INDIA'S GOODWILL

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 221, 19 September 1938, Page 11

INDIA'S GOODWILL

VALUE TO EMPIRE. TRADE AND PROSPERITY. VISITIHG PROFESSOR'S VIEW. That India's goodwill should be cultivated as a means of strengthening the Empire was the opinion expressed this morning by Dr. Kalidas Nag, professor of ancient history at the University of Calcutta, on his arrival by the Monterey, after attending the second British Commonwealth Relations Conference u an Indian delegate. The main problem in India at the present time was the establishment of self-government, he said. It was necessary that, in government, India should be established in a strong independeWl position, similar to that of'the other Dominions, in the event of any major complication affecting the British Em-

pire. If trouble came, India's goodwill would be of the greatest value, and it could only be developed through Dominion status. In trade the interest* of India differed greatly from those of the other parts of the Empire, continued Dr. Nag, and for this reason it had been necessary in 1936 to make a complete breakaway from the operation of the Ottawa agreements. India abolished the agreements because of the conditions governing her secondary industries and the tightness of the money market. The effect of the Ottawa policy had been to create stagnation in industry, with consequent harm to the nation's life. Free trade with the countries which could make and sell goods at low prices and had a standard of living comparable with that of the huge population of India was the only system under which India could progress. In the past two years, since the termination of the agreements, there had been a definite improvement in the tone of industry and in prosperity. Dr. Nag intende> to spend a week in New Zealand, studying particularly the culture of the Maoris. He first became interested in the Maoris through a "book on New Zealand myths and songs by Mr. Johannes Anderson, of the TurnbuU Library, Wellington, and on the way to New Zealand he met Dr. Peter Buck, of the Bishop Museum, Honolulu. "I want to see the Maori collections in your museums," he said, "and if possible to meet some of the leaders of the Maoris." Among his many interests, he is founder and one of the most active members of the Calcutta branch of the P.E.N, (poets, editors, essayists, and novelists) Club, and he hopes to meet New Zealand members of the club.

Dr. Xag said the conference in Sydney had discussed many burning topics, and he wm impressed by the fraternity of the gathering.