STILL SERIOUS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 20859, 11 August 1942, Page 3

STILL SERIOUS

INDIAN SITUATION RIOTS CONTINUE COMMENT IN BRITAIN FIRM ACTION ENDORSED (By Telegraph—Press Assn. —Copyright.) (11.45 a.m.) LONDON, Aug. 10. The latest reports reaching London from India show that the situation there, following the arrest of the leaders of the Congress Party, is still serious, but it is confidently believed that conditions will settle down in a clay or two.' It is disclosed that 10 persons died from bullet wounds as a result of the rioting yesterday. More than 100 others were wounded, including about 30 policemen. The rioting continued spasmodically in various centres throughout to-day and it was reported that up to 4 o’clock this afternoon the police had been called upon to fire a dozen times on unruly crowds in Bombay. Generally, the crowds have been kept moving by the police, but there have been some outbreaks of violence. Work in some cotton mills has been interrupted and the students of a number of schools and colleges came out and joined the crowds in some northern areas of the city. Trams and buses were stoned and traffic was suspended on several routes except in the port area. ~ , The Daily Telegraph says that more than 250 persons were arrested in disorders in Bombay, Allahabad, Ahmadabad, Lahore and Nagpur. Concession to Workers The Daily Express’ correspondent in New Delhi says that the Government i* increasing the railway workers living allowances at an annual cost oi £4 000 000. This aims at ensuring the’ loyalty of vital transport workers. The speed with which the new allowances were sanctioned and the magnitude of their scale is'unprecedented in India. The decision of the Government of India to imprison Gandhi is approved throughout Britain, although there is equal regret that such a step should be necessary. The - viewpoint of the man in the street was puzzled at the rejection of Sir Stafford Cripps offers but, nevertheless, inclined to be tolerant until the revelation that Gandhi would not hesitate to negotiate with the Japanese. This switched public opinion immediately against Gandhi and the Congress. The Economist, commenting before his arrest, said: “Gandhi and Pandit Nehru see in the present state of India and the world a chance to force on the freedom of India at whatever risk. It is blackmail —from the highest motives, perhaps, but blackmail none the less. It is plain now that Sir Stafford Cripps offered the only possible way out from the Indian impasses, and, secondly, that the main Indian parties are neither willing nor able to take it.”

With the main exception of the Daily Herald, the English newspapers generally endorse Gandhi’s imprisonment. The Herald says the arrest will make a martyr of Gandhi and it believes that he should not have been locked up until later, when it might hove become an unavoidable necessity. Appeal to Reason The Manchester Guardian is of the opinion that neither prevention nor repression is enough. “No sane person can tolerate the thought that there should be a long period of struggle growing more and more embittered and more damaging to the common cause,” it says. “It is politically and morally monstrous for the two sides to be at each other’s throats when they have the same aims. “The Congress stated in the Bombay resolution that its policy if India is freed is to aid the Allies, ‘with all armed as well as non-violent forces,’ thus deliberately setting aside Gandhi’s policy of non-violent co-op-eration. This changes the situation greatly for the better and it is wrong that the change should largely be ignored as it is both in India and here. “The Indian Government, instead of simply refusing to negotiate with a merely destructive Congress, ought .to see that an immense constructive gain lies ahead if—through whatever means can still be tried —a settlement can be reached. If both sides have the same sincere intentions in regard to India’s freedom and due place as an active combatant against .the aggressor, then it is ridiculous that we should be facing a conflict in whici. the aims of India and the Allies will mors and more be forgotten. Surely there is enough wisdom in India to halt this quarrel before it confers- a great benefit on the Axis and equal damage to India and the Allies.” It seems unlikely .that the British Government will make further proposals, believing that the Cripps mission was not wasted and that the mass of responsible Indians will accept .that offer eventually.