INDIAN REFORM

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21967, 26 November 1934, Page 9

INDIAN REFORM

RECEPTION OF REPORT • ~\ A CONSERVATIVE SPLIT . APPEAL FOR UNITY MADE By Telegraph—Press Association—CopyrighS British "Wireless RUGBY, Nov. 23 The general impression created in Parliamentary circles by the Joint Select Committee's report on Indian constitutional reform is such that the Times expresses the view that the Government bill based on it is assured of an overwhelming majority in the House of Commons. Nevertheless, the opponents of the report have already begun a campaign against it, and the Marquess of Salisbury, one of the Conservative dissentients on the committee, is being invited to move a resolution at a meeting of the Central Council of the National Union and Conservative Associations when, on December 4, -the leader of the party, Mr. Stanley Baldwin, " takes counsel " with that body on the report. There are 31 members on the Joint Committee, and nine voted against the report, five of these being Conservatives, who felt that it went too far, and four being Labour members, who felt that it did not go far enough. Importance of Session The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. Neville Chamberlain, in a speech at Birmingham, said that after three years with a three-party Government in power he did not think country yet desired the combination to come to an end. Although in the nature of things it could only be transitory, the world condition was such that Britain, could not ,afford to lose such a stable Government. Parliament Had entered upon a session of outstanding importance in the history of the British Empire. Everyone was agreed that there must be an advance toward self-government in India, but not such a complete system of self-government as to deprive her of guidance and direction from this country, which had brought her out of chaos to her present condition of peace and security. The differences which appeared in' the Conservative Party on the subject were narrowed down to two things: How far should they go, and how fast should they go? He thought that after consideration the great majority of the Conservative Party would be of one mind. No Actual Decision Yet Mr. Chamberlain appealed for unity on tho Indian question. He added that the Government had not yet decided upon the proposals for the reform of the Constitution, but it was unlikely that it would regret or even change recommendations supported by such weight of authority. Mr. Walter Elliot, Minister of Agriculture, in a speech at Glasgow, referring to the Indian report, emphasised that its whole scheme of an All-India. Federation, comprising the autonomous provinces and the Indian native States, was based*on the principle of responsibility with safeguards. That did not mean that the safeguards were to be normally and continuously in operation. They were there for use in emergency. He believed that they would be 1 fully effective in case of need, but he did not believe that existence of proper safeguards should or would prevent the steady development of selfgovernment by responsibly-minded Indians. - •