The Hawera Star THURSDAY, JULY 9, 1925. INDIA AND THE EMPIRE.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 9 July 1925, Page 4

The Hawera Star

THURSDAY, JULY 9, 1925. INDIA AND THE EMPIRE.

Delivered etery evening by 5 o'clock -n Hawera, Manaia. Normanby, Okaiawa, Eltharn, Mangatoki, Kaponga, Alton, Hurleyvil , Patea, Waverley. Mokoia, Wiiakamara, Ulianijai. Meremere, Fraser R<>ad, an Ararata.

By a resolution; adopted in. August, 1917, the British Parliament declared its intention to provide for “the increasing association of Indians in every 'branch of the administration, and the gradual development of selfgoverning institutions with a view to the progressive realisation of responsible government in India las an integral part- of the British Empire.” In the following winter the then Secretary of State for India (Mr. E. S. Montagu) took the unprecedented step of visiting India and personally conferring not only with the Y iceroy (Lord Chelmsford) but with representatives of all races, creeds and classes on the question of constitutional and administrative reform. It was after this visit that there was issued the joint Montagu-Chelmsford report on Indian constitutional reform, the main recommendations of which were given effect to in the Government of India Act, 1919. And that Act formed the basis of Lord Birkenhead’s latest speech to the lairds, reported in our cables to-day. The new constitution of 1919 made some changes in the Supreme Government of India, but they were relatively unimportant when compared with the changes made in the Provincial Governments. These latter were based upon the principle of diarchy, or a division of the functions of government into two sections: one dealing with .subjects—such as justice and police—reserved for the exclusive jurisdiction of the Governor and his Elxecutive Council (generally consisting of two civil servants) ; the other with subjects-—such as local sellgovernment, education, public health, agriculture and the like—’the administration of which is “transferred” to Ministers chosen from -and responsible to the elected local legislature or lvegislative Council. The Legislative Council contains at least seventy per cent, of elected members. The idea was —and sti'll is-—that, as the altered system is found to work 'satisfactorily, the range of. “transferred'’ subjects shall be enlarged until ultimately the whole ‘administration is entrusted to responsible Ministers, and that responsible government, as soon as the capacity of Indians has been proved in the narrower sphere of the province, shall be extended to the Supreme Government of India. But that day is not yet; and meanwhile Lord Birkenhead finds it impossible to give a direct answer when asked to pronounce upon the success or otherwise of the new constitution. That is not in the -leias-t surprising. It would have been marvellous had the changes met with unalloyed -success; it would have been disheartening had the Indian peoples not shown some -appreciation of the consideration extended to them. It has been provided that the constitution of 1919, .after ten years’ operation, shall be reviewed by ■a Poyal Commission, land little more than half of that term ha.s elapsed to date. Even alter ten yeans, it is not to be expected that the commission will find either for or against the scheme as a whole. As Lord Birkenhead insists, the entire position m-ust be reviewed afresh; and particular care will need to he taken that India is not invited to run in the direction of self-government before -she ha.s learned to walk steadily. That government of India by the India ms should be the ultimate -aim oT our presence in the country even the Morning Post must admit. Our being -in India at all —like so much else of our colonising work —is largely accidental ; but once there our administrators took up the white man’s bjprden in splendid .style, and there is no escaping the fact that British rule has been a boon to the native peoples. If we are to cany our work to its logical conclusion, we must look to the flay when the Indians will be able to take care of themselves, trusting that their country will elect them to stand in with ns 'as an equal partner in the British Commonwealth of Nations. Before that can he, each one of the present British Dominions—and this touches

South Africa particularly—n*zst face squarely the question of its treatment of Indian nationals. Until the other Dominions are ready to meet Indians on a footing of equality, India' cannot be expected to covet membership in the British Oommomvealth. Lord Birkenhead says there is no “lost dominion.” In point ot tact there is no Indian Dominion of any kind yet. India’s present position is midway between that of a dependency and a dominion. Sooner or later she will take the next step; and her attitude to the Empire then is hound to be influenced most strongly bv the attitude of the present Dominions to her now. The future of the King’s vast eastern domain miay be found to l have been decided neither in London nor Delhi, but in Ottawa and Gape Town, in Canberra and Wellington.