APPENDIX V.

THE HON'BLE MR. V. J. PATEL'S SPEECH, DATED 22ND AUGUST 1925.

to me.

Gentlemen, I thank you most sincerely for electing me to this Chair. 1 thank you again for the kind words that you have spoken this morning and for the best wishes that you have expressed. I frankly confess, gentlemen, that the feeling uppermost in my mind just at this moment is that it will be difficult for me to carry on the duties of this office after having been engaged for 12 or 15 years in public activities. But I assure you that I have accepted this office with high hopes and fully realizing the implications involved therein. I had to consider, in my mind, whether I would be more useful to the cause of my country by remaining a non-official Member of this Assembly or whether I could serve my country as usefully by accepting this Chair if you offered it Before I made up my mind to stand as a candidate, the decision of this question worried me for days and nights, and ultimately I came to the conclusion that I would be serving the cause of my country better by the choice I have made and therefore I accepted it. The Swarajists are often described as critics, destructive critics: and it has therefore become their duty, whenever an honourable opportunity offers, to show not only to this House but to the whole world that, if they know how to destroy, they know also how to construct. They have to show when real responsibility comes to them that they are ready to discharge the duties placed upon their shoulders. You know, gentlemen, that His Excellency the Viceroy was good enough to plead for co-operation for the new President from all sections of the House; my predecessor, to whom we just bade good-bye, also pleaded for such co-operation. May I also appeal to every section of this House for the same co-operation? When I ask for co-operation, Gentlemen, I assure you that I am conscious of the fact that it cannot be one-sided. Co-operation is always mutual; and I particularly ask the official Benches to bear this in mind that when I appeal to them for their co-operation, I am ready in every sense of the term to extend my co-operation to them. (Cheers.) The principles which will guide me in the discharge of my duties have already been expressed by me in my letter to the Members of the Assembly. I should have liked to read out those words now, but I am sorry I have not got them with me. In the discharge of my duties, I shall, I assure you, observe strict impartiality in dealing with all sections of the House, irrespective of Party considerations. (Cheers.) From this moment, I cease to be a Party man. I belong to no Party. I belong to all Parties. (Hear, hear.) I belong to all of you and I hope and trust, my Honourable friend, the Leader of the Swaraj Party, will take immediate steps to absolve me from all the obligations of a Swarajist Member of this House, if, indeed, it has not been done by implication in consequence of my election to this Chair. (Cheers.) Misgivings have been ( 367 )

expressed in some quarters, fears have been entertained, that I would not meet the Viceroy, that I would do this, and that I would do that. I assure you, friends, that I am going to do nothing of the kind. If the duties of my office require me to see the Viceroy ten times a day, I am here to do so. If for the discharge of my duties it is necessary that I should see every official Member of this House, I will meet him. None need have any doubt about it, and none need have any apprehensions about it. Once again, let me thank you for the co-operation that you have promised in the discharge of my duties. (Cheers.) I will now ask Honourable Members to come up and shake hands with me.

APPENDIX VI.

HIS EXCELLENCY THE VICEROY'S SPEECH, DATED 20TH AUGUst 1926.

Gentlemen of the Indian Legislature, after a considerable separation from you a separation on this occasion to be measured not only in point of time, but also by distance in space-it gives me special pleasure to meet you, the Members of the Indian Legislature, once more and to welcome you to the labours of another Session. My first endeavour must be to gather up the threads of administration in India and to mention a few of the topics which have been engaging attention during my absence, or which are likely to occupy, your interest in the immediate future. It is a source of gratification to me that in my absence no anxious crisis arose in India, and that the administration was carried on smoothly and efficiently under the capable guidance of His Excellency Lord Lytton.

But though the Ship of State has been sailing in calm waters, the hand of death has lain heavy in recent months on the friends of India, both English and Indian. Within the last year, and within a few months of each other, two Englishmen-Mr. Montagu and Lord Curzon-whose names will endure. conspicuous in the roll of the great English statesmen who have loved India and devotedly served her-one as Secretary of State, the other as Viceroy— have passed away. They approached Indian problems not always from the same angle of vision. I had the advantage of many discussions with them before I left for India. They were of the greatest assistance in preparing me for the duties of my office. They were the last to bid me good-bye when I first set out for India. Alas! they were both absent from the circle of friends to greet me on my return. More recently the death of two distinguished Indian political leaders-Mr. Das and Sir Surendranath Banerjea— both men of marked personality, intellectual capacity and energetic patriotism, though of different views, has left India in mourning. We have to mourn too the death of the Maharaja Scindia of Gwalior, one of the greatest of Indian Princes, a wise ruler and a true patriot whom I was proud to count. among my friends. I pay also my tribute of regret for the death of two Members of the Legislature-Khan Bahadur Shams-uz-Zoha and Sir Leslie Miller.

