INDIA’S FUTURE

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 51, 24 November 1930, Page 11

INDIA’S FUTURE

Discussion Reviewed CHAIRMAN’S SPEECH Practical Work Wanted British Wireless. Rugby, November 21. The general discussion on the future of India at the Indian Round Table Conference was concluded to-day by the Prime Minister, Mr. Ramsay MacDonald, president of the conference, who paid a tribute to the excellence and practical nature of the speeches representing all sides of Indian thought and interesst. He gave an assurar _e that the Government accepted the pledges made officially since 1917, and meant to carry them out. The constitution must meet two fundamental requirements. It must work and must evolve. That was the history of all the constitutions of the Dominions. On leaving the conference to committee he said that they would proceed with the best will, not only of the Government, but of the British Parliament. Flexible Federation. The Prime Minister, in his speech, said that the simple fact that the Conference was assembled in Itself was a recognition of aims which could never be departed from. Regarding the pledges since 1917, the Government accepted everything that had been said officially, and the Conference would have proof that it meant to carry it out. The magnificent speeches by the Princes and by the representatives of practically every interested community had been extraordinarily practical. They had given a most substantial contribution in the opening speeches to a really united, federated India. We want for India, he said, federation which is flexible, which meets India’s historical inheritance and the liberty of the individual. Tiie problem now was to supply practical answers, for embodying in an Act of Parliament, to questions regarding the nature of the component units to be fitted into 'the scheme of federation, the nature of the central co-ordinating structure, the relations of this structure to the Provinces, its relations to the States, the provisions necessary to secure the willing co-operation of minorities, and the special interests of subjects with which the central structure would deal, and its general administrative functions and responsibilities. . Will Continue Trying. Before the Prime Minister rose the Aga Khan, chairman of the British Indian delegation, made a short but important speech. They had heard, be said, practically every school of Indian thought, and, if all the differences were eliminated, there was on one point com plete unanimity. They all asked for a full measure of self-government. "We ask you to promise us the framework. If the picture we also paint in it is unsatisfactory to any of the important minorities or to the Princes, or to a small section of minorities, we will try again, and we will continue trying till we produce something that will be generally satisfactory. I for one am particularly anxious that it shall be iu a form which will ensure that not only every Indian minority but the British commercial element in India shall be satisfied that their interests are safe.” There was no reason why, If thew could produce a federal scheme that would please the Princes, Hindus, Muslims, and the smaller minorities, and satisfy legitimate commercial interests, they should not at this moment start on a basis of full self-government and responsibility •