INDIAN ARMY

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIV, 12 January 1931, Page 5

INDIAN ARMY

RECRUITING OFFICERS THE NATIONALITY ISSUE (British Official Wireless) RUGBY, 9th January. Presiding over tho Sub-Committee of the Round Table Conference to-day, Mr J. 11. Thomas, referring to the rndianisation of the Indian Army ami the establishment in India of a military college, said that if all recruitment of British officers ceased on the day the output from the Indian Sandhurst. started and, if its output was calculated to meet the normal wastage, it would be about thirty-five years before the last British officer was eliminated from the Indian Army. If, in cordance with the views expressed, it was not desired that British officer recruitment should cease immediately, then the period would be thirty-five years after the last British officer was recruited.

But the complete Indianisation of the army was not a preliminary necessary to the full attainment of responsible Government. Thus all Dominions’ soil depended on the British Navy for protection.

Those who were soldiers with war experience would realise that the entirely new creation of an officer class was not simply a question of calculation alone. The question of defence was too vital to take chances, and that aspect must weigh with Indians the more they became responsible for their country. The question to be examined was what was a safe and wise rate ot substituting the Indian for tin* British officers in the Indian Army, and whether it was desirable to eliminate the British officer at the earliest period, assuming that there was a common object in view, namely, the protection and defence of India. The Government had no objection to a declaration favouring Indianisation and carrying within it a definite recommendation for the establishment of a military college in India, but such establishment need not involve the discontinuance in the practice of a limited number of Indian students attending Sandhurst College in England, which had obvious advantages. Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru urged the speeding up of Indianisation. Sir Pheroze Sethna pointed out that Indian military ability was not confined to tlie so-called martial races.

Dr. B. S. Moonje thought that all recruitment in India should be among Indians and that the Indian Government should recruit in England any British officers they required. Sir Mirza M. Ismail thought that the elimination of British officers undesirable, even if practicable, and that there should be at first a fixed percentage of Indian officers, which would bo increased in the light of experience.

Mr M. A. Jinnali declared India capable of making good the wastage without further recruitment of the British personnel, and Sir Sahibzada Abdul Qaiyum suggested that British students should also be encouraged to enter the Indian Sandhurst. Mr Thomas is drafting a series of resolutions focusing the issues raised in the discussion. TO MEET KING AND QUEEN (British Official Wireless) RUGBY, 9th January. The party at Buckingham Palace for the delegates to the Round Table Conference, was one of the functions which was" cancelled on account of court mourning for the late Princess Royal; but the King and Queen will receive tlie Indian delegates on Monday morning before their return to Sandringham. DELEGATES HONOURED RUGBY, Bth January. Two delegates were honoured to-day, when Edinburgh conferred the Freedom of, the City on tlie Nawab of Bhopal and Srinivasa Sastri.