CHAPTER II 



Reasons for a visit to India William Digby Prosperous British 

 India Some of the people half-starved Good introductions 

 Centralised government Discreditable to Government that 

 there should be a great population insufficiently fed Governor- 

 Generals waste time and the resources of Empire in warlike 

 expeditions Better to raise the wages of the workmen 

 Extraordinary condition Small British nation in control of 

 enormous population of India British Members of Parliament 

 should visit India British residents in India would be pleased 

 Moplah trouble Caliphat Landowners and tenants. 



EVERYBODY, of course, likes to travel, and everybody 

 who has not been to India would like to go there 

 because of the extraordinary beauty of the scenery, 

 the wonderful interest that attaches to the country 

 and to the peoples, their ancient temples and to 

 their more modern buildings and cities. Although 

 the writer of this book confesses to the ordinary 

 love of touring and seeing the world, yet his chief 

 object in visiting India was in order to make some 

 investigation into the condition of the people. Some 

 twenty years ago he read a book by the late William 

 Digby entitled Prosperous British India. This was 

 a sarcastic title because the book is full of records 

 of the poverty and misery of many millions of the 

 people. And this poverty and this misery was not 



the opinion only of Mr. Digby, but his statements 



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