INDIAN STATUTORY COMMISSION.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20292, 28 December 1927, Page 12

INDIAN STATUTORY COMMISSION.

QUESTION OF RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT. CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM. THE TASK AND THE MEN. (From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, November ilThe most important business before the Houses of Parliament on the first day of the present session was the announcement of the composition and task of the commission which is, to inquire, in advance of the time limit, into the great problem of self-government for India within the Empire. The commission is constituted as fol lows: —The Right Hon. Sir John Simon, K.C.V.0., K.C. (chairman) ; Viscount Burnham, G.C.M.G., C.H.; Lord .Strain* cona and Mount Royal; the Hon. C.- G. Cadogan, C. 8., M.P.; the Right Ho.i. Stephen Walsh, M.P.; Colonel the Right Hon. G. N. Lane-Fox, M.P. : Major C. R. Attlee, M.P. They will be charged with the duty of inquiring into the working of the system of government, the growth of education, and the development of representative institutions in British India and matters connected tHerewith ; and reporting as to whether and to what extent it is desirable to establish the principles of responsible government or to extend, modify, or restrict the degree of responsible government existing therein, including the question whether the establishment of second Chambers of local Legislature is or is not desirable. Making the announcement to the House of Commons, the Prime Minister said: “ As the House will remember, one of the provisions contained in the Indian Re form Act of 1919 required, at the expiration of 10 years after the passing of that Act, the appointment, with the concurrence of both Houses of Parliament, of persons to be a commission to inquire into the working of the Indian Constitution, and to consider the desirability of estaalisbing, extending, modifying, or restricting the degree of responsible government then existing there. The Government had decided, for various reasons, which I need not now specify, that it is desirable to anticipate the date (December, 1929) contemplated by the Act, -and appoint this most important Royal Commission forthwith.’’ VICEROY’S STATEMENT. In the course of a statement issued by the India Office, Lord Irwin, Viceroy and Governor-General of India, says: “ Considerable pressure during recent years has been exercised to secure the anticipation of the statute, but his Majesty’s Government has hitherto felt that circumstances in India were not such as to justify, in the interests of India herself, advancement of the date at which future development, of the constitution would be considered. But there have been signs latterly that while those who have been foremost in advancing the claims of India do full self-government have in no way abandoned the principles they have felt it their duty to assert, yet there is in many quarters a greater disposition to deal with the actual facts of the situation and to appreciate what I believe to be most indubitably true, namely, that the differences which exist, on these matters are differences of method or pace and not differences of principle or disagreements as to the goal which we all alike desire to reach. COMMUNAL TENSION. “ We are all . aware of the great, the unhappily great, part played in the life of India recently by communal tension and antagonism, and of the obstacles thus imposed to Indian political development. Fear is frequently the parent of bad temper, and when men are afraid, as they are to-day, of the effect unknown political changes may have, they are abnormally ready to seek relief from and an outlet for their fears in violence and hasty action. In so far as these troubles are the product of suspence, one may hope for some relief through action taken to limit the period of uncertainty. “ Indian opinion has a clear title to ask that in the elaboration of a new instrument of government their solution of the problems or their judgment on other solutions which may be proposed should be made an integral factor in th e examination of the question and be given due weight in the ultimate decision. It is, therefore, essential to find means by which Indians may be made parties to deliberations so nearly affecting, the future ot their country.” HOSTILE INDIAN COMMENT. Now that the Viceroy’s statement ori the Statutory Commission has been published, Indian “ leaders ” are losing no time in expressing opinions hostile to the proposals. So. far (says The Times correspondent) scarcely one Indian voice has been raised in dissent from this attitude. One local newspaper, in a leading article headed ‘‘ Spurn the Unclean Thing,” writes that the scheme fulfils the worst expectations. The British Cabinet, it declares, has risen to the full height of Imperialistic arrogance and has contemptuously refused to admit Indians to membership of the commission. It urges a united attitude of non-co-operation with the commission and all its activities. Most of the local vernacular newspapers follow this line, though the leading (Farsee newspaper considers that the commission should not be boycotted, because the boycott is a double-edged weapon. The public, it states, should remember the disastrous results of boycotting the- reformed councils. Another newspaper, while advocating a boycott, fears that the unity of all parties may not last throughout the two years which the commission's activities will extend. Hostile Indian comment would appear to attribute to the commission powers of decision which it is' not intended to possess, and which find no place in its terms of reference as set forth in the Act. It is to be an advisory body pure and simple; it is to inquire and to report; and its labours, difficult, and protracted as they arc likely to be, will form but the first stage of a process by which Parliament is to satisfy itself upon the question—to quote the words of the Act—“ whether and to what extent it is desirable to establish the principles of responsible government, or to extend, modify, or restrict the degrees of responsible government then existing ” in India. LABOUR PARTY’S VIEWS. The Parliamentary Labour Party hasf issued the following official statement on the subject of the Indian Statutory Commission : “ The British Parliamentary Labour Party, while welcoming the proposal to inquire into the working and amendment of the Indian Constitution, regrets that in, some respects the procedure announced by the British Government falls short of affording the fullest opportunity to the • representatives of Indian opinion to express their views. The party intends, during the discussion of the proposals in Parliament, to get them so amended and extended as to remove the present defects and doubts, so as to give a more direct and co-operative voice in the deliberations to the Joint Select Committee to be set up by the Central Indian and Provincial Legislatures. The Labour Party will endeavour to secure such an improvement in the procedure as will make it possible for a self-respecting people to co-operate heartily in making the inquiry a great contribution to the welfare and democratic advance of the Indian people. The British Labour Party would suggest that Indian opinion should await the results of the debates in Parliament before finally deciding iu altitude to the com- ' mission.”