British Rule in India.

Hokitika Guardian, 16 March 1923, Page 4

British Rule in India.

A STRIKING TRIIRTE. A striking tribute to the good work that the British Coveniiiienl inis done am! is doing I’m India we- paid b> l ommissioner Booth-Tucker in the course o| an address on "India” at the Salvation Army Citadel. Christ ■ •liurch. The Commissioner said that the unrest i u India was caused by a enmparal.it ely small section ol the population, the hulk nf whom regarded the British Government favourably, and looked upon it n. "the protector of 1 he poor.” The Commissioner said that India was governed hy the British in a most wonderful way and .was an object lesson for the rest ol the world. In India there were various races ready to fly at each others' throats and yet for years l here had been peace in the land. This "pax-Btitanniea” was the most wonderful ihing in the government n! India. India was a continent and. it it were not for this "pax Brilaimiea.” the same thing would have happened l ! civ as had happened in Europe during recent years. I here were only til),000 British soldiers in India and about 1 iff),ooo native soldiers, and thiI'orco was there not so lunch to keen the peace in India as to keep other nations out, the Afghans and Ihe Bolsheviks who wanted to gel into India to destroy the "pax Britsliniea.” The Haiti.h Government was above briber} and was just. One heard of unrest In India hut ibis was confined to about id . million people who wanted the power in their own hands for the purpose of "skinning” the rest of the people. The hull; of the people regarded the British Government as ‘‘the protector of the poor.” Britishers should he proud of the work that: their countrymen had done in India. The British Government had stopped the hu.'uhi" of widows, I lie murdering of bn by girls and the burying of lepers alive. But apart from this the British had in it interfered with the customs ol the count rv. The British government of India had been one of a minimum of interference am! a maximum of liberty. Pc, pie did not generally recognise that India was (he most self governing country in the world. About 290 millions ol the people in India lived in villageami each village conducted its own aij'airs. The main characteristics ol the British government in India were loving kindness, judgment and mercy and therefore it, had prospered. Another good work that the British Government had done in India was the provision of work for the people in times of famine. Certain districts that had at one time been subject to famine had boon made famine-proof hy irrigation.