Faces West, Faces East

George V journeyed up from Sandringham to his capital last week, faced two momentous Royal chores:

Chore 1. His Majesty must open Parliament. Scot MacDonald brought him his speech, written by the Cabinet. He must say, chiefly, that "my Government" proposes to ask the Parliament to repeal the Trade Union Act.

Put on the statute books by the last British Government (that of Conservative Stanley Baldwin) this act was designed to prevent a recurrence of the British general strike (TIME, May 10, 1926 et seq.), is detested by every Laborite. Clamor within the party has finally forced Laborite MacDonald to seek its repeal, to risk almost certain defeat on the one issue on which the Liberals, who hold the balance of power in Parliament, may be expected to vote against him.

A vote need not come at once, may be delayed for weeks, but all three British parties were preparing last week for the Government's fall, and a general election before the end of the year.

Chore 2. As Emperor of India George V must open the Indian Round Table Conference, scheduled to assemble in the Royal Gallery of the House of Lords, on Nov. 12. Most of the Indian delegates were in London last week, already quarreling among themselves. The more exalted contingent of maharajas and rajas held a secret session in St. James's Palace presided over by H. H. the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir, famed some years ago as "Mr. A" when a smart Englishwoman worked the badger game on him in Paris (TIME, Dec. 15, 1924).

Slim hopes that the conference might succeed were based last week on a plan to be offered by the Viceroy of India, Baron Irwin, as an alternative to the recommendations of the Simon Report (TIME, June 30 et seq.). It was expected that Lord Irwin would urge an extension of the system of "dyarchy." Under this system the less important provincial offices of the Government of India are administered by natives, all the really vital departments, such as Police, being "reserved." To carry "dyarchy" a little further would be an important concession from the British point of view, would not meet even half way the demands of St. Gandhi whose followers have boycotted the conference.

Never unduly optimistic, British politicians of all three parties seemed to feel that the conference is bound to fail. From the jail in which St. Gandhi sits reports issued recently that he will try to set up in India a "parallel government." If this outlandish scheme is tried, self-appointed Gandhites will try to duplicate all the functions of the Government of India. They already have their own "police" who try and are frequently permitted to keep order at Gandhite mass demonstrations when the regular police find themselves swamped by numbers.

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