BRITAIN AND INDIA

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 201, 14 November 1927, Page 1

BRITAIN AND INDIA

GREAT RESPONSIBILITY COMMISSION’S TASK “SYMPATHY AND IMAGINATION’* British Wireless — Press Assn.—Copyright RUGBY, Friday. The chairman of the recently-ap-pointed Royal Commission on India. Sir John Simon, has written to the chairman of the Liberal Party in the constituency he represents in Parliament (Spen Valley, Yorkshire!. In his letter he refers to the grave and difficult task before the commission. He says: “The British Parliament has a tremendous responsibility to the peoples of India. It is a responsibility which cannot be denied or evaded, for it is rooted in history and in the facts of the world today. “If, therefore, the future of India is to be one of peaceful progress, as all men of goodwill both in India and in Britain intensely desire, this can come about only by the action of the British Parliament combined with the co-operation of India herself. Both these are provided for by the scheme of investigation and consultation, as regards which the work of the commission is the first stage. “The commission will not go to India with any idea of imposing on her Western ideas or constitutional forms from without. We shall go to listen, to learn and faithfully to report our conclusions as to the actual conditions and varying proposals from within “WILL DO MY BEST” “When the commission has reported, the scheme provides for that full and final consultation between representatives of the Legislatures of India and Britain, which is an essential condition to be fulfilled before reaching a decision upon which so much depends. “The task of the commission calls for the highest qualities of sympathy and imagination, as well as for endless patience, strict impartiality, industry and courage. I enter upon my part of this duty intensely desiring to be of what service I can to India and to Britain, and while I am deeply conscious of my own shortcomings I am going to do my best.” — A. and N.Z.