INDIA TO-DAY

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 9, 12 January 1932, Page 10

INDIA TO-DAY

GANDHI'S ACTIVITIES

EX-OFFICER'S REVIEW

DIVERSITY OF EACES

Interesting observations on conditions in India were made to a "Post" reporter to-day by an officer recently retired from India.

. "India cannot be described as a nation," he said. "It is a continent, really, and contains such a diversity of races and religions that the people in the far south are as different from the [poople in the far north as a Norwegian is from an Italian. That complicates very much the problem of dealing with them, and if any settlement is to be made the different races and religions all claim to have representation. It is impossible in India to have proportional representation, and yet if the dealings are to bo fair, all must bo represented. The majority of people who are claiming complete independence are Hindus, but if tho independence they desired were given them ifc would mean that a large section of the community—-the lowest cast of Hindus, the 'untouchables, ' would be treated very badly and denied every sort of privilege. These men, although living in,the samo villages with others, are not allowed to uso the same wells nor the same temples. That is a drastic argument against giving power to the hands of poople who will not give common justice to those, of their own race.

"Undoubtedly the Congress has not the same power it had, and the drastic action of the Government in arresting I Gandhi and other leaders, and in sup-1 pressing activities such as the picketing of shops and those in connection with the boycott, has further weakened the authority of tho Congress. The) authority of the Congress waned during Gandhi's absence in England; further, most modern people in India who are i yet anxious for a change realise, that! something is going to be done for them by the Imperial Parliament, and that any settlement will be jeopardised if the lawless activities of the Congress are continued. The present action of the Government has shown that they are not going to be stampeded, and that any new system of Government which is evolved shall proceed in the proper constitutional way. '. ' ' "There is no doubt that the last conference at Home has had a healthy effect on Indian opinion. One has to remember that those who went to the conference were most exceptional men.: There would bo the greatest difficulty in producing an equal number of equally I able men, and though they represented certain phases of Indian thought, they cannot .bo said to represent tho ordinary cultivator (none of whom were present), and who constitute something like 95 pe* cent, of the population. Of these only about 3 per cent, can write English. ■■'■•,-' RESULT OF WITHDRAWAL. . "Thoro is not . tho slightest doubt that if we are to accede to the claims made by the extremists for immediate and complete independence we would r^dueo India to the state of China. Suppose we withdrew the British troops tomorrow. At oiicc there would be tremendous fighting. The northern tribes would burst south and overrun the couutry, and others would overrun Bengal.

"I think that gradually a sound system of control will be evolved, and the policy of giving the Indians more and more control in their own affairs will gradually develop. There is no question about that; but it is a matter that must not be-fhurried; .:■ Immediate . and complete independence would result in the jettisoning of all the wonderful things we have done for India —railways, canals, and dams —which have saved millions from death by,, famine. An enormous amount.has. been done Tjy self-sacrificing British officers during the last eighty years to improve.tho lot of the Indian. If wo went away, the cultivator would at once be suppressed by the others. He has justice under British rule. The average cultivator would rather be tried by a British Judge than, by an Indian any day of the week." . . . . ' .■ .