The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The Sun. TUESDAY, JANUARY 6, 1931. THE INDIA CONFERENCE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 4, 6 January 1931, Page 6

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The Sun.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 6, 1931. THE INDIA CONFERENCE.

For the cause that lacks assistance, For the wrong , that needs resistance, For the future in the distance, And the good that noe can do.

Wlien the idea of a Round Table Conference to discuss the prospects and possibilities of self-government for India was first suggested, it was regarded by most people as a visionary project, laudable on ethical or sentimental grounds, but unlikely to produce any practical results. From time to time the reports issued from London have indicated that the various sections of the Indian peoples represented at the Conference have not yet attained any large measure of unanimity, and that their views, in any case, diverge far from the line of policy hitherto maintained by the .imperial authorities. Now, however, as the Conference nears its close, there comes the assurance that valuable results have been already achieved, and that a great step forward has been taken in the way of reconciling conflicting opinions and finding common ground for friendly co-operation in the great task of securing a larger measure of freedom and autonomy for India

As the "Times" has all along insisted, it must be borne in mind that this Round Table Conference is not authorised to draft a new Constitution for India. Like the Simon Commission, it is empowered to investigate the Indian problem from every conceivable point of view, and' to report upon its discussions. But the last word must be left to Parliament, which, utilising all the multifarious and extremely valuable material brought together in these debates, must in the last resort draft a plan for the government of India which will satisfy all the reasonable aspirations of the Nationalists without sacrificing the interests of the minorities or allowing the work done by Britain in India in the cause of civilisation, progress and humanity to be nullified or destroyed. Remembering this, Ave may acceptliterally the assurance of the "Times," that the Conference cannot be fairly charged with either procrastination or failure, and that it already marks an important historical turning-point in the relations between India and Imperial Britain. Regarding the whole question from this point of view, it may fairly be contended that the chief object of the Round Table Conference was not to produce a complete and consistent scheme of political reforms for the benefit of India, but to clear the air and to prepare the way for a more sympathetic and intelligent comprehension of the whole question. Not only do the British nation and the Indian peoples fail to understand each other. Hindu and Mohammedan, Brahmin and pariah, Sikh and Rajput and Gurkha, have all along beenplaying at cross-purposes, and it is only by frank and free discussion of their, differences that their spokesmen, can hope to find any practicable basis for agreement. The dramatic death of Mahmud Ali, once leader of the Khilafat movement against the British Raj, signifies an almost heroic attempt to effect some amicable understanding between the Moslem and Hindu elements in India, and the Round Table Conference can at least claim to have promoted to an degree the growth of a coherent and definite sense of Nationalism among the Indian peoples.