ALL-INDIA FEDERATION

Hawera Star, Volume L, 19 January 1931, Page 5

ALL-INDIA FEDERATION

SPADE=WORK AT CONFERENCE 4

VALUE OP GOODWILL URGED

GOVERNMENT VIEWS AWAITED

(British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, njn. 16.

The minorities sun-committee of the »Indian round-table conference held a short meeting this morning and approved the report drawn up t>y tne r*rime Minister (Mr. namsay MacDonald), its chairman,- summarising cue claims and views put forward m the committee's discussions Dy all the community interests. The report was sent to the committee of the full conference, which resumed its sitting and began with consideration of the defence committee’s report, If time permits the last plenary session, which will terminate on Monday with the Prime Minister’s eagerly awaited statement on the Government’s intentions, will formerly begin in the afternoon. The work of the conference was leviewed in speeches delivered m the iiiial plenary session, which began this afternoon and will be concluded oil Monday. Appreciation and gratitude for tlie sympathy and interest displayed by members of tlie British Parliamentary delegation wjere expressed by delegates from India. Special tributes were paid to the stateinanship and courtesy shown by the Prime Minister, Lord Sankey and" Lord Reading, while Captain V edgewood Benn and the chairmen of the various committees yiveire warmly thanked. IThe Prime Minister submitted a resolution mat tne reports of the nine sub-committees were provisional, though they, together with the records now attached, afforded in the opinion of the conference material of the highest value for use in arranging a constitution embodying as they did a substantial measure of agreement on the main ground plan and many helpful indications of points of detail which would be farther pursued. The conference felt that arangements should be made to- pursue without interruption the work upon which it had been engaged. FEDERAL COURT NECESSARY. Replying lu a question regarding the establishment of a supreme court, Lord Sankey said that in a lederai constitution such as was proposed a federal court was an essential element. There were such courts in Canada, Australia and the United States. r l lie exact jurisdiction and constitution of the court could be settled later anti, in his view, that would not be a dirt 1cult task although there were many details for discussion. He advised the conference to pass a resolution affirming the principle and leaving otfiei questions open for further discussion. The conference indicated approval. The Maharaja of Rewa said an atmosphere of goodwill had prevailed throughout the conference. The creation of that atmosphere in itself was a substantial achievement, one which would go far to assist in solving tin. many problems of detail yet awaiting the constitution makers. The constitution had been welcomed and accepted by the Indian States delegation, but had not yet been accepted by the in dividual Princes of India, some of .whom would inevitably look askance at tl\e federal idea, which must not be fjfrced directly or indirectly on any one "of them. They must be secured in tlie rights and privileges which they enjoyed and the matter of the relations with the British Government must remain unaltered until they themselves voluntarily agreed to a change. Personally he believed a scheme of federation would be devised which he could accept but until the scheme was before him he preferred not to give an opinion. The Liberal Mr. J. N. Basil complained that the decisions about which there had been the largest measure of agreement in many respects fell short of the ideal cherished by a large sei tion of the Indian people, he also expressed the view that communual difference and the question of minorities had been discussed in a manner which ignored that the different communities in India had been used to Jiving with one another in amity every day of their lives for many centuries. There were occasional clashes, he said, but they were infrequent and infinitesimal when compared with the number of amicable contacts.

1} ETT Ell U NDER ST \N D i Nva GAINED. » The .Maharaja ox Dolp.*r said cue spirit that animate u ttie coinerenco was the .spirit Dy which all tile prooiems ox India could tie sol>eu, anu lie would not he surprised 11 one ox tne greatest gains wiiieii iiau accrued to India dunng tne conierence siiouJu prove to oe the. better understanding Detween the Indian States and Bntisn rndia. Colonel Gidney said they were still in the land ox conjecture uecau.se tne nindu-Moslem controversy was still unsettled and Ins brother Indians retused to recognise the commercial m"ccrest of Europeans. 'Mr. T. I*'. Gavin Jones, a business man in India, said the great problem of India could be solved only uy tne federation of all India and, altnough the Indian States presented great dimculties, the problems in British India were iur greater because titey had stm to create their constituent States Tne' British Parliament lie thought iiau forced upon India at too rapid a piue democratic institutions for which they were not prepared. The franchise subcommittee's report was too vague, and he urged that a second claim tier snould without doubt he introduced in the development of the provincial States. Dr. Shah Ahmad Kalm, while suspending judgment on the work of the federal structure committee, believed that the work of the other committee, when analysed and properly digested, would be found to have made great advances. Mr. Shiva Rno criticised the constitution which kept Labour legislation outside the jurisdiction of the Federal Legislature and was based on a very restricted franchise. Diwan llama Chandra Kao, a moderate Progressive, said the results attained so far had received the willing assent of thinking people in India. The conference had provided a constitution from which many deviations would be necessary, but he trusted that whatever might be done in the future the essential framework would remain. He urged further progress and that the work of the conference should be done with the minimum of delay. He said ho was in an optimistic mood. He believed the whole of the scheme would be well received in India, provided adequate safeguards and transitory arrangements were made for responsibil-

ity to bo transferred as early as possiole. teardar Ujjal Singh said the conference had achieved a large measure of success in many directions. Opinion in India would have great influence in bringing the proposals into the final shape by which the legitimate aspirations of the people of India would be satisfied. The Princes bad whole-heart-, edly associated themselves with Indian' feeling and the essential result of the conference was that, with the exception of defence and foreign affairs, the responsibility of the executive to the legislature was complete. He hoped that in India the scheme would be discussed and opinions expressed on it in 1% spirit of goodwill and in the utmost spirit of peace. When the conference re-assembled to-day the Aga Khan, as chairman of the British India delegation, and the Sikh delegate, Sardar Ujjal Singh, expressed deep abhorrence of the Lahore outrage in which the wife ot Captain Curtis was killed and two children wounded by a Sikh. Sincere sympathy with the bereaved was marked by delegates.