The Hokitika Guardian WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 17th, 1928. THE PROBLEM INDIA.

Hokitika Guardian, 17 January 1923, Page 2

The Hokitika Guardian WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 17th, 1928. THE PROBLEM INDIA.

' A m;\ ikwuii stale- that Mr Arnold I.upton. author, ol “Happy India, is an 1 engineer, who was shocked to learn ! that in India there are some tilty mil- ! liens of souls perpetually on the bor--1 dor line of hunger. That sik h a state ! of affair- could exist in the British ; Empire scented to him to lie a gmvo i reproach to British Administrative genius. and l:e went to India to study condition, there ai li ist liainl. He | was constrained io at quit the Govern- ; nu-iit at i .•-poiisioility. The authnri- ! tics, clearly, are net to Illume for the I famines which peril dieally afflict the I counl ry. Indeed, but tor the ielit‘f I measures i rganised by the Government I the ravages of these famines would he ' eery iniieli more serious than they are. I .Mr f.*11 iliin soon eame to the conclu- ! -ion that the economic problem ot India resolves itself in the final analysis into one of fuel supply. Ai present fuel is hard to come by, in most parts of India, and the peasantry use cow manure as a. substitute. This they burn linstead of Fertilising the soil with it, and in consequence the starved. impoverished earth yields at the host a scanty harvest, while not infrequently the whole crop fails. Mr Lnpton’s remedy is to improve the fuel supply. There is coal in India, hut the difficulty is one of distribution. He advocates the construction of roads and railways, which would make it available to the peasants at a cheap rate. ETe would develop the oil resources of Burma, and teach the Hindoo to use petroleum stoves. He recommends an exten-ive system of afforestation. every district being provided with its own forest within easy distance of the village. Tf t lie peasant could obtain coal or oil or wood at a. low cost be would cease to Inirn his cow manure, but would dig tbe bitter into liis land instead, with the result that the soil would become more productive and famines would be prevented. .Vo doubt they would. Tt all sounds delightfully simple. But there remains the sordid question of wavs and means. Where is money for these benevolent enterprises to come from? From the Indian taxpayer? He is heavily mulct- j ed as it is and nothing more can he I

••squeezed out of him. From Britain : Hut Britain can hardly Ik? expected to contrihnte when the British art? continually being told that tlie.v have no business to lie in India at all. The fact of the matter is that the do. comment could amke India or anv

i other country ideally happy if only it had the purse of Fortunattis at its disposal. T.aclc of money is always the , stumbling block; and this illustrates 1 the truth of the old saving that gov- ' eminent is linanee. Again. Air T.upton seems to take too little account of 1 the innate conservatism of India. He ! declares that over-population is one of I the chief causes of the widespread des- ! ritution and misery. Child-marriages and the rapid production of children are. in his eyes, unmitigated evils for India and must go. But these things cannot he abolished in so off-hand and

airy a fashion. Child-marriage, polygamy. and largo families are national institutions in India. They are at the foundation of the structure of Indian social organisation, and Tndin is not. likely to discard tuem at the instance of a visitor from England, however, well-intentioned his advice may l>e.