Reforms and the Lee report
Lahore, Sunday, December 7, 1924
AT the time of writing, we do not have before us the official communication concerning the decision of His Majesty’s Government on the Lee report, which was to be issued on Friday evening. But judging from the semi-official statements that have appeared on this subject in the English Press, and not forgetting what the present British Government might be expected to do in this matter, it is easy to anticipate that decision. It is practically certain that the Bill which is about to be introduced in Parliament will embody provisions to give effect to all the principal recommendations of the Lee Commission. The fact that many of those recommendations have been strongly and unequivocally condemned both in the Indian Press and the Legislative Assembly cannot possibly carry any weight with a government composed of Conservatives, reactionaries and die-hards. To all these elements in British politics, the contentment of the Services in India and the instruments of their policy have always been far more important than the contentment of the people themselves, and the present is essentially a matter in which the two are in conflict. We are not, indeed, sure, as we have said already, that even the Labour Government would have been substantially more responsive to Indian opinion in such a matter, though it is quite probable that in some minor details it would have made a show of deferring to Indian opinion as expressed in the Assembly. The present government can easily dispense with such a pretence.
