May 29.
DerAtten reports regarding recoat in Calcetta have]
tun to arrive in i, but those that have:
ed show how useful fast, if not absolutely' essential, is the steadying influence of the West. The rio: s which occupied attention a few weeks ago were in no! ense "ted against the recognized Covernment of India, but were the almost inevitable] result of long-standing religious feuds, and to the outsider there. appears only one element in the situation of India which can mitigate this and so prevent such. disturbances, and that is the Brit'sh Raj. A further element has evolved out of this particular]
and that is that a streng-of the foreign police personnel of Calcutta hus since been dersanded.—When we consider consequences of the riot we!
ly come to the conclusion'
this is x necessity of the se. for before the final event, no fewer that forty people were killed and a hundred and forty'
ided, whereas it is possible at with a scrouger police force mor! of this, though certainly 1, might have been averted.
course of events was that Caleutts had ultimatel be handed over to the mi whose strong: arm reduce' assions of the contending fu tions to within bounds. While!
riots which took place in not of the nature mally be repro-queer and quaint examples may Far East will always pay to see to announce the recital he gives to-night. In any provincial hall ing causes of local st grew the larger series of riots between the secta which resulted in a formidable roll of dead and wounded. Now, how much of this sort' of thing is staged deliberately by religious zealots or ordinary trouble-makers it is impossible for us to say, but there is no doubt as to the antipathy between the two: secta, and it, continually crops up.everywhere where the two have to reside in close proximity, For.instance here. we have what may have been an intended insult by Hindus—the playing of music while those in the mosque were at prayer, But the Mohammedans are no whit less: guilty in their attitude, For instance when they held a procession, a favourite practice is to make the tazin—a portable piece of religious furniture very much Chinese are econ conveying from place to place—brush the branches of the peepal tree, and as the latter is sacred to the Hindus, the act tends to infuriate them, Equally the cow is sacred to the Hinstus, and some time ago the Hindus introduced into the Leg'slature a bill to prevent the slaughter of kine throughout India, This was done possibly because of the fact that when Mohammedans, who eat cow fest freely, send beasts to the slaughterhouse, they frequently garland them' with flowers for the annoyance of the Hindus, While a situation such as this must breed the germs of perpetual disorder, it must not be imagined that faction feud is in the forefront of their general outlook on life, but we have to tackle that pernicious element in the case, the professional trouble-maker. We know him well enough here, and can only he thankful that'he appears to have fewer opportunities for practising his calling than ina plac? such az Calcutta, For ins stance there, Ie will get hold of the jog of a slaughtered cow, and drop it into a Hindu's well. To the Hindu this is an appalling act of sacrilege, and there will be trouble between the local Hindu and Mohammedan com: munities immediately," out of which the mischief-maker hopes to profit in the way of loot ax soor as anything like rioting occurs. And this was the case almost immediately after these Calcutta rioty began, for hooliganism became widespread, and shops and houses were looted wholesale. It is hardly necessary to mention that this professional disturber of the peace exists in China just as much aa in India, and is invariably ready to lake advantage of or to promote any s'iuation which will result in his personal enrichment, and probably the greatest sufterers are the tools which he has of the unthinking populace 8 worked upon. Perhaps it comes out move clearly in India than has been the case elsewhere, but the very obvious nature of it there should make people in places ponder deeply before committing themselves to the support of these, to say the least. doubtful struggles, the real origin of which they could scarce tell themselves.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.