The Rowlatt Bill.

THE Imperial Legislative Council, or rather the official majority have, under the guidance of the Executive Government, taken the fatal step which the country has been asking them with one voice to avoid. At 8.30 p.m. on Tuesday they passed the Criminal Emergency Powers, now called the Anarchical and Revolutionary Crimes Bill. An Associated Press message states that the Bill was passed “after a full discussion” that “during the debate nearly all the non-official Indian members opposed the Bill,” and that some of these members, notably “Messrs Banerjea and Shastri, Dr. Sapru, Pandit Malaviya and Mr. Sharma made strong speeches.” We have not before us the text of these speeches, but judging from past experience we have no difficulty in forming an idea of what transpired. It must have been one more case of the reasons being on one side and the votes on the other. Some non-official members were either absent or did not vote, for while the official majority stood at nearly its original figure, being 35, the non-official minority was 20 or five less than the number that supported the amendment.