INDIA TO-DAY

Press, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23194, 4 December 1940, Page 14

INDIA TO-DAY

TO THE EUITOH OF THE PRESS. Sir, —Kindly permit me to comment upon the statements of W. B. Bland and “G.M.M.” in ycur issue of to-day. The former states—l. That the average income of the farming population of India is under Ud a day, out of which rent, taxes, etc., have to be paid. This is absurd, or they would all be dead. I have lived 19 years in India, dunne five of which I travelled almost continuously from Burmah to Aden and from Madras to Peshawar and Quetta. Though not pretending to know much, I looked at what I saw and believe that the peasants are hapoy. Their women are mostly leaded with silver ornaments, and they enjoy their simple lives, though often in debt through their marriage customs. The people as a whole cannot but be poor as they breed like rabbits. 2. That in Bombay there is terrible overcrowding. This is true, though the, perhaps, 100,000 millhands draw comparatively high wages. The overcrowding is not the result of poverty, but of municipal incompetence, a matter in native hands. 3. That the annual "tribute" from India averages £ 140.000,000. This is utterly untrue. During the five years ending 1939 India's excess of exports over imports averaged £22,552,000, which came to her in gold to be hoarded. The aggregate so hoarded is colossal, nuite enough to shake the markets of the world if released. “G.M.M." puts my attitude admirably in saying that I “assume not merely altruism on the part of the British administration but also its right to control the destinies of the Indian peoples.” The f-n ht mostly originates in conquest, bar i*emains moral only so long ac we may claim to govern India better than she could do so herself. The right of conquest is the sole claim of most nations to their land. For instance, we dispossessed the North 'American Indians, the Australian aborigines and, here in New Zealand, the Maoris. In spite of Waitangi the Maoris were actually pushed out by force of arms plus some money, beads, mirrors, etc. It will not be pretended that a fair price was oaid for the country. Do your correspondents consider that we should clear out of New Zealand? Of course, the right of the Maoris was no better and no worse than our own, viz., conquest. but we did not consign our predecessors to the ovens. As regards the general character of British rule in India. I had opportunities of observing its working and spirit closely while I was attached to the Government of India doing revision work. The comparatively few higher grade civil servants then in India, occupied the key positions and were well paid. The rest of the white men were very badly paid, the British soldier, for instance, drawing but Is a day, less messing, etc., for enduring the climate and facing The Bear. His life, all too often, was lost in the hazard. Officials in the public works, railways, post office, police, and so on, were ground down because of the almost fanatical feeling that the country must be administered cheaply. A postcard could be sent for a • farthing, a letter for Jd, a mile travelled by rail for id.’and. so on. Great irrigation and railway projects were nevertheless carried out so that famine might never again depopulate whole provinces, though, since they facilitated exportation in normal times, they had the effect of raising the cost of living in the towns and so manured the Congress seedbeds. Education is much behind except that, as here, the half-educated ones are the most vociferous. India cannot have universal education and good water supplies, medical services, etc., everywhere because she cannot afford them, but the Government does its best. It may be asked why we bother to 'remain in India. It is because we want a fair share of her trade and our position would be jeopardised if she were in the hands of another power. Your theorists may be quite sure that she would never be suffered to stand' alone and that she would bitterly regret any change of masters or. we may how say, colleagues. The rulers of the many native states are openly opposed to any change, and they are not bad judges. All the same, we need not look to India for gratitude: nations soon forget times that really were hellish. To my previous statements I vyill add one more, namely, that India in my time, anyhow, had .the best and most altruistic government that the world has ever seen.—Yours, etc., - R. F. W. ASHWORTH (Major). December 3, 1940. TO THIS EDITOH 07 TBS PHESB. Sir, —Your correspondent, W. ,B. Bland, has drawn a wrong conclusion from his own figures and one or two from my letter. I would suggest a course of logic for this writer, after which he might forget about trying to run India. Has Mr Bland tried soothing his “offended sense of social justice” by sending some spare cash to the poor people of India?— Yours, etc., E. A. W. SMITH. December 3, 1940. - [Subject to tha,-right of reply of D. M. Taylor this correspondence is now closed.—Ed., “The Press.”]