The Indian Currency Commission

The Assembly did exceedingly well at its meeting on Monday in passing a vote of censure upon the government in connection with the composition and personnel of the Royal Currency Commission. That such a motion was in contemplation was common knowledge at Simla, but doubt was entertained in some quarters as to whether the government would permit the motion to be brought forward. It was apprehended that exception would be taken to the motion on the ground that the commission was a Royal Commission. Happily, the apprehension proved unfounded. The government did object to the motion, but it was on the very different ground that Sir Purushottamdas Thakurdas’ Bill on the same subject would soon come up for consideration. However, Thakurdas had no intention, as he stated, of bringing forward his Bill, as he had already accepted membership of the Royal Commission. This left the government without any valid excuse for opposing the motion. As was to be expected, MA Jinnah, who brought forward the motion, had no difficulty in making out an irresistible case in favour of it. He was followed by several others, particularly Jamnadas Mehta, who condemned the composition and personnel of the commission in justly severe, in fact, scathing, terms. They concentrated their attack on two things, the fact that the Indian members were in a minority on the commission and also that three members out of four even in this minority were unacceptable to the Indian public. As one of the speakers pointed out, they were men who have had no chance of being elected by any Indian constituency.