New Britain Herald Newspaper, August 9, 1927, Page 19

The Maharajah of Bikanir, who Recently Warned by England to Curb . Their Reckless Spending on Yachts, Automobiles, Racing Horses and Lavish Pleasures, the Native ~ Maharajahs Now Face recently showed his willingness to behave by offering 10,000 acres of fertile land for the use of his impov- erished subjects LONDON. LITTLE more than six months A ago a British administrator in India called the native princes of the country into conference at Bombay, showed them newspaper clippings chro- nicling the scandalous doings of vari- ous maharajahs, read them a fatherly lecture, and ended on this note: “Boys, you’ve been exceeding the speed limit and, princes or no princes, it's got to stop. “The native peasants don’t like it, and the folks at home don’t like it, and the government doesn’t like it. You're spending too much money and getting d too much advertising. Every time a /’ Hindu communist or an English radical picks up a paper he roods how some East Indian nabob has just bought a picture or a race horse for the price of a king’s ransom; or spent the income of a couple of counties to transport a load of polo ponies overseas; or gotten him- self involved with some bob-haired De- lilah of the Occident. “If you don’t stop this high flying and come down to earth, the British Raj will have to send somebody up to bring you down, much as it will pain us to have to do it “I hope I shall not have to speak of this again. Take it easy for a while and give the world a chance to cool off. That’s all.” If those maharajahs and such had taken that grizzled colonial administra- tor seriously enough, this story would not have been written. For this story concerns the movement to revise the constitution of British India in such a way that the native princes will retain their titles and their palaces, but will be stripped of their powers. It concerns the counter-movement of the startled and thoroughly aroused princes to protect the privileges that have been theirs through the centuries. It has to do with a proposed meeting of the executive committee of the Chamber of Princes at Simla in India in a few weeks, at which time the spend- thrift potentates will decide upon a policy of voluntary reform which, even now, may save their royal faces. Right now, standing on the brink of disaster, the princes are ready to put on sackcloth and ashes, beat their breasts and promise to be good. But when the man from London warned them, they were in no such mood. They were having too good a time. For moré than a decade they had been among the world’s most spectacu- lar spenders. They enjoyed the noto- riety. They enjoyed the barbaric splen- dor of their native courts. They enjoyed the little trips to London and Paris. They enjoyed association with the elite of British society. They apparently en- joyed those little adventures with “Oc- cidental Delilahs.” And they continued to “carry on” in ) the same old way, to the increasing scandal of all and sundry, and the grave concern of the powers at London. Those back of the movement to strip the princes of their hereditary, auto- cratic powers say that is the ultimate solution of one of India’s problems, and might as well be tried out now. They say that the princes are incorrigibly bad boys and never will be good for any con- siderable length of time. In moments of peril the maharajahs become con- scious-stricken and bubble over with good resolutions. But as soon as the danger passes they go back to spending Sir Hari Singh, now on his good behavior wild orgy of that got him into an expensive and embarrassing blackmail suit their fabulous fortunes, wrung from the labor of-the millions. No official announcement of govern- ment policy has been made, but it is known that the carryings on of Sir Hari Singh and others of his ilk have dis- gusted most of the former friends of the bad little rich boys of India. Just what the princes expect to ac- complish by having a conclave at Simla is not quite clear. They have neither the courage, the statecraft nor the pres- tige to defy the British Raj. Badly governed as some provinces directly controlled by the British Viceroy may be, they are little bits of paradise com- pared with the territories governed by native potentates under British protec- tion. The princes dare not try to stir the people up to fight the British. The people would be likely to start their mutiny by tearing the princes to pieces. Most of the native rulers have kept their titles and their powers through British influence, and through that alone. Should the princes actually turn over a new leaf, and act as if they meant it, they might escape political annihilation for the moment, for, while not popular, they are the hereditary rulers of their several states and shoulder some of the burdens of government. In the last few weeks the Maharajah of Burdwan, India's delegate to the re- . the Loss of All Their Age-Old Ruling Powers The Maharajah of Kolhapur, one of the most Indian princes, in royal regalia cent Imperial Con- ference at London, has resigned and in his explanation he has made it clear that many of the po- tentates, who have heretofore sub- mitted to “the Brit- after a sy joke” with more spending or less equanimity are getting restive. “Rulers of some states wish to be rid of British rule, and take no heed of the consequences,” he said. “Those who talk like that are not statesmen or soldiers and have no idea of how to bring about the departure of the British. Nor would they know how to handle the situation if the British were gone. But they are panic-stricken