17 JANUARY 1931, Page 2

The Times of Wednesday published a letter from Messrs. B.

S. Moonje, M. R. Jayakar and S. B. Tambe, proposing that the communal tangle should be settled by arbitration. They suggested as arbitrators the Prime Minister, Lord Sankey, Mr. Gandhi, Professor Gilbert Murray, and Professor de Madariaga. The Moslems were not impressed by this odd list and thought the scheme itself unconsti- tutional. On Wednesday Sir Muhammad Shafi made a proposal which came within an ace of succeeding. He said that though the Moslems must retain their separate electorates they would accept, after all, the pro- posal of the Government of India that no community by means of separate electorates alone should have a clear majority in the Legislature. This was handsome, and mutual congratulations were already being exchanged when the Sikhs held up the settlement. They demanded one more seat in the Punjab Council. Such a small matter can hardly delay a solution much longer.