Many interested in Indian polities are speculating regarding the fate "of the All-India Congress which is Gust beginning its deliberations at Cawnpore. Tt is pointed out that the Congress is getting further and further divorced from the intelligent sia of the country. Mrs, Sarofini Naidu, poetess and President-Elect} of the' Congress, is reported to have Invited more than a hundred persons. Who belong to the Moderate; Liberal and other schools of thought which veally. represent the greater section of the intelligentsia of the land, but inquiries show that not one is likely] to attend and that the Congress is fast losing its influence. Meanwhile, tone is struck by the divisions and Wifferences amongst those taking} part in the Congress.
First, there is Mr. Gandhi with his staunch adherents who will n swerve from the path he chalks out fas the best for India's attainment Swaraj. Then there is the second section, headed by persons like Mrs. Sarojini Naidu and Mahommed Ah who, while anxious to stand by Mr. Gandhi's banner and eager to follow] his doctrines would not actively do much of spinning and occasionally east_a smile on the achievements of the Swarajists inside the Legislative! Councils.
Thirdly, there is Pundit Motilal Nehru with his followers bound by his Tsarist discipline and with a policy of professed non-ce-operation practical ce-operation. He is anxious to please all and to displease none except when his own leadership is in danger. Then there are the Republicans, the apart from the usual religious Congress camp. and divergencies in rank and clearly marked, the Cawnpove Concess will indeed tax all the resources and energies of even the remarkable Mrs, Sarojini Naidu.
1 South Africa'y Anti-Asiatic Bill While the Viceroy has given a sympathetic hearing to the South African deputation of Indians ther Seems to be a great danger of the Anti-Asiatic Bill passing before! anything effective can be done, The South African press adopts a rea-eonable tone but there seems to be Vittle doubt that the South Africans ave determined to refuse a Cor Yorence before the Bill passes its second reading. Discussion is offered only at a Select Committee when! intervention is practically useless. Meanwhile, the South African Party. under General Smuts has finally' decided not to oppose the Asiatic Bill during the next session. constitutes the greatest blow struck against the Indian cause be~ cause the Bill is certain to pass the second reading uncriticized, The only hope now appears to be in the! stongth of Indian protest which if voiced with determination might make postponement possible,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.