power within the limitations set by the Government of India Act. They also appealed to the British Government to give assurances that the Governor's special powers will not be misused. On 22 June, Viceroy Linlithgow issued a statement expressing the British Government's desire to work with the Congress in implementing the 1935 Act. On 1 July, the Congress Working Committee (CWC) agreed to form Governments in the provinces they had won. On 14 July, Erskine had to swear in the Congress leader Chakravarthi Rajagopalachari as the Premier. Erskine had a cordial personal relationship with Rajagopalachari though they disagreed over some issues. When Rajagopalachari took a month's leave, he requested Erskine to look after most of his duties. It is also alleged that Rajagopalachari suggested knighthoods for some his friends. However, there were disagreements over the constitution of the ministry. Erskine also opposed Rajagopalachari's usage of the Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1932 during the 1938 Anti-Hindi agitations:"..[Rajagopalachari] was too much of a Tory for me, for though I may want to go back twenty years, he wishes to go back two thousand and to run India as it was run in the time of King Ashoka". Erskine was also a regular visitor to the Nilgiri Hills. On a public reception accorded to him by the Kotagiri Panchayat Board in 1935, he gave Kotagiri town the sobriquet, "Princess among Hill Stations". The first regular radio service in the Madras Presidency commenced in 1938 when the All India Radio established its station in Madras. The Congress ministry resigned on 9 October 1939 over the outbreak of Second World War. Erskine declared an emergency and took over the reins of the administration. Rajagopalachari and other ministers were arrested as per Defence of India Act rules. On 21 February 1940, Erskine repealed the unpopular law imposing compulsory study of Hindi in the Madras Presidency. Later life With no hope of continuing a political career, and finding that representing the seat was very expensive, Erskine resigned his seat and went to live in his house at Ickworth near Bury St Edmunds. He continued to comment on Indian affairs, bemoaning the influence of Gandhi. His second son was killed in action in 1945. Active in voluntary work locally, Erskine was appointed President of the Navy League. A major operation in the early 1950s damaged his health, and he died in 1953 during the lifetime of his