Public Opinion

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 90, Issue 84, 11 April 1946, Page 4

Public Opinion

CONDITIONS IN INDIA Sir—Mr. Watkin says “Millions in India are in an abject state of poverty.” How does Mr. Watkin propose to make them prosperous? That is the question. As to their earnings only being £4 per head, can he teil irl.’ what they were 200 years ago? H<* also says, “Aftei 200 years o. British rule only 16 per cent, males and 5 per cent, females can read or write.” Again I ask, how many were there 200 years ago? I can tel) him that since' 1859 Government sc.hnole have been opened up for tne oenefit of all classes. In 1871 there were 25,147 Government schools and colleges, with an average attendance of 799,622 pupils. The gross expenditure from Imperial and other* sources was upwards of £1,000,000. This was only one year after compulsory education came into force in England. Mr. Watkin deplores the small number of hospitals in India. Where is the money to come from to build more? Does he advocate that there should be a tax on us to build hospitals in India, or has he some other scheme? The Government, has tried with considerable amount of success to save them from plagues and famines, but what can be done with people who leave their dead and dying people : a the mud or water of the sacred Ganges and will drink of this same . acred water within a few feet of a floating corpse-.' We have put down • the suttee and prohibited child marriages. No male under 18 years or i female under 14 years can get married by law. We ssved the people of ! India from the Japs in the last war, which saved them from untold suffering. Mr. Watkin is horrified by physical force. He believes in spiritual ‘orce What about the policemen who uard the people in Wanganui? Are |not they a physical force, and do not ’they prevent a ml of harm being done? The Author and Finisher of

our Faith made a scourge of cords and drove out the money changers and them that sold doves. This was physical force. Mr. Watkin is a pacifist, apparently. 1 do not intend to write again on this subject. If he cannot understand that India is better off than she was before we went there, I cannot help him. I am, etc, M. W. SMITH.