THE LAND OF THE SAHIB.

Otago Witness, Issue 2894, 1 September 1909, Page 52

THE LAND OF THE SAHIB.

KIM AND HIS SISTERS. COLOUR AND CASTE. There are perhaps a hundred Englishmen in India, of whom one-hears. Inhere are thousands of whom one hears nothing, and of these each year a small percentage - disappears, sucked down in the muddy swirl of Indian native life. It may be drink, disaster, the sudden death of the money-getter, and the full blood "sabib." one of the conquering race, sinks beneath - the feet' of the conquered. His kind have cast him off, the natives, even 'f he wished: it, will havo none of him ; the steamer - captains will not take him hence, for he has not passage money. Far to north are the Himalayas, to east and west ocean; all around the enervating subtleties of the drowsy tropics, and " temptation past the show o' speech unnameable and new." ' Kipling tells of Giffen, who on leaving his regiment " went Fantee " (joined the people of the land), turned three parts Mussulman and one Hindu, " unclean, abominable, out at heels; forgetting that he was an Englishman." The same writer gives us Kirn, a type of the European waif adrift in native India. There are many Kirns, and during an interview on Saturday the Rev. J. A. Graham, D.D., Hon. Superintendent of St. Andrew's Colonial Homes, had much of interest to say concerning '"Kirn and his half-brother," and what; is being done for them. India is no place for those who have just recovered from enteric, like Dr Graham and his little girl, so he has come to New Zealand partly to recuperate, and partly to see the four boys who have already be?n sent from the homes at Kalimpong to learn farming in Otago. Dr Graham eaid two of these boys, of puro British blood, had been left by the death of their blind father, a widower, in Upper India, with no one to care for them. They had been taken in at tho homes. Of tho four, two were now in the employ of Mr Graham, of Highcliff, on the Peninsula, and the other two with Mr Pugh, af; Middlemarch. The employers had expressed themselves .as being perfectly satisfied with the lads, finding them gentler and more refined than the ordinary work-a-day boy ; perfectly reliable and trust- ' worthy, and they never skylarked. Here are some of the caeps quoted by Dr Graham, which have been taken in hand at Kalimpong: Some years ago a red-headed lad,, a soldier's son, was admitted. His mother was dead, and his father, when alive, had carelessly left him to his own devices, with th 3 result that he was placed in a, reformatory. The superintendent grieved to Fee an English boy in the midst of natives, got him into the homes, where in British environment he recovered hi 6 selfrespect, and is now in the Royal Artillery, ;n-shead; n-shead of bringing disgrace upon British name and fame in India, as he wouW undoubtedly havo done if left to himself. A dying coolie handed a white boy over to the hospital nurse, but refused to divulge they names of the child's' parents, or how h" came by him. The boy was christened " Donald," and is now at Kalimpore. , As to the Eurasian children (Kirn's halfbrothers) they are not 6o virile; but their vici«. if lees turbulent, are more insinuating, and difficult to' eradicate. The secrerar\ of the Society for the Protection of Children found a low native woman with a little girl, she claimed to have borne to an English miner. The child was rescued from a terrible fate and is now happy and useful in one of the home's cottages. A Scottish minister discovered a boy of 12 in a miserable native quarter of Calcutta. His father, a railway man. had basely deserted him. On arrival at Kalimpors he had hardly any clothing, and h's luggage consisted of a Bible wrapped in a rag. Later the boy took second place in the all-India Sunday «chcol examinations. A missionary lady on the North-Wosr. Frontier ree-cued from «. woman two gir'3 who were living with hor in vicious surrounding. Thanks to Kalimpong, they are becoming useful members of society. A hoartlcs* Scotsman abandoned an India" woman and their <ivp children, who, howo\ sr. are turnincr out well at tho homes. A man retiring to Britain l?ft boJiind a boy. who was taken by an ayah to a remotp part of Bengal. Two years ago the boy knew no word of English, and was clad only in a cotton cloth. Now there is p\ery prospect of his turning out a gentleman. Dr Graham says : " One of the saddest experiences is to trace the gra<duel downcome, generation by generation, of the descendants of men who have helped to build up the British Empire in India, There are home 30,000 of these children in India, and for such the St. Andrews Colonial Homes were instituted. I am a missionary from the Church of Scotland, but this is an extra work, and from a missionary standpoint the most important one can do. The problem is not to be solved on the tropical plains of India, where climatic conditions are unsuited to the development of physique and the environment a- harrier to mental and moral progress. In the groat mountain chains is providential pro\ision for children with Western blood in their veins. Kalimpong i-s charmingly situated on an inner slop© of the mighty Himalayas, opposite the groat Kinchinjunga and within 50 miles of the Thibet frontier. The climate i 3 cokl enough to deve'op robustness, and while the estate ie «urroui.dcd by Ghoorkas autl other hill tribe?, ii >s lars^e and &elf-ccn-tain^tl enough to possess an environment of its own We aim at a home environment. You see, it is impossible for among

