The Daily News THURSDAY, JANUARY 29, 1931. A USEFUL DEBATE.

Taranaki Daily News, 29 January 1931, Page 4

The Daily News THURSDAY, JANUARY 29, 1931. A USEFUL DEBATE.

It was no easy task that the . Prime Minister of Great Britain faced in initiating the debate in the House of Commons - upon the ■vyork of the Round Tdble Conference upon the. future government of India, but it is probable there will be found to exist a general feeling that he rose to the occasion and rightly treated the subject as a serious foundation-lay-ing, whereon an acceptable superstructure could be built. .We have it on the authority of Sir John Simon, the head of the commission of inquiry that led to the conferene'e, that two great things have been accomplished. In the first place the Indian Princes were brought into discussion, not only with British statesmen, but with their compatriots in British India, which in itself was a tremendous achievement. In the second place the conference got rid, to a remarkable extent, of suspicion and misunderstanding. Only those who realise the immense importance of this second accomplishment can possibly envisage the ultimate evolution of self-govern-ment in India with any feeling of hope or confidence. It is more than ever essential at the present juncture for the responsible political leaders of Britain to adopt a policy that will encourage all classes in India to regard the connection between the two countries from a new aspect. The time has come for the replacement of bitterness by the evolution of a cooperative spirit among those Avorking for the future of a progressive India, which, built upon a sound and safe constitution, may gradually take a definite place among the self-governing units of the British Empire. That evolution must necessarily rest upon a sure foundation and be advanced step by step. The •particular work of the conference was to agree upon the principles to be" adopted concerning India's future government. It would have been unreasonable to have expected that at the first attempt all the intricate problems connected with the future of that vast country and its mixed population, creeds and castes could have been solved satisfactorily. What did happen was that every opportunity was afforded all the delegates to the conference to express their views, and some attempts were made to reconcile, divergent opinions. Although it was inevitable that no outstanding success would be achieved in this direction, and that when the conference closed all the important issues would be more or less in a provisional state, yet there can be no question but that the attitude of the Prin.ces entirely changed the situation—a fact that was rightly stressed by Sh* John Simon, who rejoices Ijsi: “the'gaccess of conference

in securing the adhesion o£ the Princes to the general idea of an all-India federation.” It is of the first importance to look upon the conference as merely the initial step and not as the end of the work of framing a constitution. That being so, if the constructive work is to succeed there must be exercised an infinity of patience, tact, and mutual effort in order to obtain practical progress in smoothing over difficulties on cardinal matters, while adjusting those of lesser magnitude. The contribution to the debate made by Sir John Simon was of much value and should prove of great service in placing the work of the conference in a favourable light. Another satisfactory contribution was that of Mr. Baldwin, Leader of the Conservative Party, who intimated that if his party changed places with Labour it would be its duty to implement as far as possible what had been done at the conference, and use every effort to achieve a federal solution. As nothing could be more inimical to the prospects of success in the work of overcoming prejudices and Avant of confidence on the part of the leaders of the people in India than divergence of views between the leaders of the main parties in Britain, it is certainly encouraging to find there exists a keen desire on their part to assure the Indians that they will receive a fair and square deal on all matters connected with, the future of their country. Progress will probably be slow, and therefore the move likely to give permanent results. v