CRY MISINTERPRETED

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 123, 22 February 1928, Page 10

CRY MISINTERPRETED

INDIA AND DEMOCRACY VIEWS OF AN AUTHORITY Dominion Special Service. Auckland, February 21. An authority on affairs in India, who arrived by the Ulimaroa, is LieutenantColonel Sir James Roberts, formerly surgeon to the Viceroy, but now enjoying his retirement. He is here on a tour of New Zealand for pleasure, and will in the first place spend some little time in Auckland and Rotorua. In reply to an inquiry as to what he thought of the action of the Indian Legislative Assembly in deciding to boycott the Simon Commission, Sir James Roberts replied: “You have to interpret political news from India with the knowledge that the so-called discontent among the educated and political classes is due to the fact that we are trying the experiment of introducing democracy, together with a form of responsible government, the foundations of which were laid by the Chelmsford-Montagu recommendations.”

“The most interesting thing in India,” said Sir James Roberts, “is the system of administration.” Tracing the history of the Indian Empire, he showed that the system has been created by the genius of the Indian people themselves. “It is,” he said, “the most efficient administration in the world, and this is so because the authorities have adhered to the native methods herited from the past.” “In recent years,” added the visitor, “there has been a cry throughout the world for democratic government, and this was interpreted by the politicians in Britain as meaning that India was demanding a democratic government. Most Englishmen of experience in India believe that that cry was misinterpreted. What the Indians asked for was not so much democracy as a considerable part in the power and authority of the Governmnt, and that, instead of being entirely British, it was to be more Indian than British, employing the educated Indians in the higher ranks.”

Sir James Roberts remarked that the Indian Legislative Assembly was not the supreme power in the land. The administration of the Viceroy had always been, and still was, the supreme factor.

“The Indian people,” he said, “are extremely sensitive, and can be swayed by political or religious sentiments to aii extent which is 'scarcely realised by the more calculating and staid Europeans. The present vote of the Assembly in boycotting the Commission is not to be wondered at. There has been considerable complaint that no In- i dians were included in the personnel of the Commission. “What people do not realise is that India consists of native States occupying about one-third of its territory, and containing about 6,000,000 of its people. These native States do not look to the change of Government with any feelings of assurance, because they do not wish to be subordinate to a Government elected bv the people of British India. The situation is delicate and difficult, and their loyalty to the Throne binds them to the Empire in the same way as the Dominions are bound as separate entities of the Imperial system.” Sir James Roberts has a strong belief in the ability of India and of, the Administration to evolve an efficient .and satisfactory system of government.