TARDY POLICY a

Waikato Times, Volume 117, Issue 19598, 10 June 1935, Page 8

TARDY POLICY a

BRITISH INDIAN RULE

WOMAN WORKER’S CRITICISM.

NEW BILL ASSAILED. U - Ai t"T£T — Describing the concessions as most unsatisfactory to advanoed Indian thought, Miss Jean Begg, National secretary of the Y.W.C.A. In India, strongly criticised what she considered to be hesitating steps towards self-Government taken In the new India Bill, when she addressed the Hamilton Rotary Club at Its weekly luncheon today. She considered that a tragic Indian situation oould have been averted had political freedom In some measure been granted 16 years ago.

“It is exactly 100 years since Macaulay said 'the aim of the British Government should be to make India self-governing,” declared Miss Begg. “But the steps towards autonomy have been hesitating and most tardy. The In'dia aill proposes tof grant much wider authority 'to the eleven British provinces, the governor’s position becoming largely constitutional, with an All-India Federal Government with wide authority. 'However, matters of defence and foreign affairs are 'to be retained In/ the hands of the Viceroy. The franchise would be extended hut it will even then remain very meagre.” Miss Begg said that the concessions were hedged about with considerable safeguards to meet possible emergencies. The Bill looked characteristically British and sought the easy middle path. It fell far short of what was desired by advanced political though in India itself although in England the conservative standpoint considered It as a' rash experiment. Feeling of Bitter Disappointment. It had to be acknowledged, however, that the provisions of the bill were far In advance of what had been •set down in the old constitution but many would have preferred the scheme to have gone further towards selfgovernment. Behind the strong criticism, even denunciation, that existed in India at the terms suggested there was a feeling of hitter disappointment, for it was hoped that the new proposals might have been of the greatest help in cementing the relationships between Britain and India. It had been thought that the British representation at the Round Table ■Conference had taken a much wider view than was reflected in 'the provisions of the new legislation. There was obviously, no, prospeot of Dominion status for India and this had hurt Its countrymen more than the layman could tell. Miss Begg paid a warm tribute to the Indian Civil Service which had upheld British prestige in every way although she was sorry that the same could not be said of people of lesser importance who, perhaps, had business interests in India and were disinclined (to mix with the cultured people of that (•country. And the Indian people were cultured—from the highest of . the Maharajahs to the poorest of the poor. Although the majority were illiterate the people possessed a culture far greater than that boasted by the British race. A Revolution In Thought. “In the past India has had her thought stifled in the narrow grooves of family and caste but this has been very largely broken down and those who administer the country and those who would work in It for the betterment of the people must take count of this fact,” observed Miss Begg. “British people in India are to blame for much of the sentiment that is against their country largely because of their smug attitude towards the Indian population. Young native men and women have In their education at the great publio schools and universities of England grown to understand the Empire sentiment only to have it nullilled when, on returning to their own country, they find themselves wholly ostracised by the English section of the community. The feeling of brotherhood beyond the hounds of racial nationalism is everywhere apparent in England but it is unfortunate that it is not followed up in India.”