as they see their immemorial rights and privileges in dan- ger, and they indulge in loose criticism of anybody who believes in the sincerity of purpose of the British Raj.” Native princes rule over one-third of India, the remaining two-thirds being governed directly by colonial administra- tors sent out from London. The statesmen who want the princes stripped of their political powers are in~ favor of the federalization of the gov- ernment of India. Federalization, the princes are smart enough to realize, would consign to government depart- ment heads certain powers they have come to regard as theirs by divine right. They would remain princes in name, and keep their palaces and their golden hoards. But they would lose the right to domineer over the people, to make laws for them, to drill them, to tax them. They would be Eastern princes minus that autocratic right commonly asso- ciated with their caste. They would be chocolate princes, make-believe nabobs powerful his An Indian “Nautch girl” dancing at a lavish entertainment staged by one of India’s spendthrift princes at whom the lowliest native coulc thumb his dirty nose. To men who say they are descended from the sun, the stars, the moon and the attendant gods, that would be a ter- rible come-down. The Simla conference will be a most important event in current political his- Copyright, 1927, by Johneon Features, Inc. Somc of the entertain- ers at one of Sir Hari Singh’s elaborate fetes arriving at the palace grounds on one of the royal elephants tory. Betting right now is that the princes will submit to a curb, and will be spared the ultimate humiliation for the present. Also, that within five years, at the outside, England will have to deprive them of all princely powers in the interests of the common people. Sir Hari Singh, the present Mahara- jah of Jammu and Kashmir, probably got more undesirable publicity in his day than any two men of his caste. Sir Hari is remembered as the “Mr. A.” who paid $750,000 to hush up people who knew of his little love affair with Mrs. Maude Robinson, an English adventuress. He was the victim of, what they call in America, “the old badger game,” and the trial of the blackmail suit resulting gave the British Government some bad half hours. Radicals used the case to point out that Britain was standing by a titled young blackguard who was using the gold wrung from Hindu coolies to play the gay devil in Euroépean society. By order of somebody high in authority, the English papers referred to Sir Hari as “Mr. A.” in reporting the affair. Notwithstanding the publicity, he was allowed to return to India and succeed his old uncle, Sir Pratrap Singh, as Maharajah of Kashmir, when the latter died. He has been a much chastened young man ever since. The susceptible Hari was only one. There was, for instance, the Maharajah of Indore, who fared no better than Hari at love, and not so well in some other ways. A favorite dancing girl of his, a slave, named Mumtaz Be- gum, grew tired of being one of many flowers of affection in the Maharajah’s garden. She smiled upon one Bawla, a respectable Mohammedan merchant. She did more than smile, in- deed. She went to live with Bawla, and left the august ruler _ of Indore to twiddle his thumbs, . which is no way to treat a de- - scendant of the gods. The Maharajah had some of his trusty palace guards pursue i.Bawla and Mumtaz Begum on a “trip into the hills and waylay . Ethem at a lonely crossroad. ;Bawla was slain, and the dancing Egirl was taken back to her royal Z-master. = But Bawla had been a popular zfellow, a good mixer, and one who gave long-term credit. The murder was not a hit. An outery arose. It got so loud the Government couldn’t ignore it any longer. Things were in a bad way in Indore. The British Raj held an investigation, after which he told the Maharajah to resign. And the Maharajah did. The now powerful Maharajah o. Benares, who may soon be stripped of all political authority because of the way he and his fellow-princes have been carry- ing on Government officials who are “fed up” with Indian princes say the stay-at- homes and the misers make as much trouble as the gallivanters who are al- ways getting into trouble in Europe. The Mir of Khairpur had his troubles, and plenty they were. The Mir rules a state where bread and rice are hard to come by for the average man, but he had spent a huge fortune trying to outguess the bookmakers at the Bombay race track. After a heart-to-heart talk with an “advisor,” he was forbidden to fre- quent the track, to play the horses, or otherwise to dissipate the gold paid him as tribute by his long-suffering people. When he failed to abide by the order, the Bombay Government sent out a commission to take power out of his hands. Advocates of the movement to fed- eralize India and relieve the princes of all power say it would be a good thing for the country, indirectly as well as directly. Now the nabobs are able to live well on the money they wring from the wretched peasants. They can own polo ponies and yachts and high-powered automobiles, and visit the European watering places, and still have enough left to add something every year to their hoards of precious stones. With revenues suddenly cut off, the maharajahs would have to dig up ready cash whenever they wanted to step out. It would involve opening up the treasure boxes and putting the gems on the market. Diamonds and jade would go out of the country and real money would go into it. Maybe in time some of that money would trickle down to the sub- merged and disinherited, who make up the bulk of India’s millions.