The New Zealand Times. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1910. THE STATE OF INDIA

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 7047, 8 February 1910, Page 6

The New Zealand Times. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1910. THE STATE OF INDIA

The Press Bill, of which, we have an outline from, Calcutta this morning, appears to be a long-delayed attempt to' effectively grapple with one of the greatest menaces to British supremacy in India. At first glance, of course, proposals to 1 put a newspaper press under the censorship of officialdom appears to be an outrageous interference with liberty, but, as has been pointed out by Lord Morley, it is mere moonshine to speak about the freedom of the press when its mission consists of exhortation to murder and rebellion. People who interpret the word “freedom” to mean license to preach anarchy, to recommend the use of bomb and dagger, to inculcate disloyalty and seditkjii are clearly not the kind of citizens Milton had in view when he penned, his famous tract: Vernacular sheets are published in all parts of India—some of them oven written and printed in England, and smuggled into the country—which openly seek to poison the minds of the people against their rulers.

The question is not whether it is ■wise for an alien conqueror to curtail liberty of speech amongst a subject people, but whether a man. who exhorts his fellows to homicide and represents the ruling power as a cruel and rapacious monster is to be regarded as a high priest of liberty or as an offender against public order. If a newspaper printed in London urged the use of picric acid upon the King, suggested slaying the Judges and departmental . administrative officials, the punishment of its promoters and distributers would be sharp and conclusive. This is the position in India. It is no new development, but it has now reached a stage, owing to the new spirit implanted in a section of the natives by western education, When repressive measures become imperative. Once reverence for authority perishes among the people of India the end of British rule will have arrived. There could bo no more effective way of assisting in the destruction of that authority than to permit its vilification to pass unnoticed and to ignore incitement to assassination. No same Government. in India would seek to curtail the free utterance of thougjht and opinion, for its expression forms the most valuable medium of communication between the administration and the subjective race, but when the question arises of whether the incendiarist should be suppressed there can be only one answer. Very likely the Bill introduced by Sir Herbert Eisley may go further than should bo necessary had the existing law been intelligently administered, but as it has not and the measure has had to be drafted at a moment when the whirlwind of prior weakness is be- . ing reaped, it is useless to look at the matter from any other point of view than < that of the stern necessities of the case.

British rulp is in a precarious condition in India-. Of that there can he no reasonable doubt. Shutting dorm inflammatory newspapers, deporting sedition-mongers, and executing murderers will not quell the unrest existing among that portion of the popular tion which has passed through the sdhools and colleges. It may for a time protect the ignorant millions from the revolutionary propaganda carried on almost without restraint of recent years, but a policy of mere repression must always fail in the end r unless united with it there is a wise effort to afford legitimate outlets for discontent as well as opportunities for playing a useful part in government. The responsibility for the present condition rests, primarily, upon, the educational system . through which national and natural aspirations' have been called into being. An Asiatic—or anyone else—who has been fed upon “ Mill on liberty " must bo permitted to take 1 part in national affairs, or it is inevitable that his activities will be directed to sedition.

Justice and efficiency are no longer sufficient for tile educated class of Indians and those who are influenced by them, and it would seem to bo almost certain that unless the natives of the country are invited to take a greater part in the work of government, to share reproach and odium with the infidel, all the repressive legislation it is possible to devise will in the long run prove futile. ‘Whenever this question is raised there is immediately a torrent of objection to “superimposing Western methods upon the East," arguments to show the folly of “ home rule and the unfitness of the Oriental to govern except by force. This is a very unhappy form of criticism. No one but a madman would propose to hand over the government of India to'tho Indian peoples. But could even the most obtuse Pharisee seriously protend to

argue that it is either sane or businesslike to oiler a higher education to oil classes of a native race, almost free of coat, and then expect that race to be content as mere cyphers in the government of their country? W© think not. Nor do we believe the old story about Oriental incapacity for selfgovernment is to bo regarded as gospel; Japan sadly damaged it. China, Persia, and Turkey are moving towards freedom, and the spectacle of an awakening East is stirring many consciences in England. It has already stirred the British Government to granting India a larger measure of responsibility, and the speech in which Lord Morley placed his project before the House of Lords was at once weighty and eloquent. Its general intention was to ojion the door to selfgovernment, and though Lord Morley very rightly disclaimed any intention of making concessions to violence or to inaugurating representative institutions it is significant that the modified yet momentous changes he proposed mot with almost universal approval. Ton years ago they would have been denounced as folly.

The change in sentiment indicates recognition of what seems to be a fact: That Britain's rule in India is doomed unless concessions are mad© to that passion for . self-government which her schools and missionaries have formed through the slow process of education. King Edward’s recent message to the Indian people that “ the time has come when .... the principle of representative institutions may be prudently extended “ meant much in spite of diplomatic hedging. It is by statesmanlike work in the direction of welding the educated Indians to’" the Grown that the British raj will bo maintained and strengthened rather than by indulging in spasms of severity. The inflammatory press is, of course, outside the pale, but it should be regarded rather as a symptom than a disease in itself. The people as a whole are intensely anxious for peace. Recognition of that ought not to encourage a denial of legitimate aspirations. Rather it should bo the best of all reasons for granting them. ' ■ ■■ - •