The Sun 42 WYNDHAM STREET AUCKLAND WEDNESDAY, JUNE 11, 1930 REVOLT OR PEACE IN INDIA?

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 995, 11 June 1930, Page 8

The Sun 42 WYNDHAM STREET AUCKLAND WEDNESDAY, JUNE 11, 1930 REVOLT OR PEACE IN INDIA?

INDIA stands today at the crossroads of political fate. One road I leads to something worse on a colossal scale than the historic Mutiny; the other winds toward Dominion self-government as an integral peaceful part of the British Empire. Which path will she choose?

That question is at the root of .the Indian Home Rulers’ turmoil which, for thirty years past, has gone deep into the hot soil of native agitation and discontent. It is also the core of the thorough investigation and informative report of the Indian (Statutory Commission under the wise leadership of Sir John Simon, who sacrificed an income of £IOO,OOO within two and ahalf years in order to probe a chaotic racial problem. Moreover, it is a question for the serious consideration of the whole Empire. No part of it can afford to remain aloof, or indifferent, or lacking in sympathy with both sides nearest the heart of the tremendous effort at shaping India’s destiny. All are concerned in the outcome: Revolution and anarchy with a severe mutilation of the Empire, or orderly political progress and prosperity for India in loyal partnership with the rest of the British Commonwealth of Nations? Unfortunately, as yet, a definite answer cannot be given to the fateful question. So far, even the Simon Commission has not answered it. True it is that responsible Government in British India as part and portion of the British Empire lias been fixed as the declared goal of Britisli-Indian policy, but then it is no less true that this ultimate goal lias been set on what one might well fairly call a Himalayan height, perhaps not so inaccessible as Kuncliinjunga, but similarly beset with perils for political explorers. The commission lias devoted most of its arduous work to investigating the dank jungles of racial creed, a chaos of political thought and clamour, and a Babelian confusion of tongues. And what a formidable jungle it all is even in its clearest places! “Tiger, tiger, burning bright, like a forest in the night.” All the time and everywhere in the voluminous report the tiger of trouble lurks. Again, as ever since the early ’eighties when, following on the shock of the Mutiny, the Indian agitation against British rule began to assume the form of a national movement of political revolt, it has been necessary “to survey India as through a glass darkly.” This is emphasised by the commission which travelled twenty-one thousand miles in search of illuminating information, conferred with eight out of the nine Provincial Legislatures, discussed with a central committee representing the Council of State and Legislative Assembly every tangle in the intricate problem, and made an exhaustive study of the racial differences in creed and caste ranging down through three hundred million people from the highest Brahmin to the lowest pariah, whose very shadow can be an offence and the cause of a caste riot. The nationalists of India demand exactly the same political freedom and self-governmental rights as those enjoyed or neglected by this country. What does this mean for the vast Empire of Ind ? There are twenty-five provinces ill British India and eighteen Native States or Agencies. Together their total area is about eighteen times the size of New Zealand. On the lands of India there are nearly two hundred persons to each square mile as compared with fourteen only in this country. Most of India’s population lives in a way that has given them the classification of “a dumb peasantry,” as far as the political language, which is English, is concerned. There are 2,300 different castes, and 272 vernaculars. Close on three hundred million Indians have no knowledge of the English language, but most of them avidly read the vernacular newspapers which are about the hottest journals in the world on poltical questions, particularly taxation and “the tyranny of a foreign Government.” Yet, curiously enough, with only rare exceptions’, no people in the Empire are any more loyal than the Indians are to the King Emperor. Those, who not without cause, utterly condemn the mischievous activities of political agitators in India, should never forget that, at the greatest crisis in the Empire’s history, India threw her whole weight on the side of righteousness and justice. Why withhold the same equality frdm India ? Such is the cry of the most intelligent as well as the most illiterate Indian Nationalists in whose great organisation membership costs only fourpence a year? The Simon Commission explains why the demand must be heeded and soothed like the cry of a fractious child. India is not yet ready for complete 'self-government and contains its own worst enemies to political freedom. UNEMPLOYMENT AND THE HOSPITAL THE difficulties that local bodies are facing in tlieir struggle to offset unemployment with relief grants were stressed last evening when 40 delegates attended a conference convened by the Auckland Hospital Board. Beyond the securing of full support for the board’s oft-repeated cry that relief should be a charge on the national exchequer, no attempt was made to deal with the immediate problem, but the conference served to indicate the possibilities of concerted effort. The experience gleaned in past winters and the present extent of available finance combine to make it perfectly clear that only by close co-operation can local authorities contrive to answer the appeals of workless men. In emphasising the burden of relief charges, the conference automatically drew attention to the existing need for This, of course, is fully realised by the Government which, having exhausted its small store of constructive ideas, is relying on the ancient method of preparing to eke out its share of the taxpayers’ money in the form of two-to-one subsidies and leaving local bodies to do the rest. Unsatisfactory as this may be to the Hospital Board and its supporting bodies, the need is pressing, and the course should be taken. What is wanted now is another conference to determine clearly and quickly the work that can be done. It is important that Hospital Board charity should be kept down to a minimum; for charity, besides being an economic dead loss, merely prolongs the unemployment disease. If individual local bodies take stock of their positions useful work can still be foCmd. The Transport Board, to name only one, has before it proposals which involve the utilisation of a considerable amount of labour, and a speeding up of these will benefit the position considerably. A progressive decision on the question of trams in Albert Street and the Avondale extension should be made, and the facts placed before the public for its decision. The other pressing question now confronting the Hospital Board is that of finding means to cater adequately for the patients in its institutions. There is pressing need for extensions, .but the board should avoid at all costs the mistaken policy of adding to the unwieldy clutter on the Domain Hill. A time has come in Auckland when the establishment of outlying hospitals, particularly of a specialised character, is imperative. Chronic and convalescent patients yt the main hospital today are seriously limiting the proper accommodation for urgent cases. In the meantime a growing city must be content to wait, as money must be found for current relief expenditure. The board cannot hope to burn the Treasury candle at both ends.