The Dominion. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1910. THE DANGER IN INDIA.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 736, 8 February 1910, Page 4

The Dominion. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1910. THE DANGER IN INDIA.

Eves to those—and we expect that: they are the vast imajority; of the. people in the self-governing States of the Empire—who pay little attention to events in , India and who have only the very vaguest ideas about; its social and' political conditions, it will be clear from to-day's cable., messages, relating.. to the new Press'Bill that the Indian Government is face to face with a situation of horrible danger. The stop which the. .. Government has at last : been driven to take is one of extreme gravity and importance; it may i prove, indeed, to be the most im- 1 portant development of Britain's In-1 dian. policy that has taken place for i many years. The Government has I been very patient in the .presence of I the. long campaign of outrage and murder that has been fostered by the vernacular press and carried on by the thousands of young "educated" Hindus who, in emerging * from the colleges,, have come forth without any, ability save to scream and plot. During the past year the most noti able' outrages;have been the assassinj ation of- Sir Cckzon Wyllik, the atI tempt on the: life of the Vicbroy arid I Lady Minto, and, previously, on the life of the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, the assassination of Mr. Jacksoit, tho Collector of Nasid, and: the murder in open court of Shamal Alah,. a police , official. . The last-named crime proved to be the last -straw, and l it drew, from the Viceroy" the stern pronouncement that is now backed up by the new Press . Bill; • "We tolerated revolutionary literature: too long," said his Excellency, "out of a chivalrous unwillingness to interfere with freedom of speech.- Wo are determined to put a bridle on license." In introducing the new Bill, we are told, the Home Secretary drew a startling picture, of the scope , and character of the propaganda of political murder and sedition. \"Wc , are confronted,'Mie said, "by a murderous conspiracy,"; Under, the new Bill any new journal'will be required to makeia deposit of £333, but existing journals will be exempt,, unless they offend.. There will'be no censorships, but Customs arid 1 Postal authorities will have; the power of: search in connection with suspected .matter, arid, the deposit'will be on; a repetition of the offence, unless an appeal to the High Court is successful.

As might have been expected, the Anglo-Indian newspapers, which rer present the .views of those who are aware of' the great peril to the Empire and who realise the necessity for stern measures, welcome . the new Bill as cordially as it is assailed by the Daity News, which .represents the disgraceful minority -in Britain that seeks; unceasingly to fan the flames of Hindu sedition by opposing every , attempt by the British',Government in India to' put a check .uponanarchy. The News' -is even more deeply concerned to brace the hearts' of the Indian, sedition-mongers than •to defend the British Budget. In its way, it. does farmore harm than the seditious vernacular press of India itself, for its views, like. the views of Me..) Keir Hakdib, De. Rutherford, Sir Heney Cotton and Me. Mackaeness, are believed by the half-insane Hindu fanatics to reflect the opinion of the British people.' When, therefore, turning aside for the ■ moment from • its campaign l against the Peers, the News declares, that under the new Bill "no Indian editor will be able to print a single adverse comment upon the .administration of the Government's policy I or the actions of officials," it is coini initting a greater crime against the Empire,than is committed by its imuch-beloved Hindu ."fellow subjects" who • daily couiißel assassination, and outrage. The evil "sentimentalißm" of such men as Mr Keir Harpies or Sib Hbney Conos has the excuse available for the fanaticism of any individual, but there can be no excuse for a frigid and calculated support of that' scntimentalism in the case of a clever London newspaper. In agreeable contrast to the wicked recklessness of the News is tho cautious approval given .to the Bill by another Liberal journal, the Daily which says that "when incendiary articles are > part and parcel of murderous acts, it is, as Lobd Mobley said, moonshine to talk about, the freedom of the press." v ■

Loed Morley's task is a most difficult'one.'' He is too profound and far-seeing a statesman to be deceived by cant or false sentiment; but hia freedom is constrained by' the debts of his party to the faction that finds a voice m Daily Nevis. It was in June, 1805, that he made the statement referred to by the Daily Chronicle. He recognised that the hysterical talk of the seditious press might be froth, but it was "froth "'stained with blood." He has approved of a cautious measure of ropressive legislation, hut he has. never been able, until now, to assist in the formula'

tion of the drastic policy the want of which, as is hinted in the bad Pioneer's comments, is really responsible for the present "corruption of the pvtolie mind" in Bengal.

The silencing of the seditious press will do far more than can be done by any other : means to end the terrible campaign against the British Raj, and, therefore, against the happiness and progress of India. The reason for this is not difficult to understand. ;Th.e printing press is to the Hindu mirid very much what a real wishing-carpet would be to anyone who became possessed of one—a thing through .which anything can be achieved, through which any violent wish or thought can be solidified into successful action. Without the press, the revolutionary , societies in India can perhaps continue their work, but under increasing difficulty, and under the Spell of the depression that stern and unflinching action by the Government must cast upon the unstable Hindu mind. The safety of India is'so essential to the safety of the Empire as a whole that the sucoess of the Government in its-new policy is a matter of real concern even to the people of New Zealand.