TROUBLE IN INDIA

Otago Witness, Issue 3488, 18 January 1921, Page 17

TROUBLE IN INDIA

THE AGRARIAN RIOTS. DELHI, January 8. 1 lie agrarian Tiots are still spreading. A large mob attacked Pursatjanj, 10 miles east of Rai Bareli (48 miles southeast of Lucknow), in order to loot the bazaars. The police were compelled to fire on the mob. It is reported that four men were killed and two wounded. Two companies of infantry are now in the district, and others are under orders to proceed there. S-o far 6CO rioters have been arrested. The day after the ringleaders were arrested 10,000 people assembled outside the gaol at Rai Bareli with the object of attempting to rescue the prisoners. The armed police were compelled to fire, killing six. Cultivators of the land have formed soviets for the furtherance of their demands. The looting of landlords’ houses and estates continues. Police reserves at Allahabad and Lucknow are being drawn upon, and a cordon is being drawn round the disaffected districts, preventing the news of the riots spreading. , . . January 9. Official advices from the riot area state that the situation is in hand. The necessary protective measures are being enforced. Tho agrarian riots were the result ol heavy levies on the peasants by landlords. The riots were the sequel to a number of industrial troubles fomented by agitators. These have been characterised by violence, and necessitatated the use of troops, ani this has tended to arouse hatred against authority. The masses are discontented owing to tho cost of living and the high prices. The political outlook is black. The commercial communities of Calcutta and Bombay are faced by the possibility of a general strike in the near future. January 12. The Government has released all the prisoners, totalling 660, in connection with the riots. LORD READING’S APPOINTMENT. LONDON, January 10. The appointment of Lord Reading as Viceroy is not altogether approved in Indian official circles, because he is of the same faith as Mr E. S. Montagu (Secretary of State for India), and because :t is expected that he will subordinate the Vice-royalty to the India Office. Now that Sir Herbert Samuel is Governor of Palestine, Mr Montagu at the India Office and Lord Reading Viceroy, it is pointed out that Britain’s Eastern policy is in the hand of a Jewish triumvirate. January 11. Lord Reading, replying to congratulations in the High Court-, said lie felt that his appointment to the Vice-royalty indicated the Government’s desire that*justice should remain the supreme guiding factor in the destinies of India. DUKE OF CONNAUGHT’S VISIT. DELHI, January 10. The Duke of Connaught paid his first official visit to Madras, where he was loyally welcomed by great crowds of Indians from all parts of Southern India, despite tho efforts of the non-co-operators to boycott the visit. The Duke declared his mission was to inaugurate the new councils constituted under the Reform Act, which, ho hoped, would help to heal old

sores and meet the new spirit of India which Britain recognised. BRITISH MISSION TO AFGHANISTAN. DELHT, January 14. The Amir has formally received the British mission at Kabul with cordiality and courtesy. The mission took a small set of wireless apparatus, and Kabul is now connected with Peshawar.