HELP FOR THE SUFFERING IN INDIA.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXXXII, Issue 89, 11 April 1900, Page 4

HELP FOR THE SUFFERING IN INDIA.

The demands of the war, great as they have been, have not''(says The Times of 'January 29) touched, and are not likely to touch, more than the veriest fringe of the wealth of Britain; and, for the purposes of effectual help, only a portion of that wealth is needed. India possesses the organisation, and all we need to do is to come to her assistance [with an adequate contribution to the cost. We believe it would even afford a wholesome diversion of the public thoughts if it could be brought home to any large number of people that sufferings greater than any which civilised warfare can entail are being silently and patiently borne over vast tracts of country under our way, and by vast multitudes of people to whom we almost bear the relation of a subordinate Providence. It will do us good to be compelled to think of other troubles and other anxieties than these which are now falling so heavily upon numbers of English homes; and our emotions as well as our charities may find wholesome outlets among the millions of our starving fellow-subjects. The war, great and manifold as are its claims, should not be suffered to exclude from view the other duties and responsibilities of a world-wide Empire, nor should we allow it to be supposed that its magnitude, in relation eitheAo our interests or to our resources, is such as to place any real impediment in the way of giving necessary attention to all demands that can properly ba made upon us. It is one of the privileges of the Press in such a conjuncture as the present to endeavor to widen the horizon of the popular view, and to point out that while the war is slowly dragging on towards its inevitable end there is si ill work to be done in the way of bearing the white man's burden in other directions. . . . There could be no more fitting response to the malicious carpings of some of our Continental critics than to show, by deeds rather than words, that the conduct of the struggle from which they profess to anticipate the downfall of the Empire will not even be suffered to interfere with the accustomed workings of the Imperial organisations, or with the accustomed outflow of the Imperial charity.