been able to do so. May I venture to ask if you will be good enough to ascertain, on behalf of Her Majesty’s Indian subjects, under what circumstances they will be allowed to cross the border.
I have, etc.,
M. K. GANDHI
The Pretoria Archives and the Colonial Office Records, South Africa, General, 1897
Letter to "The Natal Mercury" (2-2-1897)
DURBAN,[30]
February 2, 1897
THE EDITOR, The Natal Mercury
SIR,
I venture to offer a few remarks on the Indian famine, regarding which appeal for funds has been made to the British Colonies. It is not perhaps generally known that India is the poorest country in the world, in spite of the fabulous accounts of the riches of her Rajas and Maharajas. The highest Indian authorities state that “the remaining fifth (i.e., of the population of British India), or 40,000,000, go through life on insufficient food”. This is the normal condition of British India. Famines, as a rule, recur in India every four years. It must not be difficult to imagine what the condition of the people would be at such a time in that poverty-stricken country. Children are snatched from their mothers, wives from their husbands. Whole tracts are devastated, and this in spite of the precautions taken by a most benevolent Government. Of the famines of recent times, that of 1877- 78 was the most severe. The famine commissioners thus report as to the death-rate:
- It has been estimated, and, in our opinion, on substantial grounds, that the mortality which occurred in the Provinces under British administration, during the period of famine and drought extending over the years 1877 and 1878, amounted, in a population of 197,000,000 to 52,50,000 in excess of the deaths that would have occurred had the seasons been ordinarily healthy.
The total expenditure during the crisis was over £11,000
