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ananJayarao Gadgd Library 

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GIPE-PUNE-014985

n 

. 

No. I-Vol. XXIII. 

1f 

2nd. 1925. 

RegIstered at the G. P: O. as a Ne..." .... 

Pale" FouuAu 

BOR 

OUGHS OR t 

~~d 'ANCE 1924 (NATAL) . ,~,~_,~) 

. 'U.~----- 

lIE following pl'oclamation, appears ?h 

fTnion Gowmmmt (}auliIJ dated 19th e 

bel' 192-1 :_ 

si 

Whereas an Ordinance J,6 'eonsohdate aUt h 

the law relating to the constitution of 

boronghs elections and general authority 

councils and to define the powers of town 

was passed by tbe Natal Provincial Council 

presented by the Administrator of Nata P 

Oovern01'-General-in-Council for assent in aeco I 

with section mllel" of the South Africa Ac ;~('e 

tb(> second day lJf August, 1924; • ~u \ 

An4 whereas the Governor-General-in-C \ 

accordance with the said section reserved I "n' 

Ordinance for further consideration; . 'said 

And whereas the Governor-General-i 

has determined that the said Ordmance sha neil 

bis aRsent ; 

eive 

Now, therefore, under and by virtue ot th 

vel:!tetJ in me by sectIOn ninety of the Sout ve;1l 

Act, 1909, I do hereby declare, proclaim rica 

known that the said Ordmance the short tit lake 

of is ., The Boroughs Ordinance 1924," P erethe 

Provincial Council of Natal, and pres by { 

atoresald, has recelv~d the assent of the i as ~ 

General-in-Council, . 

GOD ~A VE THE KING 

•. Given under my Hand and the Great Se 

Union of South Africa at Pretoria, this Tw 

of December, One' thousand Nine hune 

'rwellty-ioUl·. 

ATHLONE, fl

M Jahuary 2nd, 192.5, 

2 j' . INDIAN Or'~----~--~--~~- 

( 1-:-, --------.....--..... 

~../ ; ush;ed th)'ough and p:W!e

~ .January~~d;' I9!.5_-____ I_N_D_l_A_li_r-0_P_I_N_l_O_N __________ 

, 

"'mit t~jlJ s~p will he worth taking only if we are 

,)'l'flpar,ed to fight the OrdiP!'nce in any event. It 

shoul!} not be forgotten that this Ordinance is not 

the first of its kind that strikes a blow at the remnants 

of 'Our existing lights to live as self-respecting British 

citiiens in ~1J.is country which were promised by 

the UI]lon Government not to l}e interfered with. 

Sever," - Ordinances have preceded the present 

one depriving Indians 'of their rights in Some 

way or oth~r ~nd the leJ,.al,ity of whIch does not 

require to be tefltell. this Ordinance embodies 

practIcally ~}l the ,evils of the other Ordinances and 

,in addition takes away -the mnnicipal franchise 

I hitherto enjoyed by the Indian commnnity of this 

Pr(\virrce; and in th!1 reSi)ect it is more Venolll(\us 

than the rest. What we wish to point out. how. 

~ver, is thai the SlUS of this -Province are sufficient 

I eveu without this Ordinance to jUstify the Indian: 

~CQIllJ.JUlUity..J.o--ad0Pt- ,passive Resistance right away. 

I But there is no b,artn in letting 'Constitutional means 

l'~ thoroughly exhansted and hence we approve of 

(pe step proposed to test the legality of the present 

tOr

4 INDIAN OPINION Jannary ~nd. J925-~ 

reason for this was that his lease had expired, and went to show that by neglect and. a\lowln'S the CO" 

Mr. W. North had purchased the old premises, and gr~gation of undeSirable NatiVE'S and others. J 

which were now delapldated. Applicant submitted nUIsance had developed of whICh the residents hal 

a number of references, one frQm the Manager of from time to time cOIllplamed to the pollce. E,\ 

the Standard Bank, Durban, and the others from dence by the objectors showed that Northdene w., 

Durban merchants, and saId that he aad been a dIstinctly European area, that the numher of SUCl 

trading twenty years in the old premises. 

resIdents W firm admitted having a retail licence application be refused. 

at Umlaas; which he explained had been taken out 

by him four _years ago. He dpnied threatening to 

NotIce of appeal wasl odged.-Nalill j["rew11. 

Close or freeze Mrs. Taylor out. He did not attempt 

to undersell her; "in fact," said he, "I do not'trade 

- CABLE TO INDIA J( 

with Europeans." 

The following is a copy of a Cable message f!e~ 

In 'reply to CoL LeWis, witness said tha.t the plan m connection WIth the Natal Boroughs Ordillan 

tlRbmitted was a complete plan of the premises. 1924 to H. E. The Viceroy ot Imha. 

The'y did 'not cook any food in the eating, house for by the Natal Indian Congress :- 

the Nati\7cs.' , 

"Borougps Ordinance No. 1~ Natal ansenteu 1< 

This closed ,the caSe for the applicants. 

by Go"Vernor General notwithsldnding vehernen 

Walter G. North, thecliief objector to the transfer protest from Indian community. Ordinance de 

of the licence, said that fie had lived at Northdene prlves Indians long-enjoyed municipal fr£\llchitll 

for the last fifty years. He objectedJo the transfer and imposes other disablllhes rellncing Indians ~ 

of the licence or the continuance of that business. a condition of helotry. Future of Inllians ill Natal 

He eontended that numerous Natives and Indians 

congregated at that pla$)e. There were generally 

crIcket and football matyhes going on on the m~in 

:road opposite; and also horse -racing. He (WItness) 

had personally made complaints to the police on the 

offensive meat o:ffer~d for sale' by the meat sellers 

who came to the store and who displayed their 

meat wlthin fifteen yards of the premises; He felt 

that Noithdene was essentially a European settlement, 

and apphcants were the only Indians holding 

property in the place., 

There wel'e going to be filter beds near N orthdene, 

proceeded the witness, which meant that large_ 

numbers of Natives would be employed there, and 

to abandon the Native eating house would not 

remedy the matter. 

- In reply to Mr. Renaud, witness stated that applicants 

did not sell the ID{'at, bufthey allowed hawkers 

across the road to' hang It up. 

In reply to the Board, witness thought the grant· 

ing of the new licence would be very pr~judic1a1 to 

'European residents in the district. . 

Jame~,:Turner, a resident of Northdene, and a 

memb,er of the Malvel;n Health Committee. objected 

to the granting of the licence. 

lb.- reply to Mr. Renaud, witness said he had 

'er objected to the renewal of the licence though 

,d remarked on the existing conditions time 

.in. He dId not know that he could object 

",nsfer of the licence- until six months ago. 

'itnesses, _including William A. -Hmes, 

-'l!.lter and Albert Young, also gave evit,he 

granting of the licence. 

'ld Mr. Dyrnes then addressed the 

illD'S DECISION 

'. Bernard Hodson, m giving 

'id the premises for which re 

~use licences are presently 

i had become unfit for 

'uiscs" and the eVlucllce 

doomed. Earnestly appeal to Government to up 

hold India's honour and prestige by seeking tht 

King Emperor's disallowl\llce .to the Ordinance ... 

A Copy of the above message haS been for warde 

t6 Mr. Gandhi and other leaders in India d.ml 

Mr. H. S. L. Polak 1D London. 

THE 'ADVERTISER' AGAIN ON THE ORm 

ANCE 

" INOFF_ENSIVE-UNPRO'fECTED-POWERLEHH " 

The Natal adverltser has the following leadlllg 

article under the above headline 1D its iSbue of Dec. 

22:- 

The passing of the Natal Boronghs Ordmance hat1 

raised a storm of protest wherever Indld.llB are to be 

found in the Empire. This was to have been expected. 

It was also to have been expected that 

" wild and whirling words" would be used by the 

protestors, nor has the publIc had to walt long 

for these. The South AfrIcan Indian Congress h31:1 

passed four resolutions protestmg against the Ordinance, 

and these framed in terms that IMve httle to 

be imagined. • The Ordinance is descrihed as 

"m6diaevlll, reactionary and unjust," and 18 said to btl 

directed against an "moffenslve, unprotected amI 

powerless people purely on account of their race." 

The protest goes on to talk about deliberatel~, rob-, 

bing the rifling and future generAtions of their 

sacred rIghts of mUDlcipal franchise," and leavmg 

them "to the mercy of men who will not deal justly 

with them." It conclulles by threatening pd.Ssivc 

resistance or, as the thIrd resolution euphemistically 

puts it, "whereas other ra

~~u~ry:_?nd. ~~_:_ ' INDIAN OPINION 5 

y ~n sUffrage": wht'n by no means self-evident. We do not think., 3S a 

. "'Llks about the Ordinance being promulgated matter of fact. justice has anrthinl{ to do with thf> 

lW'inst an "inoffensive, nnprott'cted and powet'lt'flfI franchi:if> one way or another. Expt'diency has: 

people pUI'(,I) on account of thE-ir race," it indulges and as evpnts have proved, it is palpably int'xin 

a most deJiciouiI hgging of the whole i:ihue. pedient m the first inst.mc£' to give the Asiatic any 

Uriah HeE'p was a very 'umble person: none 'umbler. franehise rights at all in this country. He got them 

.. I am very well aware that I am the 'umblest from people who were foolftih enough to thillk he 

perflOll goin/.:. let the other be who he may. My would Europeanise hImself. Instead he has mulmother 

is likewise a vet'y 'umble pE-rflOn. We tiphed amazingly and insisted on building up a little 

lJ'.'e in an 'umble abode, Master Copperfield, but Asia in South Africa. -Nothing remains but to 

we have muchJo be thankful for. My father's correct the inexpediency of a generous and informer 

calling was 'umble-he was a sexton. " dUlgent step taken years ago; and even if the 

'Umble-yes. But he came within an ace of heavens themselves thunder about justice or in- 

~I'inging abont the downfall anll rl}in of Mr. Wick- justice, the. Europeans in Natal must not be moved. 

5eld. No less have the "inoffensive, unprotected and There are a dozen ways by which the Indian pro- 

)owerless people," whose reflOlution we are discuss- blem in Natal could be solved with practical advanlng, 

brought grave peril to European civilisation in tages to all concerned that wonld ontweigh any 

Natal. Cannot the Indian see that, shorn of all the sentimental affront done to the doctrinaires or the 

lialectics of the politIcians, what has inspired this protestors on one side or the other. Bnt if we 

Ordinance i!lfun~rcal and imminent fear that, un- listen to abstractions affairs will drift from worse to 

less the creeping tide of Asiatic penetration in worse until it will be the European and not the In- 

Natal is withstood, the painfully and labo~ously dian in Natal who will lift his eyes to the Govern- 

Imilt fabric of Western civihsation must go for IDent and beg for repatriation and domicile along- 

'laught, and topple a ruin and a reproach to those: side his own people at the other side of the world. 

who called.it illl.o--Lcing. Does not the Indian under- 

~tan

has adopted a resolutIon ratifying the pact 

betwtlen Q:andhl and the S,~arajists, which prov\des 

fOJ; the i;'l1J,spe~siol;l of ~th,e non.:co-operation movemt'lnt, 

and allowing the SWIl.~ajiets to represevt the 

Congr~s irt the Leglsla,tures The l\.hilafat Comel' 

en

. - 

1f 

;'f',,, 

NOTES AND NEWS 

HE .'ratal .tdtlert""er Louuon correspondent is ultImately one brotherhood of WI all,-the Brotherstates 

:-Ml'. J. H. Thomas is- contributmg a hood of Man. 

series of articles to Answers on .. Our Empire: 

\Vhat it really IDl'ans." 

tn the 'first article the ex-Oolomal OeCH'kl/'Y ue • BCl'll.trd Houghton gives it aB his OpllllOlJ in the 

('I.wes that Indta's ueIllanu for Helf-goverument barne reVIew that '- 

.. IiOlUe uay !llUtit uU'Iuestioll,tlJly be gl"anteu, WIth Wal'S iLre not. as the hlstorl('S and newspapers 

all that it Involves." 

preleiHl, llJAde lrom some Buddl'n quarrels between' 

Hefel'l'lIIg to the native 'lll('l>iIolI In .Ullca, MI'. st,ltesUlen or from breiLch of a treiLty. They ret!t.lt 

Thomali saytl, .. Our black fello \V so bjects must 1)6 flOru the cla"h of economic interestB. Brittin's' 

de,tit with justly, - pat~cntIy 'and paternally. tWo 

hayt' aecepted 11 brJ'('aL trullt which we must faithfully 

dIscharge, It CMlllot he shir'ked, amI mnst not he 

lIegleeteu. Our only jUlStl~atlO11 for attachml,r these 

landti to OUl' Crown It; the heneficMI nature ot our 

admimstration, and the fact that no exploitation of 

native races is pOHsible tmuel' our fl,!'\(. We, in fact, 

by our own choice, aI'e 'guide, phlloHopbel lIntl 

friend' of the UiHleveio[,Jed races of the earth, aUfl It 

thnr. hecomes ot\r duty, ceJ,tainly to lea.} and to[lc,h 

them, amI occal'lionully to scold them, 

.. And all this has Lut, olle ("!HI III view-not exploitation 

for • Imperial pnrpmws ' Hf these Immature 

races, but rather theIr progress towards hIgher 

rorm~ of life. " 

ent!'y into the recent, war had as much to do with 

thc GermJ.1l lJlvasion of Belgium as with a' solar 

eclipse .• NOl' lbd the Cur's Government order a 

general moLlhZ.ttlOll _ 011 July 30 th, 1911, thereby 

giving the signal for war uecause of the wl'ongs 

of little SerblJ.. It bec.l.Ine the wol'll! slaughter III 

01(11'1' to SeIze .1jonslantIp.ople, the way to whlCh 

the Stel"t·t counCIl in Petl'ogl"iLU in February hau 

accUJ'ately stated to be through llcrhn. The immeruate 

cause WhICh • brought in Brita.in was the secret 

ur,llerstandmg of MI'. Afquith'l'l innel' ciLbmet WIth 

the Prench Government, the ultimate cause - the 

ri, ,tlry betwt'en the British and German iI·onm.tsters 

and exploiters of tl'OPICal peoples. The war was 

the conflict ot rival ImperiiLlisms for the exploitation- 

of the world, - 

------ ----------- - ---------- 

No.2-Vol. XXIII. Friday, January 9th, ~ 1925. 

llogistered at the G.P.o. as • He_papar 

Palea FOUDBRea 

A Reuter's message from Calcutta dated Dec, 2~) 

states :- 

The llengal Legislative CounCIl will meet ou .Jan. 

7 to consider a Bill to give e!frct to the Ordmance 

promulgatell on Oct, 25, under the Emergency 

Powers by the Viceroy, who was s,ltisfied that the 

anarchical movement was deep seated and dangerous, 

8 INDIAN OPINION January 9t h, J 925 

Pal'\Y ~1 l II ~ i. ' ! ,~ \ ~ t " 

