INDIA'S STATUS

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 51, Issue 130, 14 March 1931, Page 5

INDIA'S STATUS

FUTURE CONSIDERATION. DEBATE IN THE COMMONS. NOT A PARTY QUESTION. United Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, March 12. The debate on India was concluded in the House of Commons to-day. Mr Churchill expressed surprise that the agreement between the Viceroy and Gandhi should be hailed as a miracle of statecraft. Doubtless Lord Irwin made the hest possible bargain, the boycott and civil disobedience being partially called off, but they could be re-started if Gandhi lifted his little finger. Mr Baldwin had described the agreement as a victory of moderation over extremism. It was really a victory jfor the law breakers, to whom hopes were held out that they would soon Im? lawmakers. Lord Irwin's actions for the last year had been, fostered by Gandhi's power to an inconceivable extent and had raised-the members of the Congress to a pedestal of •eminence, in the eyes of India s disloyal elements, as having inflicted on the Government such humiliation and defiance as had not been known since the British first trod the soil of In--1 Mr Churchill welcomed Mr Baldwin's recent announcement that the Conservatives were not willing to take part in a further conference in India. He entirely agreed with his leaders reference to future procedure, in which they must face the facts. The London Conference had not solved a single,major difficulty. The chances of agreement that would unite all sections of India and be ratified by the British Parliament were of the slightest. The Prime Minister (Mr Ramsay MacDonald), closing the debate, claimed that the great majority of all Parties were united in standing by the work, spirit, and methods of the RoundTable" Conference. When in Opposition and when in office Laboun tried to keor> the problem of devising a constitution for India outside Party politics, and it would do everything it ,could to maintain the machinery which enabled the Parties to exchange views. The work done at the Round-Table Conference wis foing on in India and was going on at Home. The first thing to be done after the preliminary exploration was finished was to get the Federal Structure Committee together again. Already the invitation had gone to the Viceroy to do his best to arrange an early meeting of that committee at London*, and it was hoped that Gandhi himself would be with the Congress representatives.

FINANCIAL STABILITY. SAFEGUARDS ESSENTIAL. (United Press Association— Copyright). (Received This Day, 11.10 am) LONDON, March 13. The debate on India' was wound up by the Prime Minister. Mr MacDonald claimed that the great majority of all parties were united in standing by the spirit and methods of the Round-fable Conference: He hoped that future cooperation of parties would be as creative and effective as during the Conference when they succeeded m-plan-ning the genertl aspect of the picture of Indian constitution and in laying down the conditions cf the federal structure, responsibility at the centre, safeguards of various kinds, allowing for the Princes coming in, and provision for safeguarding of all communities in India. Now the work was going on in India and here, and soon they were going to get the Federal Structure Committee" at work again in London. That committee's report indicated some of the big points to he discussed. , , :. Speaking of the return of the Indian delegates to London, the Prime Minister said: "Wo hope, when they come I cannot say v,-e have been officially told—that Gandhi himself and other representative? of Congress will be here, and we shall have our old friends men to whom we owed so much at the Round Table Conference to Princes, Hindus, Moslems, representatives of labour, and representatives of not only of the Government but also of Parliament. The Secretary of State for India (Captain "Wedgwood Benn), when asked for a statement in regard to the financial implications of the report of the Round-Table Conference, referred to paragraphs 18 and 20 of the report of the Federal Structure Sub-Committee of the Conference. He said: "The importance, both now and. under the new Constitution, of the financial stability of India and of her credit position, could not possibly be exaggerated. It is in India's own interests that she should retain I*the 1 *the position of confidence which she enjoys. It is the, considered view of the Government, which indeed is well known, that the safeguards referred to by the Federal Structure Committee, including the powers of the Governor-General in relation to currency legislation, are essential and cannot be abated, if the now Constitution it to be established with success." —British Official Wireless.

FEDERAL STRUCTURE COMMITTEE GAMDHI TO BE INVITED. (United Press Association—Copyright). (Received This Day, 1 p.m.) ■LONDON, March 13. Lobbyists learn that an attempt will be made to induce Mahatma Gandhi to come to London in May to take part, in the Federal Structure Committee, which will thrash out vital problems prior to the full Round-Table Conference in the autumn. TRIBUTE TO MR BALDWIN. LONDON, March 13. "The Times" says: "Mr Stanley Baldwin seldom played a better part Certainly tlie vigour, courage, and real statesmanship ot his speech have given him a different position. His party has no need to trouble itself about a search for a successor; even if it were to sink him to-morrow, he would f go down with flying colours." '-The Times" (able. The "Daily Telegraph" says: "Mr Baldwin's speech was a Parliamentary success, no passage more so than that in which he appealed to his followers to choose between, his own policy and the policv represented by Mr Winston

Churchill. The Conservatives feel that the fact that the Government was compelled to abandon its intention to summon a round-table conference in India is a victory for commonsense. It is considered that such a conference must have proved abortive. \ EFFECTIVE POWER IN INDIA. EFFECT OF ITS LOSS DISCUSSED. LONDON, March 13. Lord Lloyd, speaking at South Kensington, said: "If we lose effective power as the Government in India, Ave will lose all control in the Far East. Australia and New Zealand could not remain portions of the Empire even if they wished, while Britain would become a small set of islands with a great past, a miserable present and future." DISBANDED VOLUNTEERS. DISTURBANCE AT BOMBAY. CALCUTTA. March 12. Further clashes between disbanded Congress volunteers occurred at Bombay yesterday, when 20 were seriously injured. Nearly 300 volunteers, armed with sticks, took possession of the Congress premises, demanding the payment of £7 10s "gratuity." Parleys having failed, the volunteers returned later and stoned the Congress office and attacked the loyal volunteers with bamboo poles. THE BURMA REBELLION. SPECIAL COURTS INTENDED. CALCUTTA, March 12. The Viceroy has promulgated an ordinance empowering the Burma Governent to appoint special tribunals to try nearly 400 persons arrested in connection with the Burma rebellion.