tion and justice, Rx 690,172; police, Rx 417,892; navigation, Rx 169,374; public instruction, Rx 407.084: public works, Rx 24.872,974; military department, Rx 978,011; miscellaneous receipts, Rx 1,095,914.

Of the total expenditures, Rx 4,044,799 were for interest on the debt, Rx 1,854,768 for repayments, Rx 8,496,489 for costs of collection, of which Rx 4.097,117 were in connection with the land tax, Rx 2.068.941 with the opium duty, Rx 521.044 with the salt monopoly, Rx 911,161 with forest administration, and Rx 898,226 with the other revenues, Rx 2,594,880 for the posts, telegraphs, and mint, Rx 2,023,394 for administration, Rx 4,047,569 for legislation and justice, Rx 4,040,817 for police, Rx 743,112 for navigation, Rx 1,062,183 for foreign affairs, Rx 2,032.460 for public instruction, Rx 1,223,325 for ecclesiastical and medical affairs, Rx 5,016,118 for pensions and charity, Rx 917,214 for printing, etc., Rx 586,485 for famine relief, Rx 32,273,941 for public works, Rx 25,499,506 for the army, and Rx 379,109 for provincial deficits. Notwithstanding the extraordinary expenditure of Rx 1,670,000 connected with the Chitral campaign, to which were added a considerable increase in famine insurance, a remission of taxation, and a larger grant toward provincial expenditure, the whole amounting to Rx 1,200,000 more, a surplus was realized amounting to Rx 1,533,998.

The estimates of 1896-97 were affected by the famine and plague, entailing a loss to the treasury estimated for that and the succeeding year at Rx 12,000,000. The frontier-war expenditure and the losses consequent on the earthquake in Assam and Bengal came later. The revised estimates made the Indian Government budget of revenue Rx 58,034,200 and the expenditure in India of Rx 58,034,200, with a resulting deficit of Rx 1,986,900 instead of an expected surplus of Rx 463,100. There was a decrease of Rx 3,029,500 and an increase of Rx 3,045,600 that were due to the famine, but of this expenditure the provincial treasuries bore Rx 1,051,000, making the net cost to the Indian Government Rx 5,024,000, to which was added a loss of Rx 420,100, while against these losses was offset a benefit of Rx 1,728,000 in exchange, the rate of the rupee having been 18. 24d. instead of the budget estimate of Is. 14d., also a reduction of Rx 1,143,500 in the net expenditure and an improvement in the revenue of Rx 1,498.200. When the accounts were closed the actual deficit was found to be Rx 1,593,500.

The budget estimates for 1897-'98 made the Indian Government revenue Rx 59,629,700 and expenditure in India Rx 62,093,700, leaving a deficit of Rx 2,464,000. The land and salt taxes and other Sources were expected to yield more revenue, other sources less, the net result being an estimated improvement of Rx 1,595,500 in revenue. The increase in expenditure on account of the famine is Rx 1,653,300, and other charges showed an excess of Rx 477,100. Subsequently the estimates of expenditure were increased by Rx 400,000 more for famine charges, Rx 168,000 for discounts on loans, Rx 330,000 for the Tochi expedition, Rx 400,000 for the Malacand expeditionary force, and other items, making a total increase of Rx 1,460,000. A rise in exchange and more promising harvest prospects indicated better revenue returns to offset a part of the deficiency.

In the quinquennial settlement of the provincial balances that took place in 1897 the provincial governments were allowed for the coming period an expenditure of Rx 14,355,900, instead of Rx 13,066.500 as fixed in 1892. Including Upper Burmah, which shares for the first time in the grant, the total amount is Rx 15,628,900.

