On Monday the Indian Legislative Assembly . .passed, resolution giving notice to
terminate the Ottawa Agree- ments ;._ .and since the Government, promised in 1932, and repeated its . promise last year, to abide by the decision of the Assembly, it will have no choice but to terminate the agreements before they are renewable. Sir Zaffrullah Khan, the Commerce Member, declared that the Government would regard the Assembly's decision as. binding. Duties on cotton piece goods, artificial .silk goods, steel and iron- are not determined by the agreements, and it is not certain that India would gain or we suffer. by their termination. Indeed, the motives for the Assembly's decision are more political than _economic. • The Indian National Congress has de- nounced Ottawa as Hitler denounces Versailles, and for them freedom from Ottawa is freedom from a " diktat " which limits India's powers of self-determination and of negotiation with foreign countries. That applies to other Dominions too, and we have not heard the last of it.
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