And last I must mention the loss which has befallen me and my Govern ment-nay more, India and the Empire-in the sudden and tragic death of the late Lord Rawlinson, one of the most eminent soldiers who have served this country in the high office of Commander-in-Chief. There is no need for me to repeat to you on this occasion the story of his military achievements; his fame as a soldier, both in peace and war, is far extended and will long endure. But it is fitting that I should take this opportunity of commemorat

ing the special service which Lord Rawlinson rendered to my Government, and to India, through his qualities of sympathy and breadth of outlook, and through his prudent and efficient administration of the military services of this country. Members of both Houses of the Legislature will moreover recall many occasions on which they received at his hands the most distinguished consideration. It was ever his desire to satisfy their interest in, and increase their knowledge of, the Army and Army Administration. It is especially true to say that in all his work as Commander-in-Chief and as Member of my Executive Council his constant aim was to secure that which he sincerely believed to be the best both for the India of the present and the India of the future. I deeply mourn the loss of a personal friend and comrade.

"The Souls of the righteous are in the hands of God,

There shall no torment touch them."

When Lord Rawlinson died, his successor, Field-Marshal Sir William Birdwood, though already designated, was not in India, and in such a situation my Government were fortunate in that they could for the time being command the services of General Sir Claud Jacob, of whom it is sufficient to say that his fitness to fill the breach rested upon 42 years' service in the Indian Army, the high reputation as a Commander of troops which he gained during the Great War, his still recent experience as Chief of the General Staff in India, and last but not least upon the respect and confidence in which he is deservedly held throughout the Army in India. To-day it is my privilege and pleasure to extend a cordial welcome to Sir William Birdwood who in the last few days has returned to India and assumed his high office. He is the first Commander-in-Chief in India to hold at the same time the exalted military rank of Field-Marshal, a distinction which he has earned by services to the Crown of an exceptionally high order, both in India and elsewhere. Sir William Birdwood is, however, so well and widely known as to stand in no need of further recommendation from me. I welcome him also as a colleague in my Council and wish him good fortune and good guidance in the discharge of the responsible duties upon which he has entered.

Gentlemen of the Legislative Assembly, in pursuance of the provisions of the Government of India Act, you have been called upon, for the first time, to elect your President on the 22nd day of this month, and it is therefore fitting for me on this occasion to express my own and my Government's appreciation of the services which have been rendered, not only to the Assembly, but also to the Provincial Legislative Councils throughout India, by the first President of the Legislative Assembly. The Legislative bodies as established under the Government of India Act were so different in their composition from those set up under earlier Acts of Parliament that it was thought right to make provision for a President who should be indubitably independent of the Government, a person clear of all possible suspicion of being even unconsciously biassed in favour of Government. At the same time it was recognised that on the standard set by the first Presidents of the different Legislative bodies, and more particularly on the standard set by the first President of

the Legislative Assembly, the future of the Assembly and of the Legislative bodies in the Provinces would greatly depend. It was essential that the first President of the Assembly should be a man liberally versed not only in the written rules, but also in the unwritten tradition of the Mother of Parliaments, so that, in the time allotted to him by the Statute, he might establish in this Assembly a high standard of public order, a true appreciation of the dignity and responsibilities of the Chamber, and a perfect confidence in the rigid impartiality of the Chair, and further that he might foster in every Member of the Assembly a deep sense of regard not only for the rights, but also for the feelings of every other Member of the Chamber, a sense of regard which should remain unaffected even in the extreme heat of party controversy. Gentlemen, to my great regret it has not been my privilege to attend your proceedings in person, but in addition to your printed proceedings, a daily report reaches me of your doings, and alike from these sources and from the testimony of official and non-official Members of this Assembly and also of the distinguished visitors from many parts of the world who have witnessed your proceedings, I am able to say with confidence that Sir Frederick Whyte has discharged to the utmost the very heavy responsibilities laid upon him as first President of the Legislative Assembly, and I welcome this opportunity of tendering to him my thanks and the thanks of my Government for his very notable achievement. If I may be allowed to offer advice to his successor, it is that he hold fast to the tradition which has been established for your Chamber by your first President, and to this end I ask you gentlemen of the Assembly to give to your new President in his difficult task the generous co-operation which you have always accorded to your first President.

I pass now to a brief review of the affairs of India. I am glad to say that our relations with neighbouring States remain cordial and that no questions of importance are outstanding. I wish I could report an equal absence of controversial matter in regard to the position of Indians in South Africa. At the moment I should not be well advised to say more than that my Government is watching the situation closely and is still in communication with the Government of South Africa.

In internal affairs we have been faced recently with some industrial depression. Fortunately this has not been associated with any failure of Indian harvests, and exports have been well maintained. The depression in Indian industries appears to be a phase of a world-wide movement. Throughout the world industries are experiencing the difficulties of adjusting themselves to the new post-war conditions. India could not expect to escape. India has in fact been fortunate that this change has not come to her so quickly or so severely as in many other countries, and owing to a succession of good harvests there is a reserve of buying power in the country. Nevertheless the process of adjustment is difficult and the condition of several of these industries will come before you. Public attention has recently been directed to the great cotton mill industry which after a period of unexampled prosperity and expansion is now experiencing a reaction. My Government has been watching