BRITAIN NECESSARY TO INDIA.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 133, 7 June 1932, Page 6

BRITAIN NECESSARY TO INDIA.

Americans viewing the Indian political scene at first 11 a11<I are emphatic in their opinion that the British connection with India must remain for many years to come (saya a dispatch from ' Delhi to the "Christian Science Monitor"). This 1 is the considered belief of J)r. James A. B. Sclierer, ' former president of the California Institute of ' Technology. who is regariled as an authority on 1 Oriental allairs. ])r. Sclierer spent six years in Japan and luirs made two visits to India, for the 1 sole purpose of studying conditions. He regrets - that much of American opinion on Indian affairs ' is formed from the writings of American corrcs- • poiulelits who attach themselves to the camp f of the Indian National Congress. This iri only f a one-sided and a non-constructive view, lie holds. ' Dr. Seherer admits that when he first visited 1 India in M>-24 he came with a. bias in favour < of Indian nationalism. He now Jits that view f into a wider comprehension of the political eitna- 1 lion, and declares that only Britain saves India from "a shambles" and contends that "India is less ready for self-government than is China." lie continues: "Britain is the true guardian of Indian rights. Kipling r=ays somewhere that 'transportation is civilisation.' In that respect Britain has civilised India. Hail ways, irrigation works on an immense scale, roads and modern legal .methods have been introduced into India T by the British, who have eliminated internecine ' strife a* a consequence. Virtually all the social achievement which has made India what it is ' to-day has been accomplished under British [ tutelage." '' t