PATER'S CHATS WITH THE BOYS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2811, 29 January 1908, Page 85

PATER'S CHATS WITH THE BOYS.

INDIA'S REVOLTS AND WANTS. It is interesting to read the opinions of different men upon the world's politics. Mr J. Keir Bardic says that there is no danger of a rising of India, while others say that India is a dormant volcano, ready to burst out at any time. The probability is that neither side is correct, but that great changes will have to take place in the immediate future in the government of India, or, as a writer in the Daily Mail Year Book puts it, "the government of India will have >,to be democratised." What has happened is this : The natives of India have been receiving a Western education, and see no reason why Western methods of government should not be applied to India ; and the British Government has not instituted changes in the government of India corresponding to the enlargement of the mental horizon of tfie ruled. So hopeless, did it appear to General Gordon 20 years ago to get the British Government to move that he is reported as having said: "You may do what you. will./ It will be of no use. India will never be reformed until there has been a new revolt there." * There is no doubt that there has been, and is, great discontent in India — a discontent that became prominent in Bengal in 1905, and has shown itself on a larger scale in 1906 and 1907; and it is pretty clear that the seething discontent is greater among the Hindus than among the Mohammedans. In 1905 Bengal was divided into two provinces (1) because ife had grown unwieldy on account of its large population, and (2) because Eastern Bengal, though largely inhabited by Mohammedans, is ruled almost entirely by Bengalis. This partition lessened the power of the Bengalis, and the educated class or Babus became bitter opponents of the British. In 1906, when the Liberal Government of Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman came into power, strenuous efforts were made by the malcontents to induce Mr Morley, the Secretary of State for India, to annul the partition, and ' ' Sir B. Fuller, the Lieu-tenant-Governor of Eastern Bengal, resigned, because the Indian Government declined to take measures against certain schools where . the boys were abetted in sedition. This fanned the disturbances, while disloyalty was further stimulated by certain members of the British House of Commons, who urged the leaders of the agitation in India to continue their activity, assuring them that if they did Mr Morley would give way. On Sep- ' tember 10, mingled amusement and indignation was aroused by the crowning of the Babu leader Surendra Nath Banerjee." In 1906 and 1907 there were three distinct movements in progress — (1) The Swadeshi Movement — a movement to encourage the use of Indian manufactures and to boycott British manufactures ; in reality it was a boycotting by Hindus of Mohammedan merchants and shopkeepers who held stocks of British goods. (2) The Swaraj Movement, which demanded Home Rule for India. (3) The " National Volunteer" Movement. Mr H. W. Wilson, in his article " What Has Happened in India," says this last-named movement consisted in the organisation and training of semi-military bodies of Babus and Hindus. *' They drilled with sticks and bows and arrows, and pervaded the provinces of Bengal and Eastern Bengal " — that is, presumably, the two partitioned provinces " All these movements were strengthened and intensified by the victory of Japan in the war with Russia, which led the Bengalis to suppose that they could do as Japan had done." It will be seen that two of these movements were organised by Hindus, and it is probable that they were mainly responsible for the Home Rule movement also. The result of .these organisations was a series of disturbances and a feeling of unrest which gave the Indian Government, and British Government too, a great amount of anxiety. The native press became particularly virulent and many newspapers had to be suppressed; and Mr Keir Haxdie said that the prohibition of meetings reminded him of Russia. Leaflets were circulated by agitators among our native soldiery to cause mutiny, and when the fiftieth anniversary of the Indian Mutiny came round last year Nana Sahib was eulogised as a patriot and a saint. One editor said the English were not gods or men, but monsters ; another that the British Empire was a heU ttjjob, earth ; and \

third, that if She 300,000,000 Hindus united the - 100,000 English could* be driven into the sea with sticks and" stones. It w v as stated that' the English -were poisoning the •wells and spreading the plague ; and, to inflame the Mohammedans, the report was spread that- a Mohammedan policeman had been shot because he refused to carry tie carcase of a wild pig. Europeans were murdered, missions and clubs wrecked, and guards

of trains attacked,

The seditionists found, however, that a Liberal Government did not mean to pander to them. Mr Morley declared that peace and order must be maintained, and as "a result editors and others "were imprisoned and parades of armed forces made. At the same time he has indicated that the Indians will have a larger cay in the politics of their country.

TE WHITI'S PHOTOGRAPH.

Last week I concluded my chats on Te Whiti, but the following, which I intended to include in the series, will be read with interest, as it shows that a photograph of him was actually taken, and also that the request of a peer was to Te Whiti not worth more than a revest from a ueasant """

q a, pt*_ My information ■ is taken from an interesting chapter of -reminiscences as told in another contemporary -by John ~P. Ward, who fought in the Maori -wars,, and "who, after the arrest at Parihaka, took charge of Te Whiti "and Tohu' in a- tour of "the Somth . Island ; and a. snapshot photo is also given, taken surreptitiously,' but- with. Mr Ward's cognisance, in a garden in Nelson. -Te Whiti always vetoed any proposal to be photographed", and this is shown by one of the reminiscences Mr Ward relate®. The three were staying at Warner's Hotel, Christchurch, and the A.D.C. of the Governor — Sir Arthur Gordon — said that his Excellency would- like a photograph of the prophets. Now, to make a suggestion is regarded by many as a- command from governors up to majesties. The following colloquy took t place :—: — "T am- afraid, Captain, that they won't consent to that, but I'll ask them." ' "Not consent ! and his -Excellency wishes it! Oh, that' 6 absurd! Tell them, please, -it is his Excellency's wish to have both their photos." Te Whiti : "What does the pakeha want, Ward?" "The Governor wishes to have both your photographs to take to England with

"Ward, tell your pakeha friend I am. dead. This Governor' can hang nre — I suppose he will, but b& is not going to get my likeness, without he first hangs me. Then he can take my dead body, and do what lie likes with it."

Te Whiti_ wasn't hanged, But "the Governor didn't get the photographs,