duce the same measure but we presume that they 

~~~t~n;ipl~te bringiIzg in at 'not a distant date something 

different and '£a:r more drastIc in Its oPeration. 

We are fumly conVinc'ed'that t;hey in aavisin'g the 

G~v~~~no~\!g~~~i-a~, tOl~\~e '1ii,S c~ty!el~'t t? the passing 

Qt. ~e ~~tal, :aO!~Ug9'i Cpnsolidat~d Ordinance, 

which was,the llext shot fired l:j.t us for our ultimate 

undoing, nave done it with a view to ascertain how 

far 'the community Is iire'pared'io 'go 'in resistIng it 

and w'hat result it I~ likely ~to produce, whether of 

its oWn volItion or through 'th~ mter-ventioll of 

either the Imperial 01' _the Indian Governments, so 

that they mi~ht be MUlded in :tJ!eir own ,time jn, 

dealing with the bogie of "Asiatic menace." There 

will be further attempts by the local, Provincial and 

_ ~ t ~ "- _ _ ~ ~) • 

Central Governments at cribbing our right to remain 

in thill country as peaceful and law-abiding citizens, 

there is_not the least doubt; unless saner cou'usels 

prevail and. the Infinite Justice of God,'makes tliem 

"; (\U' ' '" 

Wlser in IDeir 'generation. 

!,-',' 

LiKe the sword 

, 

of 

:6~~ocles, a gre~t suspense hangs over the c~~m:unt~y 

nq~ 'more than eve~. What- IS iII store for 

pur degradation and slow but sure extermjnation, 

durIng th}s "year, can best be imagined than 'predicted. 

What the Indians have done to merit this 

treatfueht 'paiJses ob.r Ilnderstanding. Are they to 

be itesp~~ed bJd~use ~f thei'r indu~~y, frngalityaud 

j).....;.~ ... I .. I'-Ull~\" ,I I 

simplicity?, A~e t~ese I\ot the qualities that ought 

to appeal and commend themselves to a God-fearin[£ 

-.eople, whose worship of the one, true and living 

1 inculcates'the umversal brotherhood of man? 

'countiimen we say 'be tinlted, be evel' on 

! • Ii tit , 

bear ye one 1\nother's burdens. Your 

I :his cO~litry will, depend a great deal 

'lOndl;tct yourselves, morally, socially, 

oolitically. To the leaders of the 

sink -your illfferences, come 

'd means of taking concerted, 

., to safeguard and pre- 

THE A:::iIATIC pnOHLE)I 

THE Ev'o:\'O:lfic A"PECT: bA~Glm OF RACIAL 

DETE~UORA.TION 

The following artIcle has been con tl'l Luted specl

january 9th. 1925 INDIAN OPINION 9 

In 1889, the IndIan PQPulatioll of Durban was 

:,J, t~ey owned properties vdlned at £28,840; 

~~O l,!dldns b~ . become l'atep.tyers (i.e., burgel:lSel! 

with 'l-obng priVIleges), and 12-1 licences were held 

: 'J Asiatks. The following figures show the gr'

approximate, the European deteriorates. There 

must either be a small white aristocl"dCY with a large 

black or coloured population or a large white population 

with a small cqloured one if the two races are 

to live together under the same climatic condItions, 

KHILAFAT CONGRESS WEEK CONCLUDED 

Reuters message from Be:lgaum dated Dec. 29. 

reads as follows :- 

The Khila£at Congress week concludes to-morrow 

with the departure of Gandhi, who has practically 

dictated the political programme of the Congress. 

Although many sincerely believe in his "message to 

his su,Pporters to use the spinning wheel, as the only 

alternative to ~olence, others, mainly \Sw~rajists, 

have a~eed to the proposal for reasons of expediency, 

The measure of success which Gandhi 

'wIll achieve lU promoting the productiOn of 

"Khaddar" or homespun cloth, in 1925, wIll probably 

determine his,future hold on the_Congress, 

The chief feature of the week has been the 

iced ~helr feelings in this connection, 

From statements made, It appears that aU-the communities 

are preparing to receive the full benefit of 

any future transference of power to the Indians. 

With the l'esult that the movement in favour- of independence 

has lost adherents, 

This, possibly, was responsible for the re;:ngnation 

from Congress of Hasrat Mol)ani, hitherto the 

leader of the movement. 

l'N!HANS IN EAS'!' ~\J!'RICA 

SUIC~~AL D1lICIS!O~ 

BY CO~GRESS 

Nairobi, Dec. 29th (Reuter).-The East AfrIcan 

Iridian National Congress, -after a two-day's stormy 

session at Nairobi, placed on record an epoch-making 

[ sUlcidal in our opinion.-':'Ed.] decision which had 

been engineered by the new President. Abdul 

Wahe(l, a Kenya mel'chant pioneel' who, after 25 

years' reside:fic~ in the Colony., is now its w..ealthiest 

IndIan citizen with very great interests, 

It is interesting to note that Wahed origmally 

met the Hon. Ormsby Gore, the present Under 

Secretary for the Colonies, lfi London, and-.again 

during his recent visit in Nairobi, 

In t.h-e course of pis presidential address, he urged 

that lndians should make peace with Emopeans for 

the next three years in the hope that thereafter it 

would be productive ot ever-lasting amity, 

In t~e course of subsequent debate, the - non-cooperatIve 

element was elu;nmated" and eventually 

Congress passed a resolution deciding to abandon 

the policy of non-co-operation in Kenya, 

In accurdance with this decision it was agreed, 

first, to accept the five nominated Inaian seats in 

the Legislative-Council. to acquiesce in the payment 

of a poll-tax, and, thirdly, to accept repreeentation 

'"In municipal bodies"on the basis or-five Asiatics to 

-'en Europeans. 

~urther resolution was -adopted advising Indians 

,~to accept the proposal thdt one Indian 

(}ve be 'nominated to the Uganda Legis- 

INDIAN OPINION 

"~ next thr~e years (the Indiantl are 

t..-.-~peration with Europeans in the - 

"Ill meet wit~_"reciprocity from 

re l~ 'collaboration _ ill the 

January 9th, J92S~r 

TURKEY OF TO-D'\' Y r -- 

In the course 'of his interestlllg lecture on till I 

above subject in ,the Aligarh Univerbity, Sved H,Ij.: 

~yder, the RegIstrar of the lluslim t:nh'Plsi', 

IS reported to have said :- l ( 

.. I h 

ave been a student of TllI'kish aif,urs all 

ill 

I 

~ovem~nts for a, very long time. I spent :J yea,l; 

m TurkIsh ArabIa, and visited Constantinople twicll' 

and havi~g some acquaintance with the language \ 

the TurkIsh, I h~~ good opportunities of meetmb a',\ 

class~s and, CO~dltIO?S of men and having a comr 

paratlVely mttmate mtercourse with them, 

I have seen Turkey under the absolutest aut~" 

cracies, I Dlean during the days of Sultdn Abdt( 

Hamid; during the ~al'ly days ,of constitutional,: 

monarchy and lastly when Turkey is one of tl~' 

youngest and most thorough-going of Hepublics. , 

I happened to met't a Gel"Illl\l1 'Professor,' a,1 

Ol'lpntaiIst in Berlin, \\ho had just returned fro~ 

Constantinople, and I put a question to him: "Wb I 

struck you most during yom' visit to Turkey? II 

at once unhesitatingly rephed . 

.. The great wave of nationahsm that is passin 

~ over Turkey at present, " 

After'visiting Turkey, I endorse eval'Y wOI'd 0 

what he said. The present-day Turk is an out an 

out nationalist, lie is Turk, first, second aul! las 

He may have been something else some time ago 

Pan-Isldmist or Pan-Asiatic for example. but he- i 

no longer so now, My belief is that he is not muc 

even of a Pan-'!'lIl'3.nian at the present mOIDl'nt, 

He was a Pan-IRlaulll'4t jll~t helOl'e and ,It th 

beginning of the Gredt War. ther became a fenid 

Pan-Turanian, but has finally tleWed down as 8, 

Turk, of the little Englander type. 1I.. does noli 

think in terms of empire or 'of expansion or ofl 

conqu~st or of suzerainty or spiritual 01' tempOI'd!. I 

His only care is to consoliddte the {{{'public that hl~ 

has set up and of which he is inknsely proud.", 

After dwellmg in detail on tIl(' awakening of' 

national consciousness among the Turks and theu' 

political evolutIOn, the lecturer referred to th~ 

emancipation of Turkish Womanhood as a strikin 

feature of modern Turkey and said :- 

"Turkish women were never accustomed to 8ue 

strict seclusion as is observed by or imposed on Indian 

ladies, They went about in the bazaars and 

did their shopping but they went out veiled and 

shrouded. True, the veil was more often than not 

a transparent one, hut it was II necessary IMI t of till' 

outdoor dress of a Turkish latly. 

Now, however, all this is changed, There is 

generally no veil now and, not only that, they mo,'e 

about with greater freedom and less reserve than 

heretofore. The traDl-cars used to have the portion 

reserved for ladies screened off; the screens have 

been taken away. 

These are howe\er only the outwald SIgns of the 

Feminist movement in Turkey which is going forward 

with a great momentum. Women are invaUing 

all departments of life. they are working in offices, 

-in firms, banks, hospitals and scores of other pIdces. 

It was a revelation to me to find in the Stamboul 

University lady students studymg ill the same cLuls 

with young men., '. _ 

Then again, every girl of good breedlllg in Turkey 

tries to learn MUSIC and paintmg. There is a college 

of music called Darul-al-han where both the theory 

and practice of advanced musIC are taught." 

The lecturer then refeJ:red to the rapid educational 

advancement of the people of Turkey and drew 

special attention to an institution SUbSIdised by tht' 

Government for tI'3.ining p£'\lple for the stage. After 

~eferl'ing to the :Military lCn?l. Medical Colleges and 

to the professional skill of the Turks in Burgery, 

:Mr. Syed Sajjad Hyder. in concluding, sa.id;- 

"1 must here also note a great change. The Turk 

who w",; dt'picted, antl not I1njustly, us Pl~'I"ling hh, 

'I


• ,January 9th, 1925 

- ' 

--------------------------------------------~ 

- y 

time in leisured case, smoking his narbtilah and existing system has Ii ved on terrorism and Viceroy 

'pinking of houris. present and prospective, has afier Viceroy as a rule has shut his eyes to the 

8l1d~enly become, an ardent spOl1sman. Yachting, Obvious necessity of consultation with Indian 

l'owmg, ho.l'sC raCeR, shikar; football, hockey, tennis, opinion. The obduracy proves not the uselessness 

are llttractmg tl;ie Turkish young men in their of the advice, it provesthe worthlessness of the 

t~OI1FI:Ul!ls. hilt with all theh'_ forwardnell8 I have system, under which snch systematic defianc of public 

opinion is possible. No wonder the Viceroy, in 

not.spen ladics playing any outdoor game. Unlortnnately 

the Turk has also become a great winebibber. 

He drinks openly, and urges his women -thought he should have had, is obliged to face severe 

stead of obtaining the public support which he 

folk to quaff from the cup. Perhaps my audience condemnation from practically the whole Indian 

will be Burprised to learn that balls and dances have opinion. 

uf.'en introduced in Turkish Social life aud are just 

now the craze. The fact is that the Turk has deliberately 

and definitely turned his face towards the 

west, an from criticilDXl, al); pdy i:1.~.J 

, thaH ; 

had to take his share, hnt if we were/ ' .t ~ "Wtl 

.. . / /U1en. level 

compare wlth him other Indian merCl /fi he sam; 

same financial position, we find ho"';::", . 

was. And it will not be out of r:~~ bftoP WHITE 

some of"the wealthy Ind71'an ~ P,'''''. , 

/':" pl('k('tt'w' 

they are doing for thfc'ir ',- . 

of the 

 

~../ J&. 

the way of giying ther j 

tion in improving tb l 

/ 

rr

INDIAN OPINION January 9th, 1925 

FAIR BREEZE INDIAN SCHOOL 

/' TONGAAT 

The ann~al prize distribution of the above school 

was held on Tuesday the 23rd Decemher 1924. The 

sch.oo~-room was artIstically decorated and a platform 

was erected by the skilful hands of the members 

of ·the school-staff. At 11 a.m. the RE-v. J. 

Metcalf the grantee of the school wIth the ~ev. 

Hodges the Superintendent of the Westeyan Indian 

Mission motored down from Durban to distribute 

the pnzes. 

The school-room was crowded with children and 

friends of the school to its utmost capacity. The 

Rev. J. Metcalf occupied the chaIr. The following 

is an \~~tract f~pm. his speech "How ~leaBed I feel 

to express my appreciation to the donors of these 

beautiful bookil and toys. I also verY heartily congratulate 

the Headmaster and "staff upon the very 

successful work of the past year. Thts IS OIl!) of our 

( oldest schooIs and it continues to be one of our 

ID,ost I,mccesl'lful o;nes.- I am (lE,llighted to thmk that 

you boys and gIrls are here to receive mstructjons 

wInch will be of tAe highest value in your future 

life." _ _ 

His speech was followed by a well arranged ll,rogramme 

or dialogues, drills' and, recitatiolOls. Prizes \ 

were then distributed.. 'rhe ReV.' Hodges in his 

short ad\lress spoke highly of the discipline of the 

sohool and the good work dqne by the Headma~ter 

and his staff. 

During the latter part of the day sports were held 

and all tne winners were aw~rded ~prizes. The 

school in the evening was once again crowded when 

some of the ~uropean friends were also present 

among'whom were Dr. Q. Bonfa, Mr. and Mrs. 

Bower and others. Mr. Captain Hastibeer opened 

the function with prayers. Itllv. R. Choonoo was 

el~cte~ to the ctJ-air. Short speeches were made by 

some.9f the ~riends. Mr.,A, R. Singh in his speech 

promised £3 towards the necessity of a tank for the 

school. The function terminated with a vpte of 

thanks to the chair.-Oontribnted. 

~:td\\ ~i~ 

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---------- 

NO.3-Vol. XXIII. Friday, January 16th, '925. 

R-llstereci al tbe G. P.O. a •• Ne ... paper 

Ptica louO'slfca 

n 

'l' III lUOrit interet:ltmg to note that while on the 

one hand repatriatIOn of Indians is going on at 

full swing on the other not less than 2,5000 

~ndu1ll8 are being recruited for the new cotton 

plalltations north of ,the TugeIa. The Marltzburg 

correspondent of the Natal JferCuT!I in a message 

dated .Jan. 8 says :- 

Recently much activity was witnessed locally in 

connection with the reCI uitmg" of .AFliatlCs for the 

cottOll plantations ill Zululand. A representative 

of a very well known company informed your .~epl'esentative 

that 25,000 Indmns were to be recruite~ 

, for .the new cotton plantatiolls north of the Tugela. 

I understand, ijowever, that there IS a hitch in this 

regard, and tbat polihcal influences have been at 

wOI'k. as a result of which there is to be nO despatching 

of-Indians to Zululand until certain repre 

Iwntations .have been made to the Union Government. 

and the latter has given its decision, At any 

rdte, a halt has been called, af.ld according to information 

gleaned from influential Indian quarters 

in thp City, no Indians are going forward until 

('ertam points have been dedIt with. 

Accordmg to a tltatement published in a later 

issue of the l\Tatal JlIfrcur!llt appearli! that the above 

was only II. l'umour. 

The statistical lltdtemen( of the Public Health 

Depart.ment of the Borough of Durban tor the 

montb of November 192,1 gives the followmg iniormation 

:- 

During the month th· total numLer of deaths 

among the Borough resiJenls was 136 comprised of 

Asiatio 38, Europ€'an 58, Coloured 9, Native 31, the 

death rate per 1000 being 2K24. 13.68, 24.16 and 

9.75 respectively as against 13.0, 8.53 (Euyo. & Col.) 

and 12.1 in the previous yelu'._ 

Births registered during November 192,1 were as 

follows :-Asiatic 73 comprising of 42 male and 31 

ft'male, European 77 comprising of 38 male and 39 

female, Coloured 5 comprilling of, 3 male and 2 

female, Native 3 comprising of 1 male and 2 ft'riuue. 

Birth rate being respectively 52.88. 18.89. 13.14, 1.02. 

There were 15 notified cases ot infectious disease 

during the same month of 15 ASiatic as against 32 

European, ;, Coloured and 23 Native. 

The revenue rect'ivl'ld from Lhe Dluban Indun Mar-~ 

kel durmg the month of November 1!l24 was 

-1;:841-10-0 which in comparison With the same 

month last year shows '1 increase of t112-6-2. 

The particulars of the rec 'pts are as follows: 

Stalls £5;}2, Stands 1:75. l:) "\tters £1-!.J, Baskets; 

£131-7, Carts £4X-17. Tran~fer s £32-17. 

. ,~ 

The Borouj,{h :rolice_~tIDJ:lht s. Ol't shows 

that 81 In~i~pj.,.l.tJ;~)!;Ulope~ns aud j( ~tiyeS 

were, proceedl'(t7a~mst durmg the mon~ 

}l'ovembel' 1921 for conhaventions of the BOl'ough 

By-Ia\\s. The lollowing aI'l" some of the c~ntraventiOllS 

and the number of Europeans, Inlh.ms and 

Nat.lves dt'al{ \~j,th :- 

NOTES'AND NEWS 

q,~ 

Animals, CI'ueIty to 

Breach of Peace 

Drunkenness 

Gambling 

" 

E. 

1 

1 

30 

I. 

~ 

7 

19 

Licence Defaulters 1 10 

Obstructmg Police 1 1 

Registration of Native!:! 10 2 

Sanitary... 3 17 

Traffic 

Shqp Hours' Act 

1 

:1 

:3 

2 

N. 

6 

74 

59 

1 

3 

2 

127 

11' 

IS 

Motor Car Coutraventions 40 6· 11 

Other ContraventIOns 6:3 27 

The amount of fines and bails pind to thf> Town 

Treasurer durlllg the month was £532-15-5, being 

. a decrease of £214-3-!l. as compared with rthl' 

COl respondmg month of last year. There was also a 

decrease of 360 in the number of CdSes dealt with. 

Dut'jng the month of November 1924 the Durban 

CorporatIOn received £4909-9-3 as revenue {I'om 

BeeI' sold to NatIves -aUlI £271:3-7-0 was received 

from trailing With Natives in the different Eating 

Houses, Location, B.l!'racks etc, accommodatIOn 

given to N.ltlves ill the ditl'eren~ BarrackR, LocatIOn 

and Native Women's Hostel, Licences given to 

Rickshd pullers. Washmen etc. and from Registration 

of Natives. ' Tl1e tot.tl revenue r.eceived during 

the month of November 1924 was, thel'efore, 

£7622-16-3, 

The following anpears in the InwrlU'twnat -dd.tell 

Jan, 9:- 

.. The latetit example of callous brutality to a 

native servant comes from the Free State. A farmer 

suspecting a native of theft tied him to his horse 

and pl'oceeded to take him to the police station. The 

horse, it IS s.Litl, thl'('w the farmer and galloped oft. 

dragging the unfortunate native along the ground, 

and when -cut loose the boy died. It is probable 

that this brulal act wIll be hushed up, as so many 

similar cases have been before, but i~ IS not snrprising 

that the cumulative effect of these frequent 

tragedies is to widen -the gulf between the natives 

and whites of South Africa. Common decency 

demands that an enquiry shall be conducted into 

the wholeaft'dll' by some 'outside impartial authOrity. 

and not left in the hands of the local authorities ... 

who tslr obvious reasons caunot be expected to gI\'e 

an unbidSed Judgmenl. " 

At a meeting of the Turfl'ontein Ratepayt:rs' Association 

it was announced (says the Johannesburg 

cOITespondent ot the NfS/f4l .UerrUT!/), tb.lt Dr. ~falaD 

had -consented to receive a dep.tation from,p "v~,:I 

Southern Europ~~tioD to discuss the A~~,; 

ques~on. 'Un!' PreSident of the lat~r body Et~;ll " "We 

AsiatIc qlleEtlou W.lS gettmg' so bIg that..a," level, 

afraid it was too l:>ig for the Governmen t ji-", [he same 

I Ira' . 

-"Inly be sohed by the peOI' e. , ; .;/ 

---..to"- :/ :;WW WHITE 

_ One of ,l-,e spe~h!.~. at, til". l1li.f, .... ~ickett;n6 

porWtt to h,\Vt;, .:."'t~ t~'l,.t~].U

14 iNDIAN OPINION January 16th. 19 2 5 

--------~----~~-------.--------------~---~~~~~ 

make theIr mOltey go as far as It could. anI,ll Emau~ Abdurahman Gamieldie:q, 

a,t p!:esent, in Qah:o, to t:Q.e effect that the 

Caliphate C9mmitt.ee at Cl;l,i,o would be very pleased 

to receive ~legates ¥om t,l;te Ctlpe to the Caliphate 

Conference at

J_anuaiy ~~h, ·1925_____ 

I_N_D_l_A.Nr-0_P_J-:N..::..tO..:..:..:N ________--.:.:I5 

~'. A MESSAGE FROM MR. POLAK 

. Whilt> going to press we have received the follow. 

". ing letter from Mr. H. S. JA Polak :_ ' 

To the Editor, •• INDlAN OpIl'nON, " 

Sir,-I have only just learnt of the passing away 

of my dear old friend. Parst>e Rustomjee. But 

though he hlUl disappeared in the flesh, the real 

Rustomjee still lives, and will live in our hearts so 

~ng all we have remembrance. He was an 

affectionate and loyal friend and coIleguE', and one 

of the bI".1vCI!t and truest men r have known~ How 

South African Indians will pursue their taBk of 

cOlnmlln&l defence without his daily physic.11 

pretrence tQ cheer and encourage them, I cannot say. 

But the pr~sent position is so desperate that I feel 

that, in the spirit of Parsee Rustomjee's courage and 

sacrifice, the people should organise their forces to 

resist the encroachments that now threaten them so 

formidably. It is the day of the younger· men, of 

the new generation, and particnlarly the Colonialbortl, 

to take inspiration from Parsee Rnstomjee's 

Ilplendidly vigorous exampl'~, and do their duty to 

the community as selflessly and whole·b.eal'tedly as 

he ever did hill, Salvation lies in self.help. Tt:af. 

was always his ('reed, and only by recoguising its 

truth and following this doctrine will outside help 

be forthcoming and effective. 

Yours truly. 

n. S. 1.. POLAK. 

Bombay, Dec. tS. 

SAI.E OF CORPORATION LAND 

INDIANS DERARRED 

We take the- following from the. report of the 

Finance Committee of the Dnrban Town Council of 

its. Jru>eting held on. j;he 18th DecembeJr 1924 at 

which. were puesent: Councillors Johnstone (Vice 

Chairman, in the chair), Burma{lJ, Kemp, Shearer~ 

