THE UNTOUCHABLES OF INDIA.
[To raz EDITOR Or THE " SPECTATOR-"] SIR,—It was quite a dramatic episode when, on February 17th, His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales laid the foundation- stone of the Kitchener College (which is to be an Indian Sand- hurst, where the sons of Indian officers will be trained as holders of the King's Commissions), and thereafter, returning to Viceregal Lodge, outside the. Delhi Gates of the city of Delhi, he met thousands of Chamars (one of the depressed classes), who had come to Delhi as delegates and visitors to " the All-India Depressed Classes Conference." As the Prince's car approached the crowd gave His Royal Highness tremendous ovations, and cried at the top of their voices, " Yovraj ki jai " (" Victory to the heir to the Throne"). The Prince's car stopped, and the President of the Conference, Mr. G. A. Gawai,
M,L.C., Nagpur, read the - following address to His Royal Highness:— " Permit me to thank your Royal Highness for the interest which your Royal Highness is taking in lifting up the depressed classes of India, and for the sympathetic message received
yesterday. by this Conference. May I request your Royal Highness to convey to His Imiierial Majesty our message that there are in India sixty millions of human beings who are untouchables, and that they should be raised if India is to be made really fit for Swaraj? " (Home Rule.)
The Prince smilingly acknowledged his thanks for the address, and proceeded in his car to Viceregal Lodge amid a hurricane of shouts of " Yovraj ki jai." The forenoon's events well symbolized the protection afforded by the Imperial Government and its beneficent aims. The elevation of these sixty millions is one of the most important factors in the progress of India, and one cannot help feeling that the problem will be handled most effectually by British and Christian hands. All the mis-
sionary societies, including-the Indigenous Missionary Society,
" The National Missionary Society of India," are facing the problem, which is one of indescribable difficulty owing to the want of teachers. In view of the clamant needs of the Indian masses no educational question is more important than that of Normal Schools, and it would be well if all missionary and
philanthropic societies were to focus upon the provision of Normal Schools for training teachers. The great missionary schools and colleges in India train Hindus and Mohammedans in their thousands under Christian influences, and the popula- tion is permeated in its upper layers with Christian ideals and tacit approval of Christian ethics. If, similarly, thousands of Hindus and Mohammedans were to be brought into missionary Normal Schools it is obvious that the leavening process would be accelerated in a kind of geometrical progression.—I am,
Sir, &c., W. COLDSTREAM. 69 West Cromwell Road, S.W.
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