The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. "Luceo Non Uro." SATURDAY, JANUARY 26, 1935. THE INDIA BILL

Southland Times, Issue 22490, 26 January 1935, Page 4

The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. "Luceo Non Uro." SATURDAY, JANUARY 26, 1935. THE INDIA BILL

Opposition to the British Government’s proposals for reform in India is sure to revive in vigour now that the decisive step is at hand, and the measure, implementing the Government’s plans for India, is before the House, but it would be unwise to take much notice of these evidences of strong opposition. While the All-India Congress has some focal point for its antagonism, and can confine its antagonism to one idea, its followers, united and numerous, can make every show of strength in India; but immediately any attempt is made to set about a constructive programme, the unity of the Congress disappears, and the strength no longer appears formidable. It is all very well for the intellectuals who lead this movement in India to say that what is wanted is entire self-government for India, but all those who are not blinded by racial prejudice or religious fanaticism, know that immediately such a condition was brought about, there would be such upheaval in India that bloody strife would be almost inevitable. The sufferers under this arrangement would be the ignorant peasantry who now follow the intellectuals. When the problem of India is considered dispassionately, when the multiplicity of races, of creeds and tongues is taken into account, and weighed in company with the widespread ignorance of Western ideas of government amongst the people, it will be recognized that the progress made by the British Government in connection with the constitutional reforms for India has actually been extraord-

inarily rapid. One of the problems of to-day is the voter in the communes. Most New Zealanders, of course, will consider the voter in the light of their own experience, and wonder why the native, living in these little villages, cannot be trusted with a vote, having an influence throughout the entire machinery of Government right to the Ministry at the head of the pyramid. But the Indian, voting in the village, has no idea of government, no idea of the power that is in his hands, and he is a man asked to become a part of a Western machine, while he is still tied to oriental ideology. Experience has shown that none of the oriental races, outside one extraordinary exception, the Japanese, is really fitted for a parliamentary government such as we in the British Empire know, and any rush to put such a piece of machinery into the hands of an oriental people simply invites disaster. Reservations have been made in the reforms to be put into force in India, and there have been safeguards to allow the Indian more scope for the exercise of his powers in government without permitting him to endanger those institutions upon which British rule in India is based. It is a fact that the intellectuals who lead these reform movements have a habit of exaggerating both their own ideals and powers and the evils they see flowing from that which they would reform. This, of course, is the weakness of most reformers. In India, however, the story of British rule is one of which the British may well be proud. They have handled a problem more complex than any that have confronted other Powers possessing colonial possessions. The complexity of the Indian problem is increased by the fact that the Indians are themselves the inheritors of a civilization older than the British, and that their ancestors, lived under a political system of an oriental character. To-day the demand of those who are leading the Indians is for a full measure of selfgovernment, and it is to be presumed that this demand springs from a complete confidence that such a machine can be handled by the educated Indians; but many people who are sympathetic with the Indian demand for a greater voice in government are quite convinced that such a step would mean disaster to the intellectuals themselves, who would soon be engulfed by contending ambitions and jealousies, racial and religious, which flare up in violence, even now, despite the strong rule of the British RajThe position to-day, then, is that reforms are necessary, and it is desirable to put them into operation with the least possible delay, so that the Indians may realize that they are advancing steadily, if not as fast as some would desire, in the direction of full Dominion status. But, on the other hand, it is necessary that this march forward should be kept at a moderate pace, so that the Indians themselves may be fitted to undertake the responsibility to be given into their hands. The federation principle is probably the most important single feature in the measure before the House of Commons, because for the . first time it will provide India with a government in which the whole of India will be actively engaged. It will align the native states with the provinces, and give the princes of the native states a voice in the affairs of India as a whole. At the same time, of course, it will guarantee to these native princes the protection of the British Government in a future when the rising tide of democratic ideas in India may threaten to sweep them from their ancient thrones. This probably has been the cause of the readiness of some of the native princes to give up some measure of their independence and to participate in the federation plan. But whatever’ the reason, India and the native states must benefit from the scheme, which will bring the whole of the country'together and make it a single unit where the affairs of All-India are involved. The Bill before the House of Commons will, undoubtedly, be severely criticised, but while on one or two points there may be some constructive proposals, Sir Samuel Hoare is right when he says that no practical alternative to the general scheme, which the Imperial Government is now endeavouring to implement for the advancement of India, has been offered by those who condemn it.