REPORT ON INDIA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20600, 26 June 1930, Page 11

REPORT ON INDIA.

PROBLEM OF DEFENCE. RECOGNITION Q£ POSITION. VIEWS OF ENGLISH PRESS. Bx Telegraph—Press Association—J Copyright. Britiji Wireless. ETJGBY, June 24. (Received Juns 25, 5.5 p.m -) The Indian Statutory Commission, in the coarse of its report, said:— The internal security of the population depends upon the efficiency of the administrative machine. If a monsoon fails millions of persons will die of famine unless there is an efficient railwav system for the transport of food. Epidemics are prevented only by the vigilance of the authorities. "While we are prepared to recommend a considerable advance of self-govern-ment desire to secure thai experience shall not be bought too dearly. There mnst be a power which can step m to save the situation before it is too late. There must be safeguards to ensure the maintenance of the vital services. The Governor-General or a Governor should be armed with fnll and ample powers. STeed cf Alternative Authority. The commissioners desire to give the fullest scope for self-government, but if there is a breakdown then the alternative authority mnst operate unhampered. The unanimous recommendations of the commission are likely to be the subject of controversy for some time to come. The first comments in Britain are almost wholly favourable. The federal scheme which the report recommends for British having aa federal units the Governors' provinces enjoying Legislatures with constituent rakrs, is generally regarded as testing the new course toward the policy cf self-government. The commissioners said that the defence of India is partly an Imperial problem, and as such must remain in the hands of the Viceroy as agent for the British Government.

The creation of a Consultative Council of Greater India, consisting of, say, 50 members, of whom ten would be representatives of tie Indian States, is recommended, to make a beginning in the process which may one day lead to an AHIndia federation. The maintenance of the security serrices as All-India services, recruited by the Secretary of State, and the centralisation of the High Courts, are recommended. Future Federal Constitution. By general consent the most important constructive suggestion contained in the reoort is the insistence on the necessity of guiding India toward a federal constitmtian. The scheme outlined, which is accepted as being fitted to the special conditions of the case, is unlimited except by safeguards against its otra collapse, and, in the words_ of the Manchester Guardian, "shoes the way to the goal of a self-governing federation unparalleled in the -world's history." The further suggestions for setting a course toward the new goal of an AllIndia federation are welcomed in the press. The newspapers emphasise, however, that throughout the whole report there is evidence of the fact that the commissioners, while looking to the possibilities of the future, never lost sight of the realities of the present.. The proposals for retaining in the hands of the "viceroy the problem of defence, and for maintaining the security services as AllIndia services, are cited as further recognition by the Commissioners of ■ Britain's responsibility for internal order and protection against foreign foes.