INDIA’S NEW ERA

Waikato Times, Volume 94, Issue 14582, 3 February 1921, Page 5

INDIA’S NEW ERA

RESPONSIBILITIES IMPOSED. AN APPEAL FOR UNITY. NON-CO-OPERATORS’ VIEWPOINT. (Reuter’s Telegrams.) Received February 3, 9.10 a.m. DELHI,. February I.' The Duke of Connaught formally inaugurated the Bengal Legislative Council in file Town Hall at Calcutta in tha presence of the new Indian Ministers and members of the Executive Council. Big crowds lined the streets and cheered the Duke, whose speech outlined the heavy responsibility conferred upon the new Council in tha far-reaching changes which its inauguration portended. The Duke said he cherished great expectations regarding the era now dawning upon India, in which Indian members would be associated with their European fellow citizens. The Governor of Bengal, in a speech, dwelt on the changes involved under the reforms. The number of voters which formerly was 12,000 was now over 1,000,000. He appealed to the Bengalese and the British members to work together in unity. Gandhi sent a letter to the Duke of Connaught explaining the reasons for the boycott of ins visit to Calcutta, . which, he says, is meant as a demonstration against the system, not against the Duke. The non-co-operators, ha said, were seeking to destroy a system which made the recent happenings under General Dyer possible, and resulted in a wanton affront to Islam. f Gandhi adds; “The Duke of Connaught has come to India, not to end, but to sustain his system, and we ask him and every Englishman to try to appre- • elate the non-co-operators’ viewpoint.”