THE EMPIRE.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 98, 18 January 1908, Page 12

THE EMPIRE.

—'' —-$ EARTHQUAKES IN INDIA, x A Dharanmla correspondent..of the "Civi and Military Gazette" writes: "About 1: o'clock midday on Wednesday, December 4 an. earthquake of unusual forco occurred causing people to run out of their houses. Tlx most. severe sliock must linvo taken plac< along the main range, which was shakei with such violonco as to cause huge land slips' along its entire length as far .as wa: visible to the eye. After the usual rumbling! dense clouds of smoke roso from tho debrii in soven distinct places and remained visibli for nearly a quarter of an hoiir. If any placi has sitfforod badly it is probably in Cliamba A Simla correspondent also mentions i shock of earthquake, lasting a short time but very severe, and occurring about thre( minutes past 12 iioori on December 11. A Kangra correspondent also writes, iindei date December i:—To-day at 12 noor exactly bur valley was again somewhat vio lently sliakop by an earthquake. An earth' quake-proof hut was cracked, arid the natives are still all vory frightened becausc a cloud of dust rose up in the air above the higher ranges immediately after the shock. . INDIANS IN SOUTH AFRICA. Under this heading, "Tho Irony of It," the ''Times of India" comments as follows on the Transvaal trouble with the Indians: " The leadors of tho Indians in South Africa must have a keen sense of irony. Tho 11c TranSvaal Sikhs, Pathans, and Goorkhas who offered their services in the Natal troubles to the High Commissioner, could not have chosen a moro caustic way of showing that if they lire hot. deemed fit to be citizens of the Transvaal they aro, at all events, loyal sons of tho Empire. The Transvaal 'Government,'' busy with tho task of arresting other British Indians, could hot have had a more unwelcome or;/ to them, a more untimely rebuke. They would have been better helped—and better pleased—if the men whose brethren they are putting, in gaol for the crime of being Indians desiring to live peaceably under the 1 British flag had gone over 1 to tho i enemy. And yet they ought to remember that the Indians in South Africa..have always been good sons of the Empire. They aro to-diiy showing a desire to repeat the sorvice they so willingly rendered in tho Boer war. It is not thoir fault if tho offer is mora than a little embarrassing to tho Government to whom it is made. > When you are sending honest men to gaol, ovori men who can produce the Goveriimflnt's own certificates of their honesty arid. right of domicile, it is worse than a.joke to Have these men flauiiting their Imperial patriotism before' your very eyes, and showing in a great colonial emergency that thoy are as good citizens.as_ those who would doily them the rights of citizenship. We may try ohr best to look at the question from' the same point of. view as that taken up by Boers arid Britons in tho Transvaal, and to realise all that is meant in this determination to' build up a > white man's civilisation in South Africa. , But it must be a faulty statesmanship which cannot work to that end without wounding_the susceptibilities of loyal subjects of the King —witness the recent protest of Sikhs and other soldiers 'against the degradation of the thumb print system—and without spurning; tiieir offers to help in fighting his battles. Lord Selborne has adopted a tactical device—made'necessary by the inherent defects of his policy—in jeforring tho offer to the Natal Ministry.,' .This answer will serve for tho' moment. But the essential vice of South African policy—its refusal of the common rights of. citizenship to faithful subjects of tho King-Emperor—will remain, and theso meu will continue to ask whether Loi'd Curzon was riot trifling with their feelings when lis onco said that every cilizon of th 6 Empire should feel that ho was the better for his morribership of it. That high ideal was never made to seem moro illusory than it was lit tho end of the week, when they wero' made to' think that the Empire had no either of them or of-.their loyalty." ' PERSIAN GULF TRADE. The 'Times of India" editorially remarks: "We have to wait no.wadays for. the tardy issrict of Foreign Offico publications for iuforination aboiit the trade of the Persian Gulf. Tlie omission to continue tho former, practice of making public the reports of the Consul-General at Bushire is annoying, whatever the reason may be. Even if the political portions of the reports rtimain confidential, surely tho .sections concerning trade might be issued in an accessible form. The latest mail brought from England the report on tho trade of the Bahrein Islands, by the Political Agent at Jlanamah, Captain F. B. Prideaux. It shows a romarkablo increase of 30 per cent, in the trade of Bahrein during 1906. It is difficult to believe, but is nevertheless a fact, that the two or three littlo towns on the Bahrein Islands carry on a trade which last year reached a. volume of over three millions sterling. Of cotirso, pearls represent the largest item. Last year Bahrein exported pearls to tho