POSITION IN INDIA.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 240, 3 July 1908, Page 7

POSITION IN INDIA.

: , IDE MORLEY POLICY. PROMINENT UNIONISTS' SUPPORT. PRESS LAW. (BZ TELEGRAPH—PRESS ASSOCIATION—COPYRIGHT.) London, July 1. . 'i'he House of Lords discussed the position in India. • \ Uoth sides, including Lord Curzon (exViceroy), who raised the debate, cordially supported tlio wise and prudent control, of affairs by Viscount Morley, Secretary of State for India. < ■

Viscount Morley declared, regarding ulti mato reforms, that, having put his handi to the plough, he would not withdraw because of bombs. *

>- Lord Cromer (ex-Minister Plenipotentiary N .to Egypt), in supporting the Press law, remarked that freedom of the Press had long been tried in Egypt and India, and it must be reluctantly admitted that it had not been a success. .

"Steps,"- he said,".ought to be taken to deal with out countrymen peregrinating in India as demagogues." , ADMINISTRATIVE-REFORMS. The "-ultimate reforms " referred to by Lord Morley are no doubt those which ho concedes to the "reasonable national aspirations" of India, and to which'ho. adheres'even though it is at present necessary to pass repressivo laws for dealing with unreasonable violence. •Lord Morley proposes, ; in the-first place, to establish an Imperial Advisory Council for purely! consultative purposes, tho Council to consist of sixty members for tho whole of India, including about twenty ruling chiefs and a "suitable number" of (territorial magnates. Tho 'Council would receive no legislative recognition, and its would ho purely advisory. It would deal only with such matters as might be specially referred to it from time to time. V . .. /

In addition, there would be established pro. vincial. advisory councils to render opinions to local governments. . ■ ,

It is proposed to enlarge' the Legislative Council to . fifty-four members, including - the Viceroy. This number would include members of tho Chambers'of Commerce of Calcutta and Bombay, non-official members of the provincial councils of Madras, Bombay, Eastern Bengal, and Assam, tho United Provinces, tho Punjab and Burma, . nobles • and . great landowners, representing minorities, tho members of tho .executive council, etc.

For the Provincial Legislative Councils it is proposed to introduce 1 special qualifications for membership, while leaving the electoral fraiv cliise in other respects unchanged. ' ■