INDIAN COMMAND

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 133, 29 February 1936, Page 8

INDIAN COMMAND

General’s Visit to New Zealand SIR CYRIL MACMULLEN * b Dominion Special Service. . Auckland, February 28. A more orderly spirit at present prevails in the parts of India where in recent years terrorism has been rife, according to General Sir Cyril Mac- . Julien, General Officer Commanding the Eastern Command in India, who arrived at Auckland by the Wangan'ella to spent a six weeks’ fishing holiday in New Zealand. General Mac Mullen will probably hold informal conferences with the Defence authorities in the Dominion, and he was met on arrival by Major-General Sir William Sinclair Burgess, General Officer Commanding the New Zealand Military Forces. The headquarters of - General MacMullen’s command are at Naini Tai in the United Provinces and the military territory of which he is commander-in-chief embraces Bengal, Assam, Bihar/and Orissa, the United Provinces and Delhi. Most of the recent terrorist activities in India had been centred in Bengal, General Mac Mullen said, but in this respect the situation to-day was greatly improved. “I think I had better steer clear of politics,” he said when asked what was the reaction in India to the momentous legislation passed in the House of Commons last year. “However, I think I can say that everybody in India is now very busy with administrative and financial arrangements for the establishment of’ new provinces and the introduction of a new Constitution. Many important details require consideration and attention.”

Commenting on service matters, General Mac Mullen dealt with recent statements regarding the attitude of the Indian Army toward the mechanisation of the cavalry and other units. A certain amount of mechanisation had already been carried out, he said, but with the jungle-covered North-East Frontier and the hilly country of the north-west severe limits would be placed on the use of mechanised units. Recently the Indian Air Force, staffed entirely by Indians, had been started as a part of the whole scheme for complete Indian control. General MaeMull'en said he was looking forward keenly to his fishing holiday. He had heard enthusiastic reports on the fighting qualities of New Zealand rainbow trout from some of his officers who had visited the Dominion, and although he had thought of spending a week at the big-game fishing grounds in the north he had now decided to confine his fishing to the Rotorua and Taupo districts.