(From an editorial)
The official head of the Moderate party has borne testimony to the sincerity of the Government of India’s zeal for real reform in India. With a temerity which his captains might admire but dare not emulate, he once made the astounding suggestion that there was nothing reactionary about the Government of India’s famous Despatch on the Bill. Another and equally notable monument to their zeal for democracy and the early realisation of self-Government in India is to be found in the draft rules framed by them. The rules of business of the Legislative Assembly and the Provincial Councils show up the Reform Act in its true character. They make the position of these Councils actually worse in some important respects than it now is. Hitherto, it was possible to raise a discussion on important subjects in the Councils either by a motion for adjournment or by means of Bills. Hereafter, these courses have been either effectively shut out or so modified as to make them useless for the purpose for which they are intended. The bureaucracy learnt by bitter experience the uses to which these provisions may be put and they have now so hedged them in with restrictions as to render them futile. Its powers will, under the new rules, be as effective as ever.
