NEW PROBLEMS IN INDIA

THE suggestion that has already been made and seems to have been generally supported that there should be an informal conference between the Government of India and the non-co-operation leaders leads to the consideration of the question whether the Government is prepared to make certain concessions likely to satisfy non-co-operators in order to induce them to abandon some of their methods and to concentrate their energy on the furtherance of the common aims and objects of all genuine patriots and well-wishers of India. In order to effect a reasonable compromise in any matter, both parties must approach each other in a conciliatory spirit. The inauguration of the reformed Councils and the changes effected in the Government are said to have been so successful that their authors are highly pleased with the first experience of the new regime and their supporters of the new regime and their supporters among Indians are overjoyed. His Majesty the King Emperor’s message refers to the Swaraj, the beginnings of which have been granted and Lord Chelmsford assured us of the end of autocracy in India. There are a great many thoughtful people in India who are of a similar opinion and consider that the full attainment of Swaraj in India will be more rapid and the future more hopeful. Non-co-operators, of course, do not accept this view and, though their aim is the attainment of real Swaraj, their immediate grievances are in respect of the Punjab wrongs and the Khilafat question. And if these two questions are solved immediately, then the efforts of both the Government and the people can be concentrated on the question of Swaraj and the means of attaining it at the earliest possible time. The question is whether the Viceroy is prepared to discuss these problems with the non-co-operation leaders with a view to closing them to the satisfaction of all concerned.