That  particular  ^year  came  upon  the  heels  of  the
worst  famine  that  has  been  seen  during  the  half
century.  This  famine,  too,  was  followed  by  an  out-
break of  bubonic  plague  in  Western  India,  which,
despite  all  the  sanitary  efforts  of  the  Government,
is  not  yet  extinguished.  Nevertheless  it  proved  to
be  one  of  the  best  years,  if  not  the  very  best  year,
that  India  has  ever  had.  This  result  has  just  been
laid  before  the  British  House  of  Commons,  by  the
Secretary  of  State  in  August,  1899,  as  proving  the
success  of  the  Government  of  India  in  combating
the  famine,  but  still  more  the  recuperative  power
and  the  amassed  means  of  sustenance  possessed  by
the  people  of  India.  Never  has  India  remitted  so
vast  a  sum  to  England,  among  other,  for  charges
relating  to  public  improvement  as  in  this  year.  Never
did  she  export  so  much  of  her  products  as  in  this
year  including,  too,  edible  produce.  Never  has  she
shown  so  low  an  amount  of  unproductive  national
debt,  31  millions,  as  at  the  present  time,  the  rest  of
the  debt  being  all  remunerative.  A  special  enquiry,
in  the  provinces  recently  afflicted  or  affected  by
famine,  has  shown  that  the  landholding  and  cultivat-
ing classes  are  more  comfortable  than  ever,  that  the
artisans  and  the  better  sorts  of  labourers  get  higher
wages  than  ever,  but  that  the  wages  with  the  humbler
labourers  though  rising  do  not  rise  as  much  as  might
be  wished  because  the  increase  of  population  is  apt
to  overstock  the  labour  market.  For  this  last-named
disadvantage,  the  only  one  visible  in  the  material


THE  STATE  OF  INDIA  IN  1899.  J79

aspect  of  the  country,  there  is  no  remedy  except  the
promotion  of  puhlic  works.  Emigration  will  hardly
he  a  remedy,  as  emigrants  have  not  yet  come  for-
ward in  sufficient  numhers.