value of a crore and thirty-three lakhs to India, as well as another thirty-three lakhs worth to the adjacent mainland of Turkish Arabia. Tho imports of Bahrein reached a value of two crores and forty-two lakhs, of which half was obtained from India, and nearly all Lhe rest from Arabia'and Persia. Bahrein bought nothing from Russia during tho year, and only a lakh and a half's worth of goods from Germany. Yet we are sometimes asked whether our predominant influence in tho Gulf is of any use to, us! It ought to be added, however, that part of tho imports from India undoubtedly consisted of German goods transhipped at Bombay.", INDIAN MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. Some curious marriage customs are related in the new volumes of the Central Indian Provinces "Gazetteer," which deals with the Seohi and Betul districts. Among the Gonds a bride is carried on her brother-in-law's back to the houses of her friends, and is made to weep with each of them, while they give her small prosents of money. When the ceroinony is about to be performed at the bridegroom's house, tho bride hides in another house and calls " Coo," and the bridegroom's brother searches for her. As sho enters the bridegroom's house, two spears are planted beforo the door to make an arch, and the bridegroom pushes her through, the girl hanging back. The bridegroom's brother-in-law has to act as bliisti to the whole party, and his younger sister-in-law, if ho lias one, follows him about and beats him to make him work nlore quickly. On tho day after the wedding the bride and bridegroom throw mud at each other and roll one another about in the mud for sport. Among the Marars all the women of the bridegroom's party are shut up at night in a houso with the bride's sister's husband. He may attempt to do anything he likes, to them, but they all set upon him and beat him, so that lie is usually glad to escape as soon as possible. Among the Northern castes of the Betul district there is n quaint marriage custom. Tho bride and bridegroom go to the river to worship Ghatoia, the god of river-crossings. Going to the river the bridegroom runs after tho bride, beating her with a thin stick, but on tho way back the bride beats the saying, "All my life you will beat mo; to-day I shall heat you." In this district ail castes excopt Brahmans, Rajputs, and Banias, permit the re-marriage of widows, and ■ the Rnghnvausi Rajputs and the Saitwal Banias lilso allow it. On tho other hand, the Sriwustab Darzis forbid the practice. Widow re-mar-I l'iagc is called "pat," and'the ceremony is porfSrmcd on a night of the dark fortnight, no women oxcept widows being present. It is considered suitable that the deceased husband's younger brother should marry tho widow. CANADA. Ottawa, December <1. Addressing a Liberal Convention hern today, Sir Wilfrid Laurier again attacked the attitude, of Mr. Borden, the leader of the Opposition, on tho Japanese question. The Premier snid:— "So long as I liavo the honour to bo adviser to His Escellnncs,. thn r- c

the King in this country, never shall I do a tiling which mijjht endanger tlio alliance between the British Crown and the Japanese Empiro. It will not do for Mr. Borden to escape all responsibility for tho position he occupies', Tho time may COmo when it will ho hit) duty to take somo position which liiay seem dangerous to his popularity; but no man is Worthy of calling himself tho loader of a party, whether Government or Opposition, if 1 lie is not ready at any moment to run the risk of losing popularity in order to do his duty by his country." Thero is a feeling in Canada that something should bo-done to bring tho Senate more in conformity with the sentiment of the people. Two. resolutions are proposed in this direction. One asks for tho abolition of the Upper Chamber; tlio other for its reform. The feeling has extended to tho Senate itself, and Senator M'Millan givos notice of a resolution that the Senate "be made more iri accord with the sentiment of the people."'. The "Montreal Gazette," commenting on Mr. Chamberlain's letter to tho chairman of the West Birmingham Liberal Unionist Association, says that the imminent return of Mr. Chamberlain to the front rank; of the fightshould be good news to Mr. Balfour and the Conservative party. If anyone can win back those seats which Were lost to the Unionists at the last election it is Mr. Chamberlain. But, in any case,- says the "Montreal Gazette," with Mr. .Chamberlain oncc mors in the Houso of Commons the Liberal Government's existence • henceforward is neither likely to be long nor merry. Tho steamship Mount Temple, with 600 passengers,; bound from Antwerp for St. John (New' Brunswick) struck West. Iron Bound, an island off La Have, and is probably a total wreck.' The passengers hro all safe. They got ashore on the main land ( and were brought to Bridgewater., The accident occurred at midnight on Sunday in the midst of a terrific soxith-eastorly storm of .wind, .snow, and rain, Which made it impossible to seo ahead. West Iron Botlnd is a precipitous island at the mouth of La Have River, and the