BURMA AND THE EMPIRE.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3140, 23 October 1922, Page 7

BURMA AND THE EMPIRE.

(By Frederick Stubbs, F.R.S.) Specially Written for the Oamaru Mail. Burma i.s regarded for governmental purposes as a province of India, a; lieutenant-governor being appointed in 1897. He is assisted by a Legislative Council of nine—five being official appointees, four non-official. This body prepares and passes Bill and submits them for the Governor's sanction. The Chief Secretary to the Governor appears to do most of the work, whilst there are also two Under-Secretaries, a Public Works Department, a Railway Department, Immigration Department, etc. For trie maintenance of order there are about eleven thousand British and Indian troops; a number of Burmese volunteers; about fifteen thousand military police who have British officers and are practically soldiers; and 15,000 civil police. Then there is, .of course, a magistracy, largely Burmese, and a Supreme Court whose judges T belicvo are all British. In the villages, the Government is represented by a very useful native functionary, the Headman. He is a sort of mayor of the village, like the Bulo of the South Sea Islands—the village magistrate and taxcollector who receives in his latter capacity a percentage of the taxes. In these villages the taxes seldom remain unpad! If a crime is committed, the whole village may be punished, consecpiently it is to the villagers' interest to assist in securing the criminal. Imagine this custom operating in Sydney or Auckland! The Shams and (hinds of northern Burma are practically self-governed through their chiefs. On the whole, the system of government outlined above works eurprisiingly well, the British policy being to interfere with the customs, the prejudices, the religion, or the legal and land systems of the people only where it is abs.olutely necessary. Yet there is a* good deal; of disaffection in Burma—infinitely less: than in India, but enough to cause anxiety. The present Lieut.-Governor, Sir Reginald Craddr/ck. and the Chief Secretary. Mi- Lewisohn, kindly afforded me opportunities of discussing this subject with: them, and T had also opportunities of observing and' inquiring -for myself, interviewing National ; st leaders, etc., with the following results:—l am satisfied that Burma is on the whole wisely ;,ud sympathetically governed. 'the condition of the masses of the people is infinitely better than It was under native rule. Life and property are far more secure; there are good roads where none existed previouslyrailways, river steamships, schools, a vastly increased trade, a greater freedom of speech and conduct. The Burmese Mould never have dared to criticise ;ind denounce Tluviuaw's Government as they do the British. Th ■ Burmese themselves admit this, though l some complain, with justice, that British opium and spirits are affecting the, better qualities! of the people and enfeebling their constitutions, But I am convinced, after making many inquiries. that the Burmese have no other serious grievance. There are grievances, but they are small, largely sentimental, are even now in process of removal, an:! certainly afford no sufficient excuse for the agitation and disorder that occurred during my visit last year. Tiking the (oinolaiut- seriatim th" leaders of the Nationalists, men educatedl at English Universities'. cornplain : Fir.-t. thai the Government is withholding educational facilities from the Burmese. But what are the facts? Fntil the Government was taken over by the British there was no literary education -whatever worthy of the name. Since then various missionary schools, large and efficient, have been established, subsidised by the Government, and compelled to comply with the Government's requirements; but the subsidy is never larger than the amount privately subscribed. Then, in addition to these excellent missionary schools, vernacular schools have been established in all populous centres. Up to fifteen years ago. the English, language was used in teaching (as it is to-day in the Philippine Islands, etc.), but 'to meet the wishes of the Burmese Nationalists, the vernacular is now used in all the lower standards, and English only in the higher. This has brought European schools into existence, into which only 10 per cent, of non-Europeans are admitted, the great majority of the pupilbeing Eurasians. One result is that hoys, going to the University from, a vernacular school have to take a preliminary course in English, the University authorities considering that these' hoys are not sufficiently acquainted with the English language to profit from a, University course, which is quite true. And it is to this regulation that the Burmese are to strongly objecting, saying that it prolongs the student's course and adds to the expense of his education, as no doubt if does, but the student gets the benefit, and. in any case the grievance if such it be--is a small one Other educational grievances are that the Burmese want a University College to be established in every centre. so thait boys will not have the expense of living in Rangoon. This —for a comparatively small number of pupils would', of course, involve enormous expense, and as the Burmese at the same time object to being taxed for the upkeep of such colleges, the proposal appears to me childish and ..b----suid. It was to meet the wishes of the Nationalists that a University was established. professors appointed. scholarships provided; but because the regulations did not in all cases meet with their approval or fulfil their desires (as 1 have shown above), the University is now being boycotted. Personally. I doubt the wisdom of giving a European education to the Burmese at all; certainly it has not made them any happier, more industrious', or more contented, hut rather otherwise—and the same may be said of India. An industrial rather than a European literary education is what t hey need. In the second place the Burmese k:ador,-. complain of the presence of the British garrison near the Shwe Dagen Pagoda— that the presence of the soldierdesecrates their sacred shrine; that there is danger from the vicinity of explosives, etc. —altogether ignoring the fact that a Burmese fort was established there long before the British. The British garrison simply took (he place from the Burmese. The recent regulation ol' the Burmese requiring Europeans to remove their -hoes ! have already alluded io. and to this regulation, a regulation which practically pr - vents their going near the pagoda-, tic British, of course, have to submit. and do submit ; but I hat doe- net proven! it- being vexatious, unreasonable, and unfriendly. To show how unfriendly their attitude is. ! may mention that I invsclf know a young lady who was motoring in Mindalay with a small party of friends, amongst whom was |]|. ; . d.epuly police superinteiideiif. Whilst travelling they saw that one of flic pagodas was lit up. thought that there niusi be something unusual hapnening. and went to see whal it was. Thev alighted and walked towards the shrine. My friend said that she noticed a Pougyi (monk") approaching wiih a large iron bolt secreted under lis robe, and presently sail him strike

