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CHAPTER XXV,
its work while it is not in session. A committee, including the President
for the year and two or three other members, could meet two or three
times during the year, if necessary,and would also be available for con-
sultation by correspondence. The main responsibility for the heavy
task of preparing the material for each session must rest on the chief
executive officer and his staff ; but the general supervision of an execu-
tive committee would be valuable in securing that the material is pre-
pared in a form acceptable to the Conference, in controlling expen-
diture and in making arrangements for the sessions. If the future con-
stitution of India makes it at all possible, it would be most desirable
that the expenses of the Council should come from central revenues.
Otherwise, they must be met by provincial contributions. In the
former case, the Central Government and Legislature should control the
budget. In the latter case it will probably be necessary to arrange
for fixed allotments, e.g., for five years, and this might be settled by
representatives of the provincial Governments, after consultation with
the Executive Committee or the Council. But the same problem may
arise in connection with other co-ordinating authorities, and some other
solution may be found more suitable. We do not propose to discuss the
procedure of the Council in detail ; this must, to some extent, be guided
by its evolution and we suggest that it might be left, in part, for regula-
tion by the Council itself. But we invite attention to a study of the
methods adopted by the International Labour Conference as giving
useful suggestions for the procedure in the early years. A Council
constituted as we have suggested would naturally be brought into close
contact with the International Labour Organisation. It would obviously
be well qualified to advise on the Draft Conventions and Recommendations
adopted by the International Labour Conference. There should be little
difficulty in establishing a convention whereby the Central Legislature
referred the decisions of this Conference to the Council which in turn
would forward its conclusions to the Legislature.
Competition of Indian States.

We have referred to the increasing economic unity of India and
the need for co-ordination in labour matters. Our enquiry, however,
has related only to a part of India, for the Indian States lie outside our
scope. But their presence cannot be ignored in considering the problems
of British India, for they shareincreasingly its economic unity and its
industrial development and are bound to exercise an important influence
on its political development. They lie in some cases close to industrial
centres in Indian provinces ; but the laws and regulations which protect
labour in, those centres do not extend across the boundaries of the States.
A number of States have copied various Acts of the Indian legislature ;
but, except in rare cases, their labour laws are substantially behind those
of British India. Industrialists not unnaturally feel the danger involved
in making advances in British Indian legislation while their rivals within
the boundaries of the States remain unaffected by these advances. There
is already, in fact, on a small scale, the problem which would face all
India if central labour legislation disappeared. In making our proposals