MURDER PLOT.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 194, 17 August 1931, Page 1

MURDER PLOT.

Scheme to Assassinate the Viceroy. REBELS ARRESTED. United Press Assn.—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright. (Received August 17, 9 a.m.) CALCUTTA. August 16. The police frustrated what is believed to be a plot to assassinate the Viceroy, who is visiting Cawnpore tomorrow. This morning the Assistant Police Superintendent seized a car on a city bridge containing bombs and explosive materials, and arrested a notorious revolutionary named Maneshwar Prassad Avasthy and his three confederates. INDIAN CONGRESS DEMANDS Will not Attend London • Conference. DELHI, August 15. The All-India Congress has published its reasons for refusing to be represented at the resumption of the RoundTable Conference in London next month. They include the failure to agree to the following demands made by Gandhi:— (1) The appointment of a Board of Arbitration to watch the implementing of the Delhi Agreement by both sides, particularly in regard to the collection of land revenue in Gujerat. (2) An inquiry by local bodies to decide the action to be taken in the matter of picketing. (3) Collection of land revenue to be dependent on the advice of Congress. The Viceroy has made a final appeal to Congress to go to the Conference as the best way of obtaining a real and lasting solution of the present difficulties. Gandhi, interviewed, said that, if the Conference did not grant the demands of Congress, civil disobedience would be resumed on a more intense scale. VICEROY’S LETTER. (Received August 17. noon.) RUGBY, August 15. The disappointment that is felt generally at Gandhi’s decision not to attend the Round Table Conference was expressed by the Viceroy, Lord Willingdon, in a telegram to Gandhi on August 13, in which he said: “ I could have hoped that you would not allow disputes over the present details to prevent your serving India by participating in a momentous discussion on the future constitution, which may determine the destiny of India beyond your time and mine.” Before leaving Bombay last night Gandhi wrote a personal letter to the Viceroy explaining the implications of the resolution regarding the withdrawal of the Congress from the Conference. He made it clear that the Congress would continue to honour the Delhi Pact.

GANDHI MAY YET ATTEND

(Received August 17. 11.30 a.m.) CALCUTTA, August 16. An indication that the Indian Congress was prepared to abandon its impossible position and to allow Gandhi to go to London after all is contained in the news that Gandhi is willing to waive the demand for an arbitration tribunal to deal with alleged breaches of the Delhi Pact in favour of one official, preferably a judge.