30 MAY 1931, Page 1

, India There is rather less hope, but as yet

no certainty, ' that the Federal Structure Committee will meet in , London as early as June 29th, the date suggested by the Secretary of State in a dispatch which electrified Simla last week. Most of the prospective delegates are believed to have replied to the Viceroy's telegraphic appeal with an unselfish affirmative. Mr. Gandhi has not com- mitted himself ; his dramatic sense instructs him in the value of being enigmatic. His attendance, of course, is not essential. It would be of incalculable value if the Conference could meet in the knowledge that the Hindu- Moslem problem was even a short way down the road . to solution. The odds against its doing so look even longer after the very representative All-India Moslem Conference at Lahore last week, which issued a mandate to the Moslem community to refuse responsible government at the centre unless. the mininiann depends, formulated at Delhi are conceded. Nfr. Gandhi's unreasonable request for a unanimous joint demand from Sikhs and Moslems is no doubt partly responsible for this overt stiffening of opinion. * *