A question was asked in Parliament on Wednesday by Mr.
Keir Hardie as to the seizure in India. under the new Press Act of Mr. Mackarness's pamphlet upon Indian Police methods. According to Mr. Keir Hardie, the pamphlet, only fifty copies of which had been sent to India, consisted chiefly of extracts from official Reports. Mr. Montagu replied that the damage done could not depend upon the number of copies, and that a very mischievous use had been made of the quota- tions. He further offered to go through it with Mr. Keir Hardie " and point out the enormous number of inaccuracies on every page." Mr. Mackarness has since denied the exist- ence of these inaccuracies. Patting aside this question, we should like to point out that in our opinion the pamphlet affords some of the strongest arguments ever produced in favour of British rule in India. It shows that even though the influence of the British police officials is strongly exercised to prevent cruelty and oppression by the native police, such cruelty and oppression are apt to be rampant. From this we may judge what would happen if India were solely left to the government of Indians. It is British rule, and British rule
alone, which saves India from becoming a scene of horrors. That is the lesson to be learnt from Mr. Mackarness's pamphlet.
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