12 MAY 1923, Page 11

For instance, if we do decide that the welfare of

the white settlers in Kenya must be our first consideration— and there are very many enlightened people who so believe—then the sooner we cease talking about India's glorious destiny in the course of time as one of the free and self-governing nations within the British Common- wealth the better. From the Indian standpoint what is the use of a pious resolution at the Imperial Conference about Empire citizenship if, when the test arises, as it has done in Kenya, it proves to be a scrap of paper ? An overwhelming case can probably be made against Indian immigration to Kenya and against granting a full franchise to the Indians, but we shall be saved much trouble if we foresee now what the reactions of such a policy will probably be in India.