INDIA AND THE WAR

Otago Daily Times, Issue 16668, 13 April 1916, Page 2

INDIA AND THE WAR

SOME rNTERESTING CHAT WITH 1 PROFESSOR BROWN. Professor R. S. C. Brown, of Poona, Collego of Engineering, India, yesterday courteously granted an interview to a Daily Times representative and discussed with him several phases of the alluring topic of India and tho war. Professor Brown is now spending- at his home in Dunedin the second short furlough that has been granted him since ho took up his work in Poona, and ho can speak from no inconsiderable knowledge of one part at least of that vast, strange land. The great difficulty, of course, in discussing India was to avoid forbidden topics and to keep away f'-ni facts and incidents better left in obscui-i.y till the time comes to writea full history of the war. Speaking of the British Territorials, who have taken tho place of the regulars formerly stationed in Poona, Professor Brown said there was a fairly largo number of, them, and that their conduct in strango conditions, and among strange people, had been quite satisfactory. Poona itself has been perfectly quiet since tho beginning of tho war, and there has been no sign of disturbance. The Indians themselves all over the country are very much interested in tho progress of the war, but they have to depend for their informaton largely on the customary wild rumours that float a.bout the bazaars, passing from mouth to mouth. One native of considerable education wished to see the newspapers specially one day because he had heard that the Germans had been dropping bombs on the Poona College. This is only a faint illustration of the stories that many of the natives find no difficulty in believing. German agents have boon hard at work trying to stir up sedition, using paid native agents, among other means, but their efforts have, not boon attended with success. Commercially, India, as a whole, has hardly felt the war at all so far. All the men and wealth, that have been devoted by India to the war are yet inconsiderable when contrasted with her vast resources of men and of material. So far as outward visible signs go, it is safe to say that India is much less affeoted by the war oven than the colonies are, and British residents returning to India find it like a backwater after the whirl and excitement in other countries. Even the best-informed Indians probably entirely fail to_ realise that the peace, safety, and prosperity of their land is wholly due to the strength of tho British Fleet. Multitudes of them havo nover even seen the sea, and they do not understand how much tho control of it means. Indian princes have boon very munificent in their gifts, and the native troops on active' service are all supported by their own country. The financial stringency caused by the_ war is chiefly noticeable in the restriction of expenditure on public works, but in some directions the war has greatly favoured Indian commerce. Tho jute industry, particularly, and also tho J cotton industry, have felt the great'demand for war material, and all Indian engineering, firms and steel works are very busily en- , gaged in tho manufacture of munitions. When questioned as to' the attitude of some of the groat sections of the Indian people, Professor Brown said that tho Mohammedans there were in a difficult positipn. Their religious sympathies as Mohammedans wore naturally w'ith the Turks, but politically they were loyal to the Empire, The interviewer gathered that tho split between Turkish and Indian Mohammedanism has not been, so wide or so significant as represented in some reports that have gained currency here. The great bulk of the Hindoo population is ' quiet, and passively loyal. Tho Sikhs seem to have been more affected by the spirit of unrest than any other section of the community, and they have at times been very troublesome. The Gurkhas and the Mahrattas are two of the races that have been winning the best records in the Indian Army. Tho Mahrattas, although not much heard of, havo done exceedingly well in Mesopotamia. Indian army corps, it may_ bo said, always contain a stiffening of British troops from some of the finest regiments in tho Old Land, and a share of the credit of what these'corps do must be given to such famous regiments as the Black Watch and the Dorsots. Among tho regiments that havo been winning glory .on the field in Mesopotamia, Professor Brown says that the record of the Dorsets is exceptionally fine. On one occasion 40 of them fought a successful rearguard action against several thousand Turks, covering a retirement over 10 miles. The Dorsets and the Mahrattas seem to have been in tho thick of every big:engagement in tho Mesopotamiaii campaign. Some of the most dramatic incidents in the history of the war, when it comes to bo written, Professor Brown prophesies,, will be accounts of the battles in this region. The war has scarcely affected at all tho student community, in whioh tho Professor is interested at Poona, though a few members of the Parsee Volunteer Company havo gone to do ambulance and medical work in Egypt. Trouble with frontier tribes, he says, has necessitated a number of spall military expeditions, which in ordinary times., would have attracted a great deal of attention. As it is, practically nothing is heard of them; but there is no doubt (hut many distant, untamed tribes are trying by violence to turn the general unsottlcmont and unrest to their own material benefit. The ■Ruroper.n population in India has been very much affected by the loss of the Persia, the Maloja, and, more recently, of the Simla, all of which were carrying .many well-known' Anglo-Indians back tortile land of 'their adoption. .At the present time the Indian Government is very loth to let British residents out of tho country at all, and leave is granted to civil sorvants only on an, urgent medical certificate. It was interesting to learn that Professor. Brown is quite in sympathy. with tho measures that havo :bce,n taken to curtail tho liberties of German missionaries in India. He believes they have,been abusing their position. The Government was extremely considerate of them to begin with. They were not interned, and, as they were quite cut off from funds. British missionaries contributed from their own salaries towards thrir support. Within a few months a!section at least nf tho?e Gorman missionaries woro found to bo using their position to excite sedition, nnd they have nil since been interned. Tint was undoubtedly a nr-C'Ssnry measure. Hioitffh it may fall hnrdly 0!i a few individuals who have really become n-onuinely Bn'tish in rhoir sympathies. Th n y nre kont in a camp in Western India. and f-.h who nrp not men of rrvml' rhiit. arm hoincr returned \n their own country. It is nit surnrsintr to hoar that season "r| British mi°p!omrics fire pvmwinflr donbtc ns to whether German mi'-.sinrmries should evor be admitted into India again.