PROPOSALS FOR INDIA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20602, 28 June 1930, Page 13

PROPOSALS FOR INDIA.

SIE JOHN SIMON'S REVIEW.

A PRACTICAL SCHEME.

LESSON FROM DOMINIONS.

By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright British Wirelesß. RUGBY, June 26

In a broadcast speech last evening Sir John 'Simon emphasised that the recommendations of the Indian Statutory Commission, of which ho is chairman, were those not of one individual but of seven, representing' all parties and drawn from both . Houses of Parliament.

The proposals were not a bundle of vague expressions. They constituted a detailed and connected scheme dealing with every aspect of Indian government. They were based on important principles, of which the first was that there should be no more commissions. They represented a scheme designed to meet present practical necessities, while leaving room for later adjustments and developments. The proposals for provincial government and the commission's treatment of the central executive were illustrations of the method of providing now for the possibility of future growth. Part of the Indian comment had- entirely missed this point. Parliament could not possibly abandon all its responsibility for the central government of India at this stage, but the extent to which this responsibility could be handed over would depend on the future. Tlia Central Legislature. The proposed method of reconstituting the central legislature had three great advantages. First, it provided at the centre a body of reasonable size, which would be really representative of the numerous inhabitants of vast areas; secondly, the plan of representing provinces rather than individual- States in the Federal Assembly permitted of the adoption of a scheme which would give much needed assistance for provincial exchequers and enable provincial Ministers to go forward with their plans for improving education, public health and other services in provinces now starved for the want ox money; thirdly, the plan gave the best prospect of associating the Indian States more closely with the affairs of India as a whole. Turning to some concrete matters, Sir John paid a high tribute to the police force, which, however, tended to be regarded as an agent of an alien bureaucracy, although ill fact the whole neighbourhood would without it fall into utter anarchy. Way to Eemove Distrust. Only by the abolition of anarchy and by making the Government as a whole responsible for the administration of all the departments, with safeguards against abuse, could the cause of this distrust be ramoved.

. Sir John then dealt with the plans for the protection of minorities and procisjiied to discuss them. The first would bu the October Round-table Conference, to which the various bodies of opinion in India would be invited, for the free expression of opinion before the proposals vrere laid before Parliament. Tie believed that the recommendations would satisfy all the tests which must be applied to any constitution before its ultimate adoption. The lesson to be learned from the analogy of the Dominions was that in every ease the ultimate form of the Dominion Government had been the result of a. natural growth. They had arise!!, not because an Act of Parliament said so, but because of the life of a growing organism. A stage had been reached when it had been found that this was the way to express the responsibilities of citizenship. POLICY FOR FUTURE. PROCEDURE AFTER REPORT. PARTY LEADERS ' CONFER. (Received Jum» 27, 9.15 p.m.) LONDON. June 27. j The Prime Minister, Mr. Mac Donald, I has had an important conference with the ! leaders of the Opposition Parties, with reference to Indian policy and procedure after the presentation of the report of the Statutory Commission. Mr. Baldwin and Sir Austen Chamber lain represented the Conservatives and Mr. Llovd George led the Liberals.