The Daily News WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 27. WHAT ENGLAND HAS DONE FOR INDIA.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 2, 27 January 1909, Page 2

The Daily News WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 27. WHAT ENGLAND HAS DONE FOR INDIA.

Oil October 31, hS,)S. Victoria signul Um\famous Proclamation which ended the. rule of the company in India, ami brought that va.il province under tlie iliiiirL rule ol' (ileal Britain. The Proclamation wm issued a; a tragical moment in history. The ember- of tin 1 ureal revolt'were >li!i -muiihlcriii;:'. and Atichel's il'ooji.s were >til! chasing Tantia Tojii amid the wild, «,f Central India. The aiijii'y pa»u>,i«. «!iai had ed fonh upon bom siiLs w,rr vis- ; il>h'. Ureal Britain li:'»i Mibum-d the rising". hill she had to face '.lie la>k oi consi riieiiii."- a new administration out of the fragments of Hie old. into this arena of lierce encounters, and of tni»ie nuniorie.s which slill were fresh and poiyiuuiU came the menage of the Quccji, breathing a spirit of humanity and forgiveness and peace. "Write it,'' wrote, her Majesty to bml Derby, "remembering thai it is a female Sovereign who speak* to more than IIMJKIOJM) of Eastern people on assuming Ihe direct government over Iheni after a bloody civil war. . . . Such doeiiinent should breathe Ihc i'celiays of gom-ius-ity, benevolence, and n ligiou?- feeling, pointing out tiie privileges which tinIndians will rm-ive in being placed on an equality . with tin- MibjeeN of tJn 1 l-riii>ii ' vown. ami 11n- pro>perii\ f"iiowiag in tin' train -of eivilUition."

hi that spirit, say., a writer in ll»' London Times lite Proclamation was writU'ii; in tlutl. spirit, d. spile many accttsalions to tin 1 , contrary, it has been scrupulously observer. Tin- .British in India have no reason to foil' the verdict nf posterity upon the half-century that has elapsed since tin- control of the company was replaced l.y that of the Government of India as we know it today. Exact statistics of the area and population owing our sway in IS.IS are lacking. No accurate, estimates were made until 1872. but in that year the area of the Indian Empire was calculated at 1,430.7-14 square miles, with a population of 230,000,000. To-day it 'is estimated at 1,7<>(>.5!>7 square miles, with a population of 2M'/, millions. That is about one-fifth of the population of the whole world. It is not always realised that two-fifths of this vast territory is still under native rule. When the Queen's Proclamation was read. John Bright said in Parliament that there were move "travelablc" roads in a single English county than in the whole' of India. Last April there were 30,287 miles of railway open, ami nearly 2000 miles under construction, while probably nearly 200.000 miles of roads were being maintained. When the company was resisting the advent of the Crown ill 1 KT»S, the Court of Directors boasted that their irrigation works irrigate nearly twenty-three million acres. This is exclusive' of private irrigation works. The total irrigaled aria of llrilish India, including both State and private work.-,, is now close iron liTly million acres ovci in a dry year. The foreign trade of the country has grown by leans and bounds, in the last year of the company the exports of India were valued at :i!l : Ki millions sterling, and the imports at 14'/, millions. During the year which ended last March the export* "ere estimated at IKS millions sterling, and the imports at 01 millions, while the addition of 24 y|. millions for net imports of treasure bring the aggregate total to the enormous sum of 233'/;, millions sterling.

Only in one respect do the available I statistics show a decline since IS.3S. .When I lie Crown took over the control of India there were 0.'1.U00 English and UUI.tIWI native troops. To-day, in spite of great increases of territory, the ■strength is 70,11110 English and '14.9,1)01) native troops, excluding the volunteers and the Imperial Sendee forces. If. as is sometimes said, oar rule rests upon bayonets, they arc neither very numerous nor very visible. The codification of the civil and- criminal laws, which has done, mi much to improve the administration of justice, was oae of the first great tasks undertaken by the new Executive. The conservation of the forests of India, a matter of the utmost importance to the well-being of large masses of the rural population, was only bemiii systematically al'lev the company ceased to f.\i.-l. The wonderful system of famine prevention and relief, which has just successfully undergone a most severe lest ill tile 'Cllitcl I'rovinccs. is entirely the creation of Crown control. The general rise in the standard of living and comfort .luring the last fifty year, has been most marked. An elaborate .system of local self-government has been devised, which is perhaps in excess of (he requirements of the country. There are now 750 municipalities, with an annual income of about, six millions sterling, controlling the local uH'airs of nearly 17 million people. There are also 10S7 'district and local boards, with an annual revenue, of over three millions. But the almost entirely rural character of the bulk of the population of India, which necessarily restricts local selfgovernaieiit, is never adequately realised in this country. In all India there arc only thirty-one towns with a population of over 1011.000, as against eighty-live such towns in England and Wales alone. The typical unit of population ill India remains, and must always remain, a cluster of dwellings around a well, and a tree or two.

