RUI ING POWERS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 20 April 1940, Page 5

RUI ING POWERS

CONTINUED IN INDIA REJECTION OF CONGRESS DEMANDS. BRITAIN'S ATTITUDE DEFINED. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY. April 18. .Hollons were before both Houses of Parliament today authorising the coni innanee of |ii'Oelainafioiis vesting in the Goveriiors 1 he administration of seven Indian provinces. the representative Governments of which resigned in obedience to an inst ruetion from the Working Committee of the Congress Party. The Governors of the provinces concerned acquired their powers by proclamation nearly six months ago and, by the provision of the Government of India Act, these proclamation lapse at the end of six months unless they are continued by a motion of both Houses. After short debates the motions relating to the government of the seven Indian provinces were passed by both Houses. Opposition leaders associated themselves with the regret expressed by the British Government as to the necessity of the step taken, and Mr Wedgwood Benn, in the House of Commons, expressed the view that the message of Congress was not the authentic voice of India. EFFORTS OF AGREEMENT. In the Commons debate on motions relating to the government of the Indian provinces, the Under-Secretary for India, Sir Hugh O'Neill, said the British Government could not accept the Congress Party's demands, which would mean severance from the Empire and abandonment of obligations to Moslems and other minorities. He added: "If civil disobedience were unfortunately adopted the British Government would be bound to take full measures to counteract it.”

The Viceroy, he continued, had done all possible to secure agreement. "He made a proposal of far-reaching character, which might have been put into immediate effect, namely that Indian political leaders could become members of the Executive Council,” he said. “Above all he emphasised again and again that the policy of the British Government is to grant India full Dominion status at the earliest possible moment, and he made it clear that we were only too willing to examine the whole constitutional field in consultation with all parties and interests in India.” None of these advances met with response, Sir Hugh O'Neill continued, and political parties demands were pitched higher than ever before. He referred to the magnificent response made by India to the war effort. LORD ZETLAND’S SURVEY. In the House of Lords the Secretary of State for India and Burma, the Marquess of Zetland, expressed regret at the necessity for the motions and briefly reviewed the history of events leading up to the resignations of the Congress Party Ministers. He pointed out that one-third of the population of British India reside in the provinces of Bengal, Punjab, Sind and Assam, where Parliamentary Government is still functioning successfully, but in the other seven provinces the Governors have been compelled to take over the Administration. Lord Zetland said that the difficulties between the Congress Party and the Moslems had not been resolved, and till they were there was but little prospect of progress in India tow ii'd a solution of the question of the Government of India. He again urged that meeti.igs should be held between responsible leaders to endeavours to come to some agreement and said that belief in such meetings, though not held by the Congress Party leaders, had the support of such men as the Chief Justice of the Federal Court and the Prime Minister of the Punjab. ‘ The demand of the Congress Party said Lord Zetland, was for the complete independence of India and for the drafting of its future Constitution by a constituent Assembly elected on a basis of adult suffrage." This was opposed not only by Moslems, but also by the leaders of scheduled castes and the Liberal National Federation. READINESS TO CONFER. He continued: "We realise that for varying reasons the three main parties to the controversy —the Congress Party, the All-India Moslem League, and the Princes —entertain objections to the Federal provisions of the Act. We have said, therefore, that we are desirous of consulting those interests with a view to ascertaining the lines on which they would wish to see the provisions altered. "We made the offer because we accept the reasonableness of the claim that the Indians themselves should play a vital part in devising the sori of Constitution they deem best suited to the circumstances of their country; but we also said that we cannot wholly dissociate ourselves from the shaping of the future Constitution of the country, and I should have thought our reasons for saying that would have been both understood and accepted as valid.” After recapitulating the reasons why the British Government could not be dissociated from shaping the future Indian Constitution. Lord Zetland pointed out that a measure of agreement among the Indian communities was essential if a united India was to become a reality, and he appealed to the Congress Party not to close the door upon the unity of India which they themselves so passionately desired.