The consolidated debt in 1897 amounted to Rx 217.692,660, of which Rx 103,788.928 were payable in India and Rx 113,903,732 in England; the unfunded debt was Rx 14.646,368; making the total debt Rx 232,339,028. To meet extraordinary famine expenditure and to carry out its railroad programme the Indian Government proposed to raise in 1897 a loan of Rx 4,000,000 in India at 3 per cent., and English loans to the amount of £4.500,000. As it was not found possible to raise more than Rx 3,000,000 at 3 per cent., the English gold loans were increased to make good the difference. The Army. The European troops on the Indian establishment in 1897 comprised 17 cavalry and 50 infantry officers on the general list, 37 general officers unemployed, 9 officers and 13 men on the invalid and veteran establishment, 489 officers and 12,817 men of the royal artillery, 261 officers and 5,418 men of the cavalry, 285 officers and 74 men of the royal engineers, and 1,508 officers and 52,238 men of the infantry; total. 3,476 officers and 70,560 men. The native Indian army numbered 33 European and 27 native officers and 4,463 men in the artillery, 362 European and 621 native officers and 22,312 men in the cavalry, 58 European and 63 native and 4,085 men (including 84 European noncommissioned officers) in the sappers and miners, and 1,129 European and 2,752 native officers and 110,371 men in the infantry; total, 1,582 European and 2,752 native officers and 141,231 men. The total strength of the European and native army was 5,058 European officers, 2,752 native officers, and 2,111,791 noncommissioned officers and privates, making 219,601 officers and men. The number of volunteers enrolled was 29,039 in 1895, of whom 25,895 were counted as efficient. The native army reserves numbered 13,862. The imperial service troops maintained by the native princes number 19,266. The armies of the native states numbered 349,000 in 1884, but they are badly equipped and without training or discipline, with the exception of these imperial service troops taught and commanded by British officers.

The British and native troops composing the Indian army are divided into four corps. The Bengal corps in 1897 consisted of 63,628 troops, comprising 4,862 artillery, 8,565 cavalry, 1,629 engineers, 48,206 infantry, and 366 miscellaneous officers; the Punjab corps, of 65,143 troops. comprising 6,051 artillery, 11,893 cavalry, 104 engineers, 46,863 infantry, and 232 miscellaneous officers; the Bombay corps, of 44,047 troops, comprising 3,980 artillery, 5,254 cavalry, 1,055 engineers, 33,599 infantry, and 159 miscellaneous officers; and the Madras corps, of 46,761 troops, comprising 2.936 artillery, 3,262 cavalry, 1.777 engineers, 38,619 infantry, and 167 miscellaneous officers.

In 1895, out of 68,331 men in cantonments, the admissions into hospital for venereal diseases were no less than 36,681, or 53.69 per cent. Among all the troops the rate rose from 25.80 per cent. in the ten years ending in 1885 to 44:30 per cent. in the following decade, and in 1895 to 52.23 per cent. Not only in the frequency, but also in a marked degree in the virulence of syphilis, there has been a rapid increase. In 1894 it was found that 28 per cent.of the British troops in India had been treated for this constitutional disease. The ratio for primary syphilis has increased 187 per cent. since 1887, and secondary disease was four times more prevalent in 1895 than it was in 1873. About 13.000 soldiers return to England every year, and of those who returned in 1894 63 per cent. had suffered from venereal disease. The system of medical examination and isolation that was in existence in 1884 was modified in subsequent years, and in 1888 abolished in obedience to the sentiments of moral

ists in England, expressed in a resolution of the House of Commons, though against the judgment prevailing among military officers and surgeons. An army sanitary committee having established by statistics a direct connection between the increase of disease and the relaxation and abolition of the restrictive and protective measures, Lord George Hamilton, in a dispatch sent on March 26, 1897, recommended that the cantonment rules applicable to cholera, smallpox, diphtheria, etc., should be applied to all contagious and infectious diseases, including venereal disease, and that, while there should be no registration or licensing of prostitutes nor any periodical and compulsory examination, women who refused to attend hospital should be required to leave the cantonment. The new regulations stop short of compulsory inspection, although this is the remedy most strongly recommended by the medical faculty and official authorities. When the medical officer in charge of a cantonment hospital has reason to believe that any person in the cantonment is suffering from contagious discose he may summon such person to be examined, may detain the case till there is no danger of spreading infection, and may treat refusal to attend on summons as an admission that disease exists. Any person refusing to submit to the summons or ignoring it may be expelled from the cantonment and not permitted to return without the medical officer's leave. The Secretary of State for India approved, further, a medical inspection of soldiers who have been in hospital for these diseases, and punishment of such men as conceal the fact of their contagion. A bill giving effect to the new policy of the Government in the matter of contagious diseases affect ing the British garrison was passed on July 22 by the Legislative Council.

