COMMENT OF PRESS

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 17, 21 January 1931, Page 9

COMMENT OF PRESS

MUCH STILL TO DO

SPIRIT MUST PERSIST

(Received 21st January, 11 a.m.) LONDON, 20th January. Tlio work of the Conference is the subject of editorial comment in l-all the newspapers. "The Times" says: "The keynote of the whole statement made by the Prime Minister was obviously a sincere determination that the good work of the Conference should go forward, that its committees should continue to cooperate, and, above all, that its spirit should 'persist. ..-. . Let none sniposo that the Iniiiaa problem will be plain sailing even here, but the real test of constructive ability will be .seen in India. Our visitors will have to take their share of working out those complex details of Constitution-making, of which the Conference furnished no more than the barest outline. They must be prepared to be hampered from the outset by ridicule, abuse, and fanatical violence, but they at least know now that the uphill road to complete selfgovernment, lie?: open to them if they have the courage to face it." "The "Daily Telegraph" says: "The crucial stage >of Indian co-operation has been opened in its enormous task of completing the edifice of Indian constitutional reform. It is a stage which at the best cannot but be prolonged. Tlio end of it is quite impossible to foresee. It cannot be foretold with confidence that the obstacles encountered will prove surmountable. There are others in the background, the difficulty of which cannot be measured, but there has been a favourably beginning to a phase for which the Simon | Commission prepared the" way." SUBSTANCE AND SHADOW. The "Daily Mail" says: "The Prime Minister's statement offers responsible self-government, which is surely that very substance of independence for which Mr. Gandhi asks. Britain offers no less. Surely India asks -no more. Surely Indians will not disregard that substance to struggle for the shadow. Wo dare hope that the Congress leaders will rise to the occasion; [also that Hindu, Moslem, and Sikh will compose their differences. There is better hope for India's future than for many weary months. That is the supreme achievement of the Conference." FORM AFTER PRINCIPLE. The "Manchester Guardian" says: "The Conference has cleared the air. The way is clear now to all that India wants. But the Indians themselves must work at creating their independence—creating it in the sense of giving it form. The principle of independence is finished with and details become all-important to the constitution until Hindu, Moslem, Sikh, and Christian are satisfied that they have an adequate part in it. The Indian members of the Minorities Sub-Commit-tee must go back determined in the shortest possible time to settle this problem of rival religions. That will be a large step forward." THE PESSIMISTIC VIEW. Tlic "Morning Post" says: "It would be futile to commit ourselves to the crude projects. The Conservative

Party yields to none in its regard for the interests of the Indian people, but it could never agree to the coercion of. loyal minorities nor the surrender of tho British position in India." The "Daily Express" says: "Had Mr. Mac Donald listened to'" the voice of reality it would long ago have told him that Indian self-government was an impossibility, that it would be indistinguishable from chaos, and that India is not and never will be a nation."