30 JANUARY 1932, Page 15

[To the Editor of the SpEcrafroa.]

SIR,—In your footnote to Mr. Hunt's letter in your issue of January 16tif you say, " so large a section of the population as Mr. Gandhi and the Congress Party represent." It has always been a puzzle to those who have lived long in India to fmd out who are represented by the Congress delegates. There is the nominal four annas subscription as a franchise, but no accounts have been published to disclose how many the subscribers are. My own experience during twenty-fivu years in India was that a Congress delegate might pose as representing a District when the time, place and details of his election were known to less than a dozen persor.s. In one district where the population was over half a million our delegate was chosen by five or six fellow-vakils, one of whom told me about the " election."

Mr. Gandhi has specifically stated that he represents the " depressed classes." The " depressed classes " have quite as specifically repudiated his representation of them.—I am,

Cliff Castle, Seaton, Devon. (I.C.S., Retired )