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

(Official.) He is concerned by the increasing strain to which Reading has been exposed owing to increasing defiance of the law in different parts of India, and offers suggestions as to how to deal with the situation. The first essential is to re-establish respect for the law, and therefore blatant breaches of the law should be prosecuted, selecting the leaders where selection is necessary. Secondly, it is worth considering whether, as the responsibility for maintaining law and order lies with the Provincial Governments, anything could be done to make them more active partners in a common policy, perhaps by holding more frequent conferences, particularly as the Ministers of Provincial Governments now represent the people. Lastly, more encouragement should be given by officials to representatives of the moderate party, who may have been led to believe that their views had been subordinated in the past to those of the more vocal extremists.

(Cuttings from a larger document.)