The Reminiscences of Zafrulla Khan — Page 121
121 REMINISCENCES OF SIR MUHAMMAD ZAFRULLA KHAN secretary and I travelled down to Gwalior and when we got to the flying boat we discovered that Dick Casey, then Finance Minister of Australia, was also in it and was going to London for the same purpose. I had known him during the Coronation of King George VI. He was accompanied by a General and one other delegate. We travelled together up to Marseilles. Beyond Alexandria we could only make short hops because the days were short, and under war restrictions civilian aircrafts could only fly during daylight hours below the clouds, so that they should remain visible from the ground. We flew from Gwalior to Karachi, from Karachi to Basra, from Basra to Alexandria, taking one day for each sector. From Alexandria, we were not able to go beyond Corfu, the first day, because if we had attempted Brindisi, the sun might have set in the meantime and that would have been contrary to regulations. The next day we went on from Corfu to Marseilles. At Marseilles, we were taken to a hotel and we were at dinner - my secretary and I at one table, and Dick Casey and his people at another - when Dick came over to me and said, "Zafrulla, I have received a message here that I must not travel by the flying boat to London. So the British Consul, who brought me this message says he has sleeping berth reservations for me and my companions on the night train to Paris, and if you would wish to do the same, he says he can secure reservations for you also. " I enquired, "Is the flying boat not carrying on to England tomorrow?" He said, "Yes, the flying boat is carrying on to England. " I said, "Well, then, why don't we all go on by the flying boat?" He said, "It is something that I can't understand. Apparently my government wanted a guarantee of 100 percent security for me and my companions from the Admiralty, and the Admiralty said being wartime they could not guarantee even one percent security. Everybody must travel at his own risk. They would give reasonable directions and take feasible precautions, but they would not guarantee anything. The Australian government then said that in that case, we must travel overland. So we are going overland to Paris and then from Paris we shall go on to London. " I told him that as my government had sent me no such instructions and the flying boat was going on to the United Kingdom, we would carry on in the flying boat. The next day we left by the flying boat and were flying parallel to the Franco-Spanish border towards the Bay of Biscay, when one of the