RESTLESS INDIA.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 184, 25 July 1908, Page 4

RESTLESS INDIA.

THE REAL CAUSES OF RECENT TROUBLES. (By an Anglo-Indian.) Three thousand mice attacking one man would make short work of him, though he were as strong as a giant, and armed from head to foot. That is about the number of natives to each Englishman in tiie Indian Empire, and it is no wonder that the sedition and general unrest of the people is causing a good deal of uneasiness. From processions and boycotting of English goods, the agitation has passed through the phase of rioting, with an occasional assassination, to bomb explosions. Although the importation of arms and ammunition is strictly prohibited, startling discoveries of explosives have been made, as well n s of the material for a crusade of anarchy. There must be a widespread organisation of rebellious natives behind the scenes. What is the cause of their dissatisfaction? That is a question which puzzles those who ought to know best. Sir John Straehey, who knows India as well as he knows England, says that " there never was a country, and never will be, in which, the government of foreigners is really popular." Probably that is the best explanation of the present dangerous state of affairs in India. They want to govern themselves, and n nice kettle of fish tliey would make of it.

The causes of the present complaint against our rule arc so many that it is impossible to take a view of them all. Firstly, we have forciblv compelled the natives to live, in many ways, according to our own standard.

(.■'or ages suttee, or the burning of widows—often mere children—was practised in that strange land; and what could Englishmen do when they took over the government of the country but prohibit the dreadful ritet- There is no suttee now, but those who know India say that the vast majority of Hindus are very much dissatisfied on that account.

The Hindus have a rule that no lowcaste natives could give evidence against a Brahmin. We have made all men equal in a court of justice, and this is a very sore point even among educated natives. Mohammedans keep their women in seclusion, and no Hindu will al low a man to enter his house. When cholera and plague are carrying off' their millions, wo enforce isolation of the sick, which means entry into the homes nf the people. For thii they hate our ways. Dreadful riots followed these sanitary measures some couple of years ago.

Even our attempts to exterminate the poisonous snakes, which kill twenty thousand jieoplc a year, are a cause of discontent, for the ignorant natives fear that the gods will he offended. In fact their ways are not our ways, and our endeavours to make the Indians take the, English view, even though it is for their own good, beget exasperation and dislike.

Of hite years other causes; of dislike have arisen. .The aim of the Government lias always been to educate the people, and give them the largest possible share in the government of their country. There are very few Government positions which are not now open to entcr--1 prising Hindus. While only about 1.200 Englishmen are employed in the Civil Service, natives lill nil the minor posts, and about 3,<i<)o of (lie higher positions. Almost all the judges of the civil courts are natives. Most of the magisterial work is done by them. Nearly all the business in connection with the revenue and the laud is in the hands of the natives. But a number of the very highest positions remain in the hands of Englishmen. This is absolutely necessary in a country containing so many different races and religions. The Hindus are not satisfied with this arrangement. They want the entire conduet of affairs. This, of course, is quite natural. Indian subjects go over to England to study, and they take the highest honours at the universities. As law students they brilliantly distinguish themselves. They are unquestionably men of high intellectual power. When they go back to India, it is not surprising that thev wish to sec the way open to the highest places in the Government.

Education thus produces rebels. And yet every effort must continue to be made to educate tile people. In the widespread and deep ignorance of the great bulk of the natives lies the greatest danger. Apparently, the natives take no account of what Englishmen have done for their country, i/as than fifty years ago it was the custom in Calcutta, the capital of British India, to use the Uiver Hugli as both a burial-ground and the source of the drinking water. Thousands of corpses were thrown into it every year, and all the filth of the vast city drained into it. Of course, the people died like Hies, poisoned by the abominable water they drank.

Rangoon, at that time a city of 100,000 population, had not a single street lamp. There were few roads in the country, and scarcely any bridges over the rivers. Famine carried off millions, because there were no canals for irrigation of the land. Now the Indian cities can compare with those of Europe; good roads, and thirty thousand miles of railways, make communication easy; the finest system of irrigation canals in the world has been constructed, schools and hospitals have been established, every town has its municipal governing body, life, and property are protected, and justice is honestly administered. No German, no Frenchman, no Russian, no American i has ever gone to India who was not impressed by the honest and able gover,i-| ment of the country by the handful of Englishmen who undertake it. And another thing the Indians fail to note. India is not a country, but a number of countries under one supremo ruler. Hindus and Mohammedans and Sikhs differ among one another more than Englishmen, Spaniards, and Russians. They hate one auothev from the bottom of their Hearts. Were British rule, which enforces tolerance and peace, removed for one week, war would break out from the Afghan frontier to the Indian Ocean, and whichever race was vanquished would have reason to be sorry for the withdrawal of the British.