A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK
IN the necessary process of explaining the Report of the Select Committee on India to various sections of the people of this country Lord Halifax is most appropriately —and self-sacrificingly—taking a foremost part. He was speaking on it at Chatham House on Tuesday, at the National Liberal Club on Wednesday and at a dinner of the Young Conservatives' Union on Thursday. Nothing could be more valuable, for there is no man whose ,knowledge of India is at once so extensive and so recent, and I am not surprised that one obvious desire is gathering increasing strength in many quarters. If anything could give the reforms the maximum chance of success it would be the return of Lord Halifax to India for a second term to inaugurate the new constitution. It would be a great deal to ask of him. Lord Curzon was Viceroy for two terms, but no one else, I think, ever has been. But Lord Willingdon has served two viceregal terms in succession—one in Canada and one in India—and he was nearly 65 when he went to Delhi. When he retires in 1936 Lord Halifax will only be 55. India owes immensely much to Lord Irwin. Lord Halifax could make the debt greater still. He is needed for other tasks in this country, but nowhere could he render such unique service as in the capital of a self- governing India.
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