REPRESSIVE BILLS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 220, 10 June 1908, Page 5

REPRESSIVE BILLS.

SEDITION IN INDIA. "DELAY WOULD BE CRIMINAL." A PRESS ACT. . BY IELEQBArn—riIESS ASSOCIATION—COrYRIaUT. (Rec. Juno 9, 9.35 p.m.) Calcutta, Juno 9. Tho Vicc-Rcgal Council, at a single sitting, passed tho' Explosives Bill and tho Press Act. Tho latter gives power to confiscate prosses which issue newspapers publishing incitements to crimo. The Nativo members of the Council endorsed tho Explosives Bill,'but regretted the hasty manner in which tho Press Act had been introduced. They suggested that a month should lmvo been allowo dfor discussion. Sir Harvey Adamson replied that it would bo criminal folly to delay tho'Bill for a single day. Tho Viceroy, Lord Minto, after referring to the bomb outrago at Muzaffarpur, said

"Everyone who is closely watching ' Indian political lifo knows that Indian thought is changing. Embryo national aspirations aro beginning to take shapo, and India is unripe for complete freedom of tho Press. "Possibly tho Bill is not strong enough—indeed, I believo that a further general control of the Prss 'of India is imperatively nccessary." Tho action of tho Vico-Rogal Council has oauscd intenso relief in official circles in India. PREVENTIVE MEASURES. The bomb outrage at Muzaffarpur resulted in the death of Ill's. and Miss Kennedy, and of their coachman. There-is hardly a doubt that tho bomb was intended,' not for them, but for Judge Kingsford, who liad- imposedwhipping sentences in connection with the Calcutta riot- trials. Tho outrage unmasked a concerted scheme, and, by its prematnreness. no doubt prevented other explosions boing effected. Searching inquiries by the police revealed (writes the "Times of India") that, thero has no doubt been an organised and extensive conspiracy, with money, brains, influence, and fanaticjsm at its back. Tho literature, the extensivo plant, and tho up-to-date character of appliances seized are proof of tho former, while, tho Togi habit! and Sadhu-liko appearances of some of tho prisoners seem evidence of tho latter. , Tho" first step towards suppressive legislation was. taken lastjf year, when tho'Prevention of Seditious Meetings' Act "was passed. With tho new Explosives and Press Acts, tho Government will now havo increased powers to deal with seditious utterances, either at meetings or in tho native press, and with the traffic in explosives and bombs. Speaking in the House of Commons in March, tho Secretary for. India stated that no meeting had yet been prohibited under the Prevention of Seditious Meetings Act,_ which was in force in only one district. When the Act was adopted by the Council, Lord Jtinto remarked that, while repressing sedition, the Government had no wish to check the growth of political, thought.