FATEFUL JUNCTURE

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 130, 3 June 1937, Page 9

FATEFUL JUNCTURE

APPEAL TO CONGRESS PARTY

(British Official Wireless.)

RUGBY, June 1.

A renewal of the appeal to the Congress Party; of. India to accept office and the responsibilities of Government was made by tne Secretary o;f State for India, the Marquess of Zetland, at a private meeting of Conservative rmembers of Parliament last-night,. '

After paying a'tribute to the way in which the new Governments were' facing their tasks, Lord Zetland said he still regarded it as.a tragedy' that many men of brilliant attainments and high ideals were being Ibst to the service of India-as a result of failure to appreciate the intentions['of -the framers of the new Constitution and of the actual relations between the Governors and Ministers contemplated by its provisions. : ' ' . \, ■ "I-have-an abiding faith," added Lord Zetland, *'in the great qualities and in particular in the constructive genius of the Hindu people, and in face of much discouragement I still believe that they are destined/to devote themselves to the service of India. Is it too much to ask- that they should not spurn the collaboration that Great Britain in all sincerity Is offering them, or that they on their part should, not withhold the co-operation which Great Britain is asking from them, in, the common task, which is not only worthy of the united efforts of the two peoples; but also, in .the-light of history, is their obvious destiny? Let that be my appeal to them at this most fateful Juncture in our common history.'