Technological Studies.

Dr. D. N. Mallik discourses briefly on the opportunities for technological studies which Indian students may have abroad, in the July number of The Calcutta Review. Some of his experiences and conclusions are to be found in the following paragraphs :

Prof. Perkin of the University of Leeds told me that it would be extremely difficult for any student of dyeing to get admission into works for training. In most cases, he himself found it difficult to gain admission even for a cursory inspection. He suggested that in view of the prejudice that obtained against the admission of apprentices into English dye works, the proper thing for Indians to do would be to start works of their own with English experts on a contract for a number of years and take a certain number of apprentices who had already been trained at a University. When the period of contract is over and the apprentices will have learned their work, these Works would then do without English experts and employ their own men.

Professor Barker of the Textile Department of the University of Leeds, however, assured me that he was trying to gain admission for his Indian students with whom he was very very satisfied, into suitable Textile factories, and was hopeful of

The facilities available on the continent for techno

logical studies to our young men are as yet an unexplored field. That they are available in some measure seems to be the opinion of those who have at all inquired into the matter, but the difficulty of language presents almost an insuperable barrier. We have to make adequate provision for the teaching of French and German in the Indian Universities if continental facilities are at all to be availed of. The same difficulty does not present itself in the United States, but I am afraid our students will, as a rule, meet with similar opposition there as in Great Britain.

On the whole, therefore, the problem of technological studies for our students (and other studies) will only be solved, if Institutions like the Tata Institute can be made to be successful and works started on lines suggested by Prof. Perkin.

News of Woman's Advance.

We take the following items of news relating to women's progress in many countries, from Stri-Dharma for July :

VOTES FOR BURMESE WOMEN

In the Burma ratified draft Rules the Government of India has directly removed the disqualification of sex as regards voting for their Legislative Council.

INDIAN COUNCILS MUST GET THE SAME RIGHT

A further advance over Indian conditions has been made in the Burmese Rules by the grant of power to the Legislative Council to adopt a Resolution at any time they wish in favour of allowing women to become members of the Council, and there is no embargo placed on their nomination to the Council even before they are admitted to eligibility for election. In India the Councils have no power to remove the sex disqualification for Council membership for ten years. This power is retained in the hands of Westminster. With the Burma precedent before us we shall pres for similar powers being given to our Indian Councils in this particular. The unnecessary tag provision was put to the power of the Burma Council that though it may vote to allow women to enter its precincts, still the consent of the Governor to the Resolution will have to be obtained before the Government proceeds to give effect to the Resolution.

COMPULSORY EDUCATION FOR GIRLS

The meeting of the Madras Corporation called to consider the Scheme proposed for Compulsory Free Elementary Education for Madras City had to be postponed for want of a quorum. Several ladies attended to hear the proceedings and they received a hearty welcome. If the City Fathers are assured that the Madras women--voters in their own wards are opposed to the application of all the money to boys only, and if the women strongly call for the application of the scheme to girls also, it is almost certain that the present scheme will be remodelled on better principles. Wherever women have met to discuss this matter there has been unanimity in favour of the inclusion of girls.

A LADIES' CO OPERATIVE PANKING SOCIETY

It has fallen to the women of Salem, Madras Presidency, to be the pioneers of Women's Co-operative Fanking in India. Two years ago eleven women clubbed together and started a Co-operative Bank of their own through the help of Mr. Vedachala lyer, then Registrar of Co-operative Societies and Mr. Yognesnarayana Iyer, Principal of Salem College. The Present number of members is 41 with a total number of 110 shares and a share capital of Re. 1,100 which may be increased up to Rs. 4,000.

In

an article contributed to the June number of The Calcutta Medical Journal Rai Bahadur Gopal Chandra Chatterjee, M.B., considers the causes which contribute to the spread of tuberculosis in this country. Some of the causes which lower the power of resistance of the system in tuberculosis cases are : (i) Pregnancy. (ii) Diabetes. (iii) Alcoholism. (iv) Strain of life.

