The Reminiscences of Zafrulla Khan — Page 69
69 REMINISCENCES OF SIR MUHAMMAD ZAFRULLA KHAN compliment to me, and I am very grateful if you feel that way. " He said, "All right, then. I will let the Viceroy know. We shall later, as you are coming back here, discuss the details. " Now, this was July, 1934, and the appointment was to take effect in April, 1935. So I said to Sir Samuel Hoare, "Very good, Sir, we can discuss details then, but there is one matter I want to mention now. It is usual to make these announcements in the beginning of the year. Now, I am a practising lawyer and I propose to practise right to the last day before I take charge of the office. It might be embarrassing for me to have the announcement made too early. " He said, "Very well, I shall keep that in mind. We can discuss it when we meet again. " A week later I was due to call on the Viceroy, a matter of courtesy. We had been colleagues in his Council and both he and Lady Willingdon had been extremely gracious to me. Lord Willingdon had brought to the Viceroyalty a great deal of humanity. He met people at an equal level, made them feel at ease, and showed them every courtesy. He was a man of very liberal ideas. Without any change in the constitution, his running of that very high and exalted office became much more liberal than it had been during any earlier regime. All of us respected him very highly. When I went to call on him I knew that the Secretary of State and he had decided that I should succeed Sir Fazle Hussain, but perhaps he did not yet know that the Secretary of State had mentioned the matter to me. In the course of our conversation he said, "Oh, my dear, would you do me a favour?" I said, "Yes, Sir, anything you ask. " He said, "I know you are making tons of money at the Bar, but I think I may claim I have some right to ask you to do something for me. " Now this was a very gracious way of putting it. I knew at once what he had in mind, and with regard to "the tons of money," I also knew what he was referring to. He had on one occasion, after I had officiated at his Council, asked me whether I would be interested in the Chief Justiceship of the Lahore High Court, and I had said, I would consider it an honour if I were called upon to take it on but that it was due both to the office and to me that I would not run after it. He was very struck by that and had said, "Well, my dear, I look at it this way. You have been doing a lot these last few years for your people and you have never asked me for anything, but I have been on the lookout