CENTRE OF SEDITION
LATEST CABLES
BENGAL MANOEUVRES. SOLDIERS WARMLY WELCOMED. [PXB PRESS ASSOCIATION —COPYRIGHT.] LONDON, January 26. Advices from Calcutta state that the soldiers participating in the Eastern Bengal manoeuvres are astonished at their fervidly jmpular welcome.
About 80,000 are concentrated in and around Dacca.
Major-General Sir Robert Scallon commands battalions of the Black Watch, Argylls, Sutherlands. and other British regiments and four batteries, of artillery, some of the smartest corps in the British Armv.
Very few people in the district had ever set eyes on British soldiers, as there had been no regulars at Dacca, since a Native detachment garrisoning the fort mutinied in 1857. The country is remote from the frontier and is cut off by rivers and swaups from routes frequented by troops, and is the centre of aggressive sedition.
The selection of such an area for the manoeuvres and the departure of regiments marching thither is everywhere welcomed. Even the small villages are erecting arches. The colonels received garlands and were presented with address es. and fruit, cigarettes, and other gifts were thrust into the hands of the troops. Great crowds are visiting the camps.
General Sir Robert Scallon, in order to emphasise the peaceful nature of the proceedings, ordered the Boy Scouts to head the ceremonial march through the town.
Large' numbers of women, throwing aside their veils, watched the march. The keenest interest was evinced in the sham fighting.
An other describes the heartiness of tin; reception as almost uncanny, and so different from what was expected. The effect on the. British and Indian soldiers was bewildering.
The "Standard" says it is too soon to ask what the Bengal agitators and sedition mongers think of the enthusiastic welcome to the troops, strikingly contrast ing with the sullen reception of the Viceroy at Calcutta.
Everything points to the complete sue cess of the concentration, which is a pol itical move.
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Greymouth Evening Star, 27 January 1914, Page 5
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315CENTRE OF SEDITION Greymouth Evening Star, 27 January 1914, Page 5
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