Many medical men in their practice have often to see and treat tubercular glands in unmarried girls and these cases remain quiescent for several years and are for the time being harmless for several years. In the course of time these girls get married, become pregnant and after delivery become again their patients, but this time, as hopeless types of tuberculosis of lungs. Cannot marriage be delayed or prevented in these cases? Our tyrant, the society, stands in the way. I saw, the other day, a case of galloping phthisis of lung in a married woman. She had been suffering for several years with tuberculosis of spine and a jury mast had been applied to the neck to give rest to the neck; with that on, she became pregnant and this became her death warrant.

Now, our society does not allow any girl after reaching puberty to remain unmarried. This has a profound influence on the increase of tuberculosis in this country. In England out of 100 girls between 15 to 40, about 25 are not married or in coupled state, whereas in this country o (?) per cent. are coupled. The result is that all glandular tuberculosis cases in female children run a fatal course on account of this factor. Only those who are sterile or become widow, have a likely chance of escaping this fatal termination.

The writer passes on to other causes.

The next factor of Diabetes is also much more common here than in European countries; and in diabetic phthisis cases, tubercle bacilli are abundant in number in their sputum. These cases give origin more often than any other single factor to the massive infection among the members of their family.

Last point for consideration comes that of strain of life. Under this, are included over-work, mental anxiety, pecuniary difficulty, and living in badly ventilated rooms, Now, as money underlies at the

bottom of almost all these factors, it will be more appropriate to designate this group of cases as being caused by that masterful tyrant-money.

Some Agricultural Operations
in India.

In noticing the "Review of Agricultural Operations in India, 1920-21," the Bombay Co-operative Quarterly for June writes :—

Improving the breeds of cattle and keeping alive the existing cattle through periods of famine are being taken up by the Agricultural Departments in various provinces. The work done by the Bombay Department in the last famine in saving cattle is admirable and it will not be to much to ask Government to transfer, in future, all famine work to Agricultural Departments in order that it should be really useful.

Excepting the Poona Agricultural College, which has established its reputation, there seems to be no institution which attracts a large number of students for higher agricultural education. It is a pity that people do not yet understand the importance of this productive industry on which the life of the nation depends.

All the Agricultural Departments in India put together do not get even a crore of rupees and this is because the general public have not yet shown their keen interest in this industry It is a matter for congratulation, therefore, to the Agricultural Departments that they make their influence felt despite the great difficulties that confront them.

Solution of the Problem of
Racial Antagonism.

In the course of an article on the problem of racial antagonism, contributed to The Young Men of India for July, Mr. J. S. Hoyland considers the factors of colour and religion and the political, economic, cultural and ethical factors in detail, and then tries to find a solution. He rightly observes :—

This problem can only be solved by some overmastering spiritual force. It remains to enquire very briefly where this force is to be found, and the place which India should occupy in the finding of it.

India has from the beginning of her history been a sufferer from racial antagonism under peculiarly acute forms. As we have seen, the caste system itself was built up in connection with the race-problem; and, whatever its cruel defects, there is this much to be said for caste, that it has in the main produced peaceful, orderly and permanent relationships.

but caste and liberty, whether individual, social or national, are poles asunder; and a solution of racial antagonism is demanded to-day which shall accord the maximum degree of liberty to every race

Such a solution, Mr. Hoyland thinks, will be reached in India.

The race-problem still presses with peculiar force

upon India.

man.

The race-problem will only be solved by individual lives lived in close and intimate communion with God and in unremitting service for God's Kingdom on earth -that state of society, all the world over, wherein all the relationships of mankind shall be governed by God's will, which is love and liberty.

This same great force has in the past freed the world from other problems, which in their day must have seemed almost as glaring and terrible as the race-problem does to us in our modern age. It was such religion, lived forth in such lives, that swept slavery from the world, that brought to an end the horrors of the gladiatorial games in ancient Rome, that abolished human sacrifice and infant-exposure and capital punishment inflicted for petty crime, and a thousand other relics of the brutal past. In our own day such practical religion was at the back of the movement which has freed the people of the United States from the grip of the drink-trade. The raceproblem, sombre and urgent though it is, can be solved by the same force that solved those problems, and by that force only. Its solution depends in reality upon the earnestness with which men who would wish to serve the world, conform their lives to God's will, dwell in spiritual dependence upon Him, and so go forth in His power to right the wrong, and to bring in His Kingdom.

