§ MR. WALDEGRAVE-LESLIEasked the Secretary for India, Whether he is able to report any considerable decrease in the famine in Orissa; and he wished, in addition, to ask whether the noble Lord is prepared to lay any papers relating to the subject on the table of the House?
VISCOUNT CRANBOURNEYes, I am happy to say that a considerable decrease of the famine has been reported. In fact, distress now only exists in those districts in which the inundations of last autumn destroyed the growing crops. In those districts there will be, I fear, considerable distress, but they are only of very limited extent. With regard to the papers, I hope that I shall be able to lay them before the House at an early period; but until the Report of the Commission appointed to inquire into the subject has been received, I do not think it would be just to officers of Government in the Presidency of Bengal to lay before the House the very partial information which we at present possess.