INDIA'S AFFAIRS.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20103, 5 December 1930, Page 15

INDIA'S AFFAIRS.

problem of federal STRUCTURE. QUESTIONS FOR CONSIDERATION (E.'.lriSH OFFICIAL WIBELESS.) (Received December 4th, 5.5 p.m.) RUGBY, December 3. Encouraging progress was made by the sub-committee of the Indian Conference ivlnch i 3 dealing with questions of Federal structure. Tho problem presents so many issues, more or less correlated, that a preliminary covering of the ground was essential. This has been effected, and certain specific questions have taken shape. ■For instance, what are to bo the component elements of the Federation? And will there bo in it tho States and thr; Provinces or tho States and British India?

Will there be two Chambers or one. and will States' representative sit in one or both?

Again, should there bo a Federal authority dealing with all subjects, or should there in addition be an authority dealing with British India subjects only, and in such rase which would be Federal and which British India subjects? Further questions requiring consideration relate to the powers of tho executive and tho Legislature, and tho relations one to the other; whether there should be an executive responsible to both Houses, and the fate of the present House and ils jurisdiction. Another subject for consideration is the sovereignty of the princes. Attention was drawn lo the fact that the subjects of the States arc not British subjects, and that there was a necessity for a co-equal partnership.

Having drawn up tin; list of questions to be dealt with broadly on the foregoing lines, the sub-committee began the examination of a provisional list of subjects of common concern as between British India and the Indian States, on which detailed consideration can begin. There are subjects which can actually be regarded as Federal subjects, including* shipping and navigation, lighthouse. l ) and buoyage, port quarantine; salt, currency and coinage; savings banks; commerce, including banking and insurance, trading companies, and other associations; control of cultivation and manufacture of opium and its sale and export; control of petrol and explosives, inventions and designs, copyright; emigration from and immigration into India, interprovincial emigration; traffic in arms and ammunition, meteorology, census and statistics, Federal services, immovable property of the Federal Government and the Public Service Commission.

BOMB EXPLOSIONS IN DELHI. TV/O ATTEMPTS AT TERRORISM. (.Received December 4th, 7 p.m.) DELHI, December 4. A number of Europeans hud a narrow escape in Chandni Chowk, one of the main thoroughfares in Delhi, last night, when a bomb which was thrown by an unknown Indian exploded near them. No one was injured. No arrests were made.

Earlier in the day a bomb was picked up by two students near the gate of Tibbia College. Tho bomb exploded, injuring both. This is the first attempt at terrorism in the capital.