*, * Direct Election in India The Government has done
wisely to accept the principle of direct election for the Council of State in India, even though it still refuses it for the Legislation Assembly.. Though direct election in both cases is to be desired there is this to be said for the distinction now made, that a constituency to elect the Lower House does exist in the members of the Lower Houses of the Provincial Governments, whereas an electorate for the Council of State would, under the indirect system, have in part to be artificially created, since some Provincial Governments will have no Upper House to provide electors. The decision against direct election for the Lower House was the result of a rather unsatisfactory compromise in the Select Committee, and the indirect system is not likely to last long. But direct election for one House is better than nothing, and the virtual unanimity of the House of Lords in support of the amendment moved by Lord Linlithgow, who was chairman of the Select Committee, is satisfactory. The Government of India Bill as a whole is running smoothly through its final stages in Parliament, and there • is little doubt that even Congress will be prepared to work the new constitution.
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