The Waikato Times. With which Is incorporated The Waikato Argus. FRIDAY, MAY 23, 1930. INDIAN PROBLEMS.

Waikato Times, Volume 107, Issue 18027, 23 May 1930, Page 6

The Waikato Times. With which Is incorporated The Waikato Argus. FRIDAY, MAY 23, 1930. INDIAN PROBLEMS.

The situation in India grows no worse, but that is perhaps as much as can be said. The Nationalists are determined to break the law, but their efforts do not seem very formidable. They throw bombs, and two or three men have been thereby injured, hut these doings will not bring down a Government. The next move will be to picket the cloth and liquor shops, and this will probably lead to the arrest and imprisonment of a further number of Nationalists. It is all very foolish and misguided, hut cannot he regarded as really important, and it is already leading to resentment and complaint from the business community. It is as well that the business men should realise what this land of sham revolution means to the lawabiding classes, for the real -fear is that if the Hindus were entrusted with complete self-government they might ,ol find the requisite firmness to deal with such outbreaks. The salt tax which Gandhi tried to evade by getting his followers to make salt themselves, is reported to amount to between 4d and 4£d per annum. The peasant cultivator is certainly extremely poor, but if he is to pay any taxation at all it could scarcely be less. It is safe to say that in spite of the smallness of his purchases the extra payment which protection compels him to make is greater than the salt tax, and protection has been brought about by his own people. We are to have Sir John Simon’s report or rather that of his fellow committeemen. It has been long expected, and so much has been hoped from it that it will be somewhat wonderful if it does not disappoint expectations. It is generally realised that a problem of the greatest importance calls for settlement, and there is no generally accepted solution in sight. Home papers are full of letters from retired Indian soldiers and civilians indignant at the hare idea of granting further self-government. These gentlemen are not always the best guides. For one thing, events and ideas have moved fast during the past few years, and men who have left India grow quickly out of touch. Again the country is so vast that no man can know more than a corner of it. The-dangers of granting any increase in the powers of self-govern-ment may be great, hut the dangers of refusing it may be even greater. It must be borne in mind that it is impossible to rule 320,000,000 of people against their will. It is clear that a very small number of people are prepared to follow Ghandi in his attempt to defy the law, hut at the same time a large proportion of the law-abiding persons may become rebellious if their hopes are disappointed. Then again there, is the problem of the untouchables, who are not likely to obtain justice from the upper castes. These untouchables are solid for British rule, tout the peasant cultivator, who should he equally solid if he knew his own interests, is an unknown quantity. He is easily worked on by agitators, and if they ascribe any and every misfortune to British rule many will believe it. Then again one-third of India is ruled by native Rajahs and Maharajahs. These potentates are content to owe suzerainty to the Emperor of India, but they will not work amicably with a Council or Congress of Indian lawyers, merchants and men of business, The truth is that Britain’s presence and position in India is largely due to accident. We went there to trade, and for a time confined ourselves to trade. It so happened that the Mogal Empire which ruled a large part of India was tottering to Its fall, and no other power was capable of taking its place. In order to ensure a modicum of law and order in which to conduct trade we had to take charge of limited areas. We had to fight French adventurers in defence of our trade, and having defeated them we had to go on from one neighbouring State to another to resist attack and suppress disorder. We have thus finally come to acquire supreme control over a large part of the country, and to exercise suzerainty over the semi-independent Slates, fi’he result has been to give India as a whole much better government than their stage of civilisation warrants. The educated part of the community who are a very small percentage of the whole now demand self-govern-ment and believe that they can continue to give good government and it is very difficult to refuse them. When England was in the throes of war, they remained loyal to what is to them foreign rule. They sent their troops to fight, in Europe and Mesopotamia, and when they demanded self-go,vern-ment at the end of the war the demand could not be met with a blank refusal. We have made, some advance in that direction, and promised to consider what more could he done in 1930. Now the time has come, and the decision must be made. In some cases it may be true that good government is no substitute for self government, but India’s case is exceptional. The capable few are so few; the incapable many' are so many r ; the races are so diverse; the caste system is such an incubus. The existence of 70,000,000 of Moslems who are also of a different race adds to the complexity, and at a time when the friends of India are anxiously' looking for arguments to support tiie claims lor further sellgovernment, Gandhi stirs up riots r

and outbreaks which lead to doubts of India’s capacity to behave herself, even to say nothing of ruling others. There will be warm debates and excited feelings over whatever solution may he proposed and when wisdom cannot decide it will be left to chance to point out the path to be followed. The best safeguard will be to leave it open to Britain to resume control if failure results from Indian Home Rule.