steamship, being bound for St. John, was necessarily considerably out of her course in that locality. .No statement has yet been .issued by the captain of tho. Mount Temple, which is owned by the Canadian Pacific Railway Company: The escape of the passengers arid crew was almost miraculous. Tho boats wore smashed by tho sea, so that 'everyone had ,to be brought ashoro by means '.of n line 200 feet long and a basket rigged up as a brcechcs buoy. They endured great privation,, being from twelve to eighteen hours without food or shelter on Iron Bound Island. Scarcely any of the passengors are able to speak English. . ■ SOUTH AFRICA. N Speaking at tho Caledonian banquet, on St. Andrew's Day, Sir John Fraser proposed the health of tho Ministry. Mr. Fisher, tho Premier, in reply, said that the Government would honourably try to draw all tho different elements into one harmonious whole. He welcomed honest difforoncos, but not differences founded on race creed. He deprecated party pledges, but expressed a desire for the freo expression .of opinion. The Imperial Government had bound the Orange Rivor Colony to tlio Empire by the silken cords of trust, I CHANGES IN MANDALAY. Th'a most striking ohango from theso (ftirmer) days is probably to bo found in the condition of tho people, writes tlio "Rangoon Gazette," 4 .referring-. tt>. tho town of Masidalay. In tlio Palace mid in the houses of tho officials there were gorgeous silk dressts, no doubt, and luxury of a. kind. But the great mass of tho people lived in the direst poverty. Even 'now thoy are liot as well off ns their neighbours in Lower Buniia,--but thoy are rich, compared to what thoy were in the old days. They are certainly better dressed oil working days, and silk garments for festivals are much more common now than thoy were then. What is of at least as much importance. to their 4 well-being as greater material comfort in. food and clothing is tho increased security of life and pr6perty they now enjoy. Then. any. ap'pearaiico of wealth was sui'o to dr,aw the attention of tho nearest official, who would secure it for himself by fair means or by foul. Then tho only chance of security lay in poverty, nr.d even that was no security if one happened, to incur an official's ill-will. 4 .,-, In those days" neither man, woman niir child had any rights whatever, and tho chaiigo . of government which gave >theiii".the right to dispose of their olvh lives in their owii way arid secured to thenv any property they might bo abb to acquire, has been a priceless boon.v Tho annexation was tho removal of a blight on all that makes lifo worth .living, and if Jl.mdalay has lost some quaintness and pictliresqiiencss, it has also lost ' much squalor and. misery. , UNREST IN INDIA. ■ - Tlio "Times of IndiV publishes an interview which li representative of tho "Bengalee" had ivith Mr. Nevinson, tho Liberal journalist \Vho is visiting India to find out tho true causes of tho-unrest and the naturo of tho prevailing discontent-. Mr. Nevinson is staled to havo said:— "I have seen hardly a trace of any desiro to subvert the British. Government by force, or to see it. immediately withdrawn. Tlio object of all the parties I liavo consulted has been not to subvert but to reform. Of tho movement as a whole, I should call it an awakening of national consciousness brought about- by many causes of which tho political grievances are only ono." . "I havo found no proposal to ercct a democracy or a series of democracies in India within the range of practical politics, to use tho old tag. Tho reforms,l liavo heard suggested were generally limited to giving Indian representatives somo genuine voice on tlio Executive ami Legislative Councils, especially with a view to control tho Budget. There are, of course, further demands for tho admjssion of moro Indians into tho higher administrative) and judicial positions. Of course, reports of this kind aim at a higher ideal of. gradual self-government with tho growth of education and general fitness in the country. Certainly the educated community I havo met are as'capable of managing their own affairs as the British populace. And tho training of even tho ryots in managing their villago communities tends to tlio same direction when they are not overridden by officials." "I think there is no doubt that swadeshi is a powerful and growing movement. I found evidences of this wherever I went, even in most remote villages. I regard it myself as a most wholesome sign of nationality and unity in India and as a means of solving India's greatest economic problem by tho revival of India's genuine industries. I caim6t myself draw any sharp distinction between swadeshi and boycott, unless boycott is taken to imply violence, which it does not. Undoubtedly tlio movement has attracted extraordinary attention in England, specially in Lancashire, as was to bo expected. The resemblance between swadeshi and Sinn Fein is very remarkable, both movements coming at tho same time. It is truo that- Sinn Fein goes rather further on tho political sido by its refusal to take any part whatever in the British Government."