KEIR HARDIE IN INDIA.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2205, 8 October 1907, Page 1

KEIR HARDIE IN INDIA.

[To the Editor.]

Sir, —It is to bo hoped, for tho sn'ko of tho truo democracy of Now Zealand, and tho manly, free, and independent spirit of its pooplo, that tho Mayor of Wellington will" have tlio courago of his convictions, and give to Mr. Iveir Hardio- the public welcome which ho is worthy of on account of his foarless and magnanimous stand for tho inalienable rights of men, irrespective of creed or color; and that ho will not allow himsolf to bo influenced by tho contomptiblo objections of a loyalty, bred out of tho theories of a selfish, narrow-minded school, which lately emanated from ono or two Wellington papers. What has Mr. Koir Hardio done to morit our disapprobation P What has this groat and fearless spirit beon guilty of that wo should withhold tho public expression of esteem and appreciation which wo inferior mortals love to show to an eminent intellect? Some papers say ho has incited tho pooplo of India to disloyalty, sedition, and open rebellion. But, as a matter of fact, ho has voiced tho indignation of a mombor of tho brotherhood of man who sees a noble, onlightoned, and intellectual pooplo deprived of their freedom, and dictated to in their own ancestral dominions, by overboaring, arrogant foreigners, as to how they should be governed. Mr. Keir Hardio hears the papors cry out, “Your utterances may bring about tho shedding of white blood” ; and at tho samo time, he looks down tho vista of history and hoars tho groans of misery and anguish of a people resisting tho violent encroachments of deluded, red-coated heroes — horoes, I say, and devoted ones, sacrificed to the God of Empire and Glory, on tho altars of greed and ambition.

Lot us, people of New Zealand, a nation just blossoming into flower in tho garden of nations, takes a magnanimous, broad-minded view of tho question; and, placing oursolves in tho oondition of tho people of India, and them in otxrs, imagine how we should act against their oppression; and how wo should receive, and wish to be received, a man of the Keir Ha.rdie stamp, com© amongst us to palliate tho crime of his countrymen. Tho privilege of keeping our raco free from tho contamination of a foreign blood wo will not concede to the Indians. Is this compatible with our boasted claim to superior enlightenment P Let England endeavor to terminate tho sad and disgraceful conditions of poverty existing in tho slums of London, as described by Miss Murcutt in ono of her lectures in Gisborne, recently; and in tho slums of Glasgow, as delineated by a New Zealander in a recent edition .of ono of tho local dailies, and she will achieve a greater and more lasting glory by victory at homo than by conquest abroad.—l am, etc., P.J.H. Gisborne, Oct. 7.