DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.24890#0056
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had been opened in several districts of the Agra, Benares,
Gorakhpur, Eohilkhand, Pyzabad, and Lucknow Divisions—
16 in all—while the appearance of destitute wanderers
had rendered it advisable to open poorhouses also in some of
these districts. During November the development of dis-
tress was more rapid and general. Prices continued to rise, and
the employment afforded in garnering the autumn and sowing
the spring crops had commenced to fail. An increase in crime,
the indications of an unsettled feeling, and a tendency to
wander in search of employment, gave warning that in the
more distressed tracts the time had come for an expansion of
relief measures. Here and there, as on the Jasra road in South
Allahabad, a sudden rush on relief works showed that in the
most impoverished localities the people were beginning to get
to the end of the scanty addition which the autumn harvest had
made to their resources. These wants were met and prepara-
tions were steadily made to anticipate the growing demand.
Work projects were matured, tools and plant provided, poor-
house accommodation increased, while relief circles were
formed and the preparation of village lists of all persons
who would, so far as could then be foreseen, require and
be qualified to receive gratuitous relief at their own homes,
was pushed on in all districts where famine seemed im-
minent. At the commencement of October the numbers
in the daily receipt of all forms of relief were 15,000 in six
districts. By the end of that month it had risen to 99,200 and
had spread over 29 districts, of which six had been recognised
officially as distressed. Of the total number relieved three-
quarters were workers, while those gratuitously relieved might
be roughly divided into rather less than one-fourth in poor-
houses, rather more than one-fourteenth in receipt of home
relief, and the remainder dependants of workers. As the causes
at work became more potent, the distress grew both more
widespread and acute, and the numbers on relief increased with
corresponding rapidity. About the middle of November the
failure of the late autumn crops became definitely declared,
while the employment afforded in garnering them had consider-
ably slackened; the construction of temporary wells, so largely
stimulated by advances from Government, approached com-
pletion ; the spring sowings were arrested for want of rain, and
irrigation alone continued unabated for the occupation of
agricultural labour. Prices continued to rise and the poor-
houses were rapidly filling. Between the 14th and the 21st
November the poorhouse population had risen from 7,200 to
19,000, and the later admissions in some parts showed signs of
emaciation. Labourers and their families began to flock
on the relief works in the more distressed districts, the
sphere of gratuitous relief continued to expand, and a certain
number of cultivating tenants, too, found it necessary to seek
employment or to send the idle members of their families to
the works, Finally, signs of distress began to appear amongst
had been opened in several districts of the Agra, Benares,
Gorakhpur, Eohilkhand, Pyzabad, and Lucknow Divisions—
16 in all—while the appearance of destitute wanderers
had rendered it advisable to open poorhouses also in some of
these districts. During November the development of dis-
tress was more rapid and general. Prices continued to rise, and
the employment afforded in garnering the autumn and sowing
the spring crops had commenced to fail. An increase in crime,
the indications of an unsettled feeling, and a tendency to
wander in search of employment, gave warning that in the
more distressed tracts the time had come for an expansion of
relief measures. Here and there, as on the Jasra road in South
Allahabad, a sudden rush on relief works showed that in the
most impoverished localities the people were beginning to get
to the end of the scanty addition which the autumn harvest had
made to their resources. These wants were met and prepara-
tions were steadily made to anticipate the growing demand.
Work projects were matured, tools and plant provided, poor-
house accommodation increased, while relief circles were
formed and the preparation of village lists of all persons
who would, so far as could then be foreseen, require and
be qualified to receive gratuitous relief at their own homes,
was pushed on in all districts where famine seemed im-
minent. At the commencement of October the numbers
in the daily receipt of all forms of relief were 15,000 in six
districts. By the end of that month it had risen to 99,200 and
had spread over 29 districts, of which six had been recognised
officially as distressed. Of the total number relieved three-
quarters were workers, while those gratuitously relieved might
be roughly divided into rather less than one-fourth in poor-
houses, rather more than one-fourteenth in receipt of home
relief, and the remainder dependants of workers. As the causes
at work became more potent, the distress grew both more
widespread and acute, and the numbers on relief increased with
corresponding rapidity. About the middle of November the
failure of the late autumn crops became definitely declared,
while the employment afforded in garnering them had consider-
ably slackened; the construction of temporary wells, so largely
stimulated by advances from Government, approached com-
pletion ; the spring sowings were arrested for want of rain, and
irrigation alone continued unabated for the occupation of
agricultural labour. Prices continued to rise and the poor-
houses were rapidly filling. Between the 14th and the 21st
November the poorhouse population had risen from 7,200 to
19,000, and the later admissions in some parts showed signs of
emaciation. Labourers and their families began to flock
on the relief works in the more distressed districts, the
sphere of gratuitous relief continued to expand, and a certain
number of cultivating tenants, too, found it necessary to seek
employment or to send the idle members of their families to
the works, Finally, signs of distress began to appear amongst