INDIA AND EMPIRE EXHIBITION

AT a recent meeting of the Bombay Legislative Council, there was an interesting debate regarding the budget demand for an expenditure of Rs 43,000 for the Empire Exhibition to be held in London. A much larger sum had already been spent on the exhibition, having been sanctioned by the old council, but there was no disposition among the bulk of the non-official members of the present council to sanction the additional demand, and they strongly protested against India’s participation in the exhibition for political reasons. They pointed out how shabbily India had been and was being treated by several Dominions, notably South Africa, and how the Colonial Office had deliberately assigned an inferior and dishonourable position to Indians in Kenya, in spite of the resolution of the Empire Conference assigning equality of status to Indians in the empire. The Empire Exhibition, they said, had been organised for the glorification of an empire in which Indians were treated as helots, and it was altogether dishonourable for them to take part in it. This view was combated by Mr Grantham, representative of the European Chamber of Commerce, who wanted the Indian members to look at the question from a business point of view and said that India would gain materially by representing its exportable produce and manufactured articles at the exhibition, which was the biggest in the world. India’s importance in the world’s market, he said, was already recognised, and it was not wise to refuse the present opportunity of advertising the best of its products by participating in the forthcoming exhibition.

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