The Hastings Standard Published Daily THURSDAY, SEPT. 2, 1897. THE INDIAN TROUBLE.

Hastings Standard, Issue 415, 2 September 1897, Page 2

The Hastings Standard Published Daily THURSDAY, SEPT. 2, 1897. THE INDIAN TROUBLE.

For the cause that lacks assistance, For the wrongs that need resistance, For the future in the distance, And the good that we can do.

Therk are several persons in the colonies who appear to have a fairly -good grasp of affairs in India, obtained bv a long residence in that country and since maintained by correspondence. According to these authorities the disturbance 011 the Indian frontier is quite a local affair, and not likely to extend to India itself. Lieut-Colonel Webb, of Dunedin, in an interview, which was reported at length in our issue of Tuesday, said with respect to the present rising that " The insurrectionaries are principally thieves who come down in small bands and steal from the Peshawar —a large military station." Sir Edward Braddon, the Premier of Tasmania, an ex-Indian official, does not regard the position with any great alarm. But for all this there appears to be a good deal more in the present disturbance than we are lead to believe there is. There must be some motive other than the mere delight of thieving that has driven the Afridis into rebellion. They are not attacking the British in the manner of thieves but in the systematic manner of warfare. There seems very little doubt that the Afridis-have been incited to rebellion by their mollahs, who again are probably the tools of the Ameer. At any rate that the Indian Government views the position seriously is evidenced by the number of troops concentrated in the vicinity of the neighborhood. Indeed if the intention had been to invade Afghanistan it is doubtful whether more troops would have been got together than is to be found now at Peshawar and Kawul Pindi.

Of course the Ameer has protested his innocence, but he appears to have protested too much, and avoided the principal points of the letter of remonstrance addressed to him by Lord Elgin. The Oriental's appeal to the Almighty to witness his innocence cannot be taken seriously ; indeed the reverse view to what is intended should be held will be nearer the mark. The more the Oriental appeals to the Divinity the more certain is it that he is playing a part, that he is practising a deception ; and this is probably the attitude of the Ameer. From the bare evidence of the cable messages we think that the rebellion of the Afridis meets with the approval of the Ameer and that they are being quietly encouraged by the agents of the Afghan monarch. The curt reply of the Viceroy to the Ameer's protestations of innocence, and the request for specific answers to specific questions, taken in conjunction with the presence of what is practically an invading army on the frontier, leads us to the conclusion that the Indian Government liave more than a suspicion of the Ameer's complicity iu the rebellion and are ready to strike a blow at the propsr time. The position instead of improving appears to grow worse each day, and a long strip of the frontier is in a state of turmoil.