The Star. Delivered every evening by 5 o'clock in Hawera, Manaia, Normanby, Okaiawa, Eltham, Mangatoki, Kaponga, Awatuna, Opunake, Otakeho, Manutahi, Alton, Hurleyville, Patea, Waverley. FRIDAY, MAY 25, 1917. "THE PSYCHOLOGY OF INDIAN LOYALTY."

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXII, Issue LXXII, 25 May 1917, Page 4

The Star. Delivered every evening by 5 o'clock in Hawera, Manaia, Normanby, Okaiawa, Eltham, Mangatoki, Kaponga, Awatuna, Opunake, Otakeho, Manutahi, Alton, Hurleyville, Patea, Waverley. FRIDAY, MAY 25, 1917. "THE PSYCHOLOGY OF INDIAN LOYALTY."

The loyalty of India is indispensable to the integrity of -the British Empire, but thitt loyalty can be permanently secured only by a permanently human appeal to.the people of India. Has Britain yet made this appeal, or is she now making it or about to make it? Obviously the best way to find this out would be to turn for an answer to intelligent and thoughtful Indians them, selves, and perhaps eveii one such witness might with, reasonable safety be taken as the spokesman of millions. If this is so, then we surely may learn much from an able artielo in the April number of East and -West on "the

Psychology of Indian Loyalty." The author, Mr D. S. RanicJiancira Rao, who is a Master of Arts, writes with serviceable frankness, yet also with obvious insight, a spacious outlook on existing characteristics and conditions, and a reassuring" apprehension of the great things in store for all concerned, if Britain, succeeds in appealing as successfully to the heart of India as she has appealed to its head. In the first place, British rule has, as Mr Rao observes, given India internal peace. Then the British administration of India is inspired by a sense of fairness and impartiality to the great mass of the people. For instance, liberfty of religion is allowed, and ever}' man and woman is permitted to worship at his or her own shiine or mosque as their conscience dictates. In a country like India, where there are connic;ing faiths, and where the daily routine is guided mainly by religious sanctions, the mere act of non-interference with the faiths and customs of the' people has stood as a splendid asset to the Government. Further, the administration of justice has biden singularly satisfactory between man and man so far as the Indians are concerned; though Mr Rao says that it is still very much otherwise as between an Indian and a European. If this i 3 so, tthen there must be in the hearts of those Indians who are aware of it a strong and probably bitter sense of injury ; and while this lasts it will be borne by Indians, only because they i know that they a-r.e not in a position to resent it. To win- their complete confidence and their affection, the British will assuredly have to remove every trace of invidious discrimination, and see to it that all men are equal in the estimation and administration of the law. In the public service, too, there should be no social or official discrimination as between Indians and Europeans. That service should be characterised also by mare than administrative capacity and .efficiency, for unless its European members of all grades are (consistently and sincerely cordial in their relations and contact with all classes of the native population, that population will b.e leavened with a more or less bitter consciousness that, in spite of all superficial show and formal civility, its members are looked on and treated as persons of an inferior race. Thafc must hurt the feelings of the Indians, and bar everything in tihe nature of sincere human cbrmadeship as between the Europeans and the native peoples, and while this state prevails under British rule, it is obvious that much has yet to be learned by the British rulers. Mr Rao, in referring to the King-Emperor's visit, describes two incidents which show how the British might win and hold the heart of India in love and fealty for all time. An Indian citizen was (he says) driving to the Durbar pavilion. Just behind him ther© came rolling a semi-independent prince, and one of the raost powerful in India, with all the pomp of a dashing cavalry escort. The prince's bodyguard ordered the carriage ahead o? them to make way for his Highness. But the police had received orders not to let vehicles pass one another on any accounffc, but to keep them in train one behind the other; hence, th.c request could not be complied with. The prince protested, but it was of no avail; he was obliged to drive behind the humble citizen. Th e great prince was visibly mortified, but the people wer e i gratified. It was a triumph for democracy amidst the most aristocratic surroundings. The principle of this, acted on all through in every department by the Government, would show that the administration was indeed no respecter of persons, but treated all alike with impartial consideration. Yet that would not be enough, for the same principle would need to be carried into the more purely human and social relations; and Mr Rao's second incident supplies a singularly suggestive example. When the King-Emperor was in India, Mr Rao says thatj discarding unnecessary display, his Majesty "went about the sttreets as any ordinary man would in his motor car. An English gentleman in a frock-coalt and silk hat went amongst the people and talked to them kindly. The common people could not believe their eyes when they we're told that the gentleman in their midst was [ their Emperor. The simplicity and i kindliness of the- Emperor touched the Indian heart. His faith in them appealed to their chivalry. His trust begat trust, and they repaid his confidence by adoring him. The bitter past was forgotten in the hope for the future which the great monarch's personality had inspired. With touching sincerity, India bowed her head to honor the Sovereign who trusted her. King George's achievement in India bordered en the miraculous." Were this inspiring example universally and consistently followed by Anglo-Indian society the heart of India would soon be won, and its fealty would become even a greater possession to th e Brijtish Empire than India itself, .\fter all, it is the personal equation and the human touch that truly tell in governing men, as in social relationships. Uniform sympathy and sincerity with all natives individually, and equally uniform justice to all collectively, would probably in a little while make India, humanly ? one of the happiest and most contented, as it is, historically and geographically, on e of the greatest units of the Empire.