Commerce and Production.-The total imports in 1896 amounted to Rx 86,304,739, including Rx 69.316,395 of merchandise, Rx 3,620,358 of Government stores, and Rx 13,367,986 of precious metals. The total exports were Rx 118,594,549, comprising Rx 109,545,161 of domestic merchandise, Rx 71,598 of Government merchandise, Rx 4,717,979 of foreign merchandise, and Rx 4,259,811 of precious metals. Of the merchandise imports Rx 47,161,484 came from Great Britain, Rx 6,441,988 from British possessions, and Rx 15,712,923 from foreign countries. Of the domestic exports Rx 35,000,899 went to Great Britain, Rx 21,182,258 to British possessions, and Rx 53,362,004 to foreign countries. The values of the principal imports for domestic consumption were: Cotton cloth, Rx 22,785,000; machinery and railroad material, Rx 4,816,000; iron and steel goods, Rx 4,780,000; sugar, Rx 3,106,000; cotton yarns. Rx 2.971,000; petroleum, Rx 2,967,000: copper goods, Rx 1,809,000; silk fabrics. Rx 1,704,000; clothing, etc., Rx 1,456,000; woolen cloth, Rx 1,446,000; coal, Rx 1,403,000; hosiery, etc., Rx 1,364,000; raw silk, Rx 1,233,000; liquors, Rx 1,695,828; drugs, Rx 846.210; dyeing and tanning substances, Rx 858,893; glass, Rx 741,078; salt, Rx 653,226; spices, Rx 659,329; paper, Rx 409.983; umbrellas, Rx 344,218; grain and pulse, Rx 114,011.

The largest exports and their values were as follow: Raw cotton, Rx 14,090,192; rice, Rx 13,537,289; raw jute, Rx 9,717,432; opium, Rx 8,459,336; cotton manufactures, Rx 8,344,587; tea. Rx 7,664,889; seeds, Rx 9,717,432; hides and skins, Rx 7,639,478; indigo, Rx 5,354,511; jute manufactures, Rx 4,747,443; wheat, Rx 3,913,896; coffee, Rx 2.198.192; lac, Rx 1.833,601; dyes and tans. Rx 872,683; wool, Rx 1,355,108; provisions, Rx 894,794; wood, Rx 801,897; oils, Rx 738,707; saltpeter, Rx 535,945; raw silk and cocoons, Rx 642.169; sugar, Rx 574,745; spices, Rx 489,509; silk manu

factures, Rx 183,399; woolen manufactures, Rx 182,885.

The trade of 1896-'97 was injuriously affected in the latter part of the year by famine and plague. The imports for the year were Rx 2,990,000 more than in the previous year; the exports, Rx 9,670,000 less. The total quantity of wheat exported was 96,000 tons, against 500,000 tons in the preceding year. The exports of tea, cotton, yarn, and jute were larger. In spite of the famine and the pestilence, India absorbed Rx 2,990,000 of gold and Rx 5,850,000 of silver in 1896-'97. The total value of the imports was Rx 84,990,050, and the exports amounted to Rx 108,840,188.

Out of 539,848,840 acres in British India which is dealt with in Government reports, 151,033,160 are waste lands not available for cultivation, 99,326,526 are culturable waste, 62,065,046 are forest, 30,336,208 are fallow, and 196,600,688 were under cultivation in 1895. There were 69,280,303 acres under rice, 22,761,308 under wheat, 89,534,098 under other food grains, 5,567,007 under other food crops, 2,764,656 under sugar cane, 13,929,969 under tea, 9,717,415 under cotton, 2,275,340 under jute, 1,705,977 under indigo, 1,174,581 under tobacco, and 414,398 under oil seeds. The area cropped more than once during the year was 27,160,672 acres. There were nearly 74,300 square miles of forest demarcated and reserved by the Government. The average annual cotton crop was 2,070,000 bales, of 400 pounds, from 1863 to 1883; in the last four years it has been 2,987,000 bales, and in 1897 it was about 3,000,000 bales. The quantity shipped to Europe was 898,500 bales, of which 820,000 were sent to the Continent. While the Chinese demand dwindled for many years and has practically ceased, Japan took 373,000 bales in 1897, and 1,255,000 bales were used in the Indian spinning mills, besides which 413,000 bales were taken for local consumption. The plague enabled Japan to sell yarns in the Chinese markets formerly supplied by the Bombay mills. Notwithstanding a decrease of 8 per cent. in the production of cotton yarn in 1897 in Bombay, where 71 per cent. of the Indian yarns were produced, the total production of India was 417,398,935 pounds, against 435,116,545 pounds in 1896.

The area irrigated in 1895 was 8,473,205 acres, yielding a revenue of Rx 3,216,591. Major works irrigated 6,259,870, and minor works 2,213,335 acres.

