INDIA GAINING GROUND

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 851, 20 December 1929, Page 9

INDIA GAINING GROUND

ATTRIBUTES OF DOMINION STATUS MR. BENN’S ADVICE British Official "Wireless Reed. Noon. RUGBY, Thursday. Tbe Secretary for India, Mr. Wedgwood Bean, during the House of Commons debate last night, reiterated a statement that the goal of the British policy was the achievement, by India of Dominion status, but he point* d oui that India was already acquiring, at a growing rate, the attributes of tha status. He recalled several receni. occasions on which an Indian representative had attended international conferences and received a separat i vote in the same way as the other Dominions. He pointed out that a special Indian delegation attended the recent conference on Dominion legislation anci would so attend the coming FivePower Naval Conference. MEET WITH FREE HAND The Government desired the prospective round table conference, to bo summoned after the presentation of the Simon Report, to be fully-represen-tative of the political opinion in India, and that it should be called at the earliest possible moment. The conference would meet with a free hand, so that every section of opinion would be able to come forward and express itself. The conference was not Intended to be merely a sop to Indian opinion, and he hoped that when the time came for the conference it would be found possible for the Indians to compose their differences so tha: the Government would get a maximum of assistance and guidance. In this matter, they were entering upon a new era. They were attempting to write what might be the greatest chapter in the history of the Briish Commonwealth, namely, free and voluntary association of a selfrespecting nation in partnership with the British Commonwealth.