Hutt, Buzzaru. Eaton, Brisker, Mrs. Benson anw the 

Mayor, an(l also, present Councillor Mrs. Kuight 

and! Smith :- 

On.'. the Sth Novembe;r, 1924:. at a sale of leasehold 

properties, the lease qf IJol! 11, Block B. -Point. was 

submitted to, pUblic eompetition, on the application 

of Messl's. Sparks & Young, Ltd. This lbt is sitl1atecl' 

at the COl'n~r of Southamption' Street and Albert. 

Roold. The fixed rental was £-12 pel,"- annum and 

_ the upset bcmus £5. 'rhs bonus was bid up to £110. 

at which figu1:e the' apphcanb3 dropped out and left 

the bid with Mr. Sorabjee Rustomjee, acting ·on 

behalf of 1\1008a Ismail & Co~, of 175, Grey Street. 

The purchaser was then notified that the Vendue 

lWll could not be signed until the authol.ity of the 

'l'own Council had been obtained. 

Section 2 of the conditions of sale reads as 

follows :- 

.. No person will be accepted or recognised 

who is in arrear with, Corporation rents, and 

the Town Council reserves- the right to cancel 

the Sc'l.le in any case where a person sha.ll bid 

for himself, or on behalf of any principal 

w hom the Town Council may be- un willing to 

aocept as Lessee. .. 

. • 

The- matter wal> refu ... Q".~ to the Town Solicitors 

for their advice as to the Ooili..~l's authority under 

the above condition, and they a

,6 INDIAN OPINION . 

January 16th, 1925 

at sOllle futUre date without the complicating in 

feeling and rdcial antagonism arousel! by the Bill 

itself. 

We Indians have a short memory. 'l'he announcement 

of Mr. Thomas though it was practically the I 

same as that of the Duke of Devonshire did not 

arouse even one-hundredth part of the indignation 

aroused by the White Paper. If after three years a 

sort of mildly-worded Indian Immigration Bill is 

tJassed in Kenya it will not cause any agitation 

here. For the Present the Indian people in Kenya 

and India may well go to sleep comfortably assured 

that the Immigration Bill has been killed. They 

will wake up some day to realIse that it was not the 

Indian ImD;ligration Restriction Bill that was killed 

by :Mr. Tholnas but it,was the Indian agitatioJ;l, for 

, equal rights in Kenya! 

Indians read a dlfl'erent meallill:

January 16th, 1925 INDIAN OPINION 17 

:n, llay after da\', an.l he nevt'l' ilhrunk hack from 

the !lUl'tIN" 

l'arsi Hustomjec'i1 generosity Wll.tl great. llUI silent 

charity towards individuals exceeded even his public 

beni'factior,s. The library, which he built in Durban, 

was only one of the many tributes of his love \for tbe 

whole Indian commnnity, When I was with him in 

, !I2(), he waR tht'n t'arneatly !leeking for tIle best means 

of 11sing the money which he bad saved in business, 

for the intereRif! of the public. Att.his time, he went' 

over in his mind many plans with me. He had also" 

tiej('rmined to do what' he could for the cause of 

freE-dom in his motherland, India. Yery slowly, 

bis mind was mad I:' up; h~ gavp his gifts judici'onsly 

anl\ with the greatest care, not recklessly and in 

a f!plendid manner, 

When I was returning to South Africa, after 

many years' ahsencl:', the one person to whom my 

hl:'art most turned, with the eagerness of long. 

expecW wE-leome, was Parsee Rustomjee. My (lwn 

dear friend, Willie Pearson, had wished to co\De 

out with me again, but he had been prevented. He 

had a special place of affection in Parsee Rustom. 

jee's heart. After speaking of Mahatma Gal1f1hi and. 

asking aftE'J' hill hl:'altb, it was Willie Pearson's 

name which .came next in his enquiries, when 'We 

met. If Willie had been ali ve to·day, his grief, at 

the deaHI Of. Parst'e Rustomjee would have no less 

than my own; for he loved him very deeply iq 

return, and l1I~erl to speak to me constantly about 

),lim. 

One ~weat event stood out in Parsee Rustomjee's 

life and made it what it was. This was his. devotion 

to Mahatma Gaudhi. He owed to him more than 

any -one eIRe his powers of sacrifice. For, apart 

from Mahatma Gandhi, he might indeed. have been 

a generotls lDerchant, but he would hardly have 

reached thE' h('.ights of sacrifice and devotion in his 

cOllniry's ('~nule wh,ich he· actually attained. He 

""118 a trnllted cOftlt'ad,,"--and fwend,of lIlahatmajee 

throughout the wholo South African struggle; and 

it was this friendship that maqe bim rise to heroic 

deeds. Of all th(\ friends that M:.hatma Gandhi had 

with him during the passive resistance mbvement, 

WiUl its imprisonments and hardships innumerable, 

Parsee Rustomjee was among the most faithful and 

most truE'.. \ 

====== 

TllE WAY TO PEACE 

Not to him who falters, not to him who fears, 

Doth the visiol\ splEC'ndid flash across the years. 

Not by him who idly dr~s a dream of good 

Oan the great world problem e'er bE! nndEC'rstood. 

Toil and high endeavour, head and band and heart, 

Unto noble iasues lIoU must do their part. 

For the liation's healing, for the gift of peacEC', 

Bl'otherhood must conquer, hate and discord cease. 

Who with cheerful COUl"dge strives the wrong to right 

'Mid the deepest Slllldows shetIs a ray of light. 

He, who danger scorning. leads a hope forlorn, 

Oth('l' hearts inspiring ope's t1}e gates of morn. 

Selfish aims must perish, trutll anu righteonsness 

Build on !'lure foundations a\l man¥ind to bless. 

Sacrifice and service still for aye most be 

Unto allUfe's problems the one golden key! 

ANNIE E. WOODCOCK. 

By the ~ourtesy of UnilPl.l Empire. 

. 

It was not; declarfd the Bishop of Limerick (Most 

Rev. Dr. Keane), thfoo.gh the operation of a great 

al'my or navy that they were going to cut a figure 

in the world, nut through Chrisian ideals anti. 

pricciph's. which mU!lt he manife&tt'd in the doml:'s~ 

t.ic, S0cial. and national life of the people: ' 

Plinted and Publiah'eoi. 'b, Manilal M, Gandhi at l'~ 

'ctt-.a." .. b.-uta. ~_l. 

Business for Sale 

l::IighJy profitable Confectio nary and Grocery 

in a busy locality. A snip. Long lease whole 

of rent returned from subletting, Owner 

going to Europe. Purchaser must have 

£750 cash. No agents. Apply: 

[9, Market Street, Johannesburg. 

l 

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NO.4-Vol. XXII 1. Friday, Janu.l.ry 23rd, [9~5. 

• 


R.egl",tered at the G. P.O. 8S a Newspaper 

PRICS FouRFEMes 

------- ------------ 

'7"~ 

HE Indwl Milling FederatIOn have made a JOMllneaburg MuniClpality at cost of £21,000 for 

11 

Htrolll,( represenwtion to the Govel'l1ment ot the creatIOn of a township for Coloured people 

India on the subject of the recent purchase ant! ASIatics. 

of GO,OOO tons of Honth Atrican coal for the Sukkur 

Barrage requirements. The letter RdYS that the actIOn 

of authl.ntlf's IS franght With lI11pOI tant considerations 

of publiC policy and not only constitutes an outrage 

on the 'Inrli,U} coal indubtl y~ but an insult of the 

Inllian r4egisiaLure which pas~cd the l'e801utIOn 

,urging a countervailing duty on South African coa!. 

and is a flagrant VIOlation of the Government's 

/Jecl.lred intention that )Jothing wouhl be ,lone 

,to tliJ'f'ctly 8t1l11111.IOO fOI'dgn coal g:unlTlg adlhtlOnal 

/" promoters of lhe 

schE'me that the Zulu people w'onld conttibnte to the 

fund. We don't think so. It is suggested thRt the 

Princ{1's ownershi~ of ground ill Zululand woulll 

illiluct> 'fownshlp h.lS been made to the 

At the enJ of 1923, there were l,n 7,926 more 

women than men in the United Kingdom. an increase 

ot 20.IH2 over the previous year. according 

10 the RegIstrar General's l:;tatistIcal Review of 

England and Wales, just issued, which estimates 

the populatIOn of the UJliterl Kmgdom at the end cf 

last year at 41.717,100, of which 24.932,~13 were 

women. There were 2!l2.408 marriag6fl in England 

and Wales, 12,41:J brlliegrooms were bachelors 

under 21, and one gave hiS age as 83. The youngest 

married people were a wife of 15, whose 

husband was 16; 2G girls of 15 were married during 

the year, aLd one to a man of 32, and one girl of 16 

marfled a man of 70.-Natal adverhser 

-- 

Messrs A. l:;allie and G. S. Rasdlan are duly 

apPointed by the Nasena Moslem School Board 

(Johanneshurg) to collect funds for-the School and 

will be leavinlo( Johannebburg on the 21th of Janua!'y 

on a tour of the Western and Eastern 

Pl'ovmces including Grtqualand West. Messrs. Hajee 

l\1ahomed Buddar and Mahomed Alli SahIb will at 

a later date toUI' the Natal Pl·ovince. 

It is earnestly 

hopell by the Board that the above gentlemen will 

be grven the support that the cause deserves. 

----->-- 

From January to September. 1921, there were 

1,4a3 msolvencies in the Union, as against 1,669 in 

the tirst Illlle m~mths of ) !l2.t There were decl'eases 

11\ all the Pl'ovinces, but 1Il the case of the Cape and 

NatA there wele mcrew;es m the number of Asiatic 

c~s. ~ 

The occupations of lllsolventi:! showed that in the 

Union, durmg the -period January to September, 

192-1, there was a decrease in the commercial. Pl'OkSlllonal. 

,lgl·jcultural, and miscellaneous groups, 

and .an mCl ease in the industrial and wage-earners 

groups. The agricultural ~'fOup tohowed lower insolvency 

figures 1ll each of the Provinces, the commercl,,1 

group showed an increase in Natal and the 

Orange FJ'ee Stelle. ant) in the wage-earners group a 

considerable increase in the Transvaal and a slight 

inclease in the C,lpe. 

A mCf'ting of bet" ('en -J ,noo and 5,000 non-Europeam; 

ill reported to hJvt' beeD hpld 011 the Gr,lDd 

Par,hle, Capetown, last Hunday. It was addressed 

by Prof. James Thae1e. president of the Cape Afri· 

• can National Con!,'fess 1ll the Western, Proviu' w 

when a'solutlOns well' p.lilsed urging the GOY • Ie 

ment til 1 1 1 t " I " "eve 

111110< Ut(, t'l-'1to ,1 IOn ma ,mg 11lal'I1fh I 

' 

l\\lPIl ,\hite :llHl bl.tek people J\I;>g,II, I~ e same 

.1galJt~t Ill(' inbo\lnt tHIJI nl tll(' par,.; laY' 

to nnmdllleu KatiYe "nm('ll, aUtI uri /;f{()P 'V/lITE 

('rument to mtrodJl(e a BIll restrif" 

alcohohc drinks to Natives regist~ pickf'ttin;; of the

20 INDIAN OPINION January 23rd, 1925 

------~~----------------------~.-----------------~----- 

THAT ROlTXD TABLE CO:-l"FEHENCE 

fI""\ll; UIXl4 :"1t'" ~.\l'O ,m Xd),lu., \ iSlt to South 

ll.,~U AtJlca m the begllllllug ot l""t yeal' atter 

grnng mto the IlHh.m 'qtH:dtIOll tully With 

the Ulllon 1'Ihmsteu-l a &nggestlOll WdS made by her 

that .1 Round 1"tble COlltel'C'nce, constituted of l'epl'eilentatI\'es 

of the Lmon Pdllldmcnt, reples~ntaliyes 

of Imha .lll,l ot the ltllh.tn Government and 

rel)l'eilentahvcs ot lhe In(lhl1l colUmunity of South 

Afnca shoulol be callpd tf) lhscnss the whole queshon. 

In wh,lt light the snggestIOn was taken by 

Genc).d Smtlb ,\110 W,IS thf'n ,It the heaJ. of the 

GOVe'I ntll~'nt wa., not q LUte de,t!' but no note of 

1't'sentme1t \Ias i'tltull1erl b, the Government. or the 

EUlopean l'ress Slllce then, howevel" a sudden 

change was eiJ:ectod in the Government-which 

change has so LIt' not been for the better tor any 

sectIon of the cOllunlluity ,md ct·rtamly not for, the 

• Indi.m cOl11m11Inty who hal'\' 11,111 hittpr experience 

01 It all ('rt,!\'-and that GOyernlllPl1L has not con 

!:l],1t;>1 ellll Mhlsable to follow any precedents but 

bas hM1Il~ own way, Hl d.E'dlmg "ith questIOns, as it 

W

INDIAN OPiNtON 

Municipal Franchise which "'£IS guaranteed to the 

• Indians at the time they were deprived of Parliamentary 

franchise committed a breach of faith that 

willl'esult in grave dl:laster to the Indldn population 

of South Africa mostly local bot'n." Suppol'lin~ all 

this is true, and we believe it is true, and nothmg 

but the truth, what of thdt ? What mattels It if there 

is a breuh of faith or "here IndlJ.ns are concerned 

there is a dowm ight breac.,h of all the commandiDents 

from the Bible: Indeed. thiS is not the first 

instance ont of many when the South Afri~n Government 

haH openly dn.l in a IllObl ::;hdllle-faced 

manher broken faith "ith the Imharus. To dll 

intents and purpOSNi it might be truly fklid tlMt 

!loath African Indian history II! a long recoill of 

broken promiscs and a long scrie8 of breaches of 

faith. One lnore anel one lebs makeR no diffel€'nce 

wbatsoevel'. ' Mr. Polak points ~nt that the new 

measure will degrade the Stdtus of Natal Infiians by 

depriving thcm of civic rights long exercise.!, 

wllilst it will take all hope tlOIll the 'l'lallsvaal India'n~ 

who uo not po~'!e;;l'l thlS franchlse dnu will 

arouse the utmost aLu'ni among the Cape Indians 

\\ ho do. The exerCHle of the Natal ~IllIlldp,II fl"cJtchisc 

was the only Wt'dpon even p,utially eftedl\e 

tQ proteLt Indian trdlhng I'lghbl agamst the lllunidpalities 

tb"t have been seeking theIr UClltructlOll' 

AU this means tbdt IudJaDH in South AfIiea WIll no 

longer Le h'ed.teu a;; human belllgs lJ\lt as sdvages 

and benats, Deprived long ago of parlidlllenldrr 

franchise and now being depl'lved ot municlp.ll 

rights, they are rendered absolntely dumb, only fit, 

tQ be driven by theIr domineenng masters, The 

passing of the new Drdinance makes the Indian!>' 

position wOJ'se than mere words conld adequately 

describe. King Stork who sncceedeu King Log' 

(indeed. he was anything but a log) has £It last 

shown his own hand, He has struck and struck 

l'lome. What will the Indians do? But above all 

what will the Indian Government t10? Will the 

latter eat the humble pie and thus show that it is 

in reality a subol'dltlutf' branch of the Brltlsh Governmedt 

or will it take up cudgels for the Indians in 

'~' right earnest and stand up for Indians' rigLts ? 

SUGGEHTED ROUND TABLE CONFERENCl'~ 

A reCl'nt uumber of Net" IlIIlvt (Ma.has) h,\I:I th(' 

folJowmg IC'ading arLicle Ull Il1lh;'l\~ 1Il tiouth 

.\fflca,- 

Speaking at UIlI Abicdll ~oclety DIIIUel, ~Ir, J, 

11. Thomas, t'x-\:.:t'cI'et,\I'~· llf Hl.th· i'm' thf'l ('01001"", 

JD tile Laboul' Govorlllllt'llt, 1'>1,1tctilhat whell be WaS 

in l:;oulh Africll, he h"tl otlici.llly sugge"ted " H.OllUJ. 

T"bIo Coufel'enco of repl'csent.ltives of the Imperlcll 

Goverument, South Africa and Imhll to wscntlll tilt' 

In~idll question, emp~a.'1isillg th~t it was ~mpos"lbk 

to dhorce that questIOn from Its Impel'l.-I1 aspect. 

The reference to this wide I' aspect might evoke the 

suspicion that Gn'at Britain desirell to mterfefe 

with the Unioll Government't! uecision oJ} a questIOn 

which was exclusively uomestic in char,lcter. But 

it is rot tQ be supposed that Mr, Thomas meant anything 

of the kind. What he appal'ently wauted to 

be understood as saying was that t'ach of the Dominions 

had an Indian problem, ilwJuumg Grt'.lt 

nritain in its Colonies. anu that d. pohcy hold to be 

evolved which woul\l enable a pe.'lce~ul anu lastiug 

solution to be arrIved at. It lS clear fro!? 

'his Bloemfontein speech that he -wl"hed thIS 

, fmln on policy t~ ~e bas~d on a ,iust r('coglliho~ of 

dian rights of Cltlzenshlp. It IS some weeks smce 

, {e SUggestion was ~aoile:, but we have, not ~eal'd 

,ything about it elthf:.r lD India or from ::sol~th 

frica It is a pity th,\t Ult'lllbers ot the E:-.pcutJve 

I ouncils do not t,\}w the public into th~'J1' l'ollti,leUl:e. 

flveu on the Ulost mgent pI'oUlem8, \Hth the re"ult 

n~at misIinaerstcmding fr6quC'ntly .mses lwtwe('n !ht> 

eopl@ and the Government, the tor mel' Sl1Spectlllo 

~ 

that everythlllg that can be done III not being done • 

and the latter contenting themselves WIth their 

own self-Sdtisfaction at their duties well and duly 

perfol'Dleu, If we had Responsible Government, 

then mE'mbers of the Cabinet woald bE> obliged to 

tell thelr constItuents as to the developments in 

nohcws, an,l they woulu-get to know how the pubhc 

Vlt>WS the contemplated measures. Thls advantage 

is entIrely absent nnder the present system of 

worklllg in secret We have no news from South 

Ah iea either about the attitude of the Xationahst 

Government towards the proposal tor holding a 

Round Table Confel'ence, What little we know is 

to the effect that the authorities intend to bring fo\, 

warll a Bill for further l'estricting the nghts of Inlhant!, 

India has nothmg to lose by .such a conference, 

it possesses already the moral support of the 

Impel'ial Conference, and is prepared to argue out 

her eIl"e agam bE'iore any tril.unal. The hesitation 

of !:Iouth Africol IS due to its unwillingness to diseu&S 

the eluestlOn. but we hope that SaroJlnl Den'" 

optimism regdl'lhng South Africa wIll be JustIfied 

by-HI! d.greeing to meet and have d frank. free and 

tull tollk. General Smutll, it will be remembered, 

tlle,llo VelSllddc the last Imperial COllfN'ence to 

cancel the resolutIOn on equality ddopted at the 

t:esslOli held 1Il 1~121. Indld would be pleased. If the 

present Prime :\lim,,!cr ",onM have the long-stand 

Illg elispute Ilettled by lllutual :tl'rangemt>nt aud 

accOInmodatlon, 

VERENIGING WHITE::; AT WORK 

We have received a leatlet from a wrlespondent 

£It Vereniging whIch is printed on one side in the 

English lan~uage awl on the other in Aflicans and 

is Sdid to be uistJ'lbuted broadcast in that town, The 

text of the leaflet IS as follows ~ - 

EIGHT REA'>os:'\ WHY You SHOULD SHOP WHITE 

1. To make the Union ol White :Man's Country, 

2. To maml.tlD the White Standard anLl keep 

lrita( t the prQBtlge of the White Races, 

,3, Bec,mse the European CIrculates money aud 

i~ ,In aflset to the Nation, whereas the Indian 

1:0('11,1>, Illll lll"IH'Y to India, allli has Il6.I P{'l'- 

1U.JIlt,Ut iukll'bt 111 is, Al l'ic..! , 

4, The WI111e :-\t.)r .. 1:oepe1' filld:; ell11Jloyment 

tor yOUl' cllIldn'll ,It st..Ulddl'd rate of par. 

\\ herem! the Imh,tO employs only IndldnB, 

& pays thelll the lowest Id.tes of wdges. 

,j, 10U Uldy thUlk you Cdn t.J.lk to ,m IndIan as 

dn mferlOl', but when you buy from him 

) 011 treat him as an equal. 

G. You don't ,tllow IndidDs to traLle by your 

side in trades and professions, therefore why 

support them at the expense of White 

Traders ;; 

i, If you want a job you- don't ask an Inwan 

for it .uo natuT'dlly it is beneath your dignity 

to wOlk fol' him, Why not also make it 

beneath your rugnity to buy from ,hun r 

~. If ASiatics .ire supported much longer "we 

shMI eventu,llly come down to their level. 

and a white man cannot live on the sam., 

economIc st.mdal'll rt.~ an ASlanc, - - 

Tl1l~K WIILT!'; .\C'l' WHI fE. !:IltelP "'lUTE 

AU'oJ dlllg to the correspon(lt>nt pickt>tt;n~ of the 

IndIan shOl;;' is aLo threatened.

22 

-- , 


INDIA AND ~NDIANS IN THE COLONIES 

f,waraJya (Madras) wrItes as follows .- 

The position of Indians abroad is one of acute 

politieal and SOCIal subservience which has not Improved 

with the make-believes of post-war state 

craft. All agItation for better status in this con 

J;lection has in IndIa been necessarily handicapped 

by distance and the accidents of the political situation. 

Even these, however. could not totally blunt 

the edge of natIOnal resentment at the degrading 

treatment meted out to Indians abroad. We are 

familiar with the widespread outbursts of protest 

and;mger whlCh like a conflagration have time and 

again lighted up the sensibilities of vast masses WIth 

rage and\ humiliation. Such demonstrations have, 

as was natural, welled up to the surface, m the wake 

of some perpetrated Insult more outrageotls and unbearable 

than its Predecessors. About' the real 

tenour of IndIan opinion as regards tbe lot of our 

fe110w-countrymen abroad tliere has never been any 

'occaslon fur the slIghtejlt pretext 'of doubt. 'ThIS 

sign of helotry wrought in the name of Empire has 

sunk deep mtp national consciousness and so 

--intensely painful is Its stI~a that we can well 

afford to dispense with both pr-Opaganda and 

demonstratIOn to keep intact the spirIt of revolt 

against wrong. Already, we have an abundance of 

thIS spirIt. The question IS, how, under Its inspIration 

th6> politIcal consciousness 'of the people 

chafing under degrading restramts, can be led into 

a purposeful programme. The goal IS clear; It is 

install the power of nationhood on a pedestal ofsuch 

recogmsed worth that by itself it ~an protect 

Indian settlers overseas from insult and outrage in 

the same manner in which a Frenchman or an 

American is immune from them. But how have 

the champions overseas sought so far to relate this 

goal ttl the means or achieving it? We'have ,before 

us for instance a defimte suggestIOn (rom Mr. Polak. 

He wants Indians to shoulder the burden of the 

problem by sendmg abroad social workers and 

teachers. 'The-suggestion visualises the urgency for' 

a remedy. -It is the proposal of a man whom contact 

with distress has whipped into a deSIre to be- up 

-and dOlllg. But in political! values. intense subjective 

einotIon, although it constitutes the motor 

power of reform~ does not by itself constitute the 

solutIon of a national problem, it has, in addition, 

to be related to the scheme of irksome impediments 

that forms for the time being, the reality to be faced. 

