Future Status of India Will be Major Issue at Prime Ministers’ Meeting

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27038, 24 March 1949, Page 7

Future Status of India Will be Major Issue at Prime Ministers’ Meeting

New Zealand Press Association—Copyright Rec. 9 p.m. ‘ LONDON, Mar. 23. The future status of India is likely to be prominent in the deliberations of the Commonwealth Prime Ministers’ Conference in London next month. The Colombo correspondent of The Times says the Ceylon press generally links the meeting with India’s decision to become a republic and expects that a search will be made for a formula that will allow India to retain a close association with the Commonwealth. This search, the Ceylon Daily News points out, has an interest for other Commonwealth members besides Ceylon. TJie date of the conference awaits confirmation, but it is understood that it will be April 23.

It is expected in London that New Zealand will be represented by Mr Fraser, Australia by Mr Chifley, South Africa by Dr Malan, India by Pandit Nehru, Pakistan by Mr Liaquat Ali Khan, and Ceylon by Mr Senanayake. The Cape Town correspondent of the Daily Herald says that Dr Malan’s present plan to fly to London at a time when he is faced with serious problems at home reflects the importance he attaches to the meeting. He had first offered to send a deputy. The correspondent adds that the meeting will' cover major questions not fully dealt with at the Commonwealth Conference last October, including matters of defence, citizenship, trade, and the future relations of Eire and India. The New Delhi correspondent of The Times says that Mr Nehru, who will be accompanied by the Secretarygeneral of External Affairs, Sir Girja Shankar Bajpai, is only expected to remain in London for a few days.