CONFERENCE DEBATED

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 28, 1 August 1930, Page 9

CONFERENCE DEBATED

SHOULD SIR JOHN SIMON

ATTEND ?

GOVERNMENT OPPOSED

British Official Wireless. « EUGBY, 30£h July. Tho subject of'tho Indian Bound Table Conference has been raised again in both Houses of Parliament. Lord Heading, in the Houso of Lords, supported by the Conservative leader, Lord Salisbury, asked the Government to give effect to the urgent representations made yesterday that Sir John Simon should be invited to be a member of the Conference. Earl Russell, Under-Secretory o£ State for India, replying, said the question and, those involved in it had been exhaustively considered by the Government, in consultation with the Indian Government. The Statutory Commission had performed its task with a distinction which would secure for its report a prominent place in the official political literature. It had pre--sented its finding to Parliament. When the Conference now contemplated was proposed by the chairman of tho Commission, with the consent of his colleagues, the Government alone was to have taken upon itself the negotiations. We have widened this so that Parliament, in its varied composition, may be represented. The Government is certain that it will be advisablo to halt there, and not add another section of representatives to tho delegates announced yesterday. The Government is confident that the representatives to be selected will be ableto get from the Conference the fullest examination of every proposal brought before it, and that every opjiortunity will be taken to secure the most expert and well-in-formed advice, wherever it is to be found, and that it will be available for the. Government and the Parliamentary representatives. The Government is convinced that any departure from <;his decision will not ease the task or promote the success of the Conference. PROPOSAL PRESSED. In tho House of Commons the Prime Minister, Mr. Bamsay Mac Donald, read a reply in similar terms in answer to a question by Sir Austen Chamberlain, who, however, said that the answer hardly met his point, which was .that the chairman of the Commission, Sir John Simon, should be present at the Conference so that his services could be made available to tho Conference. Mr. Lloyd George, the Liberal leader, said that he understood from the Prime Minister that the Government left it open to summon anybody who had expert knowledge of the matters to be considered by the Conference in order to aid the- Conference in coming to a decision. -He therefore asked the Prime Minister whether he would not be closing his mind to the question of summoning their aid .to the examination .of .this very grave problem. He understood that the Indian Legislature would probably be represented by those chosen by both Houses to examine this problem. Tho Prime Minister said that raised a totally different point. If the Conference wanted advice and asked for it, it would get it. If the British delegates wanted advice they would get it. How it was to be provided was a matter on which he had not had time to go into details. The Conference would not meet until November, after the Imperial Conference, but he wanted to make it perfectly clear that the Government had come to a definite decision that it would not be- advisable to have other categories of delegates than those mentioned yesterday and to-day. Sir Austen Chamberlain then asked for an undertaking that if any of the delegations desired the presence of members of the Commission, their services, not as members, should be available within the Conference. The Prime Minister, replying, said he declined to go further than the considered statement he had made. ■Ultimately Sir Austen Chamberlain asked the Speaker if he could have leave to move the adjournment of the House to-morrow to discuss the refusal of the Government to invite the chairman of the Commission to take part in the Conference. The Speaker pointed out that such a motion, under the Standing Orders, should be njpved now, but said he would consider the motion on its merits when submitted.