Considered in thiS light, MI'. Polak's suggestioll 

even,if fully acted npon can only fructify mto a 

mmor alleViation of a 'rQ.ajor malady. And after 

all, the~ilupply of workers that we have is not overabnndant, 

such as it is being fully absorbed by the 

demands oLthe internal national struggle. And tbe 

necessity for amelioration in the conditIon of Indians 

abroad is immense -indeed covering as it does 

almd"st the whole of the EmpIre mcluding FIji, 

Malaya, Ceylon, Mauritms, Kenya and South Africa. 

It might seem superficially a connsel of indifference 

but the most direct I>.pproach to the correction of 

Indian status abroad is the cohsolidation- of national 

p6wer m India,. Piecemeal constructivity can grapple 

wit!). local economi

January 23rd, 1925 INDIAN OPINION 23 

------~-----------------------~----------------------~-- 

timid I,O()() rupcE'fl. The Magistrate declal"ed, "I 

have nevf'1' hf'ard of finch' hrutality in all my expt'riPllce," 

and hoth the GovE'rnol" of the Colonr and 

Lord M!lnf'1' ('x pressed l"ej.,'1'et at the I'esult of the 

tl"ial. 

'I'he l"emarkaLle ruannel" in which these charges 

of homicide al"e I"educed to varring degrees of 

"Hurt" is best illustrated by the mORt recent case, 

·of which details are now available. The accused 

was Jaspar Abraham of 101010. and the native flogged 

to death was named Kitosh. The jury returned a 

verdict of "GflevouS Hurt," and the Judge sentenced 

the accused to the appropriate penalty of two years' 

'imprisonment. The flogging took place in June. 

1!l2:J, and the trinl only recently concluded. It was 

alleged that the Dlhn Kltosh had" ridden a mare in 

foal, but the Assistant Huperintendent of the Police 

stated that he examined the horse, but found no 

signs of injnry., Kitosh was thrown on the ground 

and then flogged by Abraham until he was too 

"flogged" to continue; then he called three natives, 

one after another, to carryon the flogging. Kit~sh 

was unconscious during the last flogging, but eoven 

thl:'n his sufferings were not ended, for upon recovering 

consiousnt.

INDIAN OPINION January 23rd, 1925 

, News in Brief 

Whllp performmg a gipsY dll1ce at a party, Mrs, 

~{al'\' P.11'fett (ag('--)J-J)" 

o.:J~.Jb; I,./~J-ft':' ..,.;\;' 

Business for Sal~ 

Highly profitable Confectionary an~ Groc~ry ,I 

in '1 bus)' 1ocality. A snip. I,.ong lease whole 

of rent returnr:d from s'uBJetting. Owner 

l-!ojl1;;! to Europe. Purchaser m~st ba\,(> 

,(.7fi'~ ,..;\~h. :-':0 Rgt'nt,~. Apply, 

l "~=-.--...1'..:;;'-;:;c. 0;9: !\!prf~l ~t~~:~1 "'-)!1!~~~~~~)~_";~ 

f

ll-gis,.,eelat the G.P.O. as • N ......_ 

• No. 5-Vol. XXIII. Friday, Janu Iry- 30th, 1925 • 

Pale .. f'OUR •• KCS 

------______________ ------------r------------- 

• 

IT 


4r~' 

N an interview Lord Sinha, who, .u; Uu

Guiana, and few less developed owing to the lack of 

capital and population. He was glad to think that 

the ~overnkent and the peopl~ ot Illdla were 1)(': 

comin~, aware of. the fact that British Guiana 

provided a favourable opening for, Indians of all 

classes, free trom t,he political dlfficu ltles and 

objections which stood m the way ot emlgratlon to 

other parts of the Empire. LJeut Colunel Amery 

said he understood that the Governm~mt of IndIa 

were making a final investlgatlOn. Lhrongh a 

CommlsSlOner, into the prospecttl for Indians. He 

cxpressd the hop8- that the ontcome would be a 

steady flow of settlers, and a marked stimulus In 

the development of the Colony, in which he antlCipated 

a great development m Rugal' production and 

the ncc Cl'Op. The developlUg of the remarkable 

diamond discoverles might led,t to oLh,)]' !levelopments. 

. 

In the CouncIl of State I"ord Rawlmson, Commal1der-ll1-Chief 

of the Indian Army, accepted an 

Indlan mqtlOn nrging the British GovernIllent to 

remove the bar against the admission of IndIail 

student.'1 to the UniverSity O/fi{)er's Trallling Corps 

says a Renter's IJlOS8ai:le from DelhI. Thp b.lr was 

adopted by the ImperIal Parliament recently UII tho 

recommendations of the Lytton Committee. 

A prominent missionary m ClIina has infor'med 

Reuter "that the mihtary authoritieS in Fnkien are 

compeUillg farmers to grow opium. One thousanu 

nve huudred Christian families refused, and 200 

head of tamili(>s have b~en beheaded." Who says 

barbarIc days are over' They seem to us to h(' jusl 

beginning. 

The New Leader (London) While referring to the 

work of the tabour Party III the New ParlIament 

admits the fact "that the Lsbour Government dId 

nothiI1g eftective for Indian SPlf-government or 

even for the protection of Indian workers" 

"Even 1f It were to mean," prot:eeds the Journal, 

"a iJostponement of our return to office, we should 

disl'npate the belif'f which our inaction may have 

tostercd that we are sound Impenalists as other 

palties are." The jonrual advises the Jndipendent 

LaboltI' Party fo concentrate all its efforts ~n India, 

which it characterises as the "gravest of all OUr 

Imperial problems" 

A Laboul' Women's Conference recently held In 

England passed tIle tollowing resolutlOn on India's 

claIm to Home Ilule -That the Conference expresses 

the ho~e that the Government will support 

any turther legl!1lation in order to 'secure for the 

people of India the same measure of selt-Government 

whICh is m operation m Canada, Austraha, 

aml South Africa. 

It iii reported 1Il the recent exchanges fl'om IndIa 

that Mr C. R. Das has made over all hiS prO"lert18s 

includmg hiS present residence to a board of tJ'lIstees. 

The whole ebtate is to be utlhsed for charitable and 

philanthropic purposes after paymg off hIS (lebts 

Sf'cured and nnElecured Among the prmClpal 

purposes for which the estate IS to be tlsefl IS included 

the establishment of a college 101' Indian women, 

religlOllEi education for Rmdu boys, etc. 

Every Indian cannot but view WIth the greatC'tlt 

admnalton the great sacrifice MI. C. R. Das has 

made lor the sake of his country and his people 

Few such examples as so nobly set by Mr. C. R. Das 

aro to llO f\(,pn in thl' prf1st'nt t'lfisll world. 

INDIA:N Ol'JN ION 

------------------ 

January 30th, I9~S 

THE ASIATlfJ PROBLEM 

\\ AVE reprqduce in ano)ther colnlUll all al'tHllr 

\1.\1 appearing in the Natal .\rel'( ttl!J Imder the 

nom de plnme " Townsman" on the Asiatic 

questlOn wherein the Writer makes SOIlle ~mggeshons 

as to the solutlOll of thiS burnmg qu('shon 

Everyone is anxIOUs to see thiS problem solved once 

and fo!' all and any suggestions towards that directIon, 

are naturally welcomed. Of cours(', a great deal ot 

vltuperabou lR indulged 111 by anti-ASiatICs but they 

hardly come fOI war,l "lth S0111(; senslblr Emggestions 

which woulu be worth consldel'lng. The writer 

of the artIcle in questlOll seems to have maue a 

study ot the ASiatic question an!l he deserves ('reuit 

for the attempt he has ma.de at suggestmg :.1. solution 

In our opinioll, howevet·, his suggestions are llighly 

selfish and narrowminded. 

TIlt' writer admits that the Indldll lahonrer has 

plaYE'd no inconSiderable part III the development 01 

the; various mdustries o± tIllS country He has 

nothmg ag,uns~ the IndlJ.n, " J,S a l,tboUler pure nu(l 

Simple. " 

He IS agamL the''' Arab trader" who, he ~ays, 

" had no partin the development of the muustry, but 

simply came along and b3,ttened on it." Then h~ 

complainR of the competItion of the Indian WIth the 

European bemg unfair and" that because of hiS 1Ilfenor 

scale of living, IH'C8tlSltating much lowe I' expenditure, 

the Indian can sell his goods and labom' 

~,t a much lower rate than his European competitor." 

Now III Buggestll1g a solution the WrIteI' says, 

., consideratIOn of the question must be fair to all 

partIes." The presence of the Indtan labourer, he 

thmks, IS shU necossary but not tlO with the Asiatic 

trader, who, he sug~estfi, ShOlllrl be reasonahly compeIlBated 

and" he must go at all costs. " 

The bIggest stumbling block III the way of a 

settlement of this problem, howclver, appears to him 

in the question of the Natal-horn Indian. He 

admits, he eannot be depo~·ted. Bllt With regard 

to him he suggests, that he could be dealt With 

along ecouGmic lllles by forcing' hIm to adopt a 

hIgher standard of hvmg; but this, he says, ,. IS 

about as far as we can go" and suggests that It he 

witlhes to be repatrmted so much the better but 

that, if he deSires to stay 111 South Africa he must 

be compensated and then segregated' 

This is the solutIOn the Wl'lter of the article in 

([UesiLOn_ suggests and ad vises the legHliators not to 

tmker with the subject any longer but to take this 

drastIC measure and, "like all dl':1StlC measures," 

he says, " there IllllSt be some degree of untmrness, 

bnt With the reasonable compensatIOn Pl'oposed the 

bItter pIll will be made more palatable" If this 

step IS not immediately t,£lken. the writer Sees war in 

the near future with the" yellow hords 1" He dreams 

of a white Sunny ~outh AfrICa and asks his fellowmen 

to be np and domg' towards the reahsatio~ 01: 

that dream. 

Well, we do think this IS but a pOOl' solutlOll of 

thIS great question Sem3e of justice and eqmty 

does not come in it at all. The writer IS not fust 

even to those born in thiS country whose only home, 

he admits, IS her('; and yet he would keep even them 

lD servile conditions. The complamt of the writer 

that the Indian trader had corne and Simply 

battl'l1f'rl Oil thp mdnRt.ry of thIS C011l1try IS not ilt all

January 30th, 192 5 INDIAN OPINION 27 

fair. The Indian trader had come here just as any 

other had done to seek a livelihood and, moreover, 

he being a Entish subject had a better rIght to be 

here than many ahen~ III tlllS cOllIltry who are left 

unmolested. 

I~the root of the whole question IS. as It IR declared 

to be, the unfaIr (Jompebbon of the IndIan 

with phe European there Citll be but one solutIOn 

and that is, to standardise tlw RYHt!'m of trade so 

that the same standard may apply to IrW-Jan as 

applies to Enropmn 

The talk of I epatriation, Regregation, deprivation 

of the I'lght to trade ancl to own properties etc. 

although denied, IS nevelt heless WO]'f,e than Bolshevism, 

for the lattf'r hring'! instant tleath and IS 

therefore less barbarOllR than slow pOlsolllng by 

means of sugar-coated PIUS 

THE ASIATIC IN NATAL 

A VEXED PROBLEM 

SOME SUGGESTION" RY "'l'owKSMAN" 

The following al tIele appears In the Nidal N en W /I 

dated January 24. under the nom de plume "'l'owns 

'mar" '- 

, Apart tr9ill the qllestlf)n of the MUIllClpal fIaf, 

< chise, winch only touches the fringe of the problem, 

A there has lately been qmte a lull III what IS faml 

\ harl,}' known as the ASIatIC agitatIOn, m tact three 

) seems to be a dlSposltIOn to relax efforts m the guld- 

~'ance of pubhc opmion on thIS all absorbing tOpHl. 

) Why we should be qUIte content to leave this vItal 

'\lwatter III the hands of the Government it; not at all 

t~rent in view oJ: past experIence. It WIll be re 

~£

. 


we can go. The segregation provided for in the costs \1S now. it is my firm conviction that nnlef'~;!i 

Olass Areas Bill may possibly be the only way out, we Europeans in this country t,wkle the matter IInlllP, 

but we must only segregate those born jn the settle it once and for all, right now, thel'e IS onl>1l 

country; the others must go-there is no other one alternative, which I can already see Ioomm .. in 

course. Then thereis the trader, what IS to be done the mists on the horizon. It may be a long rim~1J 

with him? He came into the country of his own coming, or it may be close at h,md, but It is un tl 

free will by the open door in the first place. He doubtedly going to take the shape of WAR. LetT 

now has vested inta-ests which cannot lightly be us take drastic actIOn now and not wait until thl/; 

interfered with, but III the wider interests of the yellow hordes are fully awakened for the fray. cLe:~ 

country at large there must be interference coupled us make thiS entirely a white man's country, for i " 

with just and ~ir treatment. Any seizure of the is good logic that the yellow peril as it exista for UI 

property or interests of any class of our pOp'ulation, will disappear in exact ratio as we fill t1us snnn x' 1 

withQqt due compensation, would· be reducing our South AfrIca of ours with white men! In th:" 

scheme of government to a state of Bolshevism. words ofa famous reCl'Ulting t1peaker-" Let thadJ 

TJlerefore, if the Indian trader is to lose' his property, 

his licence; and tiis goodwIll, it is a sine qua 

sink in. " ,~ 

non that reasonable compensation must be paid to 

him. If he is a Colomal-born, then he should, after 

OUR LONDON LETTER 

such compensation, be segregated with the o~hers if 

he desires to stay in South Africa. 

[ By OUR OWN CORRERPONDENT ] 

" 

The compensation paid for goodwill, or the purchase 

price paid for the various propertIes and 

1st Jann,lry, 1 ~12'1111 

January 30th, 1925 INDIAN OPINION 29 

,". \ The Guildhall Banquet by the Mayor of London 

, ''''I'l to be remembered (or the utterance of :Mr. 

\... /Oltanley Baldwin on the question of India. The 

speeches at the Banquet were broadcast and this is 

what ~fr. Baldwin was heard to say : .. The Govern 

~ent will b~ face~ with problems of difficulty and 

lmportance 10 Indla. There are unmistakable signs 

in many parts of India that the tension between the 

Hmdu and Mahommedan commumties is more acute 

thll.ll at any time for years past. The political extremists 

have adopted tactics designed to wreck the 

existing form of Constitution and in Bengal terrorist 

orgr.nisations are at wQl'k which have made it 

necessary for the Viceroy to issue an Ordinance reoently 

conferring special powers jor the suppression 

of violont crime. The Government will support 

with their full authorlty .the Government of India 

in suPwessing crimes of that nature by whomROever 

or upon whatsover motive they are committed. 

One matter which will receive our earliest attention 

, is the relief of the anxieties and financial difficulties 

of the Services in India but for whose loyalty and 

unewerving service our task would be impossible of 

j 

~chievement. Here we have available the advice of: 

,he Uoyal Commission presided over by Lord Lee 

. , /,f Fareham and I hope we shall be in a position to 

.. lake a commencement at any early date." 

,. The Government has since given effect to the recommendations 

of Lord Lee's Commission-the 

same recommendations which we~e rejected by the 

Indian Legislative Council at Delhi. 

The New Year's Honours which are out to-day 

announce a G.C.S.I. for Lord Lee; K.C.I.E. for 

~r. R. E. Holland who lately succeeded Sir C. S. 

Bayley on the Council of India; K.C.I.E. for Mr. 

ChatterjeEl, the High Commissi6ner designate for 

India. Thf're are many honours for Indians in the 

list. . 

The year just passed is said to have been the 

wettest year for many yearli!. The' rains are on, as 

this letter is being written. The river Thames has 

lrerflOYffl its banks at places and at SUCh places the 

) ~ "

INDIAN OPINION January 30th, 1925 

-NATIVE PASS ORDINANCE 

DEPurATlol; RECEIVED BY GI!t.ERAL HERT70G 

Pretolla, Jan. 20 (ReMer) -Some time ago the MIDlster of 

J u,tice ordered that the Native Night Passes Ocdmance of 1902, 

m,its,appucation to fem.les. should be enforced as on Feb. l- 

To-day the Pnme M~olster 10 IllS capacity as MInister of Native 

Allans, received a, large ilnd influential deputation of lhe Jomt 

Eurdpe':m and Native Council, churches and other bodies Oil this 

question. / 

The members of the deputation urged delay lD putting the 

order into operation on the grounds t/lat the best means of deahng 

With the admitted evil 9f 199se Native women in the towns had 

not b~en properly investtgated, n9r had N ahve opinion been 

consulted. 

Mr. Howard hm and olhers IIrged .that the pass system would 

not attalll Its object , _ 

The deputation was m9st sympathetically received by Gen ral 

HertzoDg wh:>; It IS understood, said that'the law must be carned 

out 

He wou;d\ hOVlever, consult With the Mmister of Jusllce, and 

ask for the postponemev.t of t\,le operation of the order for sj,,- 

, months - 

• He asked the joint Counc,I't9 submit t9 him wit"in three 

months ~ rep9rt suggestmg, the best method to be adopted with 

~ega)d tQ the cqn~rQI of Native women In tbe towns. 

tUROPEAN WOMKN'~ DEPUrATION 

Pretoria, Jan 23 (Reuter) -A deputation consishng of represeutatl.eo 

of the ,Wo!pan's FederaltOIl, The Yo omen's S. A. P. 

and ,he Women's N ahona\)st Par1y, "'1-lted on the Prime MIDlSter 

to,day, -and assur¢4 111m of \heir strongest support In the 

~nflbrcem mt of the proposed La\)' regard)~ Dlgbt passes for 

N atlve Wom~ll. 

]l;frs De Waal, on behalf of tile 'Vomen's FederatIOn, urged 

that the-Government ~h9uldr compel Native girls to carray monthl? 

passes" and to be,mechcally exammed. 

In con ectlOn ;'lIth thIS matter It WiS learned ID Pretoria this 

morDlng that the Government had dectdcd to po.tpone the operation 

of the \ct tIlt May I, and not for SIX m9nlhs a.< preVlOusly 

stated 

News in Brief 

Ge')rge DJugla;. a South Afncan m Dl"g englOeer wh~ 

accordmg to hiS record'came to thIS couutr.l at the ge of five 

• and was co wlcted 16 tIme'; for theft,_ frau i and forgery and 

finally',deported and wh' has recently been ~ente'ced at th~ 

Nottlnltham Quarter Se stOns at Rltford 10 fo~~ year,,' p!na\ 

servitude for a Ii~mllar off~ce 'is r,eport"d to ,have m de an 

arnuslD't sts'ernent IV the cOllrt, "that once a nan 'fas down 

ID S"utb Afnca" whether black or white, It was very difficult fvr 

him to flse again I" 

ACCOldtng to a Geneva message a telegram was sent by Mr. 

Gandhi [rom IndIa to Mr. Alex:ai!(ler repr

No. 6-VoJ. XXIII. Friday, February 6th, 1925. 

R.eglstered at the G. P.O ••• a Newspaper 

Pilies ron. s.c • 

• 

INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS 

I 

M 

MAHATMA GANDHI'S PRESIDE,NTIAL ADDRESS 

E publish the following extracls from the preSidential 

address delivered by Mahatma Gandhi at the 39th 

Indian Nallonal Congress, Belgaum, on the z6th 

December 1924:- 

'rom the September of 1920 the Congress has been pnncipally 

IOslitullon for developing strength from' wlthm It has ceased 

function by means of resolutions addressed to the Government 

redress of grievanres. It did so because it ceased to bebeve 

he bene/iclal character of the eXisting system of Government. 

the Special Session - of the Congress at Calcutta 10- 19z0 • 

boycott of Government titles, law-courts, educational InstItu.· 

l~, legl8la'ive bodies and foreign cloth was resolved upon 

the I,oyeotts were more or less ta'ken up by the parttes con 

~ed. ThOle who could not or would not, retlled from the 

Dgress. I do not propose to trace the ehequered career of the 

I-co-operallon movement. Though not a smgle boycott was 

'where near complellon, everyone of them had undoubtedly 

effect of dlmlDlshlng the prestige of the partICular IOshtutlOn 

'cotted. 

VHAT NON-VIOLENT NON.CO.OP'KRAfJON HA, A,ClIIBvED 

~he most Important boycott was the boycott of violence 

,Jist It appeared at one time to be enbrely successful, It was 

,n discovered that the non-vIolence was only skm-deep It 

I the passIve non-vlolenc' of helpless"ess, not the enlightened 

I-violence of resourcefulness. The result was an eruption 01 

~Ieranee agamst those who dId n,t non-co-operate. ThiS was 

lenee of a subtler type. In spite, however, of this grave defect 

lake bold to say that the propaganda of non.vlolence checkedoutbreak 

of phYSIcal Violence which- would ..cerlamly have 

Iken out, had not non.vlolent non-co-operation come mto 

ng. It is my deliberate conviction that non.vloleot non-co 

~ralion has given to tl-je people a oonsciousness of their 

:ngth. It has brought to the snrface the hidden powers in 

~eople of ,reSIstance- through suffering. It has caused an 

akenlng among the masses which perhaps no other - method 

lid have. , 

rhough, therefore, non-violent non·co.operatlon I has not 

lught us SwaraJ, Ibough It ha. broyght about certam deplor 

Ie resulls- and though tbe mslJtulJons that were sought 10 be 

ycotted are shll flourishing, in my humble opimon, non-vIolent 

n.co-operatinn as a means of altammg pohtlcal freedom has 

me losta' and that even its partial success has brought us nearer 

,araJ There 19 no mlstakmg the fact that the capaclly for 

~erlng for Ihe sake of a cause mnst advance It 

, FAILURB OF BOYCOrTS 

But we are face to face with a sltuatJon that compels \IS to cry 

,It. For whilst indIviduals hold f.rmly to tbell beltef in non 

-operation the lIlaJority of those who are immedIately concerned, 

ve prl\chcally lost faith In It, wllh the excephon of boycott of 

reIgn clolh Scores of lawyer. have resumed practice. Some 

en regret havmg ever glven.,Jt up. Many who had given up 

lunclis have relurned to them and the number of tho;e wiw 

