A GREAT THEOSOPHIT.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9305, 4 August 1908, Page 3

A GREAT THEOSOPHIT.

MRS ANNIE BESANT. HER ARRIVAL IN CHRISTCHURCi A CHAT ABOUT INDIA 'AND THE INDIANS. Mrs Annie Besant arrived in Christ church this morning, alter an absenc< of fourteen years. l\ow, as previously she has come to New Zealand in th< interests of the Theoeophical Society, t< help workers, soeing how branches an progressing, and assist the movemeirl in, this part of the world. After lectur ing in Christ-church this evening anc to-morrow evening, she will go t< Dunedin. and will then leave" for hei home in India. She finds that the society is growing rapidly in Australasia, as well in othei parts of tho world, but more, perhaps in ideas, than in membership. "Theologically," she said to a reporter this morning, " New Zealand seems to be about twenty years behind the time. 1 find my New Zealand audiences intelligent and keenly interested, but thej are very much on the same orthodox lines as they were twenty or thirty years ago. In England the- churches have so widened out that the old-time orthodoxy is dying out. In our society, wo do not take people out of their religion, but we try to make it more liberal. Our members retain their religicns, and in our ranks wo include Anglican, Roman Catholic and Nonconformist clergymen. For us, every religion "is fundamentally true, but we take a less literal and more spiritual view of it." She has formed & few guarded impressions of the material phases of life in Australasia. She believes, indeed, that life here is altogether too materialistic, a fact which, she feels, is largely due to the way in which these countries were colonised, and it is on© which eh© feels will be grown out of in years to come. She expresses an opinion that the educated people of New Zealand do not take sufficient interest in public affairs. They seem to her to leave too much to the working classes. The impression she has formed is that working men and women vote at elections, while educated men and women do not.' On Indian affairs, of course, she speaks with the authority of a student and observer. She does not give any colouring to sensational stories of a great native rising in India. She places the blame of the present agitation, as far as it urges people to violence, on the shoulders of two or three men, who use for their purpose eager but irresponsible young fellows, " merely excitable boys, irresponsible, reeklessN creatures." The great mass of the educated people of India she saj'e, do not desire to get rid of British rule. They merely ask for a share in the government'of their own country, and they are content to gain their object by constitutional and peaceful means. The present administration is causing much discontent. That discontent is not associated with violence. It might be easily allayed if the Government acted reasonably and gradually gave the people the privileges they seek. . Mrs Besant describes the feelings of the highly educated natives when they find themselves shut out from tho best posts of their own educational service. The high test of Government education has stimulated the movement for education. The native people declare that if the Government will not supply them with educational institutions they will have their own colleges. The attitude of British officials towards Indians is another cause of discontent. "A great deal of offence is given by the general lack of consideration on the part of Government officers. The English are rude. The Indians are very stately and dignified, and bad manners irritate them greatly." The present Viceroy is described by Mrs Besant as a sympathetic and capable man. She regards him as a less brilliant man than Lord Curzon, but a better ruler for India. Great Britain, in fact, sh© says, is very fortunato in her chief officers in India. Most of the Indian officials, she saj's, are hard-working men, who try to 'do their duty, and to see that justice is done. In some cases, however, there is injustice. The Indians are not always treated in the same way as the English. They aro sometimes convicted of offences when English would be allowed to go scot-free, and bad feeling is arounsed. Another grievance is recent antiAsiatic legislation. Indians argue that they have a right to shut out from India the people of all countries closed to Indians. Mrs Besant does not z'ecognise tho logic of the Britisher's idea that "barbarians" should be forced to open up their country to him while he closes his countries to them. " " What. is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander/ she says. While she believes that there would be difficultiee in the way of allowing large numbers of lower-class Asiatics to come into New Zealand to compete in tho labour market here, she feels that educated Indians should bo rather encouraged to visit this country.