INDIAN AFFAIRS

Otago Witness, Issue 3996, 14 October 1930, Page 28

INDIAN AFFAIRS

ROUND TABLE CONFERENCE.,

THE BRITISH DELEGATION.

RUGBY, October 7.

It is announced that at the forthcoming round table conference on Indian affairs the British Government will be represented by the Prime Minister (Mr Ram? say MacDonald), the Lord Chancellor (Lord Sankey), the Secretary for Indiq (Captain Wedgwood Benn), the Foreign Secretary (Mr Arthur Henderson), an<l the Dominions Secretary (Mr J. H. Thomas). Other Ministers will be in* vited to some of the meetings of the con? ference, and will serve on committees ac= cording to the subject under discussion. Those nominated to represent the Com servative Party are Lord Peel, Sir Samuel Hoare, the Marquess of Zetland, and Major Oliver Stanley. The Liberal Party representatives will be the Marquess of Reading, the Marquess of Lothian, Sir Robert Hamilton, M.P., and Mr Isaac Foot, M.P.

In consultation with the Secretary for India the Government of India has agreed that the following officials shall attend the conference in a consultative capa* city:—Sir Malcolm Hailey (Governor of the United Provinces) and Sir A. Mac* watters (Finance Secretary to the Government of India). It is announced that the King has accepted the resignation of Sir Malcolm Hailey from the Cover* norship of the United Provinces to en» able him to be available at the confer* enee. The vacancy will be filled by Sir George Bancroft Lambert until Sir Malcolm Hailey is free to return to India and resume the Governorship.

THE PERSONNEL COMPLETE.

RUGBY, October 8.

With the announcement last night of the names of the British delegation which is to sit at the round table conference, including nominees of the Government and of the Conservative and Liberal Parties, the conference, with the possible addition of one or two Indians, may be regarded as complete. The total membership of the conference, exclusive of advisers and secretarial officers, is 89, comprising 16 representatives of Indian States, 60 from British India, and 13 members of the British Government and the opposition parties. Almost all the Indian States representatives will have arrived by October 25, when they will hold a conference.

REVOLUTIONARY CONSPIRACY.

PUNJABIS SENTENCED TO DEATH,

DELHI, October 8.

Three young Punjabis were sentenced to death at Lahore for participation in a revolutionary conspiracy. Seven accused were transported for life, two were sentenced to seven and five years’ rigorous imprisonment respectively, and three were acquitted. The accused were members of a plot with ramifications throughout India to wage war against the King by murder and brigandage, and the use of bombs. It was known as the Hindustan Republican Army. The martial law ordinance in the north-west provinces is likely to be withdrawn shortly owing to the improved political situation, but the Afridi problem remains. CONGRESS ACTIVITIES. FURTHER DEFIANCE PLANNED. DELHI, October 10. The Congress leaders at Bombay are planning further defiance of the Government by organising a kind of parallel Government and setting up Congress courts of arbitration and boards for the settlement of civil and criminal eases. Commercial and other bodies are to bo ordered to bring disputes to these courts, failure to comply entailing the most severe form of social and commercial boycott. Ex-judges and lawyers are to be asked to preside at these courts, the cost of which will be met by a levy on householders and merchants.

INCREASED POWERS FOR GOVERNMENTS.

OUTRAGE IN BOMBAY.

DELHI, October 11,

What is intended to be a final blow to the civil disobedience movement in India is enacted in the form of an ordinance promulgated by the Viceroy, which enables local governments to occupy immoveable property and forfeit moveable property used for the purpose of any association which is declared to be unlawful.

The Viceroy, while admitting that public opinion is increasingly rebelling against Congress methods, urges the citizens more effectively to resist unlawful activities and bring about the restoration of order and tranquillity.

Three unknown men in a closed car fired 20 shots at a police sergeant named Taylor, his wife, and. two friends as they entered the Lamington Road Police Station, Bombay, early this morning. Sergeant Taylor was wounded in the hand, and his wife received three bullets in the leg. A number of youths have been arrested on suspicion of complicity in the outrage.