BRITAIN AND INDIA

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 254, 22 July 1919, Page 8

BRITAIN AND INDIA

SIR V. CHIROL ON INDIA'S DEMANDS

" OUR POSITION HAS NEVER BEEN STRONGER"

Sir Valentine Cliirol delivered a lecture 'on India recently at tho London Day Training College m connection with the series of educational lectures on reconstruction, Whatever might bo the value of India, said Sir Valentine, from the military or economic point of view, or from that of. prestige, the fact remained that wo had become responsible for 315,000,000 people, and that responsibility wo must discharge. Sir Valentine referred to the Prime Minister's promise early in the war that Indian problems should be looked upon from a new angle of vision, and to the effect that was given to that promise by inviting representatives of India for tho first time to take part in the War Councils of. the Army, and sit side by side with our own Ministers and iepresentatives of tho British Dominions. After, reference to the dispatch to India of tho Special Mission of State to consult witii its leaders as to tho meusures to bo taken to give effect to the new policy, and to the elaborato report presented to • Parliament last summer, to form the basis of a new Government of India Bill, .Sir Valentine said that an enormous step in' advance had been taken, but wo must not conceal from ourselves the very great difficulties confronting us, owing to the peculiar conditions of Indian society. Even sinco the declaration of a. new policy the mirest in India, which it was hoped the promise would stop, had continued, and within, tho last few weeks it had assumed an alarming form. It might well bo asked how it was that the promise of such far-reaching reforms should have failed to bring a larger measure of contentment, or at any rate of patience, to what Mr. Montagu in his report called "the politically-minded classes of India." One obvious explanation might bo that, in spite of the splendid services India rendered during tho war, she never realised as acutely as we had in this country the sufferings and horrors of the war.

Casts Difficulties. Tho real explanation, however, lie believed, was to be found in the peculiar structure of Indian society, which differentiates so widely from that of our own civilisation; and also in the evolution of the British rule in India, and the varied and conflicting effects of the impact upon its population of our own civilisation, which is so vastly remote from their own civil and religious life. Sir Valentine referred also to the geographical configuration of the country, and its most inhospitable coastline, with only one good natural harbour. He dealt at length witli the religious and casto differences and difficulties, and gavo nil instance of the exacting conditions of caste by narrating an incident of tho time when our King and Queen, as the Prince and Princess of -'Wales, visited India. The Queen attended a reception at Government House, at Calcutta. Every man connected with the establishment, down to tho lowest servant. had to be turned ont of the house, 60 aft to avoid any possible contact with the Hindu high-class ladies, who wero emerging for the filst time from their homes in order to pay their respects to the Princess. Whatever difficulties there may be, continued Sir Valentine, our position in India has, in many respects, never been stronger than it is in the present day, because the war has created an identity of interests between ourselves and all those thinking and law-abiding Indians, which lias never, existed before. Tho advancement of India must proceed upon tho dual lines of political education, by granting a larger share of power and responsibility to the people, and of the development of her material and economic prosperity. The Indians had neglectcd their education in tho exact sciences, which are especially valuable to them as a corrective to tho exuberant imagination witli which they are endowed. Tho "Western educated classes in India had held aloof from industry, engineering, and all professions that required scientific training; but this was now being slowly corrected, and during the war a commission was appointed to inquire into tho whole industrial and economic pondition, which had awakened an amount of interest that would never have been/ aroused before tho war. Tho war had brought home to them the great valno of tho natural resources which they possess.