There were 1.204 joint-stock companies in 1895 engaged in banking, insurance, manufacturing, trading, planting, mining, brewing, etc., with a paidup capital of Rx 27,668,773. Over Rx 12,500,000 were invested in 144 cotton mills, with 34,161 looms and 3,711,669 spindles, employing 139,578 persons; 28 jute mills and 1 hemp mill, with 10,048 looms and 201,217 spindles, employed 75,157 persons; and there were 6 woolen mills, with 531 looms and 17,244 spindles. The coal raised in 233 mines was 4,371,734 tons, valued at Rx 1,452,084.

Navigation. The number of vessels entered at Indian ports during 1896 was 5,226, of 4.128,039 tons, of which 2,115, of 3,314.415 tons, were British; 868, of 131,049 tons, British Indian; 693, of 601,607 tons, foreign; and 1,550, of 80,968 tons, native. The number cleared was 5,071, of 4,098,561 tons, of which 2,128, of 3,323,827 tons, were British; 884, of 130,804 tons, British Indian; 605, of 568,093 tons, foreign; and 1,454, of 75,837 tons, native.

Railroads. The railroads in operation on March 31, 1896, had a total length of 19,678 miles, of which 8,979 miles were state lines worked by companies. 5,742 miles state lines worked by the state, 2,587 miles lines of guaranteed companies, 408 miles lines of assisted companies, 146 miles lines of native

states worked by the Indian Government, 859 miles lines owned by native states and worked by companies, 898 miles lines owned and worked by native states, and 59 miles foreign lines. On March 31, 1897, the total mileage was 20,390. The total cost of all the railroads up to the end of 1895 was Rx 262,344,287, of which Rx 159,477,488 represent the Indian state railroads, Rx 32,450,332 the state railroads leased to companies, Rx 50,022,200 the guaranteed railroads, Rx 6,878,026 lines of assisted companies, Rx 11,001,194 those of the native states, Rx 1,690,527 foreign lines, Rx 514,897 new surveys, and Rx 309,623 coal mines. The gross receipts of all the railroads in 1895 were Rx 26.236,906, of which Rx 9.139,494 came from passenger and Rx 16,369,360 from freight traffic. The number of passengers carried was 153,081,477; tons of freight, 33,628,030. The working expenses amounted to Rx 12,119,886, being 46.19 per cent. of the gross receipts. The net earnings were Rx 14,117,020, giving an average return of 5.78 per cent. on the capital invested. The state and guaranteed lines during the ten years ending with 1897 have been worked at an average profit of 54 per cent.; but, owing to the fall in exchange, a total net loss of Rx 7,781,914 on the state and Rx 8,679,557 on the guaranteed lines has accrued during that period. The net loss for 1897 was estimated at Rx 2,665,800. In 1896 the Government decided to construct in the next three years 5,000 miles of state railroads, costing Rx 29,665,000, and to sanction the construction of 2,626 miles by private companies at a cost of Rx 16,189,000. It was subsequently decided to postpone this programme of construction so as to reduce the outlay for 1897-'98 by Rx 10.000,000. Posts and Telegraphs.-The post office in 1896 forwarded 374,223,042 letters and postal cards and 28,928,622 newspapers. The receipts were Rx 1,712,962 and expenses Rx 1,643,317.

The telegraphs in 1896 had a length of 46,374 miles, with 142,925 miles of wires. The number of dispatches was 4,766,399. The receipts were Rx 1,085,940, and expenses Rx 897,853.

The Famine.-The famine of 1897 was more extensive than that of twenty years ago, affecting an area of 322,000 square miles, inhabited by 68,000,000 persons, compared with 257,000 square miles and 58,000,000 people in 1877. The highest number receiving relief in 1877 was 3,178,000; in 1897, 4,224,000. Including the native states, more than 4,500,000 persons were receiving relief during the month of June. The peculiarity of the famine of 1897 was an almost universal shortness of rain. There was a complete failure of crops in only a few districts, in Bundelcund and in the Central Provinces; but almost everywhere there was a partial failure. Out of the 250 administrative districts into which India is divided, no fewer than 115 were classified as famine districts, although none is so classified unless 10,000 persons at least are employed on relief works. Of the districts outside few, except those in Burmah, had any surplus of food to spare. Yet no large imports of food came from abroad, nor were the shipments of supplies into the famine districts such as the experience of previous famines would lead one to expect. On the contrary, there was a falling off in railroad receipts. At the beginning of the scarcity a large shipment of wheat arrived from America at Calcutta and Bombay, but ultimately a large part of it was reshipped to England, where better prices and a better market were found, High prices according to the Indian standard prevailed over an enormous area, but they were not relatively high when compared with the prices in other countries, and even at the worst period of the famine they were too low to encourage imports of food except at very low

