DUTIES IN INDIA

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 143, 18 June 1937, Page 13

DUTIES IN INDIA

PROVINCIAL GOVERNORS

COMMONS QUESTIONS

LIMITS OF REPLIES

(British Official Wireless.)

(Received June 18, 11.20 a.m.)

. RUGBY, June 17. One of the longest questions ever addressed to a Minister was answered by. the Prime Minister, Mr. Neville Chamberlain, in the House of Commons today when he replied to searching and detailed inquiries by Mr. Winston Churchill (Con.), tabled earlier this week, with the object of obtaining a close definition of the limits within which Parliamentary questions relating to events in India will be answered in future.

The Prime Minister's statement, like the question to which it was an answer, was of unusual length.

Mr. Chamberlain began by making it clear that until Part 2 of the Government of. India Act relating to the Federation comes into force no change in practice of question and answer at Westminster is~called for in relation to the operations of the Central Government. Apart from the well-known and well-established convention against interference in the fiscal policy of the Indian Government, the Central Government remained legally subject, in respect of all its operations, to the direction and control of his Majesty's Government in the United Kingdorii. But as to the Provincial Governments, Mr. Chamberlain reminded the House that Parliament had deliberately decided to place upon the Ministries answerable to the Provincial Indian Legislatures the responsibility for the conduct of the government of the provinces. This responsibility was not plenary, inasmuch as there were certain 'powers reserved to a governor for certain specific purposes, and the effect of the. Act was to leave a governor free in the last resort to decide these matters as he himself thought was required for the due discharge of his responsibility to the Imperial Parliament, even if the advice tendered to him by his Ministers would have led to another decision^ BROAD GUIDING PRINCIPLE. The Prime Minister drew the conclusion: "In so far as Ministers- are responsible to a Provincial Legislature for the Government of a province, it would be entirely inappropriate \if this House were to call in question 'or to criticise by question and answer their policies and activities. On the other hand, the Act specifically provides that to the extent to which a Governor's special powers are involved, and to the extent accordingly to which he acts either without consulting or otherwise than on the advice of his Ministers, he is subject to direction and control in the first instance by the GovernorGeneral and through him by the Secretary of State—in other words, that he i's answerable in the last resort to this Parliament. I suggest, that the broad general guiding principle which ought to be adopted as to the admissibility of questions on Indian provincial affairs is that such questions ought not now to be regarded as in order unless it can be shown either that the action at issue was taken by tlie Governor without consulting his Ministers: or against their advice, or alternatively that the Governor was in possession of powers applicable to the case which in fact he failed to exercise. But I also suggest to the House even that this right, as so defined, ought to be used with discretion and restraint, and that his Majesty's Government must itself exercise careful discretion as to the extent to which it is expedient In any given case to supply information about facts and events in an Indian province. REQUISITE FOR GOOD WORKING. "I hope I am justified in assuming that in every quarter of the House there is a desire that provincial self-government-in India should work, and work well. I cannot believe this is possible unless we in this House frankly recognise the new distribution of responsibilities." The Prime Minister, having laid down the guiding principle, declined to define in detail the attitude to the various categories of inquiries listed in Mr. Churchill's long question, except lo declare emphatically that provin-cial-autonomy must be deemed to be in operation, with corresponding restriction of questions at Westminster, even if the Ministry in power did not for the time being possess the confidence of a majority of the Legislature.