DOMINIUM STATUS FOR INDIA.

Gisborne Times, Volume LXX, Issue 11125, 7 February 1930, Page 3

DOMINIUM STATUS FOR INDIA.

(.To The Editor)* Sir,- —Much has ,-' been said and • written recently, on tlie above subject. and it is well to have every point of view promulgated,, .without .acrimony,' so tnut a reasonable and just decision may be formulated, line of the foremost acts is to place-onself mentally in the position of a native <»t India and consider whether we would not also seek freedom if wo were governed by an ah.en race, faulty statesmanship and lack of sympathy lost the American Colonies JlO years ft go. -Now as tlie United {States f.lUiy aie are the most formidable rival to the British • Empire lor world trade and world power* . 'her over fifty years Ireland struggled ior J:Lome* .Rule, that fur.seeing statesmuiq William Kwurt twice brought in a Bill •to .grant them justice, ‘ but, on both wcasions/ his. political opjxments, combining with Ins erstwhile 10l lowers, neloatod hr- 'pro-. jeet and then, when ho appealed to the country, they incited the electors to overttirow Ins party. using similar arguments which were being used with regard to India today—that, they were not yet ready to 'govern themselves, they v.ei'e uneducated, ot fintagi.up.sti'e religious factions, that f here was only a small minority Who really wanted Homo Rule, and that, if tlie boon weyo granted, it would surely result in internal strife or civil war. V quarter of (;>. century later, England was . virtually compelled to grant them a much greater measure of independence than would have satisfied them had Gladstone’s scheme . been carried. I

During the Great War India gave freely much money and many lives to help Britain and her Allies to overcome the Huns and they ctr. tuLilly understood that tho pledge given in 1917 was that her status m tho Empire would be equal to that of any of the Great Dominions, or. m other words, she would become a ‘self-governing Dominion. Dominion, because the Grown was miucle the link which did not imply subjection of one to the other, but a willing partnership in a common interest, “self-governing” because it preserved its own territorial aum. iwmy. If Britain bad not granted Self-Government to her Australian and South ,African Colonies, Canada and Now Zealand, which the hearts of each demanded, and thus retained the. tie between the [Mother Country and her grown-up daughters, how else could she, a little island in a northern sea, retain her position as a world power? I quote l)r. Be.sa.nt “She could not become a European I’ower of tho lirst rank since neither her wealth nor her strength of self-defence could cope

with such Empires as those of Germany a rid Russia; yet her power ot stubborn resistance, as site called on her far-flung authority to rally its forces round her, raised her to tho position of a world power, which could wear out the attacking strength of her rivals .in Europe.''

If the masses of India are illiterate whose is the fault? When Britain lirst occupied India, evert village hold its schools,' which were taken away by the East India Company to get cheap labour for tea plantations, etc., and nothing so adequate for the masses was substituted. Moreover, India was wealthy and prosperous; now she is poor and to a great extent starvingmillions with only one adequate meal a- day. It appears England cannot govern a big country like India. GOUJ miles away, as it ought to be governed. India could not accept the Simon Commission, for, though they bore no enmity against the individual members, yet they conceived that they had been sent to had out what moiety of self-gov-ernment would pacify them. They would never agree to a constitution made in Westminster but they would have accepted Sir John Simon and his confreres to confer with their natural leaders-—men with Indian minds, and hearts, and sympathies, who understood the pyscliology ot the native races—to formulate the best methods of -•establishing Dominion status. Dr. Besant believes that one et the possible dangers of the immediate future is a gigantic war between Europe and Asia, and. that whether this clash comes or not will depend largely upon the action of Great. Britain in regard to the Government of India. Unless she gives India liberty, there must be revolt, and the srectre before us to-day is a. revolution like llie French revoInt'on. “Hie price of India’s lov. altv is India's Freedom.” Thank, mg vou, fog allowing me so. much of your valuable space. —l. am. yours etc., A. GREAVE.