INDIA REPORT

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21966, 24 November 1934, Page 13

INDIA REPORT

REACTIONS IT? ENGLAND NEWSPAPER CRITICISMS QUESTION OF SAFEGUARDS CHAIRMAN'S EXPLANATION 3y Telegraph—Press Association— Copyright 3ritish Wireless RUGBY, Nov. 22 ] The first reactions to the report of > the Joint Select Committee on India { ure generally in accordance with expectations. Indian press comments in 1 the main are highly critical and are dis- ! posed to magnify the safeguards and "special responsibilities" placed in the hands of the Governor-General and the provincial Governors. ] At the other extreme, a section of Conservative opinion in Britain main- ( tains, with equal vigour, that the reforms go too far and too fast. In be- , tween there is jammed a body of moderate opinion both in India and Britain which recognises the momentous nature of the proposals, but is not afraid. The chairman of the committee, the Marquess of Linlithgow, referred to the subject of safeguards in a broadcast speech. Responsible government, he pointed out, is not, an automatic device •which can be manufactured to specification anywhere. It depends for its successful working on the existence of certain conditions which are as essential as they are difficult to define. Responsible Government Question The committee feels, no doubt, that if free play were given the powerful forces, be they communal, racial or religious, which would be set free by an unqualified system of Parliamentary Government in India, the consequence would be disastrous to India, .perhaps irreparable. It is satisfied that a grant of responsible government, if the grant is to be a reality, demands the presence of certain statutory safeguards. These in some form or other find a place in most constitutions, no less in the constitution of Britain, though their existence is often forgotten. The reason is that with Britain's long Parliamentary tradition the need for emphasising them has largely disappeared, and because, for the most part, they are based on custom and convention and not on any statutory enactment. it Safeguards of this kind not only are not inconsistent with some form of responsible government, but in the present circumstances in India they are in truth a necessary complement to any form, and without them it could have little hope of success. Controversy in the Press It is in exact proportion as Indian fellow subjects show themselves to be capable of taking and exercising a responsibility, and able to supply those elements in their political life, which only experience can give, that the safeguards and their use will, as in Britain, disappear. A controversy over the report has already begun in the press, but in more responsible quarters it is generally recognised that the report must inevitably rank as one of the great State papers of our political history. The Times says the amendments to the White Paper, while neither few nor negligible,, do not affect its main principles of the new constitutional scheme, or the freedom which Indians will develop as the years go on. These amendments, affecting in particular the police and pensions, free trading and the powers of Governors, many of which will remain a dead letter if all goes well with India, are bound to have a decisive effect on the reception of the report in Britain. » V; ' Tribute to Authors ol Report "The Manchester Guardian pays a tribute to the breadth and dignity with which the authors of the report have handled their task, and it also emphasises that, after a year and a-half of most searching examination by some of the wisest and most experienced statesmen, proposals for the federation of all India and for wide experience and responsible government among her peoples are left unshaken.

Turning to details, this journal regards the stiffening of safeguards as mostly strengthenings of form rather than constitutional substance, while a few, though still too few, useful concessions have been made to Indian opinion. The Morning Post expresses strong opposition to the report's general confirmation of the White Paper proposals which, it says, have aroused grave fears in India and Britain. It notes as an ominous feature of the proceedings of the committee the fundamental differences between the majority and the minority. It lays emphasis on the view expressed by the Conservative minority which endorses the Simon Commission, and would maintain a strong Government at the centre responsible to Westminster. Remarkable Degree ol Unity The Daily Telegraph examines these committee differences and remarks that on most matters a remarkable degree of unity is shown. Differences of opinion, it says, will continue to find expression, but the committee has ensured that opinion shall be informed. The News Chronicle says the report represents a great landmark in British history. Now that the reservations are not on the whole of very great importance, it would have liked to have seen India's aspirations met with greater sympathy and less suspicion, but it think'; that opinion in the end, however critical, would bo well-advised not to magnify them out of their true perspective. The Leader of the Opposition, Mr. George Lansbury, says the Labour Party cannot accept responsibility for the India reform proposals which he considers will not be passed by a House of Commons; representing the whole nation but a House in which one-third of the electors cannot join in telling India that these are the British nation's proposals. FINANCIAL CIRCLES RECEPTION OF REPORT (Received November 23, 10.35 p.m.) f LONDON. Nov. 23 The Financial Times states that financial circles are favourably impressed by the India report and regard it as taking a course which will appeal to those with big interests at stake, who are also concerned in the lasting welfare of India. The London Stock Exchange gave the report a favourable reception, and it had no marked effect on Indian securities. It was well received also by leaders of the Lancashire cotton industry.