THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA.

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 65, 3 April 1937, Page 4

THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA.

During the last week or two we have been hearing a good deal about the obstructions that are being placed in the ■way of bringing into practical operation the Government oi India Act passed by the British Parliament in 1935 to come into constitutional effect at the beginning of this month. On the face of the messages as received they bear a rather ominous aspect, but it is quite likely that they ind£cate no very much greater oppo'sition than had been anticipated. The measure was framed and adopted only after long years of investigation and discussion by successive commissions and conferences. Still it w.as hardly to he expected that a Constitution designed to confer a very considerable degree of representative seif -government upon goome hundreds of millions .of people of many varying and often antagonistic races and religions and speaking different languages would be accepted without objection. The task of consolidating such a vast mass of heterogeneous human material under anything like centralised home rule was one which probably no nation in the world other than the British would have undertaken at all. Nor is it to be supposed that British statesmen are not fully conscious of all the difficulties in the way of introducing and establishing it. From the outset it has been recognised that infinite patience and tact will have to be exercised if success is to be achieved, ,and it will be only as generations pass that the measure of success or failure can be gauged. In the meantinle the immediate issue of the critical first steps will be watched with anxious care, It is not altogether easy to summarise the provisions of an Act which, running to some 450 clauses, is the longest eyer nassed by a British Parliament. What, however, are of the greatest interest a.re the provisions dealing with what is known as British India, the immense areas, with an aggregate population of some 200 mjllion, under direcfc British rule. With respect to it the Constitution provides for the recognition of eleven distinct provinces, each with its own representative legislature. It is with reg'ard to them that we have heard of elections ' which have, in most instances, resulted in strong majorities for the "Congress Party" seeking for unrestricted autonomy, free from any overlooking British authority as represented by the provincial Governors. These majorities have refuse'd to form executive and administrative Governments except under pledge that the GoverUors will not attempt to exercise the powers as yet reserved to them under the Constitution. As to these powers, which are certainly extensive, the more important are those having regard to the preservation of peace and tranquility, the safeguarding of tlie interests of minorities and the maintaining of finanqiad stability. There is also a general provision under which the Goveruor-General may assume all powers of government in ca.se of a breakdown in the application of the Cojistitution, Under the conditions that obtain it can be readily understood how necessary it is to make these reservations, at any rate until' the provincial legislatures and ministries have demonstrated their capacity for self-goyernment. To clothe them with absolute rule at this early stage would merely mean inviting a return to the chaos of racial and religious hoptilities and oppressions that characterised India before British rule was introduced. As to the remainder of India, ruled by the various "Princes" under British protection, the Act lea.ves it optional with them to come within the scope of the Constitution. This contemplates the creation of a Federal Parliament to which representatives will be elected by the provincial legislatures and appointed by the rulers of such of the independent States as may come in. With that aspect of the problem, however, we need not in the meantime concern ourselves very greatly. Interest for the present will be centred in developments so far as they concern the provinces of British India.