LATE CABLE NEWS

Hokitika Guardian, 30 December 1930, Page 7

LATE CABLE NEWS

EARLY SYDNEY DAYS. JOURNAL OF A DOCTOR. LONDON, December 17. “A cold, disgusting reception” is what Dr. Arnold, a surgeon of the early settlement in Sydney, says of the way in which he met Governor Macquarie. He describes the Governor j as “hardly acceptable to anyone.” J These observations are extracts from Dr. Arnold’s “Journal and Letters,” which have been seemed for fhe M.’tcliol: Library, Sydney, at a rale at Sir*.; I y’s rooms. The journal i-o» n rs , the period from August, 1810, to December, 1816, and records the voyage from Sydney to England, and the doctor’s experiences as a surgeon on a convict vessel going to Sydney and alter arrival. The letters which belong to the same period, are full of interesting details about life and personages in Australia. INDIAN CONGRESS. NO MEETING THIS YEAR. CALCUTTA, December 18. Faith in British rule is reviving in India. The preachers of sedition are losing their hold over the masses of the population, A,t the same time, the firmness of the Administration in suppressing the advocates of sedition and violence is having its effect.

The annual meeting of the National Congress, which stands for resistance to British authority, will not be held this year. The “Voice of India,” as the partisans of Congress have regarded it for the past generation, will not be heard.

For one thing, all the Congress leaders, with one exception, have been sent to prison for advocating open and violent resistance to the law, or for refusing to give guarantees for ceasing to do so. Other lesser leaders have been imprisoned, without any alternative, for extreme acts of violence. Many of their youthful followers, also, have been sentenced.

The one exception is Pandit Motilal Nehru, veteran leader in Congress and Swarajist movements. He is not in prison, b”t he is a sick man, and cannot attend to Nationalist activities.

The Government is rightly taking very firm action against the unlawful activities of Congress. Tts offices in various parts of the country have been locked up, the Congress flag hauled down, and foolish young men arrested. There are undoubted signs that the people are growing tired of the civil disobedience movement and are . realising that the British are not the perfidious people which some of tlleit* misguided leaders would have them believe.