PRINCE IN INDIA

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18466, 30 January 1922, Page 6

PRINCE IN INDIA

RIOTS AT MADRAS. ARMOURED CARS AND BAYONET CHARGES. Under date January 14, Sir Porcival Phillips, tho special representative of the Australian Press Association with the Prince of Wales in India, ‘ writes as follows The welcome to the Prince of Wales in Madras yesterday morning was marred by an outbreak of violence by Gandhi's : followers, which was more serious than any demonstration made against the Royal visit since the rioting in Bombay. A vvellorganised and very dote Urn lined attempt was made by the leaders to impose a complete boycott and a general strike. Their efforts to prevent the natives from approaching tho Prince’s route and- reprisals against, those who defied the boycott led to rioting and disorder, in which troops and Europeans were stoned, and motor oars and some buildings were 'damaged. There ware -repeated collisions with the mob, resulting in the employment of armoured cars and bayonet" charges by the Leinsters within a stone’s throw of Government House, where the Prince is staying. Yet The outburst of the mob failed to touch in any way the actual welcome. The Prince was acclaimed /with splendid ceremonial when ho came over the side of the steamer Dufferin at 8.30 a.m.,‘and set foot, in the Presidency in the presence of a glittering assemblage of high officials, native rulers, troops, and members of the European community.- His slow drive in an open barouche through three and a-haK miles of spacious streets was witnessed by a crowd of gratifying proportions. The native element was strongly represented in the stands, windows, balconies, and the open spaces which, are characteristic of this straggling city. The Prince was cheered with real fervour by Indian pensioners, students of more than 40 schools and colleges massed thickly in the Esplanade road, and by thousands of Madras! Christians, who had waited since daybreak to witness his passage. Not even a shadow of discontent touched him as he saluted and smiled at them all. ’ The Prince visited tho Legislative Council later in the morning, and was welcomed by some of fhe university students at the Senate House. Both going and returning to Government House he saw and heard nothing of the grim struggle which was being waged by the mob against a handful of the police, who wore later reinforced by infantry. So sharp was the dividing lino between calm and unrest that the Lein sters on guard at the main entrance to Government House surveyed an absolutely peaceful scene, and were unaware that beside the rear gates of the grounds a detachment of their comrades, with, fixed bayonets and a Lewis gun; trained on the narrow Ellis road, were being stoned by a vicious gang of Gandhi’s followers, who kept rallying and running away again in their usual cowardly fashion when they feared that -the patient Leinsters were about to shoot. GANDHTS TACTICS. Gandhi’s organisers worked hard and with unusual daring to impose a complete hartal, The familiar tactics of intimidation followed during the past fortnight evoked a promise by the authorities to protent oil shopkeepers who desired to keep their shops open. On Thursday horse vehicles bearing the t placards "Boycott the Prince to-mor row” appeared in the bazaars. The agitators were at their campaign at 2 a.m, determined to thwart the earliest sightseers who attempted to approach the route of the procession; The, first serious trouble occurred at 7 a.m. in the vicinity of the central station, where the windows of trams were broken and the passengers bullied into leaving, and in the triplicate quarter, which" is thd centre of the Mohammedan bazaar area. The throwing of stones at the trams began in front of the mosque, the crowd being speedily inflamed in the absence of the police, the majority of the lattetr having been withdrawn for duty along the rout© of the procession. Encouraged by this lack of opposition tile mob extended its activities in tho direction of Mount road, which is the heart of the European quarter, pressing up the street at tho end of the triplicate quarter bounded by the walls of Government House compound. In an open space at the corner of Mount : road they came upon an open pavilion covering a well beside the Ripon statue- at the back gates of Government House. Tho pavilion was hung with flags and adorned with palms and plants in pots, and there was a solitary policeman in charge. The mob swept the policeman prostrate, destroyed the decorations, strewed the rags of tho Union Jack in tho mud, and completely wrecked the