AFTER THE WAR

Wairarapa Times-Age, 30 March 1942, Page 4

AFTER THE WAR

DOMINION STATUS FOR INDIA PROMISED BY BRITISH CABINET. ELECTION OF BODY TO FRAME CONSTITUTION. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, March 29. Sir Stafford Cripps, Lord Privy Seal, now in India as British special envoy, has announced the British War Cabinet’s 'conclusions regarding India. Complete equality with the self-governing Dominions and Britain is promised immediately after the war. A draft declaration which Britain is preparing makes provision for the election of a body to frame the Indian constitution after the war.

DRAFT DECLARATION STATEMENT BY SIR STAFFORD CRIPPS. MOMENTOUS ISSUES AT STAKE. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 1.25 p.m.) RUGBY, March 29. Sir Stafford Cripps, in handing copies ' of the “Draft Declaration and discussion with Indian leaders” to the Press in New Delhi on Sunday evening said: “In handing you copies of the conclusions arrived at by the War Cabinet, I want to explain and make clear to you the form in which the document is drafted. It is in the form of a declaration by his Majesty’s Government as to the future of India and the immediate problem of Indian government and defence. I am giving it to you for publication as the proposal which has been submitted to the leaders of Indian opinion by the War Cabinet, and its publication' is not the publication of a declaration by his Majesty’s Government, but only of the declaration they would be prepared to make if it met with sufficiently general and favourable acceptance from the various sections of Indian opinion. I rely upon you all to make that position abundantly clear. “Secondly, I am sure I can rely upon every paper in India and throughout the world to deal with this document with the deep seriousness and responsibility which it deserves. You have a very great opportunity and a great responsibilitj’ in the way in which you deal with the matter. It is difficult to imagine a more weighty issue than this one, upon which the future happiness and freedom of 350 million people may well depend. Whatever you say as to it, I know I can trust you to say it with a full sense of its importance and with a full realisation that you may play a part in the solution of this difficult problem by the way in which you treat this document and by the manner of your publicity. I have waited to make the document public until I had had an opportunity of submitting it personally to the leaders of the main interests in India, and until they have been able to submit it to their colleagues. Now it is to be given wider publicity and I commit it to your hands in confidence that, whatever your views may be, you will seek to help to bring all Indian opinion together’ and not to divide it. I shall myself be broadcasting an explanation tomorrow night to the Indian peoples.”

INDIAN UNION OPTIONAL RIGHT OF ENTRY FOR STATES. PROVISION FOR MINORITIES. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 2.0 p.m.) RUGBY, March 29. The main object of the draft declaration for discussion with the Indian leaders, issued by Sir Stafford Cripps, is the creation of a new Indian Union, which shall constitute a Dominion, associated with the United Kingdom and ether Dominions by common allegiance to the Crown, but equal to them in every respect. The British Government proposes, immediately on the cessation of hostilities, that steps be taken in India to elect a body charged with the task of framing a new constitution for India. Provision is also to be made for the participation of Indian States in the Constitution, but any State which does not wish to participate will retain its present constitutional position, with the proviso that' it may accede later if it so desires. The treaty will be signed by the British Government with the constitutionmaking body covering necessary matters arising out of the complete transfer of responsibility from British to Indian hands, and making provision for racial and religious minorities.