TRY A
THE HONGKONG TELEGRAPH,
CAPSTAN
The movesjemand a soused by The Dentale America Twistory De, Cissaaz-Li
COME LASSES AND LADS!
JOIN IN THE
Fun o The Fair
99
FERROCRETE"
RAPID HARDENING CEMENT
Sole agents for South China
Tel. C. 1030.
DODWELL & CO., LTD.
STOCKS
Machinery Department.
CARRIED
TUESDAY, AUGUST
THE COMING OF THE MONSOON.
ܕ܂
VIALS OF HOPE IN INDIA.
THE DEFENCE OF INDIA.
1927.
GRAVE CONTROVERSY,
We were sitting in a rest-house In the last few months the ques- somewhere on the west coast of tion of Imperial Defence has takon India. The day had been un a serious turn and become com- isually breathless, evon after aplicated by difficulties of which spell of aultry weather when the the public are hardly aware. Thus aun shone from a cloudless sky a timely warning may not be inapt. through atmosphere, seemingly While public attention has been heavy with damp; but as yet there focussed either directly on Russia, was no other sign of the monsoon, writes a Time correspondent, its interwoven thread of Russian or on the situation in China, with Yet my friend, + west-coast veteran, remarked as we sat at intriguo, Whitehall has felt gravo dinner, “I think the monsoon will concern with the potential Bol- burst to-night."" He had no shevik encirclement of India, and reason to give except that it "felt the meetings of the chiefs of the like that." The subject soon dropped; we talked of other things defence services have traversed and then went outside, where the another problem--that of Afghan- stars were shining with tropicalistan and the defence of India; brilliance. And so to bed. Next writes a Daily Telegraph corres- morning we awoke to a aky pondent. black with clouds," The rain was falling in torrents; cloud and rain were such as Coleridge saw in his vision of the tropics, save that the "one black cloud" covered the heavens and there was no moon at its: edge. The monsoon had burst.
For some time past the autho- rities in London and in India have been pulling different ways, and. so serious has the divergence of views become that it is even pos- sible that if the present deadlock. continues it may involve importa t "Burst" is the only word. One aspect of the question is the constitutional issues and changes. While we lay asleep the climate obduracy of India in the face of had completely changed, not as in the demands of modern military England for a day or two while progress. Although recept ex- a depression moves across the amination and tests have shown country from the Atlantic, but for the feasibility of defence by mo-1 a solid three months during which bile forces, mechanised and air, the rain would fall at the average and the advisability of countering rate of an inch a day, while you any danger by an offensive for- might get an intense spell of some ward spring, rather than by any 60 inches within the week. Care passive cordon system based on ful housewives were busy trim infantry, the Indian authoritiea ming the lamps which, placed are believed to be opposed both under # stovepipe that ran to one and the other. Moreover, through the middle of the ward-by their refugni to accept such robe, served to keep the clothes modern units they automatically approximately dry and free from put the brake upon the progress mildew. You could not leave a of the Home Forces, for under the book in the veranda overnight but Cardwell system the Home Army It would come out in blotches as is tied to the Army in India as a though amicted with soine skin disease. And for yourself, if you long as
draft-supplying
the Indian authorities wished to keep well and to do your work there was nothing for it but the slogan of "internal security," counter arguments for progress by to put on your most ragged clothes and the assertion that this can and, using your oldest anddle, only be guaranteed by dispersed submit to getting wet the skin. quanties of infantry, so long is The west coast storms come the Home Afmy construined to pre- with amazing suddenness. Look-serve an obsolete form in order ing out over the Arabian Sea, you to provide those drafta.. A way notice a blur on the line of the out of the impasse can only come horizon, and almost before you by the yielding or overruling of have time to realize the cause of Simla, the second a constitutional it the boats in the middle distance malter, or the abrogation of the are blotted out. The foreground Cardwell system. disappears as quickly, and with a rush and a roar, as though the Angel of the Revelation had open-paper suggest that there are other ed one of his vials, the rain is factors besides conservatism but- upon you Nobody minds, of treming the opposition to progress. course. For the vial is not full will quote them: of the wrath of God but of 'His
Anxiety Not Over.
reservoir. Sa
Some, comments in an
Indian
hope and consolation to the coun- As things stand to-day....... try. It was surely upon the west any improvement or change in coast that Elijah must have learn-military matters is bound to affect ed his weather wisdom, when he is a good deal beyond financially. discerned out of the cloud no If the army in this country were bigger than a man's hand the completely Indianised, or even if deluge which was about to relieve it were under the control of the the parched and famine-stricken people of this country, it would land.