Racial antagonism, which in the past has been so often fostered by false conceptions of religion, can in the future only be abolished through true religionthrough lives dedicated to the service of the God of Love.

There is a great and glorious hope that India, which in days gone by has been so fruitful in lives devoted, at the cost of all earthly possessions and all human happiness, to high religious ideals and far-reaching spiritual tasks, will in the future demonstrate to man kind that through true religion, the solution of the raceproblem may in actual practice be triumphantly achieved.

The Lot of Indian Clerks.

The Indian Clerk writes in its inaugural number :

The common and yet quite correct notion is that a clerk earns less than a carpenter or a mason. If in this civilized world, as we call it,-civilized because education is reported to have much advanced-a literate man like the clerk can find less means of maintenance than an illiterate manual labourer like the carpenter or the mason, we shall hesitate to believe if the times ever could be called civilized. Even in Bombay, one of the greatest industrial centres of India, the clerk has a miserable existence of his own. A full-fledged graduate clerk with a knowledge of the sundry paraphernalia of clerkship is barely paid enough to keep body and soul together. He has to keep away his wife and children, probably at his native place, for his earning is so low, though his work is so persistent and industrious. His home in Bombay is barely worth the name. His present is miserable and his future uncertain. All these have their concomitant evils which it will be the endeavour of the present magazine to fight against. Of the industrially advancing communities, the clerk is the most backward. We have no axe to grind against the class of employers, for we do not believe in fights based upon physical vigour. But we cannot afford to look on when our fellow-brother is sinking into the valley of distress. We shall struggle for him on disunion, discord need struggle-strong struggle constitutional lines till there is breath in us. Disorder,

and "THE INDIAN CLERK IS intended for that struggle. But its struggle shall always be based upon principles of righteousness and truth, for no struggle wins that has no truth and righteousness as its main support. If we win, we shall record the success in the books of God; if we fail, in our failure shall God store great success for us.

We wish all success to The Indian Clerk in its efforts. We have only one remark to make. If our contemporary has the notion that the work of a carpenter, a mason, a smith, &c., requires less intelligence, training or cultivated taste than that of the average run of clerks, we do not share that opinion. The work of our indigenous architects and other craftsmen is every whit as dignified and may be made as intellectual as that of any of the professions.

A Tamil Poetess's Idea of Heroism. In the course of one of the articles on the poetesses of the Tamil land which Mrs. T. Tiru-Navuk-Arasu has been writing in Everymans Review, she gives the following description of a poem by Marokkottu Nappasalaiyar :

Poem number 37 treats of the Chola king who was known as Kulamuttatutunjiya Killi Valavan It celebrates his glorious strength in battle. He fought at

a place called Kulamuttam, where he was defeated and killed and he is therefore called the man that died there In those early days, at least in the Tamil land, the practice appears uniform, of praising not only the victory of the conquerors but also the valour of the vanquished, Success and defeat were counted as mere accidents. Heroism in battle was all that mattered and the consequence was of no moment. And so it came to pass that poets have praised even the death of heroes on the battle-field. It is thus that after the death of such a hero, he came to be rendered the posthumous honour of being called as the person who died on a particular field of battle There are many such instances in Tamil literature, such as Kariyattu-tunjiya Nedungkilli (Nedungkilli who died in the battle at Kariyaru) Kottambalattu-tunjiya Makkodai (Makkodai who died in the battle at Kottambalam); Kurappalli-tunjiya Killi Valavan (Killi Valavan who died in the battle at Kurappalli ).

Status of Indians in British Colonies.

Mr. H. S. L. Polak tells us in The Indian Review for June :

It is now nearly a year since the Imperial Conference of 1921 separated, after having, with the exception of the Union of South Africa in respect of a considerable part of its area, passed a resolution urging the desirability of conferring equal citizenship upon His Majesty's Indian subjects domiciled in the overseas territories of the British Empire. No one acquainted with conditions in the Self-governing Dominions and the powerful prejudices and racial superstitions prevalent therein, would, five years ago, have supposed that even the nominal recognition of this equality of citizenship for Indians could have taken place for decades to come.

