PROSPER US INDIA.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXV, Issue 16486, 27 February 1914, Page 10

PROSPER US INDIA.

MARVELLOUS PROGRESS UNDER BRITISH RULE. , . (London “ Times.”) In all her long history India has never been so prosperous as now’. Her wealth and her industries are steadily increasing; land has largely appreciated in value, wages are rising, and the supply of labour is ,not sufficient for the demand. Recent great irrigation schemes are only beginning to spread their beneficent results, and others are in progress or m near prospect. The railway system is being developed and improved to render it able to fulfil the requirements of a magnificent trade compared to which that oi pre-British days was a bagatelle. Judged by ail material , tests the state of India is sych that most countries of the world might w-ell envy and marvel at her progress. ADVANCE OF RECENT YEARS. Politically, from the Indian point of vi,ew, the advance in recent years has been immense. Tho reforms of 1909 went -xar beyond Indian expectations. There never was a time when so many Indians had a voice in so many branches of the administration, could so effectively present their views, or were able to count upon such sympathetic consideration! Government was never so gentle, so quick to learn and to redress grievances, eo tender towards Indian susceptibilities, or so zealous in labouring for the public good. Never were the public servants of India so hard worked, so anxious to initiate measures for the benefit of the people, and so diligent in striving to make them successLocnl self-government has largely passed into Indian hands to make or to mar. The control of education in some important aspects has been committed to Indian bodies. If in the high courts the European element is in a majority, the administration of law in the lower stages is predominantly Indian. BUREAUCRATIC METHODS RELAXED. While in w’cstern countries bureaucracies continue to increase in numbers and in power, in India bureaucratic methods have been more and more relaxed. Where they exist they do not exceed the necessities of the orderly conduct of business, and they are often due .to the large Indian Office establishments. The capable Brahman clerk is a born bureaucrat. In the huge territory—more than one-tlnrd ot all India—comprised in tne native States, rule prevails with greater or. lesqo success In proportion to the enlightenment and the vigour ot the Indian ruler. Of lato years the policy of non-interference has been developed to an extent which would formerly have been viewed with apprehension. The Queen’s proclamation of 1858 announced that “ w;e shall respect the rights, dignity and honour Of the native princes as our own,” and this royal promise has been faithfully kept. When, however, misgovernment or grave scandals threatened to tarnish the honour of a native State or to restrict the liberties of its people, interference, in direct or indirect form, has been deemed necessary. And, further, in cases where the condition of a native State appeared favourable, political officers were encouraged or permitted to press reforms upon the State administrators.

REFORMS BY LORD MINTO. This has been changed by the important pronouncement of Lord Min to at Udaipur in 1909, in which the policy of the Government of India was laid down for the future as with rare exceptions one of non-interference in internal affairs.” His Excellency “preferred that reform should emanate from the Darbars themselves, thus plainly indicating that suggestions, formerly regarded as part of the duty of political officers, should be discontinued. _ . During minorities the Government necessarily assumes direct responsibilities both in regard to the upbringing of voung chiefs and to the temporary administration. While in all such cases the State revenues are carefully nursed and any gross abuses which may bo brought to light are removed, no changes are introduced which would be repugnant to the char act eristics of the State, or would commit the future chief to the lines of action which he would bo likely to disapprove. Self-governing India, since it came under British suzerainty, was never therefore left so free to develop m accordanc© with its own methods and ideals as it is to-day, and never was the tutelage of the paramount power so lightly felt by the princes and chiefs, while financial assistance is none the less readily placed at their disposal in times of need. DOMESTIC QUESTIONS FOREMOST. After the Mutiny which followed, perhaps inevitably, upon a protracted period of war involving the successive annexations of Sind, the Punjab, Lower Burma, and Oudli, government in India completely changed its character' and entered upon a new political phase under the direct control of the Crown and Parliament. The last vestige of domestic rivalry had been swept away, and the administration henceforth could devote its energies to domestic questions. The results, operating gradually and at first slowly, have led to the situation which has been described. Government in India now undertakes activities of all kinds which in Western countries are left to private enterprise activities which closely touch the lives of the people—ana the administration is becoming, more and more and in the best sense, parental. Famine, arising from defective rainfall. has been in all ages the greatest ill from which India suffers. In preBritish days the mortality thus caused was pppaliWi the.-early tcaveUera

have left records of horrors which baffle the modern imagination. Now the administration of famine relief has been reduced to a highly organised system, which is being constantly improved, and the fine railway system which wo havo created enables food to be trnn-ported to stricken areas to an extent that was formerly impossible. FAMINE SUFFERING REDUCED. Famines will still inevitably afflict the people of India, but loss and suffering havo been infinitely mitigated, and what remains is mainly due to inherited habits and customs which, for a time at least, will continue to militate against tho promptitude and the completeness of relief measures. It is a fact that in no country in the wor d can famine ho dealt with so effectively as in India, and nowhere else are there so many trained and devoted public servants ready to cope with this scourge. Devastating epidemics occur and recur in the history of India, where, like famines, they wore submissively accepted as signs of tho wrath of the gods. In fac© of these terrible visitations Governments and peoples were powerless. They wrought wholesale destruction unchecked. and they exhausted themselves in accordance with laws which science is beginning to reveal. All this has been changed m recent years by the action of the Government. Plague ‘still claims too many victims; but the administration provides a prophylactic to which the people are happily beginning to resort, and in other ways this disea-e is bring successfully combated by the progressive development of the sanitary devices. CHOLERA SCIENTIFICALLY FOUGHT.

Any outbreak of cholera is instantly taken in hand by medical officers, and thousands of lives have been saved by prompt action. Malaria and its pievention are being earnestly studied, with practical results which will increase as knowledge extends —and is allowed to prevail. Smallpox, once a widespread scourge, has been brought under control. Much more remains to be done and will be done, but anyone who knows tho extreme difficulties of sanitation in an Eastern country with a vast population will find in the progress attained in recent years convince ing proof of the 'anxio.us care_ which Government has devoted to raise the standard of public health. While in all directions the administration has 6ho\vn increasing activity, the incidence of taxation per head has in ten years risen from Is 10Jd to Is 11.8 d only, or, including land revenue, which according to the ancient custom of India is rent paid to the State, from 3s s£d to 3a 7.3 d. The salt tax, once regarded as oppressive, has been re-

j duoed to a minimum, and the Punjab cultivator can now purchase this necessary of life at the rate of l-3d a pound. In no country in the world is taxation so light, and the slightest comparison .with Japan serves to show the relative immunity of the agricultural land of India from State burdens. INDUSTRY AND CAPITAL.

The- establishment of law and order after the mutiny led to economic advances of all kinds apart from that due to the agency of . the Government. British capital found its way into industries, and Indians followed the lead given by European enterprise. A. great mill industry has thus been built up in Indian hands and has attracted Indian capital. In other directions industrial progress is being steadily made and the investing habit is tending to take the'place of the unfruitful hoarding which has long retarded the economic development of India. In ten years bank deposits have increased from TO. 000.000 rupees to more than 637,500,000 rupees, and bank capital from 45,000,000 runees to nearly 65.000.000 rupees; while Indian post office savings bank depositors have grown from 834,366.t0 1,368,939, and the membership of co-operative societies now exceeds 400,000, though the movement is still in its infancy and foreign to India. Figures could be multiplied indefinitely which all indicate steady advance of a kind which genuine Indian patriotism must specially desire.

To those who care to study facts nothing in modern evolution will appear so amazing as the accelerating advance of India since the days of the mutiny, and while Government in all forms attempted by mankind is necessarily imperfect, British rule in India can justly claim a measure of success elsewhere unparalleled.