Daily Kennebec journal., 1913-08-05
Ny Impressions in Honolulu.

Ny Impressions in Honolulu.
fThe following article is by The An
agarika Dharmapala, the missionary
and scholar of Ceylon, who has beer
studying educational conditions here
fer some we, KS. He is a noted fisur.
in interna tional religious clrcles.I
have spent twenty days in Honelu
lu. | have visited the government
schools in the town and in the countr
and have seen the pupils in thei
classes and listened to the explanation
of different subjects offered by then
under the guidance of the teacher
is a fascinating spectacle to see
the primary schools boys and girls
SO many nationalities being trained
love each other and the common flag
1t is the immigrant child that develop
into the American citizen. United
| States may be called the heaven of i'm
migrants. The ancestors of America
| citizens were all immigrants fren
| Europe. 1t is the child of the iinmi
| grant trained under democratic inilu
| enees that grows some Cay to become
| scientist, a discoVerer, thinker. J..
makes one glad to sec the Hawaiian.
| part Hawaiian, Japanese, Chinese. Ger
| man, American, Portuguese. RUSSIAN
| Porto Rican, Filipino children standin:
| shoulder to shoulder and repeating da
after day the national furmula, I'VE
! give our heads, our hearts to God an
our countrY-onc country, one IAN
guagc, one flag" and ending with a sa
lutte. All these children are well fec
bright and intelligent, and under sue
softening influences as that OF tn
trained American teacher, they eanno
but develop all that is good in human
nature. Every parent that has a chill
born in America need not have an.
anxiety about his or her education, TO
the Great republic gives her children
free education from their sixth to tn
sixteenth year. But how different ar
| the methods adopted by the Britisi
governments of India and CeyIon. Th
governments of India and Ceyion de
lihcrately keep the three hundred mil
lions in ignorance The government !:
a bureaucratic oligarchy. The few
! thousand Britishers thrive at the ex
pcnse of the starving millions. The lit
, tie island of CeylCn was governed b.
the Sinhalese people under their owl
king, and they who had maiHtainet
their independence fer 1858 years were
obliged to come unGe: British rule II
1875. During the ninety-eight years
British rule in the island the blessing
conferred on the native population by
the ruling Britishers are: Introduction
of liquor into every village where M
liquor shops existed: the destruction D.
home and village industries; the clos
ing Of the temple schools in 1870, which
deprived the people of giving then
children a neral and religious educa-
ton and Introducing a non-rlo.al Cd
ucation utterly repugnant to the Aryar
traditions of n democratic communal
ism. dcpriVing the people Of their an
cestral rights to their ancestral land
and compelling them to work as hired
laborers in british plantations In
country where there is Il permanea.
population of about three millions
Their is net to be foun1 Il university,
neither an engineering .'ol'ege, nor
weaving school, nor an agricultural
college.
once in year the government sends
two stuaents to England to receive a
university education 1T the public eN-
pense The governors allowance las
year amounted to 27SS37 rupees ($91,-
279) and this from a colony where the
population is 1900, 900. The United
States with a population of nearly &C.,
000,tW0 ard the richest country in the
world pays her president annually $50,
0o0. Tho amount expended yearly for
education for a population Of 4,600 900
amounts To 10000 rupees( S666, $3.50,
equal to the amount expended by the
Hawaiian government on l population
of say 2co,0o0 The per capita grant for
a pupil is rupees per annum tst.65).
The surplus revenue of the island is
remitted to England and the last years
surplus amounted TO 22,000.000 rupees.
The annual grant paid for ad-
vancement of Oriental learning is 1000
rupees (s3SS) and this for population
Of 250o, 900 Buddhsts.
There are about 5000 Britishers in
the island and they take away from
the island about 50000,00o rupees an
nually. The food of the people is rice
and yet rice is imported to the island
yearly and the import duties alone
come to 5,93s,447 rupees. and the rail-
way receipts for transporting this
grain from Colombo to the various
parts of the island amount to about
5000 900 rupees. The land that be-
lorged to the people for 240 years is
now being alienated by the despotic
action of the governor. and since 1901
about 900 acres of land have been
taken from the people and nearly 60,