MR KEIR HARDIE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2810, 22 January 1908, Page 12

MR KEIR HARDIE.

HIS INDIAN TOUR. Speaking :et Invercargill on Sunday night, Mr Keirv Hardie^ made a somewhat •leng&y reference to his recent tour "in India. It had, he said,, been alleged that he had withdrawn or explained away his objectionable statements, but, he said, he •was not in the habit of speaking till his j mind was made up, and, having spoken, j ihe was not in the habit of withdrawing ' -w£s* lie !ra-d eaict. He wonltj continue to ' say at •' Home tlyvt -when the conditions were understood the British peqple for' very shame would take up the cause and redress the wrongs of -the Indian people. What he objected to- about the New Zealand press was not that it- had published wrong- statements, but that when the truth was known it had neither withdrawn nor apologised, as the.Anglo-Jndian papers had done. Mr Hardie denied that he. had eversaid the things alleged, and blamed" Reuter's agent for cabling Home a sensational and untrue report. Four of the fiye Anglo-Indian papersSn Calcutta proved iaiat the agent had lied in his report. Mr Hardie said he had hoped to be taxed by - some of those wha had been" writing to the papers about his sayings and doings in India. He, had refused point blank 1 to be drawn by the newspapers into dealing with , the Indian, question. He confessed, however, that on the eve of his departure from New Zealand he w,onld not have regretted .the opportunity of making- & statement, and depended upon some of the valiant critics in the press being present to give him the opportunity. A more patient or more loyal people than the people of India, did not exist on the face of the globe. There was no sedition; and no rebellion in. India. The so-called unrest had its origin in good and sufficient cause, and when that cause was removed agitation subsided. In Delhi in April last year the Mttnioipal Council had seen fit to double the municipal rate, and the ratepayers began to hold meetings of protest. It was Called rebellion, and the ' presa cabled Home reports that the people of Delhi .were preparing for another mutiny and another mase&ore of Europeans ion -the night ot May 10, the anniversary of the outbreak of the' great mutiny- of 1851. There bad been a quarrel between some naTvies and et contractor who would not pay them their wage*. They gave him. a, Sound drubbing, and he disgorged the wages. Thfr statement he was giving wae vro&\ he received from the British district magistrate in Delhi. A. half-drunken I Eurasian saw the squabble, and, as a result ' of hia tale, told m the European- quarter that the T}atives. had broken loose ta mas- . eaore, and thai already seven Eaglishinen ! had' been stabbed to death, the military" Were catted oufe and all the houses were barricaded -vrifch the aingle exception' of i tho -residence of the magistrate, who; ,had seen the whole affair m the native l quarter. Business went on as usual. Nevertheless, the prose cabled that the natives had murdered seven Englishmen, and a general massacre had only, been prevented by- the prQmpt calling out of the troops.' The^ double tax was shortly afterwards withdrawn, and the agitation subsidedt That was a sample of what was , called sedition in India. If that was ' sedition, there was a good deal of it not . so far away. For -the 25 years he had • been in public life he had never sought to j defend his actions. If a man's life-work , was not hia own defence he mast be #in 9. verY bad way indeed. He never replied to press oritioisms. He had arrived in Calcutta on September 16 and spent eight days in Eastern Bengal, then returning to < Oalc^tta. About the Ist or 2nd of October < jie was received in Calcutta, by the Land- i Ipxds^ Association and by the loyal British J .£nglo-Ind'iaii Association. On the motto- j ing of the 3rd or 4th the people in Cat- ( cutta were considerably surprised Jto read J in their papers that fhe press of -England i was in a state of frenzy at -his doing* in. 1 Eastern Bengal. He made inquiries, and.. -< found tfoafr Eauter's a^ent had cabled J

Home a sensational, untrue, and concocted , report, and^foar .of, the -fi-ve, Anglo-Indian, papers pro-ved that man had -lied in h»i report. They called upon, him, to produce ' his proof i and he failed., and they charged ' him with' deliberate falsifying' of the re1 portr On the ' strength of thai;' "f alee report, and altogether-^ighoringv correct re^' ports' sent Home T>y fbtir other Angloi Indian papers,'- the- press of New- Zealand? and a. section of the nreas * of- London" -seemed to. get into & -ficenzied condition., Every day throughout, .hie, tour_ thwm'gb. India he w*s visiting the .English officials. They tad not -heard of-h» seditious-move-ments.. At Simla, he .was- received ,by the Governor/ and Was the^ guest, of.- tbiee sepa-. rate members of the Gove'fimaenfc. ' If_ onethousandth part of what appeared in tha papers had ..been true, would, those/officials,' ? from the -Governor 'downwards;'' have 'seen a man, dined wife a inanp- and 'feasted £ man- who' had- been . guilty -"o£ such conduct ?i When he had used a certain. ~ expression about the editors of the. New. Zealand press, he had in -his mind not. that they had unwittingly, and > unknowingly published wrong statements, but that .they gofi^ i to> know the truth they neither * withdrew 1 . those etatementa "nor apotogiseck> The" , ; editors of the 'iAnglo-^Tndjaii papers, acting- | as' 1 one '/would '"epcpect gentlemen to act, | had frankly withdrawn their statements and apologised for having', made them.