INDIA AT THE CONFERENCE

Evening Post, Volume XC, Issue 78, 30 September 1915, Page 6

INDIA AT THE CONFERENCE

According to the correspondent of The Times in Simla, the acceptance by the Viceroy of a resolution asking that India be officially represented at the Imperial Conference has caused universal satisfaction throughout the great Dependency. The satisfaction of the greatest of the Dominions is vouched for by the message which reached us from Ottawa on Wednesday testifying to the unanimity of the Canadian press in favour of the proposal. We cannot imagine that either in New Zealand or in any other of the Dominions any serious note of dissent will be sounded. On the contrary, a proposal which a few years ago might have commanded an academic or reluctant consent can rely at the present time upon a cordial and even enthusiastic support. The Imperial problem is essentially a problem of defence. We have all recognised that truth more or less vaguely for years, but it has been impressed upon us with irresistible clearness and force by the events of the - last fourteen months. The Empire realised the position when in the hour of danger it sprang to arms, and India was not a whit behind the Dominions in the , clearness of her vision or the eagerness of her response. The war has produced no more thrilling spectacle and no more flattering tribute to the merits of the British raj tHan the rally of India to the support of the Power whose danger had been confidently expected by its enemies to provide her with an ardently desired opportunity* for revolt. And now that India's soldiers have been privileged to shed their blood in defence of the Empire beside those of Great Britain and 1 the Dominions, can we in decency refuse to her the right of representation in the Conference which, in the present amorphous condition of the Empire, is the nearest approach we have to an Imperial Council? Whether the functions of the next Conference be those of a Peace Council or a War Council, India has fairly earned the right to be represented on it, and by the time the right ha* been conceded it will have a much better claim to the title of Imperial. \ So' far we have spoken of the matter as one of right, but there is another side to it. The correlative of a right is a duty, and it is in accordance with the methods of British government that rights and responsibilities shall go hand in hand. Any complete / consideration of the problem of Imperial defence touches the duties and responsibilities of India just as much as her rights, and how can either aspect of her relation to the problem be fairly or adequately discussed by a body on which she has no sort of representation? The relation of India to naval defence is a question which has so far received but little attention. The depredations which her. commerce' suffered from the Emden, and the fact that that enterprising little commerce-destroyer "received her quietus from an Australian cruiser, are points which will surely be found to be full of significance on the problem of India's relations to naval defence when the passing of the present peril has restored the opportunity for cool and comprehensive thought. An Indian squadron, to which Ceylon, Singapore, and the Malay States would also contribute, seems to be one of the requirements of the future. Before the assured success of Australia's venture this idea was mooted. Its prospects should be much better now, and an Imperial Conference in which India and the other dependencies concerned would be represented would be the proper body to consider the scheme as soon as the war is over. We are not forgetful of the thorny problems which Indian immigration has raised for the Governments of Great Britain, the Dominions, and India herself. On this issue the interests of India would often -be directly opposed at an Imperial Conference to those oMhe Dominions, but that is no reason for •excluding the Indian point of view from full official representation at* a Conference which professes to be Imperial. On the contrary, frank and free discussion round a table is the very best method of adjusting the clash of interests, or at least of removing misunderstanding and bitterness where adjustment is impossible. As a Dominion which has taken a prominent part in the policy of Asiatic exclusion, New Zealand has now an excellent opportunity of doing a generous and graceful thing by backing the proposal to admit a representative of India to the Imperial Conference. Why should not our National Government take prompt action in the matter? Mr. Massey's grateful reference a few days ago to Japan's great services to the Empire in the present war truly represented the new angle from which the war has compelled us to regard some old problems. Upon India also we must broaden our outlook. In Gallipoli and Flanders she has shown that she can do something more for tb« /Empire than flood it with cheap labour, and, without prejudice to bur policy of exclusion, we in turn must recognise that this policy does not exhaust our obligations to India.