FUTURE OF INDIA

Hokitika Guardian, 30 April 1931, Page 2

FUTURE OF INDIA

ROUND TABLE CONFERENCE. POLICY OF CONERVATIVES. ‘ LONDON, March 29. Tli India Committee of the Conservative Parliamentary Party met at the House of Commons on Monday night and passed the following resolution : “That this committee welcomes the decision of Mr Baldwin that the Conservative Party cannot be represented 1 at any limber Round ’fable Conference to lie hi ... mi luisia as now foreshadowed by the Government! The decision of -Mi Baldwin referred o in the resolution had not hitherto been made public. The tact is that there was a recent meeting of the committee at which a resolution was passed protesting against any participation by the Conservative Party of any continuation in India of the Round Table Conference /Ibis resolution was iforuaided to the leader, and it is clear from the official communication that Mr Baldwin has indicated bis agreement with the committee.

Members of the Government were surprised by the announcement, as it had been assumed that the Conservatives would continue to associate themselves with the discussions on the Contitution of India. The surprise was all the greater owing to the fact that Mr* Baldwin discussed the India situation in an important speech at Newton Abbot, and made no reference to any decision excluding the Conserya-r tive party from participating in a Round Table Conference in India,

SAFEGUARDS UkGEW. “At the meeting on .Monday” writes the political correspondent oi the “Daily" Telegraph”) “it was the opinion <.if both critics and delenders of the agreement that the Party should take the line .indicated. ‘Mr Winston Churchill joined in the discussion, and is said to have stressed the necessity of the Conservative Party reasserting itself in relation o the problem if essential ar to be secured. He criticised the agreement with Mr Gandhi in a gorous manner, ana so also aid other members of the committee. “On the other hand there were members of the committee who voiced the opinion that, in the 'bircumstances, the Viceroy had rendered good- service in arriving at the agreement, and that his action was deserving of support. “The meeting as a whole, it is understood, was firmly convinced that the Party is-fully justified in the attitude which it is now officially declared to have adopted.”

THE PARTY’S REASONS, It was inevitable t.hnt misunderstand ing should arise fropt the wording of the recently passed resolution. Tho statement took members of all Parties by surprise; and tbe Conservatives who attended the committee meeting, when asked for guidance, said that they had pledged themselves to go no further than the official communication. Yesterday, therefore a further official statement was issued, which cleared up the matter. This read • “A 'treat deal too much is being nuuh- <n the state meat, which is in no wa\ a new dednra tion of policy. It is the '•••ader of the Party’s considered view as to the right procedure to be adopted. There is no question of withdrawing Conservative co-operation from the general attempt to find nn Indian settlement It is merely our view that at this moment a further meeting of the Round Table Conference would' be tho worst possible kind of procedure. Many question were left partially considered There were many enquiries which the Conference thought should be carried out.- The next stage was tor those enquiries to be made and the details considered. Until'that procedure is carried out we do not think that any kind l of Round Table Conference at the moment is going to do any good at all. All that you wood get would be a series of second-reading statements with a great deal of talk and no progress, “What was contemplated at the end of January was that the Government vvouldi set ill motion these detailed enquiries. One of the fundamental questions, for instance, was how manv Indian Princes were really coming into an Indian Federation. At present we are completely in the dark about that Then there is the question of the fi nchise. We feel that the Government ought to be making these enqines not at a resounding conference, but with quite informal and mdivid-ial talks. When these enquiries had been made, then it would be a question whether a confernce in the nature of a Round Table Confrence would he a good thing again or not. We think at the moment it is the wrong xind of procedure. We have told the Government all along that we think it is a bad procedure, and we could not countenance the Conservative Party at this moment taking any part in it. A QUESTION OF PROCEDURE. “We do not prejudice in any way what our attitude may be when these further enquiries have taken place. The Conservative rank and file havbeen made very nervous by a number of things that have happened in India

and by a number of statements made in India. The Conservatives want to lie assured that if there is to be a conference in the future there is a chance of a reasonable settlement coming out of it, and that it is not merely used as an opportunity for extremists in India to wash away all the safeguards which played so big a part in the Round Table Conference. The statement of the Leader of tlie Party is definitely on the one question of pr.» eedure. We Conservaties, rightly oi wrongly, think that to start again with a Round Table Conference m India in a weoit or two’s time would oe mistaken proceduie. It is now the uusiness of the Government to produce its p.'.posals.