prices. The area of total failure was much smaller than in 1877, when the death rate was terribly high. In 1897 a high death rate prevailed in the Northwest Provinces and in the Central Provinces, while in the famine districts of Bengal, Madras, and the Punjab the rate was generally not above the normal, and in those districts where it was exceptionally high this was almost entirely due to the reluctance of the people to come into the relief works until it was too late, or to constant and severe outbreaks of cholera. Great distress and suffering, however, prevailed over an enormous area. There was an immense improvement in the working of the system of famine relief. A subsistence allowance was given to every man and to every member of his family who applied for relief, and this allowance in the aggregate not infrequently exceeded the wages that the man alone could obtain for his labor in ordinary employment. Hence it was that there was great difficulty in obtaining the requisite amount of labor for carrying on the work of construction in the greatly enlarged Government railroad programme.

The appeal made at the beginning of the year for subscriptions in Great Britain and the rest of the British Empire met with a generous response and resulted in the collection in England, India, and elsewhere of the largest sum ever raised for any Indian object. A fund of £550,000 was collected in Great Britain by the Mansion House Committee, besides which Lancashire contributed £158,000, Other sums were raised in the British colonies, the United States, France, and Germany, and India also contributed a large sum, so that the total amount placed to the credit of the relief committee in India was Rx 1,650,000. Grain and clothing were sent from the United States, and money was collected to be disbursed by various benevolent agencies in India, bringing the total contributions up to Rx 2,000,000. The cost of the direct relief was estimated at Rx 6,000,000, the remissions of taxation and of revenue to an equal sum, and advances to the landowning classes to Rx 2,000,000, making Rx 14,000,000 given by the Government, or Rx 16,000,000 altogether, including the private contributions. Of these contributions about half went toward supplying cattle, seed, and implements to enable the cultivators to resuscitate themselves after the famine.

The Indian Government declined to accept any interference or co-operation from charitable organizations in the direct relief of the famine-stricken population or to have anything to do with an appeal for private subscriptions, declaring that its own means were ample.

The inability of the Indian people to tide over a single failure of crops was attributed by many to their impoverishment and debt. In one or two of the native states agricultural banks founded by the Government had lifted the people out of this helpless condition. In the British provinces nine tenths of the ryots were in the hands of the village usurers, who often charged 6 per cent, a month and were clothed with powers of oppression under the English laws that they did not formerly possess under the ancient Indian system, when payment was made by a share of the crops and their claims were subject to review before the village punchayet, or court of arbitration. The great native capitalists who discount bills of exchange average 4 per cent, a a month. Excessive taxation is believed by native Indians to be the chief cause of the poverty of the Indian cultivator, who is on the verge of starvation even in ordinary times. The tax on salt is twenty times its cost. They regard the expenditure on railroads as beyond the resources of the people, and that on the Afghan and Burmese wars and the

