DISTURBANCES IN INDIA

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23753, 26 September 1942, Page 5

DISTURBANCES IN INDIA

Conduct of Police Questioned GENERAL INQUIRY SOUGHT

(N.Z. Press Association —Copyright.) fHec 715 p.m.) LONDON. Sept, .25. A resolution demanding an inquiry into alleged excesses by the nnhtary and the police during the recent disturbances in India was ™° ve f r? K C Neogy in the Central Assembij to-day, states a message from New The resolution suggests a committee of inquiry of the House with a majority of non-official members. Sir Sultan Ahmed, the law member, replying to the debate, said: Froin reports received it appeal's that the police and military have done remarkably well in most trying and perilous conditions. In some instances force may have been used and innocent persons may have suffered. If such instances are authenticated, -the attention of the Army Department and. the Police Department should be drawn to them and those guilty of such excesses be punished. But a general inquiry would affect the morale of the services concerned."

The police in Bombay are claimed to have unearthed 'a secret press where Congress Party bulletins are being printed in four languages. Eleven persons, including the owner of the press, a paper merchant, and 'a local professor. have been arrested. The Congress Party is continuing its efforts to intimidate Indian policemen and members of the public service. The latest issue of the cyclostyled newsletter,'which is appearing every two or three days, in spite of efforts to discover its source, threatens the policemen and Indians who constitute a large proportion of the staff of the Government secretariat. The newsletter, after describing Congressmen’s arrest by a policeman “who behaved like a British barbarian” states: “In plain words we tell these men that this is not safe for .them. Por every hurt a Congressman receives there will be retribution,’’ Aircraft Crew Massacred It has been disclosed in the Legislative Assembly that a mob massacred the surviving members of the crew of a military aeroplane which crashed on August 25 west of Narayanpur in the Bihar Province. The pilot was the only man killed as a result of the crash.

One British officer and four other ranks, who were part of a protective detachment, were ambushed at Marhowrah in the Bihar Province and speared or beaten to death. Two Royal Air Force officers who were ordinary passengers on a train and'who were not identified with the disturbances were hacked to death by a mob which stoned and later burned the train. The bodies of the officers were paraded through the town on a cart and then thrown into the river. Two were killed and two were injured when a bomb exploded at Aligarth, the United Provinces station. A passenger left the bomb in a box which the police thought was lost property. They were removing it when the bomb exploded. The Maharajah Rana of Dholpur, in an interview ' with the “New York Times” correspondent in India, said he believed that the monarch was divinely chosen. The Indian people recognised such a relationship, and therefore if Britain wantid to settle the Indian question within a few months the King should take direct command, make his own appointments, and take a personal interest in India. The Indians would understand that and the various factions would soon compose their differences.

He added that there was no feeling for democracy in India, but there was complete understanding and a desire for a personal ruler. Religion was the core of the Indian.

STATIC POSITION IN CHINA

CHEKIANG FRONT (8.0. W.) RUGBY, Sept. 24. The latest reports from Chungking indicate that the position on the Chekiang front remains comparatively static following the defeat of Japanese counter-attacks from Lanchi. On this sector the Japanese are now defending a line along the Lan river, which runs through the southern suburbs of Lanchi. Though they appear so far to have resisted successfully Chinese attempts to establish bridgeheads on the north bank of the river they have been unable to remove the immediate threat to the city, which is under continual Chinese pressure. At the same time there 3s news that the Chinese drive north-east of Lanchi and Kinhwa threatens to turn the fortified positions the Japanese had established for the defence of the cities. Reports of renewed activity in the neighbourhood of Tungyang. 30 miles north-east of Kinhwa, are considered in Chinese quarters fn London to indicate a tightening of the Chinese grip on the supply route of the Japanese garrison, which is in increasing danger of being cut off from its base at Hangchow.

BLACK MARKETS IN AUSTRALIA

HEAVY PENALTIES AUTHORISED CANBERRA, Sept. 25. Tire penalties for persons convicted in the Lower Court of black marketing and profiteering are to be a minimum of three months’ imprisonment without the option of a fine for individuals and a fine of £IOOO for companies under a bill introduced in the House of Representatives. If the offence is prosecuted upon indictment, the minimum penalty will be imprisonment for 12 months without the option of a fine for an individual and a fine of £IO,OOO for a company. Every person who is a director or an employee actively. concerned in the conduct of a business is deemed guilty of the offence unless he proves that it was committed without his knowledge and that all due care was taken to prevent it. Thus a firm can be fined £IO,OOO and guilty directors and employees can be sentenced to 12 months’ gaol as well. The Government is also seeking power to brand publicly profiteers by placarding their premises and forcing the newspapers and radio stations' to broadcast the offenders’ public disservice and by making the profiteers place particulars of their offence on their letterheads, invoices, and accounts.

AUSTRALIA’S FOOD SUPPLIES

(Rec. 7.13 p.m.) SYDNEY, Sept. 25. "It is essential that there should be adequate food supplies for Britain as well as Australia, and the day the war ends we should have thousands of tons of food in store to feed the famished nations of the: worid.” said Sir Earle Page, who was formerly Australia’s representative on the British War Cabinet, advocating the rationing of all primary products. He also advocated the Government acquisition of foodstuffs, the subsidising of primary industries, and the control of food prices and transport costs. "To declare two beefless and muttonless days was not-enough in the face of required production. There should be a comprehensive plan for dealing with the position,” he said. Foods in Australia should be rationed in the same way that clothes were rationed,Sir Earle Page said.