LIFE IN INDIA.

Taranaki Daily News, 8 October 1925, Page 12

LIFE IN INDIA.

THE PRINCES AT HOME-. FABULOUS RICHES IN STORE, DIREST POVERTV NEAR BY. Within the guarded walls of the Nabob’s treasury, scores and ecores of mason jars such as British housewives use for preserving fruit, and each jar packed with rubies, sapphires and emeralds, sparkling with the glory of their natural splendour—and not ten miles away from the palace thousands of people dying every year from sheer starvation, unable to find a meal a day. This contrast aptly illustrated the extremes of wealth and poverty that struck the visitor to India, said Dr. G. I’. Adamson, of Waitara, when speaking at the New Plymouth Rotary Club’s weekly luncheon on Monday. Dr. Adamson took as the subject of his address “Life Amongst the Princes of India,” and gave a very interesting insight into the condition.s at present prevailing in India as seen by one who has

spent five years actually living in the palaces of the Maharajahs. India was known the land of regrets, said the speaker. One regretted going there and regretted leaving it. Accepting the offer of a sick Maharajah in Loudon to go out to India to look after the ruler’s son, he .still retained the striking impression gained on entering Bombay, where in the velvet black sky the stars twinkled with fascinating Eastern allurement. It was perhaps his best impression of India. The journey to Calcutta wa.s one long procession through dusty deserts inhabited by poor people of poor physique. At Calcutta he first came face to face with the pomp, splendour and riches of his host. In the Maharajah’s town house, which was in reality an enormous palace, was all the magnificence associated with Indian rulers. The three things that struck him most forcibly were the parts played by sport, drink and religion. The young men lived for sport, all drank heavily, and the half of the family that were not inclined to heavy drinking were eu--grossed in religion. HL" NT ING mu GAME. Between fifty and sixty elephants were kept on the estate, and these -were used for the engrossing sport of shooting panthers and tigers. It might sound like a fairy tale, but nevertheless it was quite true that in five years over 350 panthers and 24 tigers were shot. Tigers now- were scarce and reserved for the sport of high officials and visitors of rank. bVhen a distinguished visitor arrived, there was always a tiger kept in stock for him, and very good care - was •taken that he secured it.

The majority of the princes rose late and strolled around the palace during the morning in their pyjamas, amusing themselves with the. inevitable gramophone. They lived in constant anticipation of the cry of “cover,” news that a tiger or panther had killed a bullock. The elephants were immediately eent out, more than likely to be completely submerged in the twenty-feet high jungle, and «ed flags on poles were made use of to show where the elephants were. The elephants gradually closed in on the quarry in horse-shoe formation, and finally the tiger was .shot.

Regarding administration in India, Dr. Adamson stated that- two-'fifthe of the country was ruled by the native princes The head of each state was the Maharajah, whose government was commonly knowii as a “beiaevolent au-

tocracy.” Autocracy it certainly was, But very often hardly benevolent. Gn matters of importance he called in various officials and advisers, and sometimes included the doctor. The British Government generally provided a representative, or ambassador, for each state, his real work being rather., as an advisor than as an ambassador. Nine hundred states all paid tribute to the British Government, and in return they received protection from outside interference and also from one another. Britain could never have put her foot into India had it not been fur internal dissension and strife between the various rulers. . AVERAGE INCOME £lO A YEAR. Probably in no other country in the world were there such extremes of wealth and poverty. The average income in India was about £‘lo a year, and the average annual tax contribution was less than 3s 6d. Yet the rulers had enormous riches. There was a great deal of wealth underground. One Nabob had eight or nine treasuries, all the result of loot in past wars. One ruler showed the speaker into a treasury which he opened with a little gold key kept always on his own person. Rows of shelves were covered by layers of sacking, and when these were lifted up they disclosed dozens and dozens of gold bricks. Dr. Adamson asked the Indian why he did not invest the money instead of keeping it lying idle, and the latter replied that while he vras the friend of England then, «iie might not be at some future time, and he liked to have his wealth in hand. These rulers lived in great magnificence, and delighted in displays of colour, and of gold and silver, in one waiting -room all the chairs were made of solid silver, and were most uncomfortable. Outside the palaces thousands of people had not got a meal a day. The number that died of starvation was astonishing. The last Maharajah the speaker stayed with had £1*88,001) a year hi English money in revenue.

England was faced with great difficulties in India, said Dr. Adamson. There was no such word as loyalty in the Indian language, and the rich rulers were loyal to England only so long as their interests did not clash. Certainly they sent men and money to help Britain in the 'Great War, but their loyalty depended chiefly on the better protection that Britain could afford themThere were only 5000 officials in British India, and they controlled 3-20 million people out of the total of 440 million in the British Empire. It was not generally understood that India was a« large as the whole of Europe excluding Russ i a«

Dr. Adamson concluded his address by describing t'he ceremony attaching to an official visit of one ruler t-o another. The most pleasant part of the whole visit that every official (and doctor) who accompanied the visiting ruler was given a month’s pay to commemorate it.