Curiously enough, though the statute-books of many of the Crown Colonies, Dependencies and Protectorates, as, for example, in Ceylon, the Malay States, Kenya, Fiji, Mauritius, British Guian ́, and Trinidad, are replete with ordinances and regulations having the force of law denying to Indians rights of equal citizenship with white British subjects, it was not until the case of Kenya became acute, when Lord Milner presided at the Colonial Office, that it was generally realised in India that the worst offender on the score of racial differentiation was Great Britain herself in the overseas territories in which she exercised direct jurisdiction and in respect of which her Cabinet was responsible to the British Parliament. The general mental obscurity on this subject in India was illuminated as in a flash when Lord Milner announced his determinations, apparently in the name of the British Cabinet, to maintain the policy of racial segregation in Kenya, to extend it, if possible, to neighbouring areas, including mandated territory, and to refuse the franchise even to Indians whose qualifications to exercise it could not properly be disputed. In other words, in the name of His Majesty's Government, he proclaimed the doctrine that the tropical Empire was to be administered by a privileged race, with rights of domination over all other peoples of the Empire who did not belong to that race.

Mr. Polak concludes his article thus :

:

The Colonial Office has recently declared its provisional adhesion to the doctrine of race segregation in Uganda, where it had not previously existed. It is becoming known that, under the influence of powerful groups and corporations of white British subjects, the Governments of Fiji and British Guiana are stiffening in their objection to the grant of equal citzenship to the local Indians. But these Governments are merely local branches of the Colonial Office, which is already in the grip of similar vested interests with headquarters in London. What has the Government of India done, apart from sending Mr. Sastri on his historic and highly important mission to three of the Dominions, to ensure that effect is given to the Imperial Conference resolution? Has it yet asked for categorical information regarding the steps taken by the Colonial Office to procure the removal of disabling legislation and differential administrative methods in the territories for whose good government the British Cabinet is responsible to Parliament? Will it not be a significant thing to find in fact, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and India on one side, and South Africa and Great Britain on the other? It will be a new and quite unexpected ranging of forces but unless Great Britain hastens to restore the equilibrium, by implementing with all possible speed the agreement into which she entered with India before the whole world last year, she will only have herself to thank if vested power, privilege, and interest weigh down the balance against India and bring about not a new Imperial integration known as the British Commonwealth of equal and free people, but the dissolution of an Empire of greed and exploitation that has outlived its usefulness and that denies the new spirit of human brotherhood. The Viceroy and the Secretary of State for India must, if India is to survive as an equal partner in the Commonwealth and preserve her self-respect as a world nation, wage a remorseless war with the Colonial Office until the principle embodied in the Imperial Conference resolution is applied fully in the spirit as well as the letter.

Production of a True Picture.

Rupam for April contains some "discursive notes" on the last exhibition of the Indian Society of Oriental Art, Calcutta, translated by Mr. Surendranath Tagore from the Bengali of Dr. Abanindranath Tagore. In one of them the artist says: "When we say that both eye and mind must join to produce a true picture we have not said all. There is also something left over which transcends both. There is a secret chamber where the human artist communes with the Divine Artist, and plays with him at creation. News of this comes to us now and then in a work such as the Uma of Nandalal... In such as these we see at last a glimpse of the real artist's studio,-the picture rapt in their own dreams, creating dreams in all beholders, but all the while behind the veil,-the innermost sanctuary of the spirit where the simplicity of perfection reigns, and where the mind is a child, and smiles and plays, and thinks or thinks not just as a child."

The Age of Consent.