The

many little wars for extending the northern and northwestern frontiers, as well as the utilization of Indian troops for imperial purposes, as a use of money that ought to go for education and domes tic improvement of the people. The parliamentary committee that inquired into the causes of famine in 1878 found that agriculture in many parts of India must depend on irrigation. Yet the irrigation system then begun has never been completed. Under pressure of English interests the famine fund was diverted to the construction of railroads, which give entrance to foreign manufactured goods, thus displacing native industries. The annual grant for irrigation has been increased to Rx 750,000, but Rx 10,000,000 are annually allotted to railroads. The famine insurance fund of Rx 1,500,000 a year was raised by taxes specially imposed for the purpose of protection against and relief from famine. Owing to the Russian scare and border wars it was practically suspended after a few years. The Government advanced the specious theory that the payment of debt out of this fund or the avoidance of the creation of new debt was the most effective protection against famine. Meanwhile the cost of the Egyptian expedition of 1882 and of the Suakin expedition of 1885, the cost of entertaining the Shah of Persia in England, etc., were charged upon the Indian taxpayers. Although the famine insurance fund was suspended on account of the financial difficulties of the Government the burden of English rule was vastly increased by giving compensation allowances to the great body of civil and military officials in India whose fixed salaries have suffered by the depreciation of the rupee. higher classes of civilians and the military officers have had their salaries doubled, while in the lower ranks of the civil service half the salaries are paid at the old rate of 10 rupees to the pound. During the past eighteen years Rx 71,400,000 rupees have been expended on frontier expeditions, while the home charges, pensions, and interest, which have risen in inverse proportion to the fall of silver, require a yearly drain of Indian produce to Europe of a value of £20,000,000 in gold without any commercial return whatever. The Indian National Congress, which met on Dec. 28, 1896, in addition to the usual resolutions relating to the injustice of the system of taxation and the way in which the revenues are spent, the inequality of the treatment of natives and Englishmen in the matter of civil-service examinations and the scheme of education for the civil service by which Indians are excluded from the higher posts in direct violation of the Empress's proclamations, the necessity for the separation of the judicial from the executive. and the iniquitous salt tax, passed one declaring that the famine was due to impoverishment of the people resulting from the drain of wealth to England and the excessive taxation and overassessment followed by the Government both in the civil and the military departments, which has so far impoverished the people that at the first touch of scarcity they are rendered helpless and must perish unless fed by the state or helped by private charity. In the opinion of the Congress the true remedy against the recurrence of famine lies in the adoption of a policy that would enforce economy, husband the resources of the state, and foster the development of indigenous and local arts and industries, which have practically been extinguished, and help the introduction of modern arts and industries. The provisions of the existing famine code were pronounced inadequate as regards wages, rations, and oppressive task work. Reminding the Government of the duty, to which it was pledged by the words of successive viceroys, of saving human life and mitigating suffering, the Congress made an appeal

for the restoration of the famine insurance fund to its original footing, asking that a separate account be kept of it and that it should be applied more largely to its original purpose-namely, the immediate relief of famine-stricken people. The attention of the Government was called to the deplorable condition of the poorer classes in India, full 40,000,000 of whom, according to high official authority, drag out a miserable existence on the verge of starvation even in normal years, and the suggestion was made that they should be exempted from the payment of the taxes that specially oppress them. The main safeguard against famine is the movement of the people from the congested centers and the sterile tracts to the large unoccupied tracts within the Indian Empire, of which 100,000,000 acres are found available for cultivation in the British provinces alone, according to official reports, exclusive of the vast districts of lower Bengal. Less than half of the soil of British India is under cultivation, while within a few hundred miles tens of millions of peasants are crowded together at the rate of over 700 to the square mile. In Behar 40 per cent. of the population of 15,300,000 are reported to be in a state of agricultural degradation. There are 50,000,000 cultivators suffering from want of land in Bengal, Behar, Orissa, and the Northwest Provinces and Oudh. In former ages the Indian population could expand over the jungle tracts without restraint, and none suffered from lack of land, as they now do under the land laws of the Anglo-Indian Government.

Rains in November and December, 1896, wrought an improvement in certain districts where the rabi, or spring harvest, had been despaired of. Prices of food fell in consequence, but only temporarily. There were food stocks in districts where the dearth was extreme, but they were in the hands of the grain merchants and usurers. The Government, however, refused to interfere with the course of trade by importing food to sell in competition with them, although some private benevolent organizations of native merchants did so. According to official reports in January, the stock of food was adequate in Madras, ample in Burmah, sufficient for a year in Bombay, and sufficient for immediate needs in the Punjab, the Northwest and Central Provinces, and Bengal. The railroad rates for the conveyance of grain were reduced, and arrangements were then complete for supplying the relief camps. The work of relief was conducted on the well-defined system of the Indian famine codes. Every district is divided into circles, in each one of which the machinery of relief is kept in a constant state of readiness in years of plenty as well as in years of scarcity, and its efficiency is reported on by inspectors every year. The head of the district, who is held responsible for the working of the system, is enabled to gauge the approach of scarcity by test relief works, and when the scarcity deepens into famine he provides food for the able-bodied in return for local labor, and supplies those who are unable to work with doles of grain. As the need becomes more intense and widespread the system of relief expands, until it reaches the full development of local relief works, central famine camps, and state kitchens and famine hospitals. This system of local relief counteracts the tendency of the Indian people to wander in time of famine from their own districts in the vain hope of finding employment and food elsewhere. The failure of the rainfall in the autumn of 1896 came after three short crops in the Northwest and Central Provinces. Already in October food was dearer than ever was known before over an area embracing a great part of India. The natives have a belief, founded on ages of experience, that wherever the monsoon fails twice the people perish. The situa