IN INDIA.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 177, 31 August 1909, Page 1

IN INDIA.

WHAT WE ARE THERE FOR. Tihe Times' special correspondent, in concluding a long article pn the abo\o subject, says:—The more one studies Indian affairs, the more one is drivjn to the conclusion that many of our diffi-

culties are due to the fact that we have never made up our minds as to our purpose there. As a nation .we do not possess the faculty of clear thinking. Over and over again reflecting civil servants have said to ine, "What are we there for? If I only knew that I should know how to order my life and -ny duty." The civilian nowadays is perplexed and puzzled. He sees the conflict of the rival ideas, the one, that we are in India for the good oi the pcopie, and the other, that we are there primarily for our own good. He finds it' difficult to reconcile the two schools of thought, .and his way of life is thereby made uncertain. The task of the man ■who nowadays seeks to implant a great degree of Western civilisation among peoples whose chief awakening desire is to control, themselves, is hard indeed. To hold what we have, to make concessions slowly and cautiously, to rule justly and fearlessly, to continue our thankless endeavors to advance the well-bein" of India, without praise and without gratitude, and never to do anything ts impair the stability of our rule—these things must suffice.