The Hawera Star. THURSDAY, JANUARY 26, 1928. COMMISSION FOR INDIA.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 26 January 1928, Page 4

The Hawera Star.

THURSDAY, JANUARY 26, 1928. COMMISSION FOR INDIA.

Delivered every evening by b o'clock in Hawera, Jtanaia, Normanby, Okaiawa, Eltham, Mangatoki, ICaponga, Alton, Hurleyville Patea, Waverley, Mokoia, Whakamara, Ohangai, Mereniere, Fraser Road, and Ararata.

♦ The Commission for India has left England on its important mission to investigate and 1 report to the British Government on the working of the Indian Constitution. The personnel of this Statutory Commission consists of seven members selected from all parties' and from both Houses of the Imperial Parliament, and its chairman is Sir John Simon. The Indian Reforms Act of 1919 required after the expiration of ten years from its passing the appointment of a commission to inquire into the working of the Indian Constitutj tion, and to consider the desirability of establishing, extending, modifying, or restricting the degree of responsible government in India. The. Imperial Parliament has approved of the Bill with the consent of all parties. In India the extremist home-rulers have threatened to boycott the commission on the grounds that it. does not include Indian representatives. Moderate opinion in India is shaping towards acquiescence. No' other attitude was expected from the extremist leaders of the All-India National Congress. Their party exhibited the same hostility to the Min to reforms in 1909, and to the Montagu-Chelmsford Constitution (the one now to be examined in l its working) in 1919. The British Prime Minister has explained the complexion of the Commission as due. to the need of the Imperial Parliament to acquaint itself with the facts, after full discussion with all sections in India. He has expressed the Government's wish that the Commission should on the spot in- ; vitc a joint select committee of the Indian Central Legislature to present its views. When the Commission’s report is received its proposals will bo dis- :

\ sect eel by a joint committee of the Home Parliament, with which delegations from the Indian. Parliament will be invited to collaborate and confer. There can bo lit/tlo doubt that a further measure of self-government will be the outcome, and the British Government did not need to impress upon the House of Commons the momentous issue which must be faced. India is divided not. only into native States (ruled by the princes) and the provinces of British India—with populations respectively of about 72 millions and 247 millions—but also into zealous and frequently contentious religious sections. Tiro allegiance of the States is. through the princes to the King Emperor. In the provinces the tide of democratic self-government is in full flow. Can these two systems be made to work alongside each. other in a united India? The extension of selfgoverning powers will plainly require most delicate handling of the status and authority of the princes, and of the thorny question of the Indian Army. The other great division, the cleavage between Hindus and Mohammedans, needs no stressing. Through the past eight years these two great religious sects have not been able to make .up their minds whether they prefer joint-electorates' or communal electorates for the provincial and the central legislative bodies in British India. The temporary sinking of mutual distrust under the excitement of the Swaraj (home rule) propoganda did not for long endure. Again, there will still bo some balance to hold between the elected legislators and Ministers, and British officialdom as the agent of the supremely responsible Parliament of England. The Commission undertakes its task before the expiry of the statutory ten years in the knowledge that the agitations are not likely to diminish and that it would be a vain policy to await the termination of the truce gained in 1919 before .making its examination and having a constructive policy in readiness. The continuation of this largescale experiment in the government of an empire with an empire will bo watched by the British and Indian peoples, and by the whole world, with intense interest.