OPINION DIVIDED

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 56, 7 March 1931, Page 9

OPINION DIVIDED

INDIA SETTLEMENT. British Press Inclines to be Favourable. SURRENDER TALK REFUTED. (British Official Wireless.) (Received 12.30 p.m.) RUGBY, March 6.

Both in the House of Commons, London, and in the Legislative Assembly at New Delhi loud cheering greeted the reading of the terms of the agreement between the Viceroy, Lord Irwin, and Gandhi, the Congress leader. In England the Press comments in Government and Liberal organs express extreme satisfaction at the settlement. The opinion among the Conservative journals is divided. "The Times" give 3 firm, reasoned approval, praising warmly Lord Irwin's statesmanship. The "Daily Telegraph" and the "Morning Post" are dubious and fear for prestige of tho Indian Government. The "Daily Mail," and in a somewhat diminished degree the "Daily Express" have attacked the conversations with Gandhi from their inception as "a surrender to sedition," and continue to pursue this line unaffected by the terms of the agreement. The "Yorkshire Post." an influential, provincial Conservative organ, gives approval on lines similar to "The Times." Meanwhile the Parliamentary correspondent of the: last-named journal declares that the terms of the agreement do much to steady opinion in the Conservative party. No Surrender.

Regarding the alleged "surrender," "The Times" says that the terms of the agreement finally lay that phantom, since there has been no surrender of any vital or any important British or Indian interest to extremist elements. The "Spectator" says: "Gandhi is at last a convert to constructive co-opera-tion. As for Lord Irwin we cannot express too strongly our grateful admiration of his moral courage. We think a careful examination of the facts will convince nearly all reasonable people that tho Viceroy, so far from having made a case of surrender, has contrived terms not only honourable but businesslike." The "New Statesman and Nation" says that Lord Irwin and Gandhi share equally the honours for this victory for common sense. The "Birmingham Post" describes the settlement as a notable success for common sense.

TRIBUTE TO VICEROY.

Gandhi Praises Unfailing Courtesy. TACTICS CALLED OFF. 1 CALCUTTA, March 6. The National Congress bodies throughout India are calling off the civil disobedience and no tax campaign. Gandhi, in an with journalists, said it was impossible and unwise to say which had been the victorious party. The Congress had never made any bid for victory. He paid a tribute to the Viceroy, saying that a settlement would have been impossible without Lord Irwin's inexhaustible and unfailing courtesy. The Viceroy had removed his suspicion and distrust. The Congress would take part in the Bound Table Conference to achieve the goal of "purna swaraj," which translated means complete independence, toward which the help of all the other parties and ruling Princes, as well as of Englishmen, was absolutely nece6sary.