heve In CouncIl enlry is on the increase. Hundreds of boys 

,d gills who have gIVen up Government schools and colleges 

lve repented of thelf aellon and have returned to them. I hear 

at Government schools and colleges can hardly cope With the 

:mand for adml!Sion. In these clfcumstances these boycotts 

,~not be worked as part of the Nahonal programme, unless the 

ongress is prepared to do without the classes d"ectly affected 

ut I bold it to be Ju~t as imprachcable to keep these classes out 

the Congress as It would be now to keep the non-co-operators 

11. They must both remalD in the Congress, wltbout either 

uty mtertenng with or hastily cnticlsmg Ihe otber. What IS 

pplicable to Hmdu-Muslim unity is, I feel, apph£able~o unity 

mong dllterent pohtical groups. We must tolerate eacb other 

~d trust to time to convert the ooe or tbe other to the opposIte 

ehef. We must go further. We must plead with the LIberals 

~d olhers who have seceded to reJoIn the Congress. If non-coperatlon 

is suspended, tber~ IS no reason wby they should keep 

7: The. advance must be from us Congressmen. We must 

~rdlally mvite them md make it easy fOf them to come m. 

You are perhaps now able t. see .. hy I entered into the agreelent 

with tbe SwaraJists. ,,' 

BOYC011 OF FROEIGN CLOTK 

You will observe that one boycott has been retamed. Out of 

egard for the senllment of an Enghsh friend the \\ord • noycott', 

as been changed in the agreement 1010 'refusal to use foreign 

loth.' For me II is an effective substitute for Violent methods. 

ust as certain acts such as personal abuse, iffllatmg conduct, 

ylng, causing hurt and murder ar& symbols of VIolence, Similarly 

comte.y. moffenslve conduct, truthfulness, etc., are symbols of 

Don-VIOlence. And so to me I~ boycott of foreign cloth a sym_ 

bol of non-VIOlence. RevolutIOnary crime IS mtended to exert 

pressure. But It is the insane pressure of anger and IlI·wlll. I contend 

that Don-VIOlent acts exert pressure far more effectIve than 

Violent acts, for that pressure comes from good-Will and gentleness. 

Boycott of foreign cloth exerts such pressure. We Import 

the largest amount of foreign cloth from Lancashlfe It IS by far 

the lartrest of all our imports, Bugar bemg next. Bntam's chief 

mterest centres round the Lancashire trade WIth India. It IS 

the one thlDg more than any other that has ruined the Indlaif 

peasant and imposes partial Idlene~s upon b,m by depllvmg hUD 

of the one supplementary occupahon he had. Boycott of foreign 

cloth IS therefore'a necessity if he IS to bve. The plan, therefore, 

IS not merely to mduce the peasant to refuse to buy the cheap and 

mce-Iookmg foreIgn fabriC but also by teachmg him tn utlhze hIS 

spare houls ID cardmg and spmmng cottbn and gettmg It woven 

by the Village wewers \ to dress himself in Khaddar 

so woven and thus to save him the cost of buymg foreign 

and for that matter even Indian _ mill-made cloth. 

Thus boycott ~f foreign cloth by means 01 hand-spmning 

and hand-weavlDg, I.e.. khaddar, nof only saves the 

peasant's money but It enables us workers to render d,!ect touch wuh 

the Vlllagers It enables us to give them real pohtlcal educalJon 

and teach them to become sdf-sustamed aDd self-rehant. 

Orgamutlon Qf khaddar IS thus m/imtely better than co.opera- 

I tlve SOCIeties or any other form of VIllage orgamsation. It IS 

fraught with the highest pohtlcal consequences, because It removes 

the greatest Immoral temptation from Bntam's way. I 

call the LancashIre trade immoral, because It was raised and is 

sustamed on the rum of millions of Ind,.'s peasants And as 

one Immorahty leads to another, the many proved Immoral acts 

of Bnt.m are traceable to -11us one immoral traffic, If, therefore, 

thIS one great templalJon is removed from Blitam's path by 

Tndla'~ voluntary effort, It would be good for India, good for 

Brllam and, as Brltam IS tooday the predommant world-power, 

good even for humanity. 

THB SPIl\NING WHEBL 

I wish, too, you would dISmISS from your mmds the VIew, 

attTlbuted to me about machmery. In the first instance I am no 

more trymg to preseot for nahonal acceptance all my views on 

machmery, than 1 am presentmg the whole of my belief 10 non 

VIolence. The spinDlog wheelIS 10 Itself an exquiSIte piece of 

machmery. My head dally bows m reverence to ils unknown 

Inventor What r do resent is the wanton and wicked destruchan 

of the one cottage industry of India that kept the wolf from 

the do,,, of thousands of homes scattered over a surface 1900 

miles long and I JOO miles broad. 

1 have thus dilated upon tbe spmning wheel because I have no 

better or other message (or the nabon. I know no olher effective 

metbod for the attamment of SwaraJ If It IS to be by 'peaceful 

and legitimate means.' As I have already remarked It is the 

only subs Itute for VIolence that can be accepted by the whole 

natron. I swear by CIvil Disobedience. But Civil DisobedIence 

for the attainment of Swaraj IS an Impossiblhty unless and until 

we have attamed the power of achlevmg boycott of foreign 

-cloth. You will now easily perceIve why I should be a useless 

gl\lde for the Congless if my vIews about the spmoing wheel are 

not acceptable to you Indeed, you would be Jusb/ied In regard- 

109 me, as some fnends do, as a hmdrance to natronal progress, 

if you consider me to be wrong in my expoSItion ol-the doctnne 

underlymg the spinmng wheel. If it does not appeal to your 

head~ as well 8..4 your hearts, you will be wantlllg in your duty 10 

not reJ"ctmg my lead. Let it DO longer b~ ~Id, -as Lord 

Wtlhngdon very properly saJd of ns; that we had not the strength 

and courage to say" No.' Indeed your rejection of my proposal 

If you do not beheve m itt Will be a step towards SwaraJ. 

HINDU-MUSLIM UNITY 

Hmdu-Muslim uDily is not less 'important than the spmOlng 

wheel It IS the breath of our hft:. I do not need to occupy 

much of yo.r time on thIS question, because Ih4: neceSSlty of It 

fo,. SwaraJ JS almost uDlversaJly accepted. _ Tbe KhiJafat agitation 

10 ",hieb Hmdus made common cause WIth theIr Mussalman 

bre'hren and the non co-operatIon that followed it, caused an 

awakenmg among the hitherto slumbering masses II has given 

a new consciollsness to the classes as well as the ,masses. 

Interested persons who \\ere dlsappomted dUring the palmy days 

of non-co_operation, now that it has lost the charm of Dovelty, 

have found their opportuDlty and are tradmg upon the rehglOus

INDIA~' Ul'lN 1UN February 6th, 1925 

bigotry or the selfishness of both the commuOltle~. The result IS 

wntten m the history otthe feuds of the past two years. Rehgion 

has been travested' Tnfles have been dlgmlil!i by the name of 

rehglOus tenets which, the fanatics claim, must be ob.erved at 

any cost. Economic and political cause. have been brought mto 

play fo< the sake of fomentmg trouble. The culminating pomt 

was reached in Kohat The tragedy was aggravated by the 

callous mdlfferenne of the local authority I must not tarry to 

examme the causes or to distnbute the blame 

The UOlty Conference at Deihl has paved the way for a settle. 

ment ofrehgious differences. The Committee of the AIl·Partles' 

Conference IS among other thmgs expected to fiOd a workable 

and Just solution of the pollttcal differences not only between 

Hmdus and Mussalmans but between all classes and all castes, 

sects or denominattons. Our goal must be regloval, at the 

earl est possible moment, of communal or sectIOnal re,Pre.entation. 

A common electorate mllst 'Impartially elect its represental1ves on 

the sole ground of merit. Our selVlces must be hkewlse 1m· 

partIally manned by the most quahfied men and women. But 

till that lIme comes and communal Jealousies or preferences be· 

Lome a tbing of ,*,e past, minonties who suspect the motives of 

maJontles must be allowed thell way. The maJontles must set 

the example of self.sacnfice. 

UN rOUCHABILlTY A HINDRANCE TO SWARAJ 

U ntonchablltty i. another hmdrance to Swaraj. Its removal 

IS Just as essential for Swara] as the attamment of Hmdu-Muslim 

uUlty. ThIS IS an essenhally Hmd]1 questtoll and Hmdus cannot, 

claim or take $waraJ till they have restored the 1iberty of the 

suppressed claSses:; they have sunk wIth the latter's suppression. 

I would however warn the Hmdu brethren against the'tendency 

which one sees now.a-days of exploIting the suppressed classes 

for a pol1ttcal end. To remove untouchablhty IS a penance that 

caste Hmdus owe to Hmduism and to themselves. The punfi: 

catton requited IS not of untouchables but oC the so·caUed. 

supellor castes. There is no vice that is special tQ the untoucha 

-hIes, not even dllt and msaUllatlon. It IS our arrogance which 

bhnds us 'superio)"' Hmdus to our own blemlShe~ and which 

magmfies those.of our down.troClden brethren whom we have 

suppressed and whom we keep under suppressIon. RehglOns 

like natIOns are bemg welghed.m the halance. God's graqe and 

revelation are the monopoly of no 'race or natIon They ilescend 

equally upon all who walt ueon God That rehglOn and that 

natlO" Will be blotted out -of the face of the earth whIch pms Its 

faith to inJusttce, untruth or violence God IS lIght, not darkness. 

God IS love, not hate. God is truth, uot untruth. God 

alone IS great We, HIS c!.eat!!les, are but dust Let ,us be 

humble and recogmse the place; of the lowliest of H,s creatures 

MAHATMA GANDlll'S SWARA] SCHEME 

I have long professed my converslOu to the vIew pressed upon 

the pubbc by Babu Bhagvan Das that the pU.blic must know the 

end, not vaguely but preCIsely They must know the full defiuitlOn 

of S\\araJ, 1 e., the scheme of Swaraj whlcn All IndIa 

wants arid must fight for., Happdy- the Colt)mlttee appOInted 

by 'the AH.-Partles' Conferenc~ fs charged WIth that mlsslOIl and 

let us hope Qtat the CommIttee mIll be !\hle to produce a scheme 

that WIll be acceplable to all parties. May I suggest for Its 

conSIderatIon the followlIlg pOInts? 

'---.. 

I. The qushficatlOn for the franchIse should be neIther property 

nor pOSItion but manual work, snch for example as suggested 

for the Congress Franchise. Literary or property te.t has 

ptoved to be elUSive Manual work gives on opportumty to all, 

who wish, to take part In the government and the well· baing of 

the State. 

2. The rumous mIlitary expendIture should be curtaIled ~to the 

proportton necessary Jor protectIOn of hfe and property in 

normal hmes. , 

3. Admmis.tratlon of ]ushc:e should be cheapened and With 

that end In view the final court of appeal should be not in Lon. 

don but In DeIhl. Parties to civtl SUitS must be compelled in 

maJonty of cases to refer theIr dlsplltes to arblttrahon, the deelcion 

of these Panchayats to be final except III cases of corruption 

or obvious ml.apphcatlon of law. Multlphcity of mtermedlate 

courts should be aVOIded. Case law qhould be Abohshed and the 

general procedure should be slmphfied. We have slaVIshly 

followed the cumbrous "nd worn out Enghsh procedure The 

tendency III the ColollJes IS to simphfy the procedure so as to 

make it easy for htlgants to plead theu own cases, 

4. Revenues from mtoxlcatmg hqllors and drugs .hould be 

abolished ~/ 

5 ~alane of CIVIl and MIlItary Service should be brought 

down to a level compatible WIth the general condition of the 

countr· . 

6. There sholjld be re.dlstllbullon of-provinces on a hngulstic 

basIS With as complete,autonomv as pOSSible for every provlllce 

for ItS internal ad_mmlstratIon and growth. 

7. Appomtment (,f' a commiSSIon to examme all the monopohes 

gIven to forelgne~ and, subject to the findmgs of the commlssiq.n, 

full guarantees to be given for atl vested lights Justly 

acquued. . • 

8 Full guarantee of then status to the India., Chiefs Without 

any hindrance from the, Central Government subject to the right 

of asylum to subjects of these states who, not bemg offenders 

against the Penal Code, may seek it m se'lf.govl:rnmg IndIa. 

9. RepeAl of all arbItrary powers. - 

- 10. The highest post to be open to all who may be otherWise fit. 

Exammatlons of the CIVil and MIlItary Services to be in India 

I I. RecogmtioD of c9mplete rehglOlls freedom to vanous 

JenOll1inatlon~ subject (.\ mutual forbearance 

12 The offiCial language for provlOclal governments, legiSlators 

and courts, Wlthm a definite penod, to be the vernRcular 

of the provmee; of the Pnvy Council, the final court of app~al, 

to he Hmdustanl; the scnpt to be either Devanagan or Persian. 

The language of the Central Government and of the Central 

Leglslatu~e to be also HlOd"stam. The language of internatIOnal 

diplomacy to be Enghsh. 

I trust you WIll not laugh at what may appear to you to be 

extravaganc' of thought In the foregomg .ketch of 'Ome of the 

requllements of Swaral as I would have It Wo m3Y not have 

he power to-day to take or recelvP or do the tlungs I have men_ 

honed Have we the will? Let us at least cultivate the deSire 

Before I leave thiS highly attrachve, because speculative, theme 

let me assure the Committee In charge of the draftmg of a 

SwaraJ scheme, that I claim for my suggestIOn no more attentIOn 

than it would give to any smgle mdlvldual's I have mcorpora. 

ted them m my address only to gam greater currency for them 

than they would perhaps otherWise receIve. 

The above sketch presupposes the retention of the Bnltsh COil. 

nectlOn on perfectly honourable and absolutely equal terms 

But I know that there IS a section IiImong Congressmen who 

want under every conceivable Circumstances mdependence or 

Brltam. They WIll not have even an equal partnership In my 

oplmon I( the Br tlsh Government mean what they say and 

honestly help llS to equahty, It would be a great tnumph than a 

complete severance of the BritIsh connection I would therefore 

stnve for SwaraJ Within the Empne but would not heSItate to 

sever all connection, If severance became a necessity through 

Brltam's own fault. I would thus throw the burden of separatIon 

on the Bntlsh people. The better mmd of the world deSires 

to.day'/tot absolutely Independent States warnng one agamst 

another but a federalton of mter-dependent States. The consumation 

of that event may be far off I want to make no grand 

claIm (or our country. But I see nothmg grand or impo""lble 

about our expressing our readiness for umversal mterdcpendence 

rather than IUdependence. It should rest With Bntam to say 

,that she WIll not have real alliance With India. I deSire the 

ahthty to be totally mdependent without a.sertmg the indepen. 

dence. Any scheme that I would frame, while Bnr aln declares 

lier goal about India to be complete equahty Wlthm the Empire. 

would be that I of alhance and not of Independence 

wltho!lt alhance. I would urge every Congressman not 

to be mSlstent on mdependenc~ In each and every case, not 

because there IS anythmg Imposslhle about It, but because it 10 

wholly unnecessary Itll It has become perfectly manifest that 

Bntam reallf means subjugatIon In spite of her declaration to 

the contrary 

Notes and News 

1\\ T a meeting of the PublIc Health Committee of 

ru -the South Coast Junction area held on Jau. 

23. a letter dated Jan. 20 was read from the 

South Coast Junction Area Indian Committee 

in reply to a letter from the Public Health 

Committee, dated November 20, 192,1, whereIn 

the latter complamed of the aforesaid CommIttee 

styling themselves the South Coast Area Indian 

Health CommIttee. It was pointed out in this 

letter that thGre was only one properly constituted 

Health CommIttee in the area, and that that 

Committee took exception to the word "health" 

being included, as It would prejudice the efforts of 

the South Coast Junction Public Health Committee. 

and that misunderstandmgs were bound to arise. 

The IndIan Committee have in thclI' letter agreed 

to withdraw the word "health" as requel!led, and 

WIll in future be known as the South Coaf:!t Area 

Indian Committee. 

Discussion arose as to this Committee's attitude in 

calling a mass meeting of Indians at Clairwood on 

January 17, the outcome of which was that the Indian 

community in the area was instructed to withhold 

payment of rates, and to contest the Public 

Health ComIJlittee's Ordinance. It was agreed that 

it was useless for the Committee to deal further with 

an assoCIation whose- hostilIty was so apparent. 

At a recent meeting of the Malvern Public 

Health CommIttee the Chairman (Rev F. E. Long) 

reported that in conjucnction wIth,Mr. Gray and the 

Secretary he had attended a mMtir.g of the Indian& 

of this area and .explained fully the services and 

object of the Ordinance under which the Commlttee 

was formed making it clear that although not wishmg 

to he harcl on anyont) of whatRver l-ace in

February 6th: 1925 INUIAN OPINION 33 

the area. the Committee were there to ('arrr on the 

work entrusted tD them without [plH' or tavour. 

Those present-some!)O in numbpr-Mr. Long said. 

took a keen inter~8t in the meeting Ill! was bhown 

by the very pertinent questions put to him. and be 

~ai.l he felt sure that if it was not for certain agItators 

that were working outside this area the Indians 

here were prepared to fall in with the reqmrementB 

from a health point that the Committee may fin.L 

ne('t'88ary to impose on the area. 

A complaint was received by several storekeepers 

in Malvf'rn of the nuisances caused by the In 

dIem fruit sellprs In the vicimty of the station, There 

appears to be no law to deal with this matter at 

prespnt. but the Committee have noted the complaints 

for reference when drafting fllrther 

regulations. In the meantime 'the Secretary was 

instructed to wrIte to the District Commandant of 

Police asking if anything can be done in the matter. 

---- . 

Giving evidence recently before the Co~ittee 

of Intlulltry and -Tradel Mr. Hammersley. on behalf 

of the PrOVIsional Emergency Cotton Committee. is 

reportf'rl to have advoeated the estahliRhment of a 

BoarJ, consillting of "eprpflentatives oC employers 

and employeefl, to control the whole of thp cotton 

industry and, mter alia. regulate supplies and avoid 

r(,Cllrrent booms and fllllms, the decisions of such 

Boarfl to be binding. The Committee is, moreover, 

reporterl to have urged that steps should be taken to 

make the industry independent of America. where 

the tarmers who were financed and highly organised 

were holding up supplies. and also to have suggested, 

that India be concentrated upon to provIde raw 

cotton of th-e reqlliflite staple and grade. 

,Our ,cot}t~m_porary the Natal AfercuT!I seems to he 

flomewhat purturbed at this last suggestion of the 

above committee. for it says'-"With the hopes of 

80 many people in Natal and Zululand centred on 

cotton production, it is distinctly 4isconcerting to 

find that in highly important investigation of this 

nature, where the steps necessary to secure indepenclE-nce 

from American supplies wrte under discussion. 

no reference was made to South Africa. On the eontrary, 

it was suggested, "our contemporal'Y bemoans, 

"that India flhonld 1;.>e concentrated upon to provide 

raw cotton of the reqnisitp staple and grade." Our 

rontemporar)- wishe:; somebody hall been there at 

the time to advertise South African cotton ! 

Johannesburg Jan. 20 (Reuter).-Two Indians 

alleged to liave been prohibIted immigrants left Lourenco 

Marques in a motor car and crossed the Swaziland 

border. The car evaded the police at Mbabane 

and Ermelo. but was brought to a standstill yesterday 

in Ermelo. wh('re the police had barred the road. 

The Indians were arrested. 

Speaking recently at the Wesleyan Synod at 

Queenstown ~Cape) the President the Rev. J. W., 

Houseman, asked how many politicians knew the 

meaning of segrag8tion as applied to the Natives. 

As a geographical idea. the drawing of a line dividing 

whIte from black, the proposal was absurd and 

impossible. The only feasible segregation was mental 

and spiritual rathE-r than physical and material-a 

segregatioll of national ethics, pure and simple. It 

was the segree,rahtm' of nationality which needed 

preservation-working out a national destiny on 

national lines. 

We are informed by Mr. V. Lawrence, Hon. 

Secretary of the M. K. Gandhi Library that a 

lecture on "The Sex Problem as it alIects Health" 

for men only will bf' dl'livered by Dr. F. G. Cawston 

10 the Parsee RnstomJee Han. HI) Queen Street. 

Durban. on Tuesday next the 10th aay of February 

1925 at 8 p. m. and after the lecture difK'ussion will 

be inVIted. 

THE VIC'EROY'S REPLY 

~ HE speech delivered by His Excellency the 

II \"iceroy on the Indlan question at the openlUg 

of the Indian I,egis13tul'e as well as hIS 

reply to the deputation that recently waited upon 

His Excellency on the same qnestion are both most 

,disappomting. On a very serlOus occasion such as 

the present one when the status of British Indians 

in thIS oountry is being reduced to helotage. 

