-turns in the districts named in the years 1888, 1889, 1890?

THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA (Sir J. GORST, Chatham)

The latest Reports that have reached the Secretary of State are dated Madras, 6th January. A failure of the late crops was then feared in parts of the seven districts named. No fear of famine was expressed, and the prices of grains consumed by the poor were said to be well below scarcity level. Plans for opening relief works, and for dispensing other relief, are ready, if necessity arises. In reply to the second paragraph of the question, I may say that the partial failure of the harvests has been due to the scantiness of the later rains or north-east monsoon. Irrigated crops have also suffered in parts, though not so seriously as the dry crops. In reply to the fourth and fifth paragraphs of the question, my answer is that the Secretary of State has asked for fortnightly telegrams from Madras, stating the condition of affairs and the steps taken to relieve distress if it arises. These telegrams will be published. The Government have also been asked to furnish a statement of the general out-turn of crops in the threatened districts for the years named.