INDIA’S FUTURE

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 75, 21 December 1929, Page 11

INDIA’S FUTURE

GOAL OF BRITISH POLICY ‘ DOMINION STATUS ATTRIBUTES BEING ACQUIRED (British Official Wlreieee.) Rugby, December 19. The Secretary for India, Captain Wedgwood Benn, during a debate in the House of Commons last night, reiterated that the goal of British policy was the achievement by India of Dominion status, but he pointed out that India was already acquiring at a growing rate the attributes of that status. He recalled several recent occasions on which an Indian representative had attended international conferences and received a separate vote in the same way as the other Dominions. He pointed out that a special Indian delegation attended the recent conference on Dominion legislation, and would so attend the coming Five Power Naval Conference. The Government desired the prospective round-table conference, to be summoned after the presentation of the Simon Report, to be fully representative of political opinion in India, and that it should be called at the earliest possible moment, Captain Benn continued. The conference would meet with a free hand so that every section of opinion would be able to come forward and express itself. The conference was not intended to be merely a sop to Indian opinion, and he hoped that when the time came for the conference, it would be found'possible for the Indians to compose their differences so that the Government wotild get the maximum of assistance and guidance. In this matter they were entering upon a new era. They were attempting to write what might be the greatest chapter in history of the British Commonwealth, namely, the free and voluntary association of a selfrespecting nation in partnership with the British Commonwealth. . .