INDIA AND THE WAR.

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 219, 18 January 1917, Page 6

INDIA AND THE WAR.

' The following interesting letter appeared in the Wellington Evening Post of a recent date: — Our British Indians, numbering as they do some 350 millions to our white 65 millions, are in excess of the whites "by more than 5 to 1, taking the British Empire as a whole. At the commencement of the war, the educated and suir able classes were not only willing, but anxious and eager to throw in their lot and help us, but were not allowed to volunteer. Their country is congested, with its -teeming millions, to such an extent that an army of ten millions could leave their country for their country's good, while we New Zealanders especially suffer continuously—even in our prosperous peace time—from a dearth of population almost unthinkable, considering the -work available and ahead of us in developing our very garden colony. Following is an extract from an Indian magazine published in Madras, India, in May, 1916:—"An immense -opportunity has been lost by Great *• Britain, by her refusal to accept the offers of volunteer service, which rained in at the beginning of the war from the educated classes. They fell back chilled and wounded except in Bengal; there they persisted and at last succeeded, in having an Ambulance Corps which has done fine service. But still they pressed their wish to volunteer for active service at the front, and would not accept the official denials. Now France has stepped in wit!? her great sympathy, and power of imagination, and called on the Indians living under her rule, offering them an equal footing with Frenchmen in the army, and in the Republic of France. She has her reward; joyously the young men came forward, and there has been a natural outburst cf soy and. pride, such as Bengal has neyer before seen. The people of Calcutta saw their own youths answering to the call of France, and rejoiced over them with an enthusiasm which showed what England might have won if she had the insight and the statesmanship that France has shown. The way Calcutta station by which the little troop was to go, drawn from the Calcutta colleger, was lined with eager crowds cheering wildly; the housetops were crowded with women, who showered flowers on the heads of the marching lads, and blew conches —the old sacred battle call of the Hindu warriors—as English readers may see in the B'hagavad Gita. At the station were gathered many of the Calcutta , political leaders, and the train steamed off for Chandermagne —French India —amid the blessings of the elder and the cheers of the younger men! All this enthusiasm, this joy, would have come to England, if the men here •had welcomed, instead of repelling the offers, which were made early in the war; but it would have been multiplied a thousandfold, for the British rule thousands, where the French rule one. Here was an opportunity offered of binding closely India to herself, and she pushed it aside carelessly." The question is asked in all sincerity at a time when the whole manpower of the British Empire is needed against our formidable foe, whose military strength continues to be un-der-estimated. The Indians, too, live under our protection and in full enjoyment of our liberal governing in their

jcwn country. Why, then, should they not have their share of self-sacrifice for their Empire?