The June number of Prabuddha Bharata, an organ of Order of RamakrishnaVivekananda, writes thus on the above subject :

The Hindu Society has at present lost its power of initiative and original thinking. Its members are content to "tread the path their forefathers trod," and follow the rules and injunctions whether sanctioned by Society or Scriptures, like mere automata, without taking the trouble of enquiring into their meaning. Any departure from the old rut, however beneficial it may be, is looked upon with dread and suspicion, and is met with great opposition. A bill has been introduced in the Indian Legislative Assembly, with a view to increase the age of consent of a married girl from the 12th to the 14th year. Meetings are being held and correspondences are pouring in into the Press, protesting against the proposed bill. If the opposition be due to the interference of the Legislative Assembly in a purely social matter, there may be some meaning in the protests. But instead of that we are told that Hinduism and Hindu Society would perish if the new amendment be passed into law. As if religious and social welfare can be insured by making a girl a mother at the age of twelve! Those who seem to be most solicitous about the morals of Society would do well to consider whether or not social morality can be better maintained and even improved by making our boys and girls live a life of self-control and selfdiscipline until they attain full majority, and are able to take up the responsibilities of the family life. Such a course would be in full conformity with the true spirit of the Hindu Scriptures, and will certainly improve both the health and morals of the would-be parents as well as those of generations to come. Emphasis on Brahmacharya and abolition of childmarriage will stop premature child-bearing which is greatly responsible for the physical degeneration of the Indian people and will check the high mortality of young mothers and their weak and undeveloped children. These will also check child-widowhood which is one of the greatest curses prevalent in the Hindu Society, and will conduce to increased social purity and greater well-being of Society in general.

Dye-stuffs and Chemical Warfare.

Sir Alfred Chatterton writes in the May number of The Mysore Economic Journal:

་

In this matter of dye-stuffs, there is really a great responsibility thrust upon those who, in the future, will be responsible for the fiscal policy of the country. If Germany obtains the Indian trade in dye stuffs, German chemical industry will again dominate the world and civilization will again he exposed to the dangers from which it is hardly rescued but recently. Let India prohibit the importation of German dyestuffs and she will strike a deadly blow at the German chemical industry and, even though it be at some cost to ourselves, the cost will be small compared with the enhanced security which must come from the weaken

ing of the German chemical trade. What will India have to pay for this renunciation of German dyes? In reality, very little. Possibly, dye-stuffs will cost a little more; but in the long run, it must either be the British or the German manufacturers who will dominate the market and will ever rule supreme and will try to make as much out of it as he can. On this score, therefore, the loss or gain to India will be nothing; but it must be admitted that if German dye-stuffs are excluded, the Indian dyer will have to put up with, for the present, inferior dye-stuffs. Still, these dye-stuffs are good enough for all practical purposes and it will be foolish to give encouragement to the German chemist simply because he is in a position to supply dye-stuffs of a slightly better quality than can be obtained elsewhere. Synthetic indigo very nearly killed the Indian indigo industry.

Dye stuffs are a luxury. For 5 or 6 years we have done very well with a comparatively limited supply and if, in the future, India gives no employment to the German chemist, at worst, she will simply have to go without a few very fine dye-stuffs which, however, are of comparatively little economic importance as the quantity used is not large.

But if instead of giving "employment to the German chemist," India gives employment to, say, the British chemist, will that strengthen the position of Indian industries?

The University of Nalanda.

Mr. A. Rama Iyer has contributed to the May number of the Madras Educational Review an article on the University of Nalanda, compiled from a Bengali booklet on the subject by Mr. Phanindranath Bose. We read therein :

Recent investigations have shown that the site of Nalanda was the present village of Badagaon in the district of Patna. Among the few relics that have been unearthed from this place is the great seal of the University, bearing the inscription, "Sri Nālandā Mahavihari Arya Bhikshu Sanghasy."

The University grew into mighty proportions in the course of a few centuries, and students in their hundreds began to flock from far and near. As, under the beneficent influence of Buddhism, caste distinctions were obliterated, and the restrictions on foreign travel disappeared, an active intercourse was set up between India and foreign countries like Tibet, China, and Japan. Students and travellers from these remote countries came to Nalanda for study and the collection of Buddhist literature.

It was a great residential University.

Some idea of the greatness of the University may be had from the fact that, in its best days, it provided accommodation for some ten thousand persons, the monks and students included. Thousands of small rooms, each twelve cubits by eight, were provided for residence, while the classes were held in large lecture-halls. A wide choice of subjects was offered to the students,-Hindu and Buddhist Literature and Philosophy, Medicine, Architecture, and other arts