not be a great matter. At present the infantry arm is largely man- ned by us; so also many squadrona of cavalry. And if the infantry But the anxiety is not over is to be reduced, and the cavalry indeed, it may be said to have just also, we will have to begin over begun. For the clouds driven again the dreary work of petition- across the open space of the sea ing, importuning the War Office. never fail to discharge their to damit us to the services by precious burden on the coast which these shall be replaced. Will they continue the good work? Will they cross the barrier of the Thus it would seem that native Western Ghats and float on across Indian opinion supports the op-. the Deccan to the Bay of Bengal?position to progress from the feel- Or will that barrier drain theming that the Indianisation of the lo the last drop, so that all the Indian Army will suffer perhaps water for which the land beyond permanently, for Indians do not is thirsting flows back along the take easily to machinery-and mountain torrents to the sea that mechanisation would give the whence it came? For 15 days or British element the master-key of perhaps more one walts in any military situation. expectation; after 20 days the expectation deepens into anxiety,
and as the days go on and the sky gain, for the prospects of the is still clear with a horrible relent-harvest in England are at most an less blue anxiety becomes despair. affair of great national Import, There is no more depressing sight ance, whereas in India they are than that the young rice, wilted vital in the fullest and most literal and dying with the pitiful husks sense of that word. Never does that refuse to fill, in the baked the aun seem so ruthless, never is felds where water should be the dark blue sky so hateful," not standing inches deep. Distress, oven in May, when the force heat which prolonged becomes famine, is doing its worst, as in those days staros one in the face; that means when the clouds should be cover- more work, more anxiety, more ing them and are not, and aky and responsibility, which however, sun are
no longer smiling but count for nothing to the man who seem to leer at humanity with has the smallest spark of sym-sardonic glee. Nor does anxiety pathy for the unfortunate people- cease with the first rain. There For, da has often been said, a good may be false alarms, false hopes; monsoon means prosperity, con- the effort, ushered in so magnif- tentment, and life; a bad monsoon cently, may die away and be suc may mean poverty, unrest and ceeded by a long spell of the even death. The wise Aryans, drought, all the harder to bear when they descended into India, because of the disappointed hope. made as their chiefost god Indra, Only when the monsoon la the god of the rain.
thoroughly established in all It is dificult to convey in words anxiety ended and the young grain the Intensity of joy which the first proceeds serenely on its natural thoroughly typical monsoon rain way to the yellowing fields and brings with it. As it falls, in an the harvests of December. almost unbrokon sheet, you watch It with greedy eyes and a prayer In your heart that it may go on for hours and hours. A crescendo in the music of its fall makes you feel at peace with the world;, a diminuendo sonds you out with the foir that the rafa may be stop- plag before its time. In England only those who live by the land can know something of the reality of that joy when after a long drought welcome showers arrivo,
Vara mainly conce
al-loss or
CAKE
IT'S QUALITE THAT COUNTS
Shaving
with Economy
Even as sleep is necessary to man and oil to machinery so is stropping to the razor blade. Blades which are not stropped are thrown away after two or three shaves. True this is of most razors but not of the "Valet." Ten seconds stropping each morning before shaving that's all, but sufficient to keep the blade sharp for weeks and weeks.
VALET"
Auto Strop Safety Razor'
Of all dealers.....
For the cost of packet of non- stropping blades. you can purchase this complete "Valet" set with blade and astrop to keep it sharp.
Arents' W. B. 10XLEY & CO HONG KONG
Not What Can
You Afford But
What Could Your Widow Afford
MEAD OFFICE, POČOKTOL, CANASA
How far will the income from: your present insurance go? The income from $1,000 will not even buy a pint of milk and a loaf of bread each day. If you want to measure how much in- surance you can "afford", meas ure how many necessities and comforts your widow and child. ren will be able to afford. Paring for fumince now is not nearly es diffienit as getting along without It after you are gone. For more information on this vitalsubject. send the coupon below.
MANUFACTURERS LIFE
INSURANCE COMPANY.
HEAD OFFICE,
·
TORONTO, CANADA
97kasi obligation, kiedy forwardingy of your bookies »Provide with Medianes Prosvetre as Modern Coat"
Adéra
ARNHOLD & CO. LTD. AGENTS,
French Bank Building, HONGKONG,
Tel. Co. 1500!
TO AMERICA
1
Booking made on all Trans-Pacific Lines, Through tickets to any destination in United States or Canada,
Through tickets issued via Suez Route and Europe.
All tickets issued at tariff rates.
"Overland trips through North China, Korea and Japan
arranged.
Baggage and Accident Insurance.
Carry American Express Travellers Cheques.
For complete information apply
THE AMERICAN EXPRESS CO., Inc. Phone C. 4625.
4a, Des Voeux Road, Central.
ELECTRO-PLATING.
· OVER TWENTY YEARS EXPERIENCE in the Electro- deposition of Metals in Hongkong, places us in a position to offer roll and efficient service for the plating of articles in Gold, Silver, Nickel and Copper.
'Artistic finishes in Bronze, Antique Copper, and Oxydized Ellver.
Polished and Lacquerod. Brassware.
William C. Jack & Co., Ltd. ELECTRICAL ENGINEERS,
Tel, Central 858
Hongkong
E. HING & CO. SHIPBUILDING MATERIALS, SHIP CHANDLERS HARDWARE MERCHANTS,
PHONE:-CENTRAL No. 1116.
Wing Woo Btreet- TEL 52 Central
Page 10Page 11