The Essential Need of India

IN the course of a thoughtful article on Indian reforms contributed to the "Daily News" of October 2nd, Mr. S.K. Ratcliffe writes:-"The one essential principle to be established is Responsibility. The one blunder that would imperil the scheme is the refusal, for any reason or through any fear, of an adequate measure of responsibility to Indian representatives and legislatives bodies." Do the Anglo-Indian opponents believe that the present system of Government of India is responsible to the people in the sense in which it ought to be? We all know what its responsibility to the Parliament is in reality. It is reduced to a very dangerous minimum-and now even a hint from the Secretary of State is regarded as dangerous to the prestige of the "men on the spot." It is no doubt an irresistible temptation to those who have wielded power so long to oppose any reform tending to transfer that power to the people.