UNREST IN INDIA.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2163, 20 August 1907, Page 1

UNREST IN INDIA.

An official who has been stationed in India for many years, writing to a friend in Christchurch, says: —“It seems to me I am .writing you rather a long-winded yarn this mail, but I .see you ask in your letter about the ‘unrest’ in India, and to answer such a question, even briefly, as I must do, demands another sheet. We don’t see much of it here in Lucknow, where the population is mostly Mohammedan and, on the surface at any rate, loyal to our rule. As to the existence of unrest and sedition, there is no doubt whatever. It is both deep aud widespread, and it is not without significance that these provinces, which' in 1857 were tho liotheds of sedition aud mutiny, are . ; u 1907 the

most loyal. They have .more to remember of tho consequences, or it may be that they are better governed, but I think the former is the more probable reason. The state of affairs in the Punjaub is distinctly bad, and there is a fear that tho Sik’li army may become affected. At present no one knows how far the taint has spread, but there is no doubt whatever that great efforts have been, and still are being, made to get at them. In a country like this it is next to impossible to say what is going on below the surface. Tho only thing we can do is to be always prepared, and always strong enough to nip any trouble in the bud. From what I can gather from general intercourse with other fellows, tho opinion seems to be that-tho chances of another mutiny are remote at present, but that things may develop rapidly at any moment. Of course a mutiny could now bo, and would be, quelled with fur greater ease than in 1857. Our worst foes in such an event would be the Exeter Hali crowd, who would loudly demand our court-martial for ‘ruthless butchery of unarmed crowds of helpless natives.’ Many men, and I- am not at all sure they are not right, think it would be tlio beat thing to have the • row now, and let the country’s punishment be short and sharp, and get it over. However, who can tell the future? All I can say in conclusion 1 is that one way or another it doesn’t worry ns very much.”