EDUCATION IN INDIA.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2089, 25 May 1907, Page 1

EDUCATION IN INDIA.

! Writing in the Otago Daily Times, Mr. Geo. M. Thomson says:—“The spread of education throughout India has been very great, and has been accompanied by many secondary, and somewhat incalculable, consequences. Cunning, unscrupulous, and litigious as a vast number of natives are, especially the Bengalis, they apply this learning in ways which do not commend themselves to us. They are taught in our schools the proud boast that all British subjects are equally free in the eyes of the law, and that freedom follows the jfl'ng. But they find that this is not the case; it is only a polite fiction. In the colonies they are treated as foreigners and undesirables, and they realise that the boast is not true. Equal opportunities are not granted to them in their own land even; the services have been thrown open to them much more than formerly, but they are not by any means free. Any .British lad may aspire to the Premiership of Ureat Britain, and every French boy carries a marshal’s baton in his . knapsack, but the Indian knows quite well that the highest positions in his own land are not open to him. The freedom of the press has, however, been granted to the people,. and the irresponsible scribbler takes full advantage of it to pour out his malevolent feelings against the white man, who condemns and flouts him. As a matter of fact, far too much freedom has ben allowed the native press, and the scurrilous and seditious character of much of what :s published should have been summarily dealt with long ago. The flame has been allowed to burn too long, and .it will require a very pigb'rqus application of cold water to suppress it. The men who conduct the native newspapers know every point and quibble of the law, and they sail as near the wind as they ofn. Finding that they can overstep the limits with comparative impunity, they have of late waxed very impudent, and are now likely to smart for their treasonable language. These are among the serious problems of India to-day. The conditions are very different from those of thp Mutiny year, and the prospect of anything approaching a revolt of the people is small indeed. But there are deep grievances to be righted, and it is the duty of the people of all parts of the Empire to see that these are righted. Wo have our vast responsibilities to others, and the miserable,. —sprrrc winch so

Little Englanders, Socialists, leaders, and others— display towards the countless peoples of India * «Wi of the most depressing aspects of iAifi outlook. We hold India to-daj as we held it on the suppression of , the great Mutiny, by the power of the sword. We are still a long way from holding it, as it ought to be *•!§, b ?-' the power of affection.