DISPUTE IN INDIA.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVIII, Issue 74, 24 February 1938, Page 9

DISPUTE IN INDIA.

VICEROY’S STATEMENT. HOPE OF CONCILIATION. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, Feb. 22. A statement issued by the Viceroy of India (the Marquess of Linlithgow) to-day reviews the history of the difficulties which have arisen in the United Provinces and Bihar in connection with the release of political prisoners.

The Marquess of Linlithgow emphasises that the prisoners whose release was in dispute were, almost without exception, persons convicted of violence or preparation for specific acts of violence by the normal criminal Courts, and that to acquiesce in their immediate and indiscriminate release would have been to strike a blow at the root of law and order in India, and dangerously threaten peace and good government. There was no going back on the policy of readiness to examine individual cases and to grant release where there was no undue risk involved. There was, further,' no impropriety in the Governors requiring individual examination or declining, without, to accept the advice of their Ministers. Finally, there was no foundation for the suggestion that the action ,he had taken was dictated by a desire to undermine the position of Congress Ministers. Neither the Governors nor the Governor-General had any desire to interfere. After stressing the fact that Congress Ministers need expect-no difficulty in securing the friendly and ready co-operation of the Governors, the Marquess of Linlithgow added that there was apparently no disposition to extend the area of difficulty beyond the limits of the present position, and he hoped for an early return to normality in the two provinces most concerned. A Press Association message states that, according to the Delhi correspondent of the Times the Congress Party regards the Marquess of Linlithgow’s statement as conciliatory. Its publication coincides with the announcement that the Governors have asked the Premiers of Bihar and United Provinces to continue, pending other arrangements, which is interpreted to indicate the, resumption of negotiations and prospects of a settlement.