UNREST IN INDIA.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2134, 17 July 1907, Page 3

UNREST IN INDIA.

HE “NATIONAL VOLUNTEERS.”

Writing in May last Reuter’s orrespondent at Calcutta said. ' “Despite official reticence and do nials from the more extreme men, if becomes daily clearer that the bo, cott movement is at the root ot tl.c trouble in Eastern Bengal, where tin boycott is pushed by means ot an orcanisation called the National \ o unteers.” This organisation sene.! out bands over the province which m terfere with trade, destroying toreig goods, and terrorising traders, xlu Mohammedans refuse to range themselves on the side of the boycot, hence the bitterness between then and the Hindus. Trade is practie ally at a standstill, agricultural op orations are hampered, and the jut< crop is likely to bo seriously crippled The whole population is in a state of nervous irritation, easily leadni;to scares and roibs ; winch bands o d'acoits turn to their own purpose. “The districts most affected are under-policed and under-staffed, whin large tracts of thick jungle cut „• rivers and backwaters add to ti, difficulty of the task of preserving ° r< “A special correspondent of the Englishman, after a very close stuo.v of the ‘volunteer’ organisation, dc dares that it calls for the immediateattention of the Imperial Government. The only place in Bengal which i, quiet is the independent State of J ij> derail, where the ruler forbids .the organisation of the ‘National Volunteers.’ This body owes its existence to certain agitators whose names an known to the authorities. It is dnect ed (the correspondent says) by a cent ral 1 body in Calcutta, which is we furnished with funds, and contro the various branches and makes tie arrangements for the arming of then members. , . , ~ “The ‘volunteers’ consist ot tu< societies, the ‘Brothi Samity,’ which is comparatively harmless, and tin ‘Bande Mataram Sampradga, which is distincly dangerous to tho trail quillity and peaco of the country Though their operations are absurd from the military point of view, these ‘volunteers’ drill and go about with the greatest openness, armed with clubs, spears and swords, while they also possess a considerable number of firearms. With the connivance or through the cowardice of the Bengali booking clerks, they forcibly oh tain free passages on railways and steamboats as they go from place to place, everywrere preaching sedition, disturbing the people, interfering with trade, and imposing their will on all sections of tho community Their immunity from restraint is having the worst possible effect on tho minds of the population.” In conclusion, the writer says tho well-affected are angered, the ill-af-fected are encouraged, and Europeans and the Government arc .brought into disrepute.