INDIA’S PROBLEMS

Hokitika Guardian, 2 October 1931, Page 2

INDIA’S PROBLEMS

COMMUNIAL QUESTION.

MUTUAL CONFIDENCE ESSENTIAL.

(British Official Wireless.)

RUGBY, Sentcmber 29

The Indian communal question was tin* subject of three hour’s talk last night between Mr Gandhi and the Aga Khan and other members of the -Moslem delegation to the R:n;nd-Tab'e Conference, and it, is anticipibted that the conversations will he cent.lined later.

The delegates of the Sikhs depressed classes, anil ether smaller Indian communities, arc also using the interval before the Minorities Committee meets again on Thursday to reach an agrceim nt among themselves. The representatives of these smal'er coniniiinilies, who had expressed some fear that am agreement between the larger coniunities might take insufficient account of their claims were leassured by flu* Prime Minister’s statement yesterday that the task before the Committee was the settlement of the minority question as a whole, and not exclusively the settlement of the 11 indu-Mnslcm differences, and that the Minorities Committee was the body before which a general seft'ement must collie,

Newspapers here strongly support Mr Ramsay MacDonald’s contention chat me minorities prooiom is one ror Indians themselves to settle, and that the leaders of each community must take risks and accept responsibilities.

NEWSPAPER COMM ENT. “The Times” says: They can count upon British help at every stage of their discussions, but they must remember that the problem before them can only be solved satisfactorily by Indians because it is in its essence a problem of mutual confidence. Ail imposed agreement would be no solution.

The “Machester Guardian” says: No outside body can usefuly dictate the terms or even arbitrate. Such questions as whether there are to be joint or separate electorates in India are essentially domestic. It is often suggested that the Hindu-Moslem differences are a source of gratification here, but nothing could be farther from the truth. The vast majority of people in Great Britain would welcome a HinduMoslem settlement because it would clear the* way for a larger settlement and the creation of an All-India selfgoverning federation. At a meeting of the Federal Finance Sub-Committee of the India Conference under the presidency of Lord Peel dis-cus-ion this morning centred upon the fields of taxation to be assigned to the Federal authority and the constituent nle 1' i t sTFs peo£ iv e Iy.