INDIA AND THE CROWN

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21358, 6 December 1932, Page 8

INDIA AND THE CROWN

To the Round Table Conference Sir Samuel Iloare has made an important statement of the functions of India's Governor-General under the proposed federal constitution. This subject touches the question of Dominion status as it may affect India. Apart from experts in constitutional law, who themselves admit that the question has difficulties because of the unexampled nature of the composite British Empire, this status seldom has definite thought, but in relation to India it has become the subject of much controversy. All the greater is the satisfaction that greets the news of a good reception for what the Secretary of India has said. It is evident that the functions arc meant to differ somewhat from those of a Governor-General in other selfgoverning units of the EmpireThere will lie representation of the Throne but certain political responsibilities also in the actual govcrnment of the country. Thus some of the Viceroy's reserved powers will be retained bv the GovernorGeneral, while others will fall within the scope of Ministerial authority. This departure from usual practice is necessitated by the peculiar conditions of India, with ruling princes to be included within the federation and some matters of ordinary administration to be safeguarded by individual control instead of collective responsibility. Were the country not so multifarious in its population—creeds, languages and customs being unusually diverse —this necessity would not arise. There has been frank apprehension in India lest the Governor-General should be merely the old Viceroy under a less familiar name, but the promise of precise and limited functions, made perfectly clear at the outset, has prepared the way for the statement now made. It adds yet another instance of the adaptability in British ventures of government. Seeking Dominion status, India has asked for something incapable of full definition. This statement should help to provide a workable scheme, without involving abstruse discussion of what the status is in general meant to be. It avoids indefinite theory by taking a very practical route.