INDIAN CROP PROSPECTS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 140, 7 March 1908, Page 10

INDIAN CROP PROSPECTS.

jj'if, '"'tv'v ♦ ——— •; NEED OF INCREASED RELIEF. • ; v London, January 21. p, Tho secretary of Stato for India has received, the .following telegram from the .'Gov-. onior-Gene'ral "Tho general rain which ' fell between the -'10th . and -llfth throughout'.Northern' India has much improved prqspccts of standing crops, and has enabled further sowings' to bo undertaken. It lias also checkcd upward tendency of prices, which havo fallen, though very slightly, in several provinces. .NotwitliV standing! improvement in. future outlook, existing distresses becoming moro acute. Immediate effect, indeed, of tho rain iii United Provinces has been to,lessen the demand for labour in the fields, owing to cessation of irrigation, and .there ; has boen, further largo increase in numbers on relief, which are now— 'works 137,379, gratuitous relief'. .104,456. The' /area in which 'relief measures are required continues to extend. '.'A few .wanderers hiivo be«h • noticed, especially in tho Faizabad Division, aiid there is somo. increaso. in petty crime. In Native States of Baglielkhand rain was;,slight, .and prospects of spring crops aro indifferent. Demand for Stato relief is increasing, the numbers. being now::—rWorks. 58,102, gratuitous relief 4440. : i In Orissa thcro aro 440 people on test works, and the numbers in- receipt of gratuitous reliof have risen rapidly, being now 6747. 'In tho Central Provinces'there .was good general rain iiv tracts which are •most severely affected, but distress; though not yet acute, is increasing, and there aro now .1547 persons in receipt of gratuitous relief- ' 1 . ... . "Agricultural operations aro practically over, arid tlioro. is increased demand lor em T pioymont. Village .works aro being opened .whoro.ncccss'ary. lii 'Paneh Mahals district of Bombay tho hu tuber r.ii test works has fallen '(bo *843. Total number, af persons in receipt of Stato relief in the whole of India ix'now 313,1)1)6."