Fruits of Two Years' Patient Inquiry by Representalive!
Parliamentarians into Working of India's Constitution economic competition as well as in mutual religious sympathy. To-day im spite of much neighbour ly kindness in ordinary affairs, and notwithstanding all the efforts made men of good will in both communities to promote Hindu-Moslem concord. rivalry and dissension between these two forces are one of the chief stumbling blocks in the way of smoother and more rapid, Under the Government of India Act (1919), which forms the basis of the present quasi-democratic Constitution in India, it was provided that "at" the expirati of ton years" after the passing of the Act, a Royal Commission with the concurrence of both Houses of Parliament" should be appointed to inquire "into the wort th: aystem of government, the growth of representative institutions:
Br India....and report as to whether and to what extent it is desirable to establish the principle of responsible govern eatend, modify or restrict the degree of responsible government (hen existing therein."
On November 26, 192 the Indian Statutory Commission was accordingly appointed with the following personnel represses both Houses of Parliament and all three of the political parties:
Sir John Simon (Chairman) Mr, Vernon Hartshorn Viscount Burnham Colonel G. R, Lane-Fox Lord Strathcona and Mount Royal Major C. R. Attlee The Hon, Edward Cadogan (The late Me, Stephen Walsh was originally appointed hut he to withdraw owing to the illness from which he sboxtly afterwards died Met Hartshorn took his place)
The Commission made a short preliminary vi it to India in the spring of 1928 and returnsd in October of the sam year to carry out its main inquiries which terminated in Indi in March, 1929 and were en tinued in London throughout the Summer and Autumn of last year. In October Sir John Simon obtained from the Prime Minister—with the consent of Mr, Baldwin and Mr. Lloyd George—a ruling to the effect that the terms of reference to the Comm ion covered considerat of the rel 3 between the Indian States and the Government of Tndia, with special regard to the problems set for the Commission's investigation.
The Comm jon has now reported in two parts, the first of which, veprosenting the findings. is published to-day.
It occupies over 400 pages id discusses the conditions of the problem; the existing constitutional steveture; the working of the reformed constitution; the the system of public finance; the growth of edu tion in British Indin; and public opinion in India, The second part embody ing the commendations of the Commission will be issued on-June 24.
The whole report is unanimous. all fundamental matters and without a dissenting minute" therefore a document of exceptional weight and authority Tu accordance ith the suggestion of Sir John Simon the Govern. ment have decided to call in London in October nxt a Conference of representatives of the Indian Princes, of British India and of the Brilish Government to consider the Report and other material with which proposals should progress.
The distribution of Une popul of India as between the Hindus and Mohammedans provides one of the most serious complications for! Indian state ma and. recurs in different forms and degrees almost every part of India. On Indian soil, the opposition of these two faiths is sharply intensified by 15 practices, which only] evoke mutual ill-feeling. The devout] Hindus regards the cow as an object of great veneration, while] the ceremonial sacrifice of cows or other animals is a feature of the! annual Mohammedan festival. Hindy, music played through the streets on the occasion of a procession of, idols or in connection with a marriage celebration, may take place at a time when Mohaimmedans in an adjoining mosque, and hence arises_an out~ break of resentment. The immediate] occasion of communal. disorder is always a religious issue.
In the chapter on "Caste and the Dopressed Classes," the—report points out that every Hindu necessarily belongs to the of his parents, which noth alter. A systematic cla revealed 2,300 castes. Sub-division persists in the lowest strata and there are graduations of castes even among the outcasts, Some thirty per cent. of the Hindu, population are untouchables, and, for all other Hindus. cause poilu: tion by touch and defile food and water.
'A considerable effort has been made in recent years by social] reformers and the Government ameliorate he state of the depressed the view of coming to conclusions on the form shaped for the purpose of obtai Pariamentary approval of the classes, bat progress has bes now Constitution for India. The on aeabhe in London i8 likely to remain, slow, seal eoprovement is beginning on October 20 and the Indian representatives will be chosen by invitation from Lord Irwin, the Viceroy, "in consultation, where possible, with Some areas, In the whole civil administration the interests concerned.
After the Conference has completed its Inbours the next step will be for the British G winment to deaft the necessary bill which will bb examined by a Joint Parliamentary, Committee; That Committee will hear evidence from various British and Indian interests and the bill as amended by that Committee will then proceed thrower the usual stages in Parliament to the Statute Book. of British India, the European element is about 12,000 out of a total approaching 1,500,000. The total] British element in the Civil Service is about 3,500. The services The Nationalist Movement London, June The Report recognises that anion all educated Iedians there is expression of a demand for equality with Europeans and resentment against any suspicion of differential treatment.
Tt states that it would be a.profound error to belittle the Indian Nationalist movement. While it is true that it directly affects the hopes of a very small fraction of the population of India, says the Report nevertheless it concentrates all the forces roused by the appeal to national dignity and ty nation sélt-
Discussing the prescribed goal of British policy in India, the Comm's-sioners state: "On the one hand the progressive realization of respon sible government In British India fan integral part of the British Empire is the fixed object, to the atta ment of which, in ce-operation with the Indian peoples themselves, British policy stands pledged.
The obstacles in the way intended to defeat that object are of so formidable a character that no opinion to what should now be done would be worth anything at all until they ave duly appreciated. But whatever the obstacles, the object stands as the declared goal of British policy.
"On the other hand, it is equally part and parcel of the pronounce thents of 1917 and 1919 that progress in the attainment of avowed object can only be ach by successive stages; that the time and manner of each advance can be determined only by Parliament upon whom tests the responsibility for the] welfare and advancement of, the Indian peoples; and that, in the development of this purpose, a de:
ion as to the immediate future must largely depend upon a ju: estimate of the results and con sequences of the steps already taker. In the steps that will follow befor 'a decision is reached, there will be fall opportunity for consideration of the views of every section of ro-sponsible and representative opinion in India.
In 1921 British India had a population of 247,000,000 and the Indian States 72,000,000. As to the complications of language, no single vernacular tongue has so wide a range as English and only 2,500,000 are educated in English. The lange by Indians. According to the consu in 1929, the European population in British India numbered 1 of whom 45,000 were women, The report regards the theory of Dyarchy to be unworkablo—that is the system under which the subjects of provincial administration are divided into two categories—reser Among the general population is with he widest euvreney|ed and transferred.
Hindustane, but it is far from) ale Fi JOrder) are administered by The 4 understood Governor in Council (ie. execute Ly) ard the transferred subjects gether 222 vernacular dialects.
Jeg. Education, Public Mealtt) by predominantly The Commissioners emphasise the the
the population and say: responsible to the Provincial Governor acting with Ministers}
islature. The working of Leg-quickening of the genera} political system during the past ten years Judgment, any. widening of rural|has aroused much adverse comment horizons beyond the traditional and which the Commission generally. engrossing interest of the weather, endorses. water crops and cattle, with a round deals with the ques-of festivals, fairs ' and family lin's defence ard its rela-ceremonies and a dread of famine tion to the constant dangers on the and bloodshed, is bound to come very.
North West Frontier, to the supres-slowly indeed.' sion of internal communal disorder, Only n2 par! stent 08 te contending factions mys.e[by British troops, (for whom the ily ask), population, as compared with 79 por to the position of the ma cent, in England, live in urban ares classes, and to the "Indianizs and here those who give their at-of the King's Commissioned ranks tention to politics are mainly found.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.