The Reminiscences of Zafrulla Khan — Page 101
101 REMINISCENCES OF SIR MUHAMMAD ZAFRULLA KHAN done it long ago. But it does not make any difference to my efforts at getting an agreement whether you resign or you do not resign. If you resign I will be sorry that I will lose a personal friend from the Board of Trade, but I have got to carry out my instructions and try to do the best for my people. Equally, you have got to do the best for yours. So, let us carry on in a business spirit rather than on the question whether you will resign or not. " He found that that did not carry him very far. Anyhow, we carried on, and again, unfortunately he fell ill, and this time he was not even present when the matter went up to the Cabinet. The then Minister of Health, Kingsley Wood, was put in charge of the matter. Brown told me that the proposition which we had jointly put up was accepted, and added, "But only a Minister can communicate a Cabinet decision to a Minister, so you will have to come along with me tomorrow to the Board of Health for Mr. Kingsley Wood to convey the decision to you. " We had been working on alternative proposals, one I had not been able to accept, the other I could. Both were sent up to the Cabinet and the Prime Minister had very kindly supported the one I could accept. When Brown and I met the Minister, he said, "Mr. Minister, I have been commissioned to tell you that the Cabinet has decided. . . " and he began to read the Cabinet decision. This was what I had not been willing to accept. I looked at Brown and he got up and said, "You will forgive me, Mr. Minister, this was not the paper that was approved. " "Oh," he said, "I beg your pardon. " Brown drew his attention to the relevant paper, which he then read out to me. It was not his case, the matter was complicated, and his mistake was understandable. I thanked him, and we withdrew. The main feature of that agreement was that the main concession to the United Kingdom was on the part of the cotton textile mill owners in India, in the shape of reduced preferential customs duties on Lancashire goods, and the major benefit resulting from the agreement was the higher quantities of short staple Indian cotton that Lancashire bound itself to take. There were other features, but those were minor as compared with these. From that point of view, I think we were able to fix up a fairly good arrangement. Even Sir Homi Mody, who was President of the Bombay Millowners' Association and happened to be in England towards the end of our discussions expressed himself more than satisfied with the result. But when the agreement came up for