brought up in the plains to become strong. There is tho slackness of the tropics, and no robust ideal concerning work. Native labour is cheap, and caste regulates employment. The poorest family has some sort of a servant, and in the humblest orphanages servants are employed. We keep no servants, in order to give the children a conception of the dignity of labour. It was a bold experiment to make, but the result has justified it. We brought from Britain two ladies for each of our 11 cottages, who show by practical example that woxli and refinement are not antagonistic For example, Miss Mary Kennedy is assistant ' bouse mother ' in the cottage department. We have a splendid band of workers. We began with two children. Now we have about 300. Of c-ouree, the closest supervision is necessary. The children do all the work with the la-dies from Engla,n-d, ever* to scrubbing the floors, a. startling innovation for India, ■where such work is usually done by ' the eweeper.' We have stock, poultry, and a demonstration farm under an expert ; workshops, gymnasium, cricket, tennis and football ground, and a hockey ground for the girls. Every boy capable of shouldering a rifle joins the cadet corps. Teaching is undenominational, and any branch «f < the Reformed Church has freedom to teacli its ecclesiastical tenets to its own children." Tb# doctor spoke of, what he' called, the European community domiciled in India. c "The majority of these,'* ■ he said, "are of 'the mixed race."' '■' Oh, -Eurasians," said the reporter. " Well," replied the doctor gently, " they <ion't like the term * Eurasians,' but havo begun to spea-k of themselves us 'AngloIndians,' a term hitherto applied to the English who have served for long in India and gone Home. The poor European, or Eurasian, widow finds India a hard place, and many feel that the outlook for their children is as gloomy as their own. The homes are ready to aocapt their children on such terms as the parents can honoor■ably offer, taking even the smallest sum on the principle of preserving the feeling of responsibility on the part of the parents Many a, case comes before us of noblo ealf-sacrifico in the interests of the family. Tho ambitions of ' Kirn's half-brother" usually lie in the direction of a clerkship, or Bibu work- They imagine it to be znoro genteel. Such work, however, is not best suited for his development, and the increasing number of educated native-* is gradually ousting him from such positions. Yes, Eurasians are between the two races, - and feel that they are, as a rule, looked down upon by both." Our reporter questioned the doctor as to the attitude of Indian society — rhat is to say, " Government House eociety "" — towards the stranded stranger, the unfortunate and the orphan. " Tho people of India," replied the doctor, "are in thi* respect very good. English families are even beginning- to settle in India. Of course, most people whose 6ervice is finished still go Home if they can afford it but a great many families eeitle in the mountains of tho north and south at MusBui>i Simla, and Dehra Doon. Their children are numbered among the country born, and accordingly rather looked down upon, I am sorry to cay, by the young people arriving from Home. Yes, there is the colour, the marvellous "cliarm, of India, but it, is no place for the European artisan, who, if placed, in competition with tho natives, would very coon go to the wall." I take it, said our reporter, that there are many pure-blooded European girls at the homes at Kalimppng, who would have no objection to coming to the colonies for domestic service. *' There are," was the reply, " and they would not have the least objection. Many of them are especially drained for domestic fcc % rvi<-e. We shall probably begin gradually. Sticklers for the colour line ne&d not be frightened. Only th*» girls of English Hood will be cent. If the first batch are found suitable and the conditions of New Zealand suit them, then probably more will follow. As to the boys, I belie\e that if 50 came to New Zealand to-morrow all would get billets. The object of our scheme is to develop grit and resource, and the girls are educated to earn their own living and to become well qualified housewives. Yes, there is a probability of our bo\s developing into fine fighting material Even now some go into the army and others into tho navy, besideb v lari?e percentage being trained for the mercantile marine. Gratifying reports have come to hund concerning thorn." What strikes Dr Graham about Dunedin is its solidarity. "It seems wonderful. " ne "says, " that eueh a place could have been brought into being in only 60 years.'" The doctor's decoration is the Kaisir-i Hinde Gold Medal (Durbar). He ha* Leon 20 years in India, and, in addition to the cause with which he has identified himself, is known as the author of " On th» Threshold of Three Closed Lands." and " Missionary Expansion of the Reformed Churches." He left India on July 22, voyaging from Colombo to Melbourne by the Orient liner Otway, and to Dunedin by the Manuka. Earlj this week ho departs for the northern and Australian TK>rts, and i 3 due in Calcutta on October 20. j He says, rather wistfully, " Dunedin I s^.nis very homelike to rap. A<s a foot I delight to hear the good old accent." I