MAJORITY STANDING BY ROUND TABLE CONFERENCE.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 62, 14 March 1931, Page 1

MAJORITY STANDING BY ROUND TABLE CONFERENCE.

Mr MacDonald Hopes Gandhi Will Come To London For Discussioru (tTnitod Press Association.—By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright.) (Received March 14, 11.30 a.m.) RUGBY, March 13. The India debate was wound up by the Prime Minister, Mr MacDonald, who claimed that the great majority of all parties were united in standing by the spirit and methods of the Round Table Conference. He hoped that in future the co-operation of the parties would be as creative and effective as during the conference, when they succeeded in planning the general aspect of the picture of Indian Constitution and in laying down as a condition of the Federal structure responsibility at the centre, safeguards of various kinds, the Princes coming in and provisions safeguarding all the communities in India. Now the work was going on in India and here, and soon they were going to get the Federal Structure Committee at work again in London. That committee’s report indi- ( cated some of the big points to be discussed.

Speaking of the return of the Indian delegates to London, the Prime Minister said: “We hope that when they come—l cannot say that we have been officially told—that Gandhi himself will be here and other representatives of the Congress, and that we shall have our old friends, the men to whom we owed so much at the Round Table Conference, the Princes, the Hindus and the Moslems, the representatives of Labour and the representatives, not only of the Government, but also of Parliament.

The Secretary for India, Mr Wedgwood Benn, when asked for a statement in the House of Commons on the financial implications of the report of the

Round Table Conference, referred to Paragraphs 18 and 20 of the report of the Federal Structure Sub-Committee of the Conference. He said: “The importance, both now and under the new constitution, of the financial stability of India and of her credit position, cannot possibly be exaggerated. It is in India’s own interest that she should retain the position of confidence which she enjoys. It is the considered view of the Government, which, indeed, is well known. The safeguards referred to by the Federal Structure Committee, including the powers of GovernorGeneral in relation to currency and legislation, are essential, and cannot ba abated if the new Constitution is to be established with success.”