Aug. 19.
'The often-exploded parrot cry that British policy in India has based on the Roman motto 'Divide and Rule," is peculiarly inappropriate at' this moment when, in the Inst resort and reluctantly, the British Government has been called upon to make a decision on the communal franchise for the provincial legislatures in India, That flimsy argument cannot hold its ground Jat this stage of Indian Ignores the mass of material available to the world for judyment. It merely mischievously lyepeats a mischievous and superficially conceived theory on which any British or Indian district officer, charged with the Jduty of preserving law and order while Hindu processions pass Mahomedan mosques on festival days, or any British or Indian soldier, hurriedly called in to make the peace between mur-Jderous mobs in most trying climatic conditions, would pour leaustic ridicule. It gives, how-lever, useful pointer to the leircumstances governing the British Cabinet's decision. Failure upon failure on the part of Indians to give effect to "their laudable desire for. the security of minor! left the Government no. option, And the decision now announced has been given at the express request of the dissidents them selves, It had to be given because, without it, the scheme for the new Constitution could not Ibe devised. "The Government has reached the point at, which legislation has to. be from The principle of Provincial autonomy has been adopted. The Lothian Report has recommend fed an extension of the Provincial franchise from, 7,108,000 or 2.8 per cent, to 96,000,000 or 14.1 per cent. of the population of British India. The question lett for determination was the retention or otherwise of the system lof electorates based on com minal lines.
It is admitted by all that, in theory, an advance to responsible self-government, implying it does the creation of a true national spirit in India, should be on the basis of electorates which merely count heads. It would be tedious to record opinions supporting this. vi When, however, the constitute maker comes down to facts in India he finds that he is confronted by the knowledge that jan immense minority—roughly 70,000,000 Moslems as against 210,000,000 Hindus—would be virtually disfranchised wer jsuich a scheme launched unde present conditions. further made to realls ethnological, educational and religious factors so complicate the situation that steps have to be taken to safeguard political Jequity in framing the constit Ardent Hinda politicians thave speciously asserted that Mahomedans have no need to fear injustice at the hands of their Hindu brothers." That assurance would be welcomed it it were not go patently repudiate led by Hindus themselves who ive under Mahomedan dominance on the North-West Frontier land by the actions of the same Hindu politicians in cond!
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.