INDIAN UNREST

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 177, 28 July 1928, Page 21

INDIAN UNREST

; IVniiii mi- to comment on your >omc- ! what crude cartoon in tin- "Star."' which ! i- aliogc-d to represent the lal>our situajtion in India at the present moment. To ■surest that the trouble is due to actM- : tie- 1 roni Mnsmw is open in grave doubt i .Hid w<.Kihi point to a. weakne-s in ; British admuii-tration «.f India. In { ]ioint oi jaet the cable press message j-a von i s strongly ~f i( certain parrot-like i propaganda which is frequently noticed | in cable news items from overseas. Some (time ago .1 happened to meet a wel!j intornied gentleman, a resident of India, .and one of the. topics discussed hctwe'-n lus was the present unrest in India, Us cau-e. and pus-ibh, remedy. The ]iresei t unrest, i was informed, lias been brought about ]>rimariJy by the general education ot the masses, which has brought about a desire for a higher standard of living, j For this education, the natives are uii debted to the British l!aj and are very grateful, hut when the masses make any I movement towards better working condi*jtions and a greater share in the profits. : they liclj> to create, they are met with a i -tern refusal and looked upon as di-- | loyalists, agitators, and Bolshevik.-. After all. the desire of the masses is only a natural one. and the awakening of tinEast is only a move along the line of p.tigress which we all tread, or otherwise stagnate. When en route to Europe ;lja member of the New Zealand Expeditionary 1-orces. I had an opportunity to visit several tea and other plantation?, and noticed that the highest wages paid to the laliourcrs was about equal to ]rl a I day while the dividends paid on the capital i invested on these, same concerns ranged | from 2(1 to -i-3 per cent. One prominent I Indian official informed me that this waI considered a good wage, because half the i natives in India never had what we Digj gt-rs called a "'square meal" in ail the;, j lives, and therefore the labour markt-i j was unlimited. T abhor such ttsclc-s ta. ties such as strikes, and the useless de|si met ion of valuable property. -u hic.i j always results in heavy 10--es to both ; | >ides of the dispute, but it is ridiculoui to be eternal!;, blaming Mii-i-niv for this i state of ail'airs. any m-.re that we coul ' tor the wet winter we are having. '11. East is slowly but surely* awakenim.'. 1-roni my observation- the Indians have no desire to be rid of the British Kaj. who they candidly admit are ellieient and humane administrator.-, holiest an-! impartial judge-, but the main dc-ire i ; | for better working conditions, siiort-. .*• hours, and higher wage-, and -ocia! equality commen-urate with standard o' living and education. same opinions, I found, obtained in Egypt, where man - - Egyptians spoke in high praise of lie British Administration generally. obsei; via 1- ;.