London, June 27.
The Government of India has come to the conclusion that, for purposes of an urgent expansion of India's war effort, it has now become necessary for India to follow the example of Britain and introduce compulsory service for military and, in certain cases, for civil and industrial purposes.
Mr. L. S. Amery, Secretary of State for India, revealed this decision in the House of Commons yesterday when he introduced new legislation which was, in the main, designed to over-tome difficulties' of a technical character in the event of a complete interruption of communication between India and Britain.
To facilitate conscription in regard to British Indian subjects, Mr. Amery said, an appropriate ordinance was to be "issued very shortly by the Governor-General.
It was, on the other land, beyond the competence of the Government of India to conscript European British subjects, and accordingly the authority of Parliament here was required to enable the necessary action in regard to these subjects to be taken in India.
It had been found that an earlier Act, providing for the calling up of Europeans for an examination of their fitness and willingness to undertake various forms of national service, military and civil, had not produced the requisite number of volunteers, and the ordinance which the Governor-General proposed to introduce with the approval of the House would enable him to call them up compulsorily.
This section of the bill before the House would also enable the Government of Burma to take a similar step.
Summing up, Mr. Amery said the bill dealt with a purely technical point "involving, in certain emergent cies against which I think we are bound to ensure, even though we may hope they may never occur;-certain legislative restrictions on the power of the Governor-General or the Governor of Burma."
The bill passed through all its readings within 90 minutes and was sent to the House of Lords.—Reuter.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.