INDIAN'S CONVERSION.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 3, 5 January 1931, Page 5

INDIAN'S CONVERSION.

FEDERAL CONSTITUTION.

■UNCHANGING- EAST-AN ILLUSION. • MOVING WITH DAZZLING SWIFTNESS. (From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, December 24. The - Round Table Conference has already belied anticipations. The formal opening speeches were expected to show that infinite variety of aim and method, which the races and people of India possess. They were expected, in fact, to exhibit among the delegates diametrically opposed views on many questions, and did so in some respects. But, amazingly, out of this welter of oratory has arisen what 'appears to be almost unanimity on a basic principle — the type of union into which these hundreds of states and\ provinces should be formed. The British Indian delegates were to put forward the idea of central government and control; unity, in short. This has gone by the board, and the most distinguished convert is Mr. Srinivasa Sastri. >

Speaking last Thursday, Mr. Sastri said:— "The idea of federation is comparatively new to me. I struggled hard against it until the other day. Now I confess I am a convert. "The princes and their spokesmen have brought me round to their view, both by the sincerity of their declarations as to dominion status and by the tone of restraint and moderation in which they have spoken of the terms of federation itself. "I hope that nothing will be done on the side of those who care for federation more than dominion status to weaken the latter,' just as nothing should be done on the side of those 'who care for dominion status more than for federa: tion to weaken federation.

India's Obligation,

# | "The idea of fear which is in 'the minds of many .British people when they contemplate a large advance in constitutional status is that' any. policy that we may construct here, or that wo may lay the foundations of, may pass, as respects its machinery, the hands x of those who now belong to'the Indian National Congress party and who have brought about the serious situation which has led to the summoning of the Round Table Conference. "I do not think that that fear is unreasonable. I think we who speak for India are -under an obligation to meet that fear in earnest, and try to convince the British people that either the fears may be countered by cautionary measures or that the fears have no foundation in fact. "Who are these people from whom we fear disturbances? No doubt they have caused trouble so far. Are our measures here not designed, to conciliate them? Are they riot calculated to win over once more their hearts to the ways'' of loyalty and ordered progress? "They are not hereditary criminals; they are not savage barbarian hordes; they are not the sworn enemies of Great Britian or of British institutions. They are men of culture, jrien of honour, most of them, men who have made 1 their mark in the professions. They are' our kinsmen both in spirit arid by blood." A Fantastic Illusion. The other striking' development— almost as unexpected—Vas the support given by the princes to the British Indian Nationalist demands. It was a confessed representative of conservative views among the princes, the Maharajah of Rewa, who declared that all of his order were "in fullest sympathy with the legitimate aspirations of the leaders in British India." ' / These two developments alone in a conference only beginning its labours but stress the point made by Lord Reading, that the "unchanging East" is a fantastic illusion. His speech giving tlie Liberal party view touched on still another phenomenon, which the history of the East makes almost incredible. Lord Reading said:— "I should like to say first, perhaps out of a gallantry we all like to display in the presence of ladies, this conference is marked first by the presence of Indian ladies. That is a distinct advance by the East. % "As I study the affairs of the East from day to day, I am more and more astonished at the almost dazzling swiftness with which the East seems to outdistance the West. Here is a movement which has almost only just started in India, and yet here we have the ladies present and- taking part in our debates.

Awakening National Spirit. The Begum Shall Nawaz brought the point home even more strongly when she said: — '"'The so-called unchanging East is unchanging no longer. Ten years ago who could have thought of Indian women coming to London and taking part in the deliberations of such a conference? "To-day, not only a Hindu, but a Moslem woman, belonging to a family the women of which have always observed strict purdah, are sitting with their brethren around one table. "In the remote corners of jndia, in the out-of-the-way places, you will find people, especially young boys and girls, talking of their national aspirations and looking for the freedom and liberty of their motherland. "There is such an awakening in the youth of the country that it is not possible to check the growing desire, the increasing spirit,' which animates"\them to form themselves into a nation .worthy of the name."