Fur many ya\'A it lias been thy fashion amoay Indian politicians to say that the promises made in the Queen's Proclamation have not lieen kept. 'fluiirst three salient promise* in ilie Proclamation related to the. princes of Jnd'ia. They were told that all treaties and nts made with ihem hy

tin'. I'j-l liutiii Company were accepted li.v Llk* frown, and would lit- "scrupulonsl.v lunitjtuini'd."' That promise lias bct'ii faithfully fn 1111 led. Tin. next statement was that the Crown desired "no extension of onr present territorial possessions" That also has lieen strictly observed. Tin- third promise to 1, lie I prince-, of India was Iliat the Sovereign would "re-pei-t the rights. dignity, and honor ol native princes a-> our own."' TliaL promise, 100. has been amply main-

tained. The fa molts passage about the maintenance. of religious liberty lias been observed almost witli an excess of zeal. so. tno, with the promises coneiMninu' liir heritage of lands, mid tin; regard. to be paid bv tin* law lu "the aiii-icm, rights, usages, and customs of Ijidia." What. then. remains? The

whole nmtrnvi't'sy which has artacn a round lite (,hieen's I'roclamat ion really relates to a sentence. which says: "And. it is our further will that. solar as may Ih\ our subjects, of whatever race or creed. Ik* freely ;i,ul impartially atiinit let! to ollices in our service. the I duiic* of whieh they may lie ijualilicd . by their ediu-ation, ability. and integrity duiy to discharge/' J It is in short, a (jiiesiiou of loaves : and Italics. Indian politicians that 1 rat-e doe*, in ;ill but a very few ca.scs. <'oij>lilute a dis(|iuililic<iLi«tu for the

higher ullircs in tile SUMi'. They |)nint out, what is a fait, Unit •■it Jiri'M'iit ii ii Imlin i] may iiopc to rcsu-ii i'cs|Kiiisiblc rank in tlio Army; and they ••'"iKiiil tliiit in i-iril appointments (h'e present methods of selection lead in (he belief Hint their exclusion is "intended In In- perpetual." Tin- converse arguments wi-ri! si't tortii at considerable lciij?tli liy Lord Oirziin in 11)04. The liritish Knipiie employs in India in t.hi' civil administration fewer tlnin (i.'il)ll uf its cnvn countrymen, (if wliinn ti;ill2ll,'i HIV ill receipt. „f salaries of .CSIIII a year or more. There is an increasin<; dislinsitioii to employ Indians in "every P'ade of I Jin jiulilic service: and in a year which lias situ two India',;- up-

|)i>inl.r<l li> Uji' fSrrrrf;irv »f Slalr\ ! Cimnvi]. if, liu lMtjfi'i'f Ijc { \ (Imf llu-y arc cM-ludcd from tin}K>btS. The tliinjjvr (lull lie* lid'ori;

I lie Jirilisli in India is I lial, their ml,: may grow »lrrti>l,v|Mil mill perfunctory: t lial, tlirii' ives limy weary ill' a task which lice,lines mure ilillicnlt nnil inui'c vxactiin; every vim/: that h seekini: to admit Hie |„ !1 larger share ill the ailniinislraliiin they may in tin; I'inl yield up lliat Mtrunjj domination which for many a decade In runic must lie essential to the wise anil continuous ilevelojnnenl, of tile India"! impire. Already (lie apolojrelic mile ar tnu freqnent'ly heard. We liave lilifr to apolnjiise for. We may liave e mistakes, lint we can look line); ion, the past half-century with pride, 'or fifty years we liave given the Inian Kmpire -poiiM?, we. have saved :t strife and crentsi for it an orderly

and settled rule? we have developed its resources; we lmve made for it a great place in the world. For liilv years a iifth of the whole human race has lived in .security and concord and increasing comfort and prosperity, through the labors of a handful of self-Hiniu and i "devoted Kngliuhme'iJ. We have tamed and trained the rivers of India, we have won back enormous areas to cultivation, we have conserved her forests, we have created new cities, we have built harbors and roads and railways, we have developed her trade, we have greatly increased her internal wealth, we have protected her borders, we have taught her people, the arts of government, we I have given them an expanding system of education, we have awakened among

them tlii> very idea!-; which now lead some of them to raise their voices against us. There is nothing in 1 lie "world's history that quite compares with the achievements of the British in India, and. we may be pardoned upon so great an anniversary for looking upon our handiwork and seeing thai it is good. Jf we have been hard and austere, our vasl responsibilities haw made us so. AVe have never for ;* moment been able to forget that we are a people Whose mailed hand keeps the keys Of such teeming destinies.