THE INDIA CONFERENCE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20978, 15 September 1931, Page 8

THE INDIA CONFERENCE

The presence of Mr. Gandhi in England as a delegato at the resumed Round Table Conference on Indian affairs has naturally intensified interest in the proceedings. This is partly due to his remarkable personality, enigmatic to a degree and yet admittedly powerful. Even had he intended participation merely as an individual member of the conference, his influence would be .considerable, because of his knowledge of the most crucial problems, his shrewdness and his aptitude for plain speech. Ho takes his place, however, as the chief spokesman for the National Congress, and therefore is pledged to put an extreme case for independence. For the moment he is vested with a large measure of authority, and this he will doubtless exercise to the full. Whether he will surmount the difficulty occasioned by his absence from the former session of the conference remains to bo seen. A great deal was then done in preparation for a harmonious discussion of the practical framing of the proposed federation, and the conference will not wish to have that preliminary survey traversed again. Yet, as leader of the Congress delegates, he may press for this, in an attempt to reopen what he deems fundamental questions. Apparently, he desires a discussion of the principles of the Karachi resolution, which explicitly set out complete independence from Britain as the goal of the Congress. From what has happened since his arrival it seems likely that he will be implacably insistent on this. This would embarrass negotiations, possibly beyond recovery of the tolerant atmosphere in which the first session closed. On the. other hand, he may use his authority to accept adjustments of the federal plan, "in the interests of India." Whatever his attitude, this session of the conference will be critical because of the presence of the Congress delegation under Mr. Gandhi's leadership. It

is- true that the Congress is not a representative Indian institution but rather an instrument of partisan agitation. As far as a workable solution can be found, it can bo trier' quite regardless of the Congress Nevertheless, with its represent;! tives present under such astut< guidance and control, the conferena must face a more severe test of it? skill and patience than it met in thr first assembly.