The third Humanitarian Conference commenced here yesterday [in Bombay on September 2]. Mrs. [Annie] Besant said in the course of her Presidential address: A great difficulty in a country like India was the clashing of two civilisations, one different from the other. Amongst Hindus, Jains and Buddhists the duty of pity and kindness to all that was weak was being emphasised continually. When they came in touch with the civilisation of the west they found the same feeling expressed in a different way. They must remember that habits and customs had much to do with their judgment and emotions. She asked her audience not to think that because Europeans were meat eaters they were indifferent to the sufferings of animals. Views differed on the question of destroying or preserving injured animals. The Hindu would at once say they had no right to kill a sick or injured animal, because they could nurse it. He would argue that when their child became ill they did not kill it. The other view was that it was cruel to allow an animal to live if there was no way of stopping its sufferings.
