INDIAN FAMINES - Institute for Social and Economic Change

AND PRESS CRITICISM. 169
paid." This elicited a telegram from the Secretary
of State for India to the Viceroy, asking
him to telegraph whether this is true. The
reply informed the Secretary of State that
rice was selling at from 22 to 24 lb. per
rupee, affording for I} anna 2-1 lb., and
that other food-grains most commonly used
by the labour.er were selling at from 24 to
2.6 lb. per rupee; and that usually the whole
family was at work. The correspondent, on
seeing the Secretary of State's telegram, and
reply thereto by the Viceroy, telegraphed: "I
have to observe that the men's wages being
one and a half anna, the women's one anna,
and the children's half an anna, the average
wage carefully worked out by myself was
three - halfpence per head, affording a daily
ration of a pound and a half of rice, with no
allowance for salt, dall, and other life-sustaining
condiments." The full telegrams, &c., will
be found in the Appendix. The concluding
sentence of the summing up of the article in the
'Daily News' on this subject is: "The public
will also note with satisfaction the carefully
prepared basis of personal observation, inquiry,