when their very existence as self-respecting citizens 

~f the British Empire is Joopardized it was expected 

that His Excellency the Viceroy of India would not 

be dictated by anyone but by his own constience 

and that feeling the hmmbation himself he wonld 

not hesitate to speak out hIS mind with 

force and without fear. as did Lord Hardinge on a 

similar occasion in 1913 when the position wa.~ not 

any the less serious than it is _now, when he said, 

"I feel that if the South African Government 

desires to justify itself in the eyes of India and the 

world, the only conrse open IS to appoint a strong 

impartial committee. whereon Indian mterestB will 

be represented, to conduct the ll\.Ost searcbmg inquiry, 

and you may rest assured that the Raj will 

not cease to urge these considerations on the Imperial 

Government." On the contrary, our present VIceroy, 

the Lord Chief Justice, in whose speech there is neither 

spil;it nor force, counsels paiJence when the house 

'ison fire and at the same time decides, that in view 

of the powers of the Dominions in domestic affairs 

the position IS delicate and a solution would not be 

easy. Further more. instead of recognifling the llldignation 

felt by Indians and Indicl at the extraordinary 

attitnde of the South African Government 

towards their nationals and denouncing such attitude 

as being unworthy of a country claiming to be 

civilized, His Excellency tells the deputation that 

.. denunciations and threats could onlf produce 

injurious consequences and embarrass the Union 

Government." In other words this is but a threat 

to the Indian people that if they indulge In 

denouncing and threatemng the Union Government 

they will be given DO .consideration at alL But have 

not the Union Government sufficiently embarrassed 

India and the Indian Government yet? It is difficult 

to express in adequate terms how keenly disappointed 

we are with Lord Reading's reply. 

One thing His Excellency has said to the deputation 

and that too is most indefinite. - That is about 

the suggestion of a non-party confvrence which, the 

Viceroy said, .. had rec('ived the full oonsideration 

of his Government which was having delicate 

negotiations with the Imperial Government," and that 

he was not, therefore, able to say more in that connecbon 

at present. It is difficult to know how long 

we will have yet to linger before a definite reply is 

received. 

It now remains to be considered ail to what hteps 

we are to take lin this country. To expect help 

coming from India is futile, and it would be unwise 

to depend on any outside help. Mr. Gandhi tells

----'3:....:4~___'__________ I_N_D_IA_N_;___O-P-I-N-I-O-N----~ ebrua,">:_ 6th, 1925 

• 

us definitely, and it IS too true, that we can have 

little help from India until India has secured her own 

freedom. How can we expect help from India when 

..,lndia is engaged m and is unilergoing her own free- 

, dom's 'battle by untold suffenng. We have to do the 

same either in India or in this country, and that, by 

standing on our own feet and depending on the 

help!f no one but having ImpliCit faIth in the One 

Supreme Bemg who alone can help us and ,give us 

justice. 

In the meantime we have to consider what immediate 

steps are necessary to be taken. It will not, we 

think, hE\ untimely on our part to suggest that while 

Parliament is in Session we should demonstrate by 

holding protest meetmgs throughout the Umon our 

sense of indignation at the unnessary humiliations 

we are subjected to, and with one voice, we should 

send a joint petitipn to the Governinent and the Parliament 

impressing upon them the urgent necessit~, m 

fairness to the Indian community, of takiug immedia~e.-steps 

to appoint a non-party committee to inquire 

into the present positIOn. Will the Indian community 

rise before i~is too late" 

DEPUTATION TO THE VICEROY 

Delhi, Jan. 28, CReuter).-The VICeroy received 

this evening an mfluential and representative deputation 

mcludmg leading Indians and European members 

of the Indian Legislative on the position of 

Indians III South Afrioa. 

The spokesman of the deputatlOnr In reviewing 

the situation, referred to the speech l;Jy Mr. J. H. 

Thomas, former Coloniftl Secretary, at Marltzburg, 

in which he expressed the opinion, that the IndIan 

question should be considered, not merely from its 

local, but from a~ Imperial aspect: The 'deputation 

urged the Immediate need of securing the Umon 

GovBrnment~s assent,to Mr. Thomas' suggestion' to 

hold a non-party conference to re-examineJhe Indian 

question m a spirit of tolerance with a vie~ to findmg 

a solution. , 

The Maharaja of Blkaner (Chancellor of the Chamber 

of Indian Princes) telegraphed associatmg him 

self and the Princes wIth the objects of the deputation. 

' 

The members of the deputation mchided SIr Dinshaw 

Petit, Sir Purshotamdas ,Thaktlrdas, Sir Campbell- 

Rhodes (representative of European Commerce), 

Colonel Crawford (Secretary of the European Association 

of India), Ra?gachal'lar and Roy, (members' 

of the Indian Colomes CommIttee). 

The Viceroy, in reply, characterised the deputation 

as representatIve and infiuentIal to an unusual and 

remarkable degree. lIe saId the questIOn which had 

been raised was one of utmost 'importance to the 

Empire. He aduuttbd that a feeling of dlssappomtment 

had invaded the country owing to the ullexpected 

failure of the Smnts-Gandhi agreement whICh thIS 

country had thought to llave solved the controversy. 

The situation m Natal and elsewhere suggested 

that the POSltIOll of Indians m South Africa had 

reached a crisis, and that the Union _ Government 

were leaving the Provinces to solve the Indian 

question as seemed best to them. ~ The Viceroy 

ex,pressed his deep concern at the turn of events, 

and at the possible re-action whICh the matter might 

have on Imperial relationship. He would not conceal 

the difficulties that confronted them in dealIng 

with a self-govermng Domimon whose Government 

had its own difficulties and embarrassments. The 

suggestIon of a non-party conference had received 

the full consideratIon of his Government which was 

having delicate negotIations With the Imperial GOYernment. 

He could not, therefore, say more at 

present. DenunCIations and thrt'ats conld onlv 

produce mjurjous conseq'uences and embarrass th~ 

Union Government. TheIr nurpose was to reconCIle 

llldividual interests with the collective interests 

of the Empire. 

OUSTING THE ASIATIC 

SUCCESSFUl, CAMPAIGN IN JOHANNESBUR~ 

The Johannesburg correspondent of the Nalal 

JlfercU1 y in a message dated Feb. 2 savs ,- 

"Our campaIgn is havmg splend;J resnlta," "all 

the reply of 1\11'. Kirby, Se(,l'l'tary of the Southern 

Suburbs European AssociatIOn, when askell this 

morning as to the progress of a determined attempt 

to rid the southern subnrbs 'Of the ASIatic tradt'r 

"Already we know that 25 per cent, of the pe~ple 

to whom we have presented the serionsness to 

themselves and to the white community 10 general 

which must follow through tJ'ading WIth IndIans, 

are giving their orders-to the shops owned by the 

Buropeans." 

·"Do you send out your Circulars to all classes, or 

do you discrimlllate?" \ 

"We are only concerned with people who are in a 

position that does not compel them to deal with the 

ASiatic. Poor residents \ are not interfered with in 

any way. In their case the necessity for obtaining 

supplies from the very cheapest market is rl'cognised.'" 

, 

.For two months the Southern Suburbs Ellropean 

Association, with Mr. Kirby acting as hon. secretary. 

- has been operatlllg. and all concerned are justly 

proud of what they have accomplished. Their 

particular mission has been to point out to householders 

that if the Indian trader in their midst ill 

supported by them, their husbands. brothers, daughters 

and sisters must eventually be thrown out of 

employment. 

"We are now expecting II large exodus of ASiatic , 

traders from Turffontein and Forest HIll," contmllw" 

Mr. Kirby, -"and we are anxious that Ophirton m 

particular shoulu protect Itself agamst an invasion 01 

~hose people who have left our districts. For a 

long time past residents have waited and done 

nothing, believm~ that the Government would take 

action. They ha"*e found, however, that unless they 

first make an effort to help themselves the Government 

is not hkely to give them any assistance, but 

now they wIll formally ask for the help, and at an 

early date. Householders, too, are daily recognising 

the dangel' to theIr own employmeut whICh is 

bound to follow their support of the Asiatic. and 

that this campaIgn IS not being waged solely in the 

interests of the white trader,;." 

[Note :-From friends who came hue last w~ek 

from the Rand to embark for India we have been 

informed that the Turffontem dIstrict is inhabited 

to a very large extent by membprs, of the so-called 

White League and it is not sdfe for any Indian or 

coloured person to enter some parts of the dIstrict 

by night espeCially, as stones are being hurled 

mvariably and revolver shots are also occasionally 

heard. Several Instances of Indians haVing been 

thus attacked .have occured but where IndIans or 

Natives are concerned even the Pohce anthnnties 

are loath to take any notice. This would g\ ve sOme 

idea as to the methods adopted In some parts 

by anti-Asiatics to solve the ASIatic problem.-Ed.] 

, c 

Port Said, .Jan. 29.-The AkalKhan arrived here 

from AlexandrIa, and was met at the station by the 

Governor and other officials. He left for Suez today, 

where he will jom the steamer Dumbea for 

Mombasa and ZanZIbar. The Aga Khan IS on visit 

to his followers on the East Coast.,

.. 

February 6th, 1925 INDIAN OPINION 3S 

!\IIt H. ~ 

L. POL.\K'S LECTURE 

...lY TII~: "o ... nll''' 01" lXDUX"; Is THE Cor,ONIE'; 

Durin..: hllol rev,lt \I,,:t to IIII,,~ 'fro It ~. L. 

1'01.1k til'll \ el'Cti an inte'l e;,tiog It·ctare on Ih· POSItion 

of In.li.lns in the Colonies at a largely attended 

public meeting in !\J..Idras with Dr. Beil.1nt in the 

"ajl, ndyas:J~r l'anolt,l. Dr C. 

~)..Itesa !\IulLlhar. T. R. Venkptar,lm.l Sa'ltn awl 

.. Dewan, B.lh..l.lur 1'. KeA.l\.l PilI,lI amoll;,{ othel ri 

"ere present. 

The lecturer at the out,.,ct tbdnJ,ed the org-allJ""1 s of 

the meetmg for th€' kind \\ elcolUt' lhp,· o[ered t.) 

him and sai.j that he had Leen in Indid ~ often thdt 

h(' atldched \~self to the' p{«)ple of Indhl. although 

he Wat! not gh1tn the cItizenshIp. 

Although he had very fre(I'lentir spok .... n of Indians 

oversoas, he felt that \er)" many 'luestions 

oecnrred to hIm flom time to time thdt th"r(' was 

sull enough to lMrn. ·Ur. Polak 6.\1.1 th,\t among 

the very many things that \\ ere not nsually known 

h{'rt' was that nearly 20 lacs of Intii.lns lived wlthm 

\ the British Empire outside India in Bl'ltbh Guian.t. 

" Wellt Imhes, South Africa, E.lst Afnca. )Ialaya, 

Strdits Settlements, Austral!.1 and New Zeaunu. In 

I the'l~ pl3("es the problem conccrmng Indi,mll differell 

aecorlhng to the lll(l€'ntllr€' or f'ome othrr contract or 

whether they w('nt m,icpl'lluently by their own 

means. The problem ,lg.\in 

were m,llie S'lIlH' slIght dlIlC'1ll1uwntl'l wert' mtrouucell. 

But there Wi18 110 s,ltt!lfolct


February 6th, t'I' S 

came forVl(a.rd thfY i~slsted that they should be consulted. 

With the advent of the new adminIstratIon 

they should be definitely on their guard lest a further 

attempt to introduce fresh penal legislation 

shotlld be made. The time had come for the recOI'l~titt1tidn 

of tHe bb10tties Oohifuitt~e beC'at1se the 

Cdmmisaion had just Hbw gone to East Africa 1n 

order to ct1l'lsider certai1l econOl:ilic prbhfems. There 

wiiS no IndHttt represerltatioh dit that Comnuttee. 

Thet'e Was no public occas10n fot InUiatul to ptesent 

thell' economic caSe. The GovertimeHt ot Indhi 

should scrutimse its report throngh It.'l representatives. 

I~ Ne'f Zealand there were new possibilIties open 

for Indlah population. There Wf>re no posmblhtiefl 

for perIl)anent emigration. Rut there wete opporttlDlttes 

for temporary residence. Some of the disabllitle!l 

which were brought to the botice of the 

Australian Government by ,Mr. V. S, Sruilvasa Sastri 

were removed by them. 

The only way in which dlsabdities would be removed 

was by giving CltIzenship to the people. 

In,dlans were laboUring under disabIlIties in C,mada 

-where they had :Defther provincial franchise nor the 

Domimon franchise. 

SOUTH AFltICA, 

The teal danger was in So\ith Africa whICh was 

also It self-g(ivei'ilirig d6:irl1lfWh. The Union is 

diVided into 4 provinces each haHng differerit laws 

and dIfferent typeS df t>diJultitiSn, IndIans had 

living franchise and provincial franchIse. But they 

were D,ot eligible fo:.;. m~mbershifJ of the Dominion 

Assembly., In the Transvaal Indians had bo franchIse 

at aU. - Every attempt was being made to 

restrict t'p~ir X;ig!lts as regllrds ownership _of b)li14- 

ings and lands, ,Many qf them W\lre actnally born in 

South AfrICa, They knew India oldy l:Jy tradition..- 

sYI¥pathy and sent~mellt. That population 

cOll\d not be absorbed becaUfl!\ they were aCCltsnomed 

to Enrope;tn conditIOns, They 'would not spttle 

down ~nd.fqr~ part of the population of this country. 

r.rhll~'efol'e Fhe speaker did nQt like the attempt 

made br Jhe Jnc).lan Qovernment m askmg the IndIans 

of Squt!J. Afl'l weIght of Indian puhhc opinion behio,l 

me." It was the message of the Ihuidn n.ltion which 

she carried to the people there, the message ot morai 

help thlit brought eourdge to the hea.rts of Indian!! in 

South Atrica and Kenya. She condemned the action 

of the Natal Government tor pasl:live fmnctil)(l to the 

Orchnance which deprived the people of Mnlllcipal 

franchise, as a betrayal of the agI'eemellt between 

Mr. Gandhi and Genl'ral Smuts. a betr,lyal of those 

human and uhalienable human rights, lndians hdd 

as much right to the tdrnchIl'!e as any WhIte Colnmal 

In the face of this oetI'dyal of agreement the 

Indian Government should not be academic in theil' 

PIty and compassion but must effectively protect the 

mterests ot the Inuians abroR,l, even since her 

return, she had been prt'1'!9ing for a Round 'fdble 

Cohference ancI sh(l had sllggellted the same to General:!' 

Hertzog and 8mut,,;, but the Indians here hall 

not wken up the Ruggestion of their own Amhaso;d, 

dol'. ·Were they- gomg merely to- pass resolutIOns of 

helplt'ss and chedp sympathy and s..y all the tronblelo .. 

of tlJ81r compatl'iots abrootd wel'e due to race prejudlCe 

of the Oolomal Whitcst" .. ll.1 passing this resolution 

I ask yon to make it_POSli\1}It1>so that having won 

Swal'aj by strcngth of united a~i,oA )Yeill~ll d4re to 

lay down the l.tw to the GoverlHllPn(tI.i(L t{).c:.Co1oAlcbl 

anti tdl tlll'm: "If you WIll tOllch (,Vl'r: lh~hai';fJ~ 

my bl'other, you wtll tIo so a~ your own l'lsk." '

,t, 'I. 

February 6th, 1925 lN1JIJ\N OPiNION 31 

;'Ir. Sharnbuknm Chettl,u' lLL.A. Heconoled the re- tlwmselve ... mol the poopie of jhi.; counu-y to Dldke 

rlIOlntlOn, He 11011ngly protests against the 

~rr, BamtrdiJas ChaturveJi thOllgh not a delig,ltu 

enactment I>f Ihe Noltal Buroughs Ord.narce t1epnvlng 

lndlans \>( Municlp.lI franchIse and Ihereby nol only creal 

Ing a new CIVIC d"ablhty but rumously hampereng t 'em in 

Ihelr Dccupaliun as trad-l'8. 

(bJ Llbctal Federalfl>D urges y.,v rnm~nt of India to. 

1IIIII\ed1ately send an Officer of theus and a nOll,officlal 100 

~out.h Afnca 10 enqulfa1i:;ed 

th-e dlfficnlt position of the Government of IndIa in 

that mattel' but the Government 'of Iowa. owed it to 

of the Feueration spoke in support of the resolutltJll 

giving hi~ expel'lences reg-drdill~ the trf>atment of 

,Indians III Kenya and other Colonies. The ('e"olntion 

was passed. 

OUR LONDON LETTER 

[ By OUR OWN CORRE~PONDEY·.r ] 

Sth JaUlld.ry, U12,:i, 

the LIberal PartY-Which is the smallest part,, 

in the British Parli.lment is up anu stil'l'mg, ,lIlU the 

work of ~eorganisd.tion is going apa~e, W.lthlll the 

next few weeks the p,uty Will be holdmg d conference, 

1\lr. Asquith, who, UJough Without ,L bNt III 

theJItoube, is still the lead.f>r of the Llher,11:;, He IS 

011 his way to England trom Egypt anll \\ III no 

doubt take hiS place in the Confel'el~ce, There W,l"; 

some t.tlk in the press of hls -probable elevatIOu to 

the peerage but this was folloWlilg immedlatel y hi .. 

defeat at the las~ general elections, He is a personality 

repl'esentative of the Victorian el".l of which he 

may be saHt to be the last, Sneh men al'e the l.ln(imarks 

of Brlt'lin's greatness, Mr, Lloyd ?eOl'ge 11:l, 

in the absence of Mr. AsqUith in the House, the 

leader of the Liberal Party within the House, His 

appointmeI}t. WitS not altogether populdr in hi" party. 

Sir John l:;imon, the gl'&lt l.t\vJ'er. who IS of the 

party, Col. Wedgwdod, Benn, Mr, Runsciman aUllothers, 

it would appear, reluctantly actluiesced m 

the appointment, 'In any case, Mr, Lloyd George w 

,I.S active as ever, eager to seize evel'y opportunity 

.tor the belle fit of his party. 

There are not any signs of Labom adivity a" thiS 

letter is being written, Both MI', &lmsay ~I.tCdOllald 

anti Mr. J, It. Thomas are aWdY in Jd.md,tCcl 

on holiday bent. 

The party in power, the Consen-ative, are alJ()I}t 

pItfl.Sllre or business. Loru Birkenhead, better known 

as F, E. Smith, the famous t~wyer, who holds the Ile::, 

tiny ()f India ir. his hands as the Secretary oC St,lle 

for India, is spending his holiday In Madeira-that 

bedlltifnl island In th"e sea-to attempt to doscl'lbe It 

would be futile, 1t were a. task for the poet an(i the 

artist.' Mr. Winston Churchill. the most vel satile 

man in the British fiousea of Pal'hament. as the 

Chancellor of the Exchequer IS III Paris enga',;"J iu 

th~ Allied Conferimc~ f.q,r fue .. d,jjustnu>nt of the P:1Ymenta 

of (1) the receJ.Pts oLtdmed by the occupation 

of Rum and (2) the amenities to be paid by the Germ.a4ltsnnder 

the Dawes ~cheme. . He is also there 

to raise the question. though not at the Confereuce 

itself, but outsiJe of it hy way of conversations with 

the representatives of France for the payments towarus 

the allielf debts to Gredt Britain. It wa;; 

dUI ing the war that Britain ma(le the debts with 

America in the purchase of war material for the 

alli"s aud in re:pect of these dt>bts she is pa)-ing 

Americ.lllltfjrest which i~ said to_ be born by the 

Brltxsh-t.iipayer to thtt extenfof 2[. in the £. There

is a talk.of France paying America the debts dire;:tly 

contracted with that country, and Britain feels and 

asks that France in paying America should also remember 

towards the debt to her. 

Two of the Directors of the Bank of England, 

1\1r. Montague Newton and Sir Anderson, are in the 

United States-some say to bring about the recognition 

of the gold standard-others that they are 

there In connection with the allied war debt. - 

The Royal Commission on Foodstuffs, with Sir 

Eric Geddes, as chairman is sitting and taking evidence. 

Much of it, as published, is interesting. The 

cost of living in this country is still very high. For 

instance in 1914~at the time of the outbreak of the 

Great War-the 4 lb. loaf cost the consumer 5td. 

but gm;ing the past year: it rose to 8td., in February, 

to 9d., in July.tQ 9td., in August to 10d., In October 

and to-day it stands at-lotd. The price of bread, 

in other words, now costs the consnmer pI'actically 

double its co~t just immediately- beforE' the war. 

The London County Council with the New Year 

has introduced an all-day ticket available on 'Saturdays-and 

Sundays at 1/. With this ticket holder of 

it can travel in its trams over a track of 164 miles, 

aad by choosing some of the longer routes he

February (jth, 1925 INDIAN OPINION 39 

,unflible people throughout the oountry are reo 

""'i'eiving POllt pamplilets entitled "Revolutionary," 

and fOl'eshadowini( a campai/.,'U to counter terrorisDl, 

accompanied hy a series of threatt!. Unlike the 

previous epidemic of seditious literature. this reo 

volutionary pamphlet ill written in excellent Englisb, 

~d If! printNl on good paper. 

t 

News in Brief 

Writing in support of the "Townsman's" sugges. 

tion;; for a flolution of the Asiatic problem. which we 

reproduced from the Nai

~''PUt' l~'.)1tl' lJ-ofe.l)'Ut '~1-~ct ~Pl"" ~ t~ ~ 

lh~ ~fQi \~.),1~1~ 1~11\}t ~k t't! ~.lJ:P \p~Jf;ljI~ 

~l-lr.u l;.tn.h ~~ 1!!lt lcL?'ijt llt1-lr.e'i' ~1I~_, kl'\ lJ..ltl~ 

~ljl~ t~ 1{"~ l~I1r!If~lhI}tIjJh li~7t \}'\l?lJ.. 

.~ l}~ l~ta~ l!1~?i~ lJ.tlb~" ~~.~ ~!ilim ~~1~ 

1l-1i1',lelt \)-'Plil1lt1 ~ !It.l-\~\}te3 tin: ~ ~!'I ~ f\lt 

\)-'1~.1R1.f~ ~ l.n~ R1~ It R~ jkl-lh.. ~ ~lfI.h lP~'ti 

, 1~1~1~ lhl- ~lfUti ~h. lttl- l~,\h. It.~llt \~W~ re~ 

\ l ~1lila- f\~ l~lch. B.ll 'P.>1~ lltl-llt.1Wi Ilfl1 '~Rh! ~\R~' 

_ "@h1lfl1 !k.lbe~ - ~e t::t?I}t.~ y..1l:1~ 'Pe~ It"cl}n 1~'m'kl! ?S~ l}L'il 

