AIR ACTIVITY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 165, 15 July 1930, Page 7

AIR ACTIVITY.

TROUBLED INDIA.

North-West Tribes Continue

To Cause Strife.

STILL MUCH UNKEST. (British Official Wireless.) (Received 12.30 p.m.) RUGBY, July 14. The Government of India's appreciation of the situation up to Saturday last was circulated to members of the House of Commons to-day.

In the North-West Frontier Province a recrudescence of the hostile activity is recorded in South Waziristan and in the Upper Shaktu area, beginning on July 6 when several hostile leaders, joined forces in attacks on the scou'.s' posts around Bararogha.

On the evening of July 8 a concerted attack failed and a gun belonging to the Sadde Khan, one of the hostile leaders, was put out of action. An attack on July i) was repulsed with considerable loss. The retiring rebels captured certain Ivhassadar posts, but on the advent of the Razmak column on July 10, they withdrew towards Haidan.

A noticeable feature of the operation has been the co-operation on the part of friendly sections and the loyalty of the Khassadars. Continuous air action has been maintained against lashkars and the areas which supplied them. The statement, summarising the incidents, records that on July 8 a slight explosion occurred in Peshawar City, outside the house of an honorary magistrate, but very little damage was done. Civil Disobedience. In other parts of India the civil disobedience movement pursues its course with increased activity in some places and a lull in others, but on the whole the recent indications of a decline have been maintained.

It is reported that in Bengal as a whole the civil disobedience movement is on the decrease, but a tendency towards violence is increasing and there aro signs that the terrorist party may become more active.

The Madras Presidency also reports a definite slackening in the movement, due, however, more to vigorous action by the authorities than to voluntary abandonment by its adherents.

Similar improvement is manifested in other provinces, except in Bombay and the central provinces. Conflicts nave occurred between the authorities and tho public, the most serious of which occurred on July 11 in Bombay, when the Congress volunteers persisted in their attempts to hold a procession and a meeting in honour of the Garlnvali soldiers who have been convicted of mutiny. The police had to make several charges before the intention was abandoned.

Thero was a collision during the week between the police and a crowd in Poona, and owing to its aggressive attitude the crowd had to be dispersed by force. In Gujerat, on the other hand, there are signs'of improvement, and in several districts the village officers who have been persuaded or coerced to resign their offices are withdrawing their resignations in considerable numbers.

In the central provinces an organised movement, has been started to defy the forest laws. While the movement remains in principle non-violent, incidents are continually occurring which show that the rank and file, especially in tho rural areas, cannot be restrained from acts of violence, commonly taking the form of attacks oil small parties of police.