REFORMS IN INDIA

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23050, 30 May 1938, Page 10

REFORMS IN INDIA

WORKING OP THE ACT REVIEW BY MINISTER BOMBAY'S GOOD EXAMPLE ACTIVITY OF LEGISLATURE By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright (Received May 20, 5.35 p.m.) British Wireless RUGBY, May 28 The Secretary of State for India, the Marquess of Zetland, was the principal guest at the annual Bombay dinner held in London. He took the opportunity to make an important statement on the working of the reforms and the position regarding the setting up of the AllIndia Federation. Speaking of the magnitude of the changes that had been .made in the constitutional field, Lord Zetland said they could look back with considerable satisfaction on these great changes having taken place with so little dislocation of the machinery of government. A review of tho work of the Congress Ministry in Bombay during its first six months showed a record of immense legislative and administrative activity. He could find in it no suggestion of any kind of undue interference by tho Governor. This record was sufficient justification for the claim ho made last summer that Ministers would be free to pursue their own policy in internal administration.

New Consciousness of Nationhood They now had the task of preparing in the constitutional sphere a dwelling place for the new consciousness of nationhood stirring tho peoples of India. They had to bring beneath tho dome of a single political edifice the new democracies of British India and the ancient autocracies of the Indian States. In view of current criticisms, Lord Zetland said he hoped room might be found within the framework of the Act of 1935 to accommodate the reasonable requirements of both. He could understand the views of those who would represent tho provinces in the federation as the result of the election that some element of popular choice, as distinct from nomination, should enter into solection of the States' representatives. That was for tho Princes themselves to decide. There was nothing in the Act to prevent it, nor would the paramount powfer be found standing in the way of any prince who sought to temper the rigid autocracy of bygone days with a more liberal system. Federal Provisions of Act Suggestions had been made that the Viceroy, during his coming leave, was to discuss with the British Government tho changes in the federal structure embodied in the Act. So far as Lord Zetland was aware, there was no foundation for any such suggestion. The federal provisions of the Act were the outcome of a prolonged and exhaustive examination and discussion, and in his view there was not the least likelihood of the Government or Parliament being willing to consider, before even the federation had come into operation, any alteration in its structure.

Both the Viceroy and he were ready at all times to listen to comments on these provisions whether by the Princes or by those who spoke for British India. But within the framework of the Act there was ample scope for providing the peoples of India with a degree of political cohesion which they had never before possessed.