“STRATFORD EVENING POST” FRIDAY, JUNE 27, 1930. THE INDIAN REPORT.

Stratford Evening Post, Issue 86, 27 June 1930, Page 4

“STRATFORD EVENING POST” FRIDAY, JUNE 27, 1930. THE INDIAN REPORT.

THE second volume of ths Indian Commission's report is fully as interesting as was anticipated, and even more dramatic and startling- tlian most people expected. -Though it clings to the idea of representative selfgovernment as the ultimate goal of India's political evolution, it proposes to attain this end by new and very gradual methods. For it recommends the virtual abolition of the system set up b;y the Government of India Act eleven years ago. "Dyarchy" is to be swept aside and "Federation" is to mark the next stage in India's advance towards complete autonomy. One of the most important sections in the cablea abstract of the report deals with the possibility of_ unifying. India. Though the members of the Commission are well aware of , the multiplicity and diversity of the elements, racial, religious and social, of which the Indian peoples are composed, they have ] found indications_that an underlying basis of natural unity already exists*. The consciousness • of racial and natural affinity which is the source from which the present agitation chiefly springs is due in part to the maintenance of a strong centralised' authority, the British Raj. But the report admitsTsat there are many important questions on which all the peoples of India, including the Native States, are equally concerned, and it is through the recognition of their common interest in such matters as national defence, public health and facilities for trade ' and transport, that a firm foundation for political unity will ultimately be constructed. But if ever Hie people of India are to attain political unity and to exercise the right of national selfgovernment effectively, they must begin by practising the art of local autonomy. For 'such a purpose the system of "dyarchy," under which an elective assembly is confronted by a b'ody of official nominees for whom the vital problems of administration are "reserved", is wholly inadequate and ineffectual. Tile commission desires fliat the new provincial assemblies should manage the "reserved" as well as the "transferred' 7 department through Ministers responsible to the representatives of the people, and not to the Governor. Under the neAv system, each province wiouhl thus be as far as_possible "mistress in its own house." But this autonomy, though conceded in liberal measure, would be limited by the authority of the Governor, in whom would be vested "power of intervention for such purposes as the puotection of minorities and the preservation of order." In exercising these powers the Governor .would act directly on the advice of the Governor-General, will) Jiis nominated Council of State, "for it is on the strength of the central administration that the peace and safety of India ultimately depend." This feature of 'centralised control, supported, by 'military force, will be seized .upon by The extreme Nationalists and their supporters as a serious defect in (lie new system. Yet it is not easy to see how Britain rati offer more than this at this present stage of India's growth. The franchise is to be enlarged, ami instead of less than 3 per cent., 10 per cent, of ihe population are to exeretae 4he vote. Without some strong rontrollincr authority, under mud, cunnmdaiiccs. anv experiment : n self-government would Kit- Jimrrp the country speedily im into cKivos.