POSITION IN INDIA

Otago Witness, Issue 4038, 4 August 1931, Page 26

POSITION IN INDIA

YOUNG BENGALI’S CRIME. DISTRICT JUDGE SHOT. CALCUTTA, July 27. During the hearing of criminal eases in the court at Alipore, a picturesque suburb inhabited chiefly by Europeans, Bima] Gupta, a young Bengali anarchist, shot an Indian constable in the arm, and then fired point-blank at Mr R. R. Garlick, the district and sessions judge, who was on the Bench. The latter died later in hospital. He leaves a widow and family. A European police sergeant shot and killed his assailant. COMMENT BY THE STATESMAN. CALCUTTA, July 28. The Statesman, in an editorial to-day, referring to the shooting of Mr Justice Garlick, asks: “ Are there to be any more concessions to the forces which threaten to destroy India? Congress has shown itself to be unworthy to control the destinies of India, nor has Mr Gandhi the smallest control over it. His presence in London will do infinite harm. The Delhi settlement, as far as Congress goes, is no settlement, and with great regret we say that the sooner it is ended the better.” RECENT DISTURBANCES IN INDIA. RUGBY, July 27. Replying to questions in the House of Commons, the Secretary of State for India (Captain Wedgwood Benn) said that, excluding the incidents which occurred in direct connection with the rebellion in Burma, six disturbances, involving loss of life and damage to proparty, occurred in British India during June and July, and 19 fatal casualties were reported. The situation in Burma on the whole showed signs of improvement, and dacoities had decreased in the Thayet-myo district. The surrenders in the Prome district now amounted to 1332, and there had also been 40 in Tharrawaddy and Prome. Some of the leading Pongyis of Rangoon had gone out on a peace mission to the Tharrawaddy and Insein districts under the terms of an amnesty which would be granted in the near future. The rising in the Shan States appeared to have been suppressed. The communal situation had improved, and hardly any attacks on Indians bad been reported. OFFICIALS PERTURBED. CALCUTTA, July 30. Officials throughout India are complaining that the Government is still failing in its duty adequately to safeguard the lives of its servants, and they demand stricter precautions to prevent a repetition of the Garlick and similar outrages Europeans in Calcutta and Cawnpore have passed a resolution denouncing the weak policy of the Government in failing to crush the revolutionary movement. “WORSHIP OF MURDER.” CALCUTTA, July 30. Writing in the journal Young India, Mr Gandhi confesses that he was led away by popular enthusiasm to support the efforts to secure the commutation of the death sentence on Bhaget Singh, the Lahore terrorist. He adds that this mad worship of murder is doing incalculable harm, and the result is brigandage and degradation. He warns congressmen that the independence movement will soon lose its charm if they betray their trust and encourage the terrorism cult. At the same time he warns the Government that retribution and repression will not do. TROUBLE FEARED AT DELHI. DELHI, August 1. There is popular resentment throughout India against the recent anarchist outrages, and strong actiou against the instigators is demanded. Mr Gandhi suggests that the northwest frontier regulation which provides for the summary execution of a criminal caught in the act of murder should be introduced in the provinces and districts seriously contaminated by anarchy. Meanwhile, Congress threatens to renew the picketing of shops selling foreign cloth. The Moslems, who arc the principal cloth traders, started a movement as a reprisal, urging their co-religionists t® huy and wear only British cloth goods and consume only foreign liquor. Trouble is feared at Delhi. Moslem dealers are threatening that if their shops are picketed they will picket Hindu shops selling Indian-made cloth. STATEMENT IN HOUSE OF COMMONS. RUGBY, July 31. Replying in the House of Commons to the debate on India, Mr W. Wedgwood Benn (Secretary for India), referring to the suggestion that if Mr Gandhi visited England he should jnake a tour of Lancashire, said that anything that could inform India about conditions in Lancashire and anything that could inform Britain as to the conditions in India must be to the good. What the Government was trying to do was to get a better atmosphere, a better spirit, and he thought that everything promised well for the reassembly at the Round Table Conference,