20 JUNE 1931, Page 2

India Developments in an unexpected quarter have occurred to threaten

the success of the Round Table Conference. Rumours of a division of opinion among the Pirinces on the subject of Federation came to a head last Tuesdajr, when the publication of a statement by the Maharajah of Patiala on the Federal scheme coincided with the arrival in Simla, on business closelY connected with the Round' Table Conference, of the Nawab of Bhopal, who recently succeeded him as Chancellor of the Chamber of Princes. This document reveals a complete poke face on the part of its author. " I have come," he says, " to entertain the firm conviction that this new-found faith in a new-fangled Federalism is at best an empty dream."