News of the Week
Towards an All-India Federation
THE most important aspect of the Government of India dispatch, which was published on Friday, November 14th, is its frank recognition of the demand of a united India for responsible Government, in name if not altogether in fact. The dispatch advocates a vigorous central authority with the powers of the Governor-General unimpaired. Provincial autonomy is approved, and a more liberal system than that of the Simon Commission is proposed for the North-West Frontier Province. To meet Indian aspirations, how- ever, there is a proposal not indeed for a formal dyarchy at the centre, but for something hardly distinguishable from it, namely; a combination of nominated officials and an appreciable popular element elected by the Indian Legislature. The Government of India decline to believe. that responsibility for finance and law and order, or the control of defence, can be entirely trans- ferred as yet to a British-Indian authority. They reject the present subordination of Delhi to Whitehall in favour of a partnership between the Imperial Parlia- ment and the Government of India, in which the subjects on which Parliament should still pronounce would be clearly defined.
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