pavilion. The Prince was already at Government House when, this ,waj done. THE TROOPS’ RESTRAINT. Half a dozen men of the Ist Leinsters had just arrived amid the, debris when I reached the pavilion. The’mob split into three sections, hung on to the fringe of die bazaar area, and kept drifting, forward ?o within 100£t of the troops, jeering and throwing an occasional stone. The sudden arrival of the Lewis gun momentarily silenced them and sent the majority scuttling into the bazaars, but they soon began to dribble, back. Between their lapses into cowardice, when they thought they would bo fired on tho rioters showed unexpected persistence and resolution. Finally, convinced that the Leinsters would not dare retaliate, they began; hurling stones at the pavilion, which was simply -a roof supported by pillars. The soldiers beside me were repeatedly struck, but they behaved with extraordinary restraint a,nd patience under extreme provocation; they had orders not to fire, and the natives were aware of the fact. An Indian officer of police who suddenly arrived in a motor car dashed into the, mob with his stick, causing them to scatter like frightened rabbits in all directions. I then left for the area around the railway station where similar disorders had/ occurred. I found a temporary calm; detachments of Waghiband Light Infantry were patrolling the thoroughfares. KINBMA BUILDING HEED. When I returned to the Government House area 1 found that the mob had reassembled with amazing swiftness. A short distance away the rebels had raided, completely wrecked, and set fire to the Wellington , kir.ema, destroyed a motor car establishment adjoining. The body of a Madrassi killed by Gandhists lay in die , middle of General Fetters road, near the debris of the kinema. The fire was put out easily before the brigade arrived. Four armoured cars appeared in Mount road with stronger detachments of Leinsters, who charged with fixed bayonets, and drove portions of the mob into tho by-streets. They also dislodged sbme of tho ringleaders from their barricaded houses. Again I was struck by the forbearance and quiet determination of tho troops ns they hustled their sullen prisoners into the streets under guard. The mob retained its ugly temper even in the presence of the bayonets and the constant slow swing of the turrets of the armoured cars, I saw groups laughing and pointing at the corpse with its battered head sprawled out in tho sunshine. The same men cowered and salaamed whenever a grim Irishman turned in their direction, but they dropped all disguise the moment they thought they were not observed All this occurred within a few hundred yards of the groat house where the Prince slept last night. He was going and coming along the guarded ways fulfilling the duties of a- crowded morning. I doubt if even a whisper of the trouble had reached him as the bayonets of tho Leinsters flashed up and down the Mount road, and tho gunners, half-stripped and streaming perspiration, crouched in the stifling heat of the look-outs of tho armoured cars. RIOTERS DRIVEN INTO RIVER. Order was completely restored throughout Madras to-day. The rioting, which was fiercest at noon yesterday, died away soon after strong detachments of trends appeared in tho disaffected areas. Patrols of the Fourth Dragoon Guards continued- dispersing tho mobs and clearing the streets of the native quarters, and armoured cars were pasted at strategic points. The ardour cf the Ganuhkt rioters in tho Mount road area near Government House was effectually squelched by tho tactics of the Leinsters in driving them into the Coom River, and keeping them waist deep in water till they were glad to slink away like drowned rats. Only two deaths were involved—both victims being natives, but a number wore admitted to hospital suffering minor injuries. The authorities refused to permit public processions to escort the bodies after the inquests this morning, fearing that" they would ho an incitement to fresh disorder. " Tho hartal was general throughout the bazaars yesterday. Groups of idle natives assembled in some of the streets to-day, but there was no evidence of aggressiveness. The. Prince was given an enthusiastic reception when he attended tho races at Guindy, near, Madras, in state this afternoon. Ho was escorted down tho con use by the Governor’s bodyguard, and was cheered liv a large crowd, which included hundreds of loval Madrassi. On the way back to Government House ho ■ visited (ho Cosmopolitan Club, where he witnessed a tableau vivants with Hindu music. The Maharajahs of Travail core and Cochin and the Prince of Arcot sat- with him.