OCCASIONAL NOTE

The gold which the Government of India have decided to sell by tender to the minimum amount of pound 500,000 a fortnight for the next three months, is presumably a portion of the gold, valued at 19 crores of rupees (some pound 12,000,000), which forms part of the Paper Currency reserve and is located mainly at Bombay. There is no gold now in the Gold Standard reserve in this country and only 9 and one fourth lakhs are in course of transit to India. The minimum price which the Government of India will accept for their gold is based on the content of the sovereign at its old valuation of Rs 15. In other words, although the Government of India now only give about 10 and half rupees for sovereigns they buy in this country – if they are so fortunate as to purchase any – they refuse to part with them for less than Rs 15 a piece. This rather suggests that they still hanker after a reversion to the old rate of exchange, although it is not clear how that miracle is to be effected. There is some speculation as to the object of the Government in selling their gold. Possibly they desire to test the demand, although, if there proves to be a strong call for gold, it is not easy to see where any large quantity is to be procured for Indian requirements. The United States, with gold to the value of pound 600,000,000 in their Treasuries, have a plethora of the yellow metal but they have given no indication hitherto that they are disposed to part with it.

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COCHIN CIVIL MARRIAGE BILL

SIMLA, OCT 15

A crowded meeting was held at the Catholic Club today to protest against the proposed Cochin Civil Marriage Law. The Archbishop of Simla presided and all sections of the Catholic community in the summer capital, who number over a thousand excluding schools, were represented. The Archbishop, in his speech, said the Bill was due to the request of a few contumacious Catholics, now repentant, so that the raison d’etre of the Bill had ceased. Of 234,000 Christians in Cochin hardly a handful asked for civil marriage. The statement that civil marriage was a sign of civilisation was an illusion. During the recent disorders in the Punjab one rumour that caused a revulsion of feeling against the authorities was that the Government intended interfering with Indian marriage customs. If Cochin State proceeded with this Bill it would sow the seeds of future trouble.

SENSATIONAL ROBBERY STORY

News comes of a sensational robbery and the killing of three men from a village south of Thrumayam. A skin merchant were travelling that way early on Saturday last was attacked by five men, and injured so severely on the face and head that he became unconscious. The robbers made off with Rs 800 and were challenged by a man whom they killed. A barber who witnessed the murder hid himself, and after allowing the robbers to pass ran to an adjoining village, collected a number of men, and attacked the gang. Two of the robbers who resisted were killed and the other three were captured with the stolen property. The police are investigating the affair. RS 60,000 THEFT Mr. P.N. Dutt, Second Presidency Magistrate, Jorabagan Court, passed orders in the case in which Rai Bahadur T.N. Sadhu and Babu Khrisna Lal Datta, vakil for the Crown, charged Ram Chander Goenka, late cashier in the firm of Babu Chand Mull; Besdari, a durwan of the same firm, and Gudia and Luchmon, two relatives of the accused, with theft of Rs 60,000 odd from the firm’s iron safe. The Burrabazar police, assisted by Inspector Mohendro Mookerjee, of the C.I.D. recovered all the property. The magistrate sentenced the first accused to one year’s rigorous imprisonment, the second accused was similarly sentenced and fined Rs 1,000 also, in default a further term of six months, while the third and fourth accused were discharged.

OUTRAGES IN BURMA

RANGOON, OCT 15

Two Hpoongyies suspected of complicity in an attack on a European party at the Endawya Pagoda, Mandalay, because of their entering with boots on, were arrested while about to board a ferry boat for Myangyan. It is reported that some forty other persons have been arrested in connection with the affair. Mr. Robey, Assistant Superintendent of Police, whose face was slashed with a dah, was reported to have died, but the report is untrue. The Rangoon Times learns of an attack on a European lady in Upper Burma, who was struck in the face with a stick while driving and was forced to take refuge in the compound of an officer’s bungalow.