17 MAY 1946, Page 1

A New Stage in India The British Cabinet mission spent

its first six weeks in India .drawing the Hindu and Muslim leaders together and making a basis for the discussion of the constitutional question. The actual meet- ing of the three parties in Simla tasted one week and then broke down. Now a third stage, slightly less hopeful and likely to con- sume several more weeks, must be faced. The full story of the Simla talks has not been made public as the Spectator goes to press, but it is pretty clear that one trouble was a disagreement on the powers of the proposed new Union Centre. Mr. Jinnah wanted these powers closely restricted in order to leave the maximum of autonomy to the six predominantly Muslim provinces making up Pakistan. The Congress representatives, on the other hand, favoured more powers to the Union Centre than the originally suggested three —defence, external affairs and communications—and fewer for the federations of Hindu and Muslim provinces. Breakdown on this point was not considered inevitable until the last stage, simply because the Cabinet mission's suggestions left the maximum scope for mutual concessions. So far it has been carefully underlined that these suggestions were no more than tentative agenda for discussion. Now a new stage opens. If neither Muslim League nor Congress Party will take responsibility for a positive and practical scheme, then the Cabinet mission must. It is likely that one more British plan for India, outlining the principles of a new constitution and machinery for setting it up, will now be announced. There is no reason why it should differ widely from the scheme which has already been discussed in Simla. What is more, there is no reason why both Indian parties should not accept it, if only they can summon up that extra ounce of forbearance and conciliation which could have made all the difference last week.