Item 2 - Copy of a telegram from Lord Reading to Edwin Montagu

Part 2. With regard to amending the [Government of India] Act, they are bound by the period mentioned in it, though Parliament might consent to an earlier period if it chose; but though he can conceive proposals for amendments to improve the constitutional machinery and advancing towards Dominion status, he is not prepared to advise this step at present. Malaviya has asked him to receive a deputation on the 21st to request a conference, but he has refused to do so unless the boycott of the Prince of Wales’s visit was called off. He added, however, that if Gandhi and his associates were to make such a gesture he would withdraw the proclamation against volunteers and release certain prisoners, and Ronaldshay is pursuing a similar course. He has made a number of cautious reservations to Malaviya about the holding of a conference.

(Carbon copy. Continued from A3/15/1.)