Page:Allan Octavian Hume, C.B.; Father of the Indian National Congress.djvu/69

 reported to his Indian correspondents in an interesting series of letters, written during September 1885. The first matter for consideration was the supply of Indian news to the British Press. The general public in England rarely read more about India than what is contained in the Renter telegrams which appear in The Times and other leading papers; and it had been long the complaint in India that these telegrams have an Anglo-Indian official colouring, and do not do justice to the Indian view of current events and discussions; on the contrary they usually present any case of an Indian complaint in terms hostile to Indian wishes. No opportunity existed for correcting misstatements thus published in England; and the question had assumed additional importance on account of the approaching Conference at Poona, as it was essential that this national organization should not be presented to the British public in an unfair light. Accordingly before leaving Bombay, Mr. Hume arranged for an "Indian Telegraph Union," which was to provide funds to send telegrams on important matters to such leading journals in England and Scotland as would agree to publish them. Mr. Hume undertook to negotiate this matter with the Editors of leading journals, and he later reported that among Provincial papers the following had agreed to receive and publish the Indian Union telegrams: The Manchester Guardian, the Manchester Examiner, the Leeds Mercury, the Scotsman, the Glasgow Daily Mail, the Dundee Advertiser, the Western Times, and the Bradford Observer. Unfortunately this useful agency was allowed to drop from want of funds. The next question was, how to influence the British public, and especially Members of Parliament? On this question all friends were agreed that at the pending General Election, no hearing could be got for detailed Indian