~~~ Jcl.?I~; \y1~lj~lf l-h1h.lt~. lJll-l1llt. !lt~I~. \.06)17 lltil}~p l}l-l~(~ lfi\eP It''l-1~3 llll~ ,,1~bl~ lkll:):'l~ j~hl!f - ~cl:t l\.o\p~e3,p tt?~1i l~\}l~ l~lP~ Hn: l,~ hl~ l 

llt.~'le Wblln: \::Ihei el l~l}'\tll'P ij)'ih. \J:.hlcl~ I IJ.lHi .~llt l:': l~jl-t\Vihtllk ~i~?( l;"~''ilk: { 1~ .. !I~' 

'~1>~lt ~h1}l.1~~ l}p!l\ ~~ t\;'hl?ihl)~~ Plt \t~l~ lc:!~ l\J,b l~il i~l'~ ~~\lt. 1~~~ N:e 

!1t~171l-,. !It!f'~ fole 1}7 .. ~!J.;1h. el~l\ el~ltl1-" 1~'C1l !It.PWilWi ~ lli~h.II::~l't l}a~(h IilJ.;?{ 1~~1~'f\ 

, - :~, _'~I'h ~Itl~ ~ ~ p~ 1~lf:~ -'cnl~ !It.iJ~J.7~ "'@I'h. lPpl\o:PltN: t3~ 't~~1-lil~ - ~ .,W' t fllltij:>. If\}tli-' lin: 

