GOVERNMENT’S DUTY IN INDIA

Hokitika Guardian, 6 September 1930, Page 6

GOVERNMENT’S DUTY IN INDIA

“In the face of things, and dealing only with the matter ol disorder, want is the duty of the Government? There is a movement which is intended to bring government to an end. M hat is the duty of the Government?” asks Mr \\ edgwooii Bonn, Secretary of State for India.

“I say it is the duty of the Government to carry on government. I should like to pay a tribute to the men who nave ue'en engaged there m difficult and dangerous work—in the majority of cases Indian officers and men themse.ves. It is very well for in© to speak about carrying on a government, 1 should be a poor tniag if 1 did not express my sympathy and my support for the men who are carrying oil personally dangerous work. I will extend that to district magistrates, who have to make difficult decisions, to district officers, to the local governments, and to the Government of India.

“We must wait for the restoration of normal conditions. It does- not lie in our hands; it lies in the hands of those who are responsible for the disturbances.

“Do not let anybody think, however. that we regard force ,as being a remedy. It cannot bo a remedy, ibut we are compelled to maintain order, and the moral basis is that peace and quiet are maintained in the Indian interest in, order that, in that atmosphere, constitutional enlargements of the liberties of the Indians may take place.

“We are not dealing merely with an ordinary outbreak of lawlessness, ill’ that were so, the task would indeed be ail easy one, but we are faced in India with the jnsurgence ol national and racial aspirations, it may be perfectly true to say all but a small number of Indians disapprove of the campaign.

“It may be perfectly true to say that minorities are looking anxiously to what their position may be under any new Constitution, hut it is equally true to say that Indians of all races and classes are looking tor progress in the satisfaction of their desires. They are, looking for the disappearance of manifestations of race superiority and recognition, which is indeed so vital to the stability of our commonwealth, that within it there is complete equality of citizenship. It is idle, therefore, to complain if patriotic Indians, while condemning the attempt which is proceeding to organise anarchy in Tndla, also express in the most earnest fashion their own desire for a great constitutional enfranchisement.

. •••‘Let me recapitulate the aims of British policy in relation to' India. First there was the Montagu Declaration.' Then there was the Viceroy's i statement on November 1 last in which lie declared that in the opinion of his Majesty’s Government, it is implicit in the Declaration that the natural issue of India’s constitutional progress, as there contemplated, is the attainment of dominion status.' This house, under its own Act of 1919, la,id upon the Statutory Commission the duty of exploring and reporting. Its functions were well described by the chairman when he said: ‘The present commission is only authorised to"”report and make recommendations. It is not an executive or legislative body authorised to pronounce decisions about the future government of India.’ “That task is now concluded, and within a few weeks we shall have in our hands one of the great State documents of our time, 'file next stage is a conference to consider the question of constitutional advance in co-operation with those who cm speak authoritatively for opinon in British India and the Indian States. “As the Viceroy said; ‘lt is as unprofitable to deny , the right of Parliament to form its free and deliberate judgments on the problem as it would be .short-sighted of Parliament to underrate the importance q 5 trying to reach a solution -which might carry the willing assent of political India. That policy stands. The goal is accepted 'by all parties in this House. I will make bold to say that if in this conference substantial agreement were readied no Government wou'd he likely to ignore its work when it. came to present its proposals to Parliament. To launch at this moment- a campaign of civil disorder, which often involves suffering for innocent lion-participants, is merely to add to the difficulties which were inherently sufficiently stubborn and insurmountable. There are some who rely on the archaic maxim, ‘Divide and rule.’ That is not the principle upon which our Commonwealth has been built up by teaching persons of various interests and various races that in the bond of union exists the liberty to develop in their own way their own capacity. It is in the highest Imperial interest that a. solution should be found, but it is really useless to employ mere words as if they could find a solution. A solution, a real solution, we do most earnestly desire.

“We ask ourselves, can any good come out of the, tragic happenings of the last few months 7 I say that -some good may come if they result in the quickening of the consciences of the two peoples. The Indian .people are. responsive to'idealism; behind a Western reserve we are not without our generous instincts. AVe are not fac-. ing a question of -the exchange of merchandise, or of parliamentary, draftsmanship, hut we are facing a question of trust and understanding.

Politicians and statisticians have their part to play, but the people