§ SIR W. WEDDERBURN () BanffshireI beg to ask the Secretary of State for India whether the Government, in view of the present strain upon the financial means and credit of the Government of India, will consider the propriety of guaranteeing the Indian Loan which will have to be raised for famine purposes in connection with the coming Indian Budget.
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA (Lord G. HAMILTON,) Middlesex, EalingOn the 15th instant I stated, in reply to a question from the hon. Baronet, that we have no reason to believe that either the financial means or the credit of the Government of India are insufficient to meet all demands that are likely to arise in connection with the relief of distress caused by the present famine in India. The Indian Financial Statement will be made towards the end of March, and till then I cannot say whether the hon. Member's assumption—namely, that a loan will be necessary for famine purposes—is correct or not.
§ SIR W. WEDDERBURNI beg to ask the Secretary of State for India whether he will state the total number of deaths from the present famine in India reported up to date; and whether he will obtain and make public fortnightly telegraphic reports showing the number of such deaths.
§ LORD G. HAMILTONI am glad to say that hitherto very few deaths have been reported as caused by starvation. In the Central Provinces, through the numbers receiving relief are larger than in any other part of India, the death rate for last December was much less than the rate for December, 1897, and was not greatly above the normal rate. Monthly statements of deaths due to starvation are received, bat from the nature of the ease they must necessarily be incomplete, and any attempt to publish weekly returns 802 would be misleading, especially as no such returns could be obtained from the native States. I am not prepared to add to the labours of officers in the famine districts by calling for more frequent reports on this subject.
§ SIR W. WEDDERBURNI beg to ask the Secretary of State for India whether he will grant a return, in the form standing on Friday's Paper, of remissions and suspensions of land revenue in India during the last two famines.
§ LORD G. HAMILTONI do not think it would be advisable to ask the Government of India at the present time for the detailed statement which the hon. Member asks for. But I can inform him that the total remissions and suspensions on account of famine amounted approximately to 1,520,000 tens of rupees in 1876-7, and to 2,130,000 tens of rupees in 1896-7. In addition to these remissions during the actual year of famine, large remissions were on each occasion made during the following year, and as long as the effects of the famine required it.