The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 1905 THE DIVISION OF BENGAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 7918, 6 September 1905, Page 2

The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 1905 THE DIVISION OF BENGAL.

'he stirring events which have boon end are .still being enacted in Manchuria have quite overshadowed the by no means unimportant proposal which is now being discussed relative to the/partition of liengal. I'n'ier ordinary circumstances when n district has become too large for el licient administration! there is little, if any dillicnlly in re-adjusting boundaries so as to form an additional district or province,(but in India thv question is surrounded with'.obstacles more or less formidable consequent on the intensity of racial sentiment and cante. Great Britain has again anil again had to face the solution of problems in India which could not have entailed the slightest difficulty elsewhere, and it has nut always been by diplomacy or other peaceable means that reforms have been eflected in our Indian Empire. It is not at all surprising, therefore, to find that the proposal to divide liengal into two provinces has aroused the antagonism of the Bengalis, nor is it difficult to understand wh£ this should be the case. They are' a distinct people, with a language of their own, and certain well-marked characteristics which, in themselves; tend to engender a feeling of respect rather than otherwise, for they are probably the least warlike of all the races in India, the home of bloodthirsty, fiery, fanatics. Their mental culture has been brought to a high pitch of perfection, while they have the nearest approach to a national foiling that has been attained by a race in India. Out of a total population in the Presidency of Bengal of 71.0(H),tKX) the Bengalis number 41,000.Qixi, their country being, the most densely populated in the peninsula. The present generation have grown up and flourished under a rule, which they recognise is beneficial to India. Their pride in their ancestry, and the cohesion which exists amongst themselves, have brought about what may be justly termed a national feeling. The prospect of severing the race—for this is how the Bengalis regard the partition of the Presidency—is decide-illy objectionable from their point of view, though in effect the existing conditions will continue and the government in both port ions of the severed area will practically be identical. Logically, they have no g<(o»l cause of cumpldvnt, their resistance to the change being I "rely sentimental. It j s , however, sentiment that has to be taken into account in all matters connected with the government of the people of India. The Presidency has at present forty-eight districts, comprising un area of square miles, in which there resides u population about double that of Creat Itritain. The Covermnent considers that this vast territory and population have become too unwieldy to be tered b.v u single central authority . hence the proposal to province consisting of Eastern Bengal and Assam, having a population of about .'!(►.ooo,(Mm, with IVcca, a , city of (Ki.iiflt) inhabitants, as the. capital, leaving Rengal with .Vuhiii,<llll.l people as a .vpurale province, each of the new districts to be administered by a Chief Commissioner. It was in Bengal Ilia) the English first established themselves ill lli."its, through the medium of (he East India Company, but it was not till thirty years after that they becanfl located a t Calcutta, which was then a mere village called Chuttanutty. I,no centuries have almost elapsed Since Calcutta was erected into a presidency, ami [i a . foundation of

British power in India 1,,. ( 5. i l,ut for the memorable Huts would have been an unbroK. n re, cord of progress in tho political and presidency be divided, but that their commercial history of Bengal, which' practically includes all Northern and Central India, and is the most populous and productive in all Brit ish India. It will he seen, therefore, that n administrative grounds the proposed division has much to icconvmnd it, and ( it is unfortunate that the Bengalis regard the separation with so much disfavour solely through fear that not only will the much cherished nationality will be split up and the unity of their raco destroyed. It is to foe hoped that their alarm will be short-lived, and that they will not stir up strife in consequence of a proposal which has for its object the | welding of tho natives quite as much as the con-> venience of the Government.