The Daily News FRIDAY, JUNE 6, 1930. EMPTY PLATITUDES.

Taranaki Daily News, 6 June 1930, Page 8

The Daily News FRIDAY, JUNE 6, 1930. EMPTY PLATITUDES.

In the speech made by the Secretary of State for India, Captain Wedgwood Benn, to the Imperial Press delegates now in London there will be found an ostentatious display of platitudes, an occasional mention of perplexities, and a manifest omission of positive policy. In the summary of that speech as transmitted by wireless there does not appear to be any sign of that higher statesmanship that such a subject as the present condition of India and its future status demands. Rather does the Minister’s treatment of his theme resemble the uncertain passage of a man crossing a morass in which the sound step-ping-places are by no means clear and the danger of disaster ever present. Probably those who have acquired sufficient and reliable information as to the state of affairs in India during the last century may feel anxious as to the effect the Minister’s speech will have on the people of that 'empire, more especially the ruling Princes. It will be noticed that Captain Benn commenced by emphasising . that the campaign of civil disobedience was bound to lead to many clashes which had taken place, but that the vast majority of the people in India as a matter of course had taken no “active” part in the campaign. At the same time he contended “it would be shutting one’s eyes to the fact that there is to-day among all classes and races of India a very deep feeling and, ardent desire for equality of status.” The Minister would find it a difficult task to prove the correctness of that sweeping assertion. It is well known that in no part of the world is there to be found so little unity among “all classes” of the people as in India, where class divisions and diversities of creed are so sharply defined. Captain Benn admits that among the perplexities of the main problem the first is that force cannot possibly provide a “remedy.” No sane person would contend that force was a remedy for any ill, though it could be an imperative agent for repression. But he argues that if the law is enforced it is in the interest of the Indians themselves, and is in no sense applied for the purpose of protecting some British domination. Perhaps he would explain how force could be applied at all were it not to uphold British rulership. The full significance of the Minister’s contention -on this point is to be found in his further statement that “whatever form of government we adopt as the result of the conference and the deliberations of Parliament, it would be a crime to pass on to it a heritage not only of chaos and disorder, but also, what would be far worse, of disrespect for the law.” By inference the trend of such a contention is to justify the use of force, and incidentally to imply that the natives taking part in the civil campaign are not fit to be trusted with Dominion status. It may, therefore be deduced that the Government in which Captain Benn holds office has no real remedy for the present evils in India, but is adopting the role of opportunism, contenting itself wtih proclaiming what it should not do instead of taking a statesmanlike view of the problem, and intimating clearly that until the people of India as a whole give convincing proof of their fitness to govern themselves they will have to remain under British rule. That was the distinct understanding when the first grant towards self-government was made, and the necessity ’of adhering to it at the present time is greater than ever. Captain Benn asserts it is no part of British policy to carry on the government of India on the principle of divided rule, and he claims it is the ardent desire of tlie British Government to promote between the races a spirit of sympathy and understanding. He should be well aware that the question of home rule has absolutely nothing to do with the promotion of sympathy’ and understanding between the races. Rather is it one of the outstanding perils. It is all very well for the Minister to claim that the Indian peoples possess noble and selfless instincts, but where ’wdl J he find such people except among the ruling princes and higher classes? Doubtless Captain Benn meant well when framing his address, but the task of dealing with perplexities by the utterance of platitudes is an impossible one. It is, as he remarked, the most difficult problem the Imperial Government has to face, and the Secretary for India does not appear to have helped towards a better understanding of the position.