REFORM IN INDIA.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 307, 28 December 1922, Page 5

REFORM IN INDIA.

THE MODERATE PROGRAMME. MB. SASTKIS IDEALS. ' ' ( SUPPORTER OF THE EMPIRE. (By C«We.— Press Association.—Copjrlgnt.) (Received 2.30 p.m.) DELHI, December 27. Mr. Scrinivasa Sastri, in his Presidential address to the National Liberal Federation, otherwise the Moderate Congress, at Nagpore, paid a tribute to Mr. E. S. Montagu (ex-Secretary for India), and expressed regret at the sinister intrigue which deprived him of office. Referring to the lndianisation of tne Civil Service, Mr. Sastri declared that if recruitment from Britain were possible only at greatly enhanced cost, the representatives of the people would be reluctantly compelled to recommend the cessation, of recruitment. He declared it was indisputable that the straitened state of Indian finances was largely due to the inordinately bloated expenditure on the army, and, urged the need of retrenchment and the, lndianisation of officers. Dealing with his visit to the Dominions, Mr. Sastri said that in three ha visited he saw no insuperable barrier in the way of Indian people similar to that reported to exist in South Africa, He considered no risks need be apprehended from granting full autonomy to the Indian provinces, and concluded: "Wβ believe in the ideals of the British Commonwealth, and cherish our connection with it, and trust that our equal partnership therein, which is admitted in theory, will soon be translated into fact."— (Eeuter.)

THE EXTREMIST SECTION.

NON-CO-OPERATORS' CONGRESS

NEW SWARAJ CAMPAIGN.

PASSIVE RESISTANCE POIJCY.

DELHI, December 27. Four thousand delegates attended the opening session of the National Congress at Calcutta. In his presidential address, Mr. C. R. Dae insisted that Government must be by the masses, not by the middle classes. He favoured participation in the elections of the Provincial Councils in order to carry out the policy of non-co-operation. \ igorously denouncing the plea for law and order, which he described as the last resource of bureaucracies", he maintained that no regulation could be law unless it was based on the people's consent, without which obedience was not obligatory. He urged that India's ideal should be nationalism, one great nationality. An Indian nation was in sight, the development of which lay along the path of "Swaraj" (Home Rule). Non-violent non-co-operation was the only means of attaining Swaraj.

Mr. Das emphasised the importance of India's participation in a great Asiatic federation, replacing the pan-Islamic movement and constituting a union of Asia's oppressed nationalities. He disapproved the granting of provincial autonomy with responsibility to a central Government, and favoured instead the expression of the collective will through the medium of practically autonomous small centres. He urged the appointment of a committee to draw up 6uch a scheme of Swaraj.

He considered the present system of Provincial Councils under the Reform Act of 1919 absolutely unsuited to the, nature and genius of the nation, which refused to recognise it as the real foundation of Swaraj. He predicted that if non-co-operators participated they would secure a majority at the elections of the Councils in which case they could then demand their own constitution. Failing this, they, should oppose all work of the Councils." The bureaucracy would then have to yield or withdraw the Reform Act. Either event would be a triumph for the nation. He urged the Congress to organise Labour and the peasantry, otherwise they might form their own organisations dissociated from the objective of Swaraj. The Congress by 70 votes to four adopted a resolution that the contesting of seats in the Provincial Councils was opposed to religion. This decision is expected to have a considerable influence on the controversy.— (Reuter.)