BURMA ROUND TABLE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21542, 14 January 1932, Page 8

BURMA ROUND TABLE

OPENING BY THE PRINCE (Feom Ouk Own Correspondent.) LONDON, December 3. Opening the Burma Round Table Conference in the House of Lords, th£ Prince of Wales referred to his own visit to Burma 10 years ago. “It used to be said that the East is slow' to change, but that saying is no longer true,” he said. “Nowhere does history record a political transformation at once so radical and so swift as that which has occurred in Burma within tho space of my own lifetime. “For some time past the elected representatives of the people of Burma have constituted the great majority of its legislature for a large part of its administration. “Those whose duty it is to build up a new framework of government, or to adapt an old one to new conditions, must be wise and careful architects, remembering that their building will have at once to bear the strains and stresses of a very restless phase of human history. No one will watch your proceedings witii deeper sympathy or closer attention than his Majesty the King Emperor. “It is his earnest prayer that this conference may be enabled under Providence to open the way to a new era of contentment and well-being for all his people in -Burma.” t At its meetings at St. James’s Palace, it is the province of the conference to prepare a future constitution for Burma as a separate entity from India, within the Empire, the principle of separation having been provisionally decided by the last British Government. COLOURS OP THE EAST.

The conference had assembled for its first plenary session in the King’s Robing Room at the House of Lords. The Prince addressed it from a central dais, where, on a rich Persian carpet, reposed the golden chair from the steps of tho throne which he occupies on occasions of State in the House of Lords. To the left of the Prince sat the Prime Minister, and to his right the Lord Chamberlain, Viscount Lewisham. On. either hand, ranged actually on all four sides of the hollow square, were the members of the conference, headed by the Secretary for India (Sir Samuel Hoare) and Earl Peel.

The Burma delegates included reigning potentates who are entitled to salutes of nine guns, Burmese lawyers, and political leaders. The rapidly-changing East, to which the Prince eloquently alluded in his address, was subtly exemplified in their dress and bearing. Half wore morning dress in Western style. The other half was faithful to the colour and flowing lines of the East. The only lady delegate, Miss May Oung, was outshone by the magnificence of the men. But she monopolised attention nevertheless by reason of a coiffure that seemed little short of a miracle in itself. Her hair mounted in a sleek cylinder as high as a silk hat, but much smoother and glossier. , May Dung is her father’s name. Her own name, which goes with her through life, whether she marries or not, is Daw Mya Sein. Her English is perfect in accent and modulation. Her speech was one of thanks to the Prince of Wales for his presence, but later she said her aim in the conference will be to secure for Burmese women the same political rights as the men.