LORD SANDHURSTMy Lords, I rise to ask the Under Secretary of State for India whether, in view of the unprecedented severity of the famine and the great distress which must for some time continue after the bursting of the monsoon, the Government of India have in contemplation any extension of the system of relief beyond that laid down in the Famine Code.
§ THE EARL OF ABERDEENBefore the noble Earl replies I should like to be allowed to say that any announcement on the part of the Government in the direction indicated in my noble friend's question will be greatly welcomed in the northern part of this kingdom, from which I come. As your Lordships are no doubt aware, there are a great many Scotsmen in India, and their friends in Scotland have received many private letters containing descriptions of the horrors of the famine more vivid than those published in the newspapers. The result is that in Scotland it is hoped, and even anticipated, that the Government may be contemplating some action beyond what has been already announced.
*THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA (The Earl of ONSLOW)My Lords, I am not sure that apprehend rightly the exact nature of the aim of the noble Earl who spoke last, but I father gathered that he referred to some kind of grant from the Imperial Exchequer to assist the Government of India. The statement has already been 220 made to Parliament that Her Majesty's Government would come forward with assistance if they were satisfied that the resources of the Government of India were insufficient for the purpose. As far as we know at present those resources are sufficient for the great demands made upon them. Of course an enormous amount depends on the result of the monsoon which has just burst, and therefore it would be impossible for her Majesty's Government to give any promise or to foreshadow what their action might be until we know what is likely to be the condition of affairs during the coming rainy season. The Government of India have already far exceeded the prescriptions of the Code, which are elastic and not rigid, and have been adapted by the Government of India to the differing local requirements to the entire satisfaction of the local Governments concerned. For example, in the Central Provinces a very large number of kitchens have been opened, which will feed all comers during the rains, and the aged and infirm will be relieved at home. The able-bodied labourers will be given local employment by the village headmen at the cost of the State wherever private demand for fixed labour is slack. Sixty lakhs of land revenue have been suspended out of the eighty-six demanded. This sum, added to the twenty-seven lakhs special advances and the thirty lakhs of charitable relief, will, in the Chief Commissioner's opinion, secure active agriculture during the rains. Similar relief measures during the rains have been adopted elsewhere. In Bombay—the Presidency over which the noble Lord (Lord Sandhurst) presided with distinction in recent years—the Government are extending kitchens and gratuitous lists, and they are granting to the ryots advances for the subsistence of themselves and their labourers till next crop. They estimate twenty-five lakhs as the amount required for this, besides over sixty lakhs for seed and cattle. Of the Bombay land revenue only 192 lakhs out of 296 had been collected. In the Punjab the small farmers and labourers will receive subsistence allowances, and the revenue suspensions there are very large. The noble Lord asked me a question as to what are the estimates the Government of India have formed of the amount they will have to advance. These estimates, the earlier estimates, have been consider- 221 ably increased. In the Budget arrangements fifty lakhs of rupees have been allocated, but the Government of India recognise that this sum is insufficient, and the requirements of the approaching season will be met by an additional 72½ lakhs; accordingly the grants will be increased to an aggregate total of Rx. 1,220,000. The Central Committee of the Indian Famine Fund have made grants aggregating (for British India alone) 50 lakhs of rupees. This is in addition to the provincial charitable relief funds already at the disposal of the local Governments. I hope the noble Lord will see that the suggestion thrown out that advances should be made with no niggardly hand has been adopted by the Government of India. No interest will be asked for them, no part of them will be repayable for a year, and the provincial Governments will have the utmost latitude to remit any portion of an advance they may think fit.