The Reminiscences of Zafrulla Khan — Page 126
126 REMINISCENCES OF SIR MUHAMMAD ZAFRULLA KHAN Mr. Hambro of Norway was the President of the Session, and he was intensely annoyed by my speech, so that when I finished, he leaned over and reminded the interpreter who was going to interpret my speech - it used to be consecutive interpretations in those days, not simultaneous as it is now - that the rules did not require that the whole speech should be interpreted. It would be enough to give the gist! I reminded the assembled delegates that if they did not stand together, they would be broken one by one. Of course, it was not the kind of thing they relished hearing from somebody representing a country which was not even independent and who dared to tell them what to do. I, on the other hand, thought the occasion demanded that one should speak out one's mind boldly. From Geneva, I took a train to Marseilles. It was a very crowded train; by that time the mobilization was in full swing and I could not get even seating accommodations. From Marseilles, I caught a flying boat back to Delhi. Question : After you came back from China as Agent General, you attended the Pacific Relations Conference at Mont Tremblant in Quebec. Would you care to say something about that ? Khan : As I have said, after my return from Chungking, I sat on one case on the Court, and then there was a fairly clear run, there was not anything ready for hearing and the Chief Justice had no objection. So I agreed to lead a small delegation to the Pacific Relations Conference at Mont Tremblant. Being the middle of the war, the journey had some interesting features. From Karachi to Cairo there was no difficulty. When we arrived in Cairo, we found that the next lap would be from Cairo via Khartoum, Juba, Stanleyville, Leopoldville, to Lagos, in Nigeria, and that was controlled by the Middle East Command. We had to wait in Cairo for two or three days and were allotted seats in the next flying boat proceeding to Lagos. At that time, Dick Casey, whom I have already mentioned in connection with the Dominions Ministers Conference, was the British Resident Minister in the Middle East. He very kindly sent his secretary to meet the flying boat on its arrival from Karachi, with a message that he would be happy to put me up. But I preferred to stay at the hotel where accommodations had already been taken for us. I gladly agreed to go to lunch with him the next day. He was very worried over the