INDIAN AFFAIRS.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20028, 9 September 1930, Page 11

INDIAN AFFAIRS.

♦—.— LOSS OP LIFE IN TRAIN WRECK. line tampered with. (tmiTßu tajsaa association—bt electeic TELKQBAPH—COPTBIOHT.) (Received September Bth, 7.45 p.m.) DELHI, September 7. ur Indians were killed and 5* were injured when the mail train for Decca was wrecked 72 miles from Calcutta through the removal of fishplates and spikes from the line. Ten coaches were derailed and one capsized over a bridge. Tho outrago is believed to be the work of a terrorist gang. failure of peace NEGOTIATIONS. CONFERENCE NOT AFFECTED. (BRITISH OFFICIAL WIRELESS.) RUGBY, September 7. The failure of the unofficial efforts of the moderate Hindu leaders to restore peaceful conditions and bring about the cessation of the civil disobedience campaign in India prior to" the meeting of the round-table conference la now confirmed in a statement issued by tho Hindu mediators, Sir Tej Baha"ur S&pru and Mr M. It Jayakar. _ The lailure, is due to the over-reach-ing demands made by the Congress leaders. The Viceroy, Lord Irwin, informed tho intermediaries that a discussion of such proposals was impossible, and commented upon the blank refusal of tho Nationalist leaders to recognise the grave injury being done to India by tho civil disobedience movement. "The Times," commenting on the correspondence, said that it was clear that any tendency on the part of Gandhi to compromise was overborne by Nehrns. and adds: "It is quite unjustified to assume that the refusal of the Congress Party to attend the rdund-table conference, except on terms which no self-respect-ing Government could accept, will wreck tho conference. Vocal and well organised as it is, the Congress Party is no more than a party lacking in cohesion, united only in opposition to the Government, and which has so far Riven no evidence of . constructive Ability beyond a scheme for a constitution which all the Indian minorities have rejected. All other sections j of British Indian opinion will be represented at the conference in London, | ind it should be remembered that in essentials there is no great difference in principles between the demands of the moderate Hindu Party and those of the Congress Party It is desirable that the Congress should be represented, but the oresence of its delegates is not indispensable, and the Government nn<J its co-operators can continue their preparations for tho meetings in London with a clear conscience."