THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 4, 1913. SEDITION IN INDIA.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXV, Issue 10713, 4 October 1913, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 4, 1913. SEDITION IN INDIA.

The cabled information that haiS came to hand from India during the last few days has created a feeling of anxiety concerning the future of that immense and populous territory. Sedition is being preached on every hand, secret societies! are poisoning the minds of the natives against Great Britain, the action of South Africa and Australia in excluding Indians is provoking hostility, and many influences are si work to create' internal unrest. ' Colonel Rennick, of the Indian Army, who passed through Auckland recently on holiday leave, stated to a pressman that so far as he oould see there was no fear of any rising similar to the Indian mutiny, but much trouble would be caused by bomb-throwing natives. The Indians, in the opinion of Colonel Rennick, could not be educated without securing increased power politically. The avowed object of the British Government was to teach the natives to rule them- ; selves, and most thinking men in India were unhesitatingly of the opinion that an elective Parliament for India was a probability of the near future. With the eduoating of the people many more men would be desiring appointments to the various j Government departments, and, the J positions being insufficient to meet the demand, the disappointed applicants would undoubtedly develop into agitators. "The eedition that has Occurred so far is only the beginning of things," Colonel Rennick went on. "I do not eay that there will ever be another downright open mutiny, but I think the agitators and their followers will devote themselves mainly to the throwing of bombs. It does ntft seen to me that a mutiny could be successful, for the Arms Act has most effectually deprived the population of India of the opportunity of securing rifles and. big guns.

Another thing that has to bo taken inlo consideration is the fact that the proportion of black to white troops is now fixed by statute as two and a : quarter to one. Any rising on tlio part of the Indian troops, tOo r would be bound to be crushed in a short time, for there is practically no native artillery. In tlie first place, however, it would be very difficult for tho agitators to gain the sympathy of all the Indian troops, for practically one-third of them are drawn from districts not subject to the Indian Government, and they, therefore, have no grievances. Still the Government of India is very much alive to the danger of allowing sedition to gain a hold in the Indian a' u:v —that is, among the native troops, and there is now a separate section of the headquarters staff which devotes its- entire energies to keeping an eye on any attempt to tamper with the loyalty of the soldiers." Colonel Rennick remarked that much of the dissatisfaction existing in Imiia was caused by the enforcing of a land tax, amounting to about 20 per cent, of the gross products of the ,-land. Tho more the people were educated ;,the morft they were , objecting to this tax, which, they said, was probably the heaviest tax in tho world'. "The : Australians, with their cry for a i 'White Australia/ have added greatljy to the dissatisfaction that exists among the natives of India," lie concluded. "Educated men—men. who have been to Eton or Harrow and have graduated at Oxford or Cambridge—have been absolutely excluded. Is it any wonder that such tactics cause dissatisfaction amongst the people of India? Let the Australians keep the coolies from their shores if they like, but to inflict such an insult upon the educated class is too bad."