INDIA NOW AT PEACE

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21445, 10 April 1935, Page 5

INDIA NOW AT PEACE

REBELLIOUS ELEMENT SUPPRESSED

STATEMENT BY MAJOR J. I

CIIRYSTALL

India is to-day in a tranquil condition, the rebellious elements being well under control and the peasantry contented, according to statements made in an interview yesterday by Major J. I. Chrystall, formerly of Christchurch, and now on leave from his regiment, the 13th-18th Hussars, stationed at Sialkot, on the North-west frontier. Major Chrystall said that Gandhi, who had caused a great deal of trouble in the past and added to the burden on the British forces in India, had now almost lost his influence.

"The present tranquil state of India is due mainly to the firm government and v/ise leadership of the Viceroy, Lord_ Willingdon. who has raised the prestige of the government tremendously since he took office," said Major Chrystall. "The Englishman in India is now respected as much as ever."

Major Chrystall has had a long and varied career since he first joined his regiment in India in 1912. He served in Mesopotamia, and Persia during (lie Great War, and since the war he has served seven years in the Sudan, two years in Egypt, and four years in India. Before he left NewZealand he had a company of the Wellington East Coast Regiment. Pie is an old boy of Christ's College. A Small Faction "Less than 1 per cent, of the population of India arc clamouring for Dominion status, or whatever they call it." raid Major Chrystall. "The bulk of the population are perfectly content to remain under the British Raj and still respect the white man. The crux of the whole matter is Hint India is an agricultural country,-and as Jong as the crops are good and prices are good the people are absolutely contented. I have seen a good deal of the peasantry, and they seem very contented and are only too pleased to see us when we go into their villages on manoeuvres. They are very charming people." Major Chrystall is firmly convinced of the need for armed forces for the maintenance of peace in India. "Without 60,000 British troops in the country we could never hold it," he said. The Terrorists The terrorists in Bengal, who were mentioned by a recent visitor from India as one of the principal problems facing the government, were stated by Major Chrystall to be now strictly curbed, chiefly through the work of Sir John Anderson, the Governor. Wider powers had. been given to the government for the suppression of the terrorists and the drafting into the area of another brigade of Bjitish troops had had a quiclening effect. "The policy of the terrorists is simply the assassination n{ British officers, district commiss "hts, and police ouicers," said Major Chrystall. "About a year ago 10 British officials were assassinated in Bengal. The Bengali is very ripe for sedition, not virile 'at' all, semi-educated, and impregnated with ideas from America. Many of the agitators are lawyers and failed B.A.'s. They all want jobs, and there are not enough jobs to go round. So they become terrorists, thinking to step into the shoes of the men they have murdered. Of course there is always a seething undercurrent, but this has been curbed."