HC Deb 07 August 1900 vol 87 cc926-7
SIR MANCHERJEE BHOWNAG-GREE (Bethnal Green, N.E.)

I beg to ask the Secretary of State for India if he has any further information about the rainfall in the districts affected by the famine in India, and whether the prospects of the ensuing crops are improved; and if he has received from Lord Curzon any reports regarding his inspection last week of the affected provinces in Western India.

THE SECRETARY of STATE for INDIA (Lord G. Hamilton,) Middlesex, Ealing

The Government of India telegraph to-day as follows— Famine. Very decided improvement in last ten days through sudden opportune I renewed advance of the monsoon. The rain which has fallen is ample for present agricultural requirements in Gujarat, also in the greater part of Rajputana and Central India. Sowings Being actively prosecuted so far as † See The Parliamentary Debates [Fourth Series], Vol. lxxxi., p. 1402; Vol. lxxxii., p. 583. scarcity of plough bullocks permits. If present favourable conditions continue considerable autumn crops will be secured and tension will relax. On the 6th August the Governor of Bombay reported that— Rainfall continues in affected area. Agricultural operations are progressing satisfactorily in Gujarat, Panch Mahals, and Kathiawar. Elsewhere agricultural prospects are encouraging. Numbers on relief works and gratuitous relief increased. I have not yet received from the Viceroy any special reports regarding what he has witnessed during the inspections he is now making of the famine districts.