PLAIN WORDS.

Waikato Times, Volume 103, Issue 17366, 30 March 1928, Page 9

PLAIN WORDS.

PLEA TO INDIANS. "AT CROSS-ROADS OF DESTINY." In his address to the two Houses of j the Indian Legislature at the opening , of the new .session Lord Irwin the Viceroy, referred to the Simon Com- J misison. .. .. ~,. I Speaking of a large section oi the i i indiun public opinion which showen ! serious misapprehension regarding the I Commission, he said—--1 '•Though Indian leaders have the I right if they wish, to say His Majesty s I Government has chosen the wrong j i method of such association, they are I not at liberty, if they desire to retain the character of true counsellors ot me people or of honest controversialists. to sav His Majesty's Government has not sought full and very unpreeedtnted means of placing Indians in a poistnn to take an ample share with them in the evolution of their country's future. Shadow for Reality. ; "I cannot help thinking that there ) is a real danger in some quarters of j mistaking shadows for reality. ! •'British statesmen of all parties have j staled in terms admitting of no misconception that the appointment of a Parliamentary Commission was in no way intended as any affront to India. I would ask in all sincerity by what, right do the leaders of Indian opinion impugn the good faith and disbelieve the plain word of others?" j Speaking of the course advocate 1 I by some Indian leaders of abstaining I I from „ukiug any pari iu the Conunis- | ! sion's Inquiry, the Vtwwny sk»<J— j j "I feel a profound and growing con- j | viction that those who would argue j • that such abstention would do no harm | to the cause of India arc dangerously I deluding themselves and others. | "It Is certain that an agitation fostered and promoted by methods which have led to grave occurrences in the past is bound to breed serious misgivings in the mind of the British ParUament, with whom, at present, lies the Una! decision in-jnddan political [

| affairs. What then, in India or Great j Britain, is to be gained by a policy of i boycott? \ "1 do not know whether lam sanI guinc in hoping that, even at this hour, it'may be that words of mine might induce some of those who aspire to guide their fellow-countrymen in India to desist from a line of action wh/ah, at best, can only lead lo negative results and disappointment, and which may, at worst, bring consequences of which India is unhappily nut without experience." His counsel, he concluded, was dictated by his desire to dissuade India, as he believed, from mistaking the path "at one of the cross-roads of her destiny." There was loud applause at the conclusion of the Viceroy's speech.