THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 7, 1920. INDIA'S RECENT PERIL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVII, Issue 17361, 7 January 1920, Page 6

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 7, 1920. INDIA'S RECENT PERIL.

It is now 'abundantly clear that nine months ago India was trembling on the brink of a second mutiny and that a general rising was averted only by the cooliress of British officials and the loyalty of native troops. The evidence given before the commission which is inquiring into the cause of the mutinies in the Punjab and the northern districts of the Bombay Presidency in April has already established a deliberate attempt to upset British rule. That published this morning shows that the organisation of the insurgents was as perfect as it was widespread. A sinister feature is the statement that the destruction of railways was uniformly the first object of the mobs. In any part of India this meant an attempt to prejudice military action, in the Punjab it represented an effort to paralyse the defence cf India against invasion from the direction of the north-west frontier. The dispute with Afghanistan occurrcd a few weeks later. It is an easy deduction that in the plans of those who inspired these challenges to British authority, the two events were intended to synchronise. There is a suspicion that Bolshevik agents have been intriguing both in Afghanistan and India and some features of the Indian rioting confirm that suspicion. That a serious outbreak was prevented was due to the prudent and firm action of the higher officials, particularly of Sir Michael O'Dwyer in the Punjab, Sir George Lloyd in the Bombay Presidency, and Lord Eonaldshay in Calcutta. All three are tried administrators who know the East thoroughly, and are not to be disturbed by sudden gusts of Oriental passion.

The causes of the disorders are complex. In April, when, for sulficietit reasons, the gravity of the situation was concealed, the whole responsibility was placed on the agitation against the Anarchical and Revolutionary Crimes Act, commonly known as the Rowlatt Act. It is now apparent that this was only one of several contributing factors. The Act, itself a very necessary measure, directed solely against revolutionary find anarchical crime, had been grossly misrepresented throughout India and large numbers of natives had been led to believe that it gave the police unfettered authority to interfere with meetings, even of a social or religious character. Those who were promoting the agitation against tho Act stopped short at criticism and passive resistance, but where they halted other and more sinister propagandists took up their role. The natives were certainly inflamed against the Act, but this did not altogether account for a movement in which for ;i time Hindus and Mahommedans fraternised. The rising was nothing less than an attempt to overthrow British rule. It obviously surprised those agitators who had unconsciously prepared the way by their campaign against the Rowiatt Act and it fed on the discontent which was prevalent throughout India on account of the high price of food, the shortage.cf supplies, the ravages of influenza and cholera and the unsettling influence of the war. A contributory factor was the Moslem unrest. Everywhere Mahommedan feeling is disturbed over the fate of i Turkey, and though educated Mos- I lems who have served in Palestine and Mesopotamia admit that Turkey deserves extinction they are unable

to modify the profound anxiety of their co-religionists/who fear that the Peace Congress is bent on tbe destruction of Islam.

The effect of this rising in India, as of similar disturbances in Egypt, is altogether deplorable. In both countries Britain is willing to concede as full a measure of self-gov-ernment as she can consistently with her obligations as a protecting and civilising Power, hers is the responsibility of deciding how far she can trust inexperienced natives to govern themselves, and she cannot allow herself to be stampeded into dangerous haste. Such outbreaks retard rather than aid the processes of devolution. The re-estab-lishment of order and the vindication of British authority must precede any concessions, and the usefulness of the Government of India Act, which has just received the Royal assent, obviously depends upon the attitude of the natives themselves. It is impossible to impose the forms of Western democracy upon the ignorance, fanaticism and suspicion of the East. It is difficult ever, to introduce an instalment of self-government where political education is wholly lacking. Tho attempt is bem,ir made, but it is better for India and the Empire that the change should be gradual, sure rather than rapid, and deliberate rather than experimental.