Round Table Progress The Indian Round Table in its second
week has been dealing with some of the most important questions of the draft Constitution, Lord Irwin opening a discussion on the special powers of the Governor-General and provincial Governors in relation to federal responsibility. Those powers, it was argued, must comprise full safeguards and must cover such matters as any grave menace to law and order, the protection of minorities, commercial dis- crimination, and the rights of the Indian States. The Indian Liberals, from whom as in previous conferences the best-informed and most helpful criticism comes, are emphatic in maintaining that there should be no provision for the overriding of the responsible Ministry by the Governor-General on subjects which have been definitely transferred to popular control. The safeguards, in other words, must not be so wide as to swallow the essential principle of Indian responsibility at the Centre. Very careful definition will be needed here. The Hindu-Moslem controversy is at present mainly concerned. with the distribution of scats in the Federal Legislature. The Moslems' demand for one-third is maintained, but it is now indicated that they would accept a statutory 25 per cent., with the understanding that the Indian States should make up the Moslem proportion to one-third. So fir the debates have been notably harmonious. But the most critical issues, especially the question of financial authority, lie ahead.
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