an old gentleman, belonging to the party, upon the head, nearly killing him," whilst another native armed with a large knife fell upon the superintendent of police, cutting off the flatter's nose and wounding him in the forehead. Two others of the party who ventured to expostulate were also attacked. The. assailants were afterwards sentenced to long terms of imprisonment (I would have saved the country the expense), and the unfortunate police superintendent had to go to England to have an artificial nose fitted. Such an incident as this narrated 1 by an eye witness shows how daring and unfriendly the present attitude of tho Burmese is. A third complaint that the British officers and officials do; not mix with tho people; that Eurasian officials and officers are practically boycotted by the British, is unfortunately only too true. The British simply refuse to admit them to any sort of social equality. T am aware of the arguments advanced in favor of this attitude, but T believe it to be a great mistake, and that it i.s one of the principal causes of the present, disaffection in India itself. It seems to me that many of our representatives—admittedly brave and able men —sacrifice the interests of their country to their own social pride and an able man—purely British —graduate of a British university, head of a great educational institution, who is refused admission to the club or to any social intercourse with the British officers and officials, simply because he has married a Burmese wife —an imprudent thing if you like, but surely an insufficient reason for social boycott. Had he- lived with the woman without marrying her, there would have been no objection whatever. I suppose such facts are known to my fellow countrymen, but 1 am sorry to say, few seem to. have the courage (or is it impudence?) to mention them. At the same time such irritating and irrational grievances ought to be, and '.night be, redressed. Common prudenceshould lead us to do all we can to attach tho educated and official classes to ourselves. Tho last) and the most serious grievance of the Nationalists, is the presence of a British Government in Burma at all. As the most noted; of the Burmese- leaders put it to me: "Wo ac-i knowledge thai the British meat of Burma has been a good thing; that, on the whole, the British have governed justly and greatly improved, the condition of the people. But the Burmese have now advanced to the point at which they are quite aide to govern themselves. All that we need now is British protection: we can govern ourselves.'' A great deal more was -aid. but the above, is an epitome. During my own visit there were serious riots iu Rangoon. These were oe'asioned by the speeches of a young i'( iigyi, named U. Ottama, and it was a tribute to British justice that he himself asked to be tried by a British" magistrate. In the course of the published evidence, it was shown that in hi- addresses he referred to. the Burmese a slaves of the British : thai: he declared that there were .'100.000.000 Indian.-., and 12.000,000 Burmese, and that if these united, thev could; overthrow the Government: that they must rule their own country: that the Burmese were now governed by nonBuddhists: that the British Government refused to further the interests of Buddhism, whilst if Burmans managed their own country they could promote th. ir Own religion : that there was no kingof Burma: that they could stop Englishmen coming in to their country and running it. if they liked: that the people should refuse to pay taxes: that all foreign-made (doth should be burned. These were the principal points in his addresses as sworn in evidence. Immense crowds attended the trial : rioting and boycotting took place, and business and traffic were partially stopped, as a protest against this man being tried at all. I do not know what the result of the trial was: 1 had to leave Burma before it was concluded. But tip' case was sufficiently illuminating, as the reader will have surmised. This unrest in Burma really originated in India, and was introduced into Burma by Indian scditionists. My conviction is that the Government would have soon effaced these undesirable migrants and prevented these disorders weie it not for fear of criticism iu London. Our policy in India and Burma, is being directed by people who know almost nothing about the East and do not understand the Oriental psychology, with the result that we have constant, and growing discontent and disorder and are in serious danger of losing our control of India altogether. We have put down the old rule; have done our best to persuade these peoples that their own civilisation- the slow creation of centuries—is barbarous, and must be abandoned : we have insisted on thrusting upon them Western ideas. Western education. Western political philosophy. Western systems and institutions entirely unsuited to their mental constitution and needs, and the consequence is that everywhere in the East the business of Government is becoming increasingly difficult, and the peoples less hippy and contented. There must be something radically wrong when this is the patent and acknowledged result. Are we. as a race, too conceited, too cook-sure that we only, and we always, are right, to see that our methods are m'sfaken, and to abandon a policy which has had such disastrous These peoples need an entirely different system of education. The present policy of thrusting upon them educational and political ideas and ideals, suitable (perhaps?) for the Western peoples, but disastrous in their effects upon the 'Orientad mind, must be abandoned. We have done our best to destroy respect for their old sanctities and : institutions, and wc have failed to teach them to respect our own. Not even the Native Princes command the same respect that they once did. There, is loss respect for religion, for parents, for age, lor riders. Even the ancient and beautiful native arts have deteriorated, and there are not nearly as many skilled craftsmen as there once were. Our Government has become weak, vacillating, nerveless; the old courage and resolution that created the Empire seem to be vanishing. Can anyone that reads the daily newspapers deny ibis? 1 lo not think the main responsibility for this truly deplorable state of things re-is upon our representatives in the East, hut upon the Parliament and Government at Home. An ignorant and feeble sent imenialisni is allowed lo usurp the functions of government and. to interfere with the administration with disastrous results. Experienced Anglo-Indian officials, and probably many officials in England, know that tic policy they are required to carry out is entirely wrong, but to refuse to carry it out or even to protest against if would simply bring upon them rebuke and dismissal, and so they remain silent. The truth is not known in England, the facts not recognised. We need a campaign in regard to the Empire. We mii-t either show ourselves able to hold and administer the great trust that has come down to us as the result of our forefathers' enterprise and heroism, or we must make room for stronger men. Giving subscriptions or donations to charitv'i's viewed with suspicion ill Burma, where there is a theory that

such gifts represent penance for some wicked' deed on the part of the donor.