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JJtt!littlt @piltiolt 

~v . 

• NO.7-Vol. XXIII. Friday, February 13th, 1925. 

Registered at lbe G. P.O. as a Newspaper 

Palcs I'OOIl'BBCB 


- 4i~ 

t\ViT AHAT:MA Gandhi writes in Young India We are no advocates of inflammatory propaganda. 

11 V 11 dated Dec. 26 :-The serpentine coil round But we do not see any difference between Mr. 

the Indian_ settlers of South Africa IS Clements Kadales speech and the white man's pro· 

daily tightening. Now in Natal they are deprived pagand against the black. The only difference we 

n of the municipal franchise. This was said - do see is that while the outspokenness of the form'e!; 

have been protected. When the ath-mpt was is somewhat justifiable the action of the latter is'-, 

:Ie to take away from them- the political totally injustifiable. "The Native must be segralchise, 

the Natal Government declared that tltey gated;" "the_ Native must be given no more la?,d;" 

I no design upon the enjoyment by Indians "the Native women must carry night passes;" 'the 

the municipal franchil!le. But no promise Katfir must be kept in his place," "the Asiatic is 

!Ie to a weak party is sacred in the estima- a menace to the white man;" "we mnst oust the 

1 of modern Governments. Each party must be Coolie;" "we must not support the Coolie;" "wee 

to defend its rights by its own mherent must segragate' him;" "we must drive him out of 

mgth. The Government of India's vaunted the country;" "we must take the law in our own 

tlteeship fails at the crucial moment. I know hands.~· Are these statements not provocative? 

.t the settlers look to us for help and protection. and yet they are commonly heard from the white 

t they should know that they can have little help propagandiat agaiJ;lst the black, and it is a wonder to 

m India for the present. She herself is engaged us that no voice of protest is raised against such a 

a life and death struggle. Years ago the late propaganda nor have the authorities considered it 

. Pheroze!lhah prophesied that India would be of advisable to put a stop to it. But the white man 

.le help to the Indians overseas, 80 long 3$ she can say and do as he wills. It is a heritage apparent· 

I not acquired the a~ility to assert herself. The ly bequeathed to him by his skin. But should a 

e Pestonji Padsha was even disgusted with me black man make his voice slightly heard, Action! 

. going to South Africa. He thought _every In- Action! is shouted ont from the houlJ~-tops. 

Ln worker going out of India was so much 

momic wa~te. I think his clear brain partially A Bill gazetted on January 22, restrjcts the issue 

led Mr. Padsha. My residence in South Africa of certificates of competency in the mining industry 

to "persons other than Natives or -Asiatics," and 

provides for the apportionment of occupations on 

mines and works "between Natives and Asiatics and 

.s not an economic waste of power. But is there 

t much truth underlying Mr. Padsha's burning 

gire first to secure IndIa's freedom ? Till we have 

luired it, we must send Ollr countrymen across 

3 seas such comfort as newspaper and other symthy 

can give them. 

----- 

At a Native meeting held recently in the Waar 

,ck Location near Bloemfontein Clements Kadala, 

neral secretary of the Industrial and Commercial 

orker's Union of South Africa, is reported to have 

Ildulged in a provocative speech, in which he 

reatened that the Natives would hold up the raillY 

service and the mining industry if th~ 

)vernment refused to bring in a Minimum Wage 

11 for them." In the course of a violent attack on 

e English people the speaker is reported to have 

id that in the Cape the Natives were all ~ation 

Ists and the talk about British ideals was pure 

rpocricy." He is reported further to have urged 

s hearers "to make such an agitation everywhere 

at Parliament House will tremble and to 

11 the white man be has robbed you for the 

gt 200 years, robbed -you in the land ?f your 

thers. Kick up such a row that the white man 

5., ..'1ot seep. 1 " 

The Bloemfontdn COlTespondent of the Natal 

ercur!J sa3'S: Indignation is expressed that Native 

dtators from the Cap~ should be allowed to come 

:re and disturb tte minds of the local Native 

;pulation which numbers over 20,000 in Bloe~?nin 

alone without any check from the authorltles. 

is felt that if he intends calTying his inflammatory 

~opaganda into places like Basutoland, which is 

dd to be his object, the authorities should pnt a 

op to it. 

other persons." The object is to give legality to 

those mining regulations which were ruled by the 

,lower and higher courts to be ultra v,res, and 1.0 

render Natives legally incompetent to follow such 

skilled and semi·skilled occupations as are enumerated 

in the Mines and Works Act of 1911. Mr. 

Justice Krause described the colour bar regulations 

as "prima jaCl(J repugnant to the law of the land. 

• • • • ~ unreasonable, and even capricious and 

arbitrary." The proposal to make the regulations 

mtra. vires, to strengthen the colour bar and make it 

a. permanent institution, says the Umteteli JYa BlIrttu, 

affords another illustration of the Pact attitude towards 

the Native people. 

At a mass meeting of the Indians of Pinetown 

held last Sunday, the following resolution was 

carried unanimously: "That this mass meeting' of 

the Indians of Pinetown hel'eby resolve to orJ:tllnise 

and form themselves into a body under the name of 

Pinetown Indian ProgressiTe Asociation." 

The objects of the above Association are, we 

understand, to protect and safeguard the true interests 

politically, socially and educationally of the 

Indian community of Pinetown. 

A further resolution was carried requesting the 

Association's officials to take immediate and necessary 

steps for the establishment of an English School 

in Pinetown and for that purpose to move the 

Administration of Natal in the matter as they may 

think advisable. ..

I N PI -\N OPIN ION February 13th, 19:15 

The Kanamia Moslem League in Capetown has 

decided to raise £:1,000 to meet the requirements 

of the rismg geneIatlOl1 of IndIans III Capetown 

They have secured a plot of ground, on whIch thej· 

propose to erect a school, 111 whIch provIsion IS to 

be made for the edncatJon of theIr chIldren in 

EnglIsh, Ul'ciu and Gnjdl'dtJ. A SnbSCl'lptlOn list 

has been opened, aml IS headed WIth a donation of 

£100 Over £700 have b,t'en subS"cnbed to the 

fund already. 

QUEshON OF MAHOMEDAN WIVES 

Off HE judgmellt given by the Supreme Court 

11 ('Natal Pro~incial DIvIsion) -in the case of 

{mmigrants Appeal Board vs. Ayesha, the report 

of which 18 reproduceu elsewhere in this Issue. 

is of very great interest to the Ifiulan community. 

It brings to our memory vividly the PaSSIVe Resistance 

struggle; with all its _woes, that resulted -from 

the j'adgment of Mr. Justice Searle in March 1913, 

in the lllaj,ter of an appeal by Hassen Esop against 

the Minister of the InterlOr for an order restraining 

the respondent £rom deporting to India Bai Miriam. 

the lawfuJ wife of the aPl?licant. It was thIS judgmtmt 

that, for th-e first time, opened the eyes C?f the 

IndIan community to the fact that _according to the 

then existing law the wife of every HIndu and 

M;ahomedan was in South Africa fnegaUy, and; 

therefore, at the mercy of the Goverriment, whose 

grace alone could enable her to remain in this 

country. The said law did not admit the 

legality of marrIages celebrated - according to therecognized 

Indian religions. 

This was natnrally 

received with a severe shQck by the community, for 

it n.B an insult not only to the womanhood of 

India but to ;the Indian nation -hi so far as non 

Christia,ns were concerned; and as no steps to amend 

the law were 4tken by the Government the community 

had no other course but to resort to 

Passiv.? ResistaI\ce in which women also participated 

and Valiamma, whose name will never pe forgotten 

by the Indian commumty in South Africa, 

sacrificed h,el~ life. It was after this offering of a 

life and much suffering that the Government condescended 

to bend and a settlement was arrived at 

between the Government-and the Indian community 

with the passing of the 'lndJan Relief Act of 1914, 

which Act amended Section 5 (g) of_ the Immigrants 

Regulation Act 22 of 1913 which was the ca.use of 

all the trouble. 

The question' asked by the IminigrantB Appeal 

Bolird in the present case we are referring to in this 

article waS: ., Is the Indian woman Ayesha a prohibtted 

lmmigra~t 'in view of the provisior.s of 

Section 5 (g) of the Irp.migrants Regulation A~t 22_ 

of 1913, as amended by Section 3 (2) of the Indians 

Relief Act 22 of 1914. " 

The Section referred to above, in so far as it affects 

the present case, reads as follows :- 

" , the wife' shall include anyone woman' 

between whom and the exempted person melltioned 

therein there exists a union recognized 

as a marriage under the tenets- of an Indian 

_ religion notwithstandiI)g that by those tenets 

the union of that exempted person with other 

-women at the same time would be recognized 

as ~ marriage : Provided that no woman shall 

be deemed to be the wife of such exempted 

pel'son-(a) If such a nlllon existf! bdween Ilim 

anu any other woman \"d1O resitle,. in any 1'1'0- 

YlllCe, or (b) If such eX"Illptetl l'r "~on 'has III 

allY Pl'ovince otI~pring IlY any otlier \\ !Jlll.1n 

,,110 is stIll living '( 

In answering the qnt',-tlOll Pilt hy the Bndnl Il, 

the negatlve .Tudge-Pres1dent ~1I John Do\(' \\"11"01/ 

stnd the language of the sectIOn ",\'i pl.ulI and 

obvions, and MI'. JustIce Carler conclllled Hut 

Mr. Jushce Tatham was doubtful as to the lllt\1111l1g 

of the section and thought that tIlt' Sl'dlOl1 waambignonsly 

wordell. IllS LorcblllP tllOlll'ht "that 

the Act really meant that an Il1llt,m couM only 

Introduce a Wife If he kept one WOll1,m to be tredt"li 

as his wife III terms of the Imnllgl'a!Jon 1a\\s." It 

this would be the interpretation gl\ en to the Act it 

would agam mean that marrIages accol'Jing tn 

Ma,homedan Law are not recognized. 'Vhethel' two 

or four a Mabomedan's wives are h1s Ltwfnl WIve" 

accordmg to the tenets of his religion and as 'Inch 

they mnst be recognized. That should be the purpose 

of the law. The restrictIOn, however. is J1I 

regard to the IntroductIOn ot snch WIves, and that, 

as the Judge President has s,lid, is YeI'Y clear, 

i.e., it allows the person to select only one of his 

wiws, at a time, to bring into thiJ country, and that 

too not in all circumstances, for, the prOVISOS in the 

section prevents him from doing so jf at the time 

of the attempten introduction 'a wife by a similar 

union is residing in South Africa, 01' if there 

are children from a similar union allve in South 

Aftica. This is the present P9sition of the law. 

:t\1AHOMEDAN WIVES AND IMMIGRATION"' 

ST~TED CASE BEFORE SUPREME COURT 

AN INTERESTING JUDGMEST 

The case of Immigrants Appeal Board vs: AYerlha 

was brought before Sir John Dove Wilson, Judge 

President; 1\11'. Justice Carter; and Mr. Justice 

Tatham in the Supreme Court (Natal Provincial 

Division). / 

This was a case stated by the Board for the 

decision of the Supreme Court. The Board 

found that Ayesha was born in Imlia and is not 

entitled to enter South Africa unless she can prove 

that she is the wife of Cassim Ebrahim, an Indian 

domiciled in Natal. In 1915 Cassim Ebrahim contracted 

a marriage with one Fatima at Dundee under 

Mahommedan rites. Fatima in 1921 was allowed to 

go to In:dia on a visit, with the right to return, and 

she is still in India. Cassim Ebrahim went in 1923 on 

a visit to India and married Ayesha there III Januray, 

1924. He brought her out and apPlied for 

her admission into Natal. 

The Board found that the existing union between 

Cassim and Fatima precludes the recognition of any 

other woman as his wife. The question asked of 

the Court by the Board was this: "Is the Indian 

woman Ayesha a prohibited immigrant in view (jthe 

provisions of Section 5 (g) of the Immigrant. 

Regulations Act 22 of 1913, as amended by Section 3 

(2) of the Indians relief Act 22 of 1914," 

Mr. J. J. J- Sisson instruc;ted by Messrs. C. P. 

Robinson and Goulding, appeared for the woman, 

and Mr. W. S- Bigby, K. C., Attorney-General, 

instructed by Messrs. D. A. Shaw and Co., for thp 

Board. The question in dispute was really thIS 

Under the- 1913 Act a wife of a domiciled person 

was not a prohibited immigrant provided that ihe 

was married to the husband by a monogamous. 

marriage. This excluded all Hindu and ~Iahomme-

I 

February J 3th, 1925 INDIAN OPINION 409 

~ 

------- 

~ 

-------. 

-------------.-------------------------~~~ 

'. wiv('s, as HlOnn ~nli MahommetlAn 1.1\\ allows 

"'l'olygalllou.; ll11rl··.t~I'. TllIJ In' hans Helif l Act of 

1~14 l"P(IJ~II1"(- t i 01' t/lP pllrpose:'! 1)( irnnll~r'LtiO!l 

HindI! all11 ~Llh()1J1I1l ,1111 wiveH WI wive!!, but (JlllvlIled 

thltt no :-.lleh Wlft' "'lonid bE' I'ec()~nh,~ 1 it fluch 

'a union already eXlsteci between the husband and 

~ 'othpr woman residing in any Province, Fatilllil. 

s('~rr. Hlssnn argued, WdS not re8idin~ in the Gillon 

llo\r and HO thE'refnl'p A ~ e"ha WdS entltle,l to eut"" 

as a wife. JIe quotell :\lm v .. Principal ImmgralOn 

Officer 1921J C. P. D. :a7 and Marialll v. Immil-!rank: 

! Appeal Ho,mI, N. 1'. JP. :~>\2 

Mr. Bigby quoted Kulsum Blbi'!l case, 191:l, 

N.P.D. 4:37, to show that beforo thIS Inlli,lJls Rehef 

Act of 1914, a Hindu or Mahomed,m WIfe was no 

WIfe at all in the eye of the law. He argned that 

the provisos to Section a (2) of Act 22 of 1914 could - 

not increase the rights of an Indian wife, anu that 

the sub-section itself WaR the dommant art. He 

Clte!l Cr,nes 8tatue Law on this point. 

In giving Judgment. Sir John Dove WJlson narrated 

the f:JCt;l above !let out. Ill' then detailed the 

provhnons of the two sectIOns 111 the Acts of 191;): 

and 1\)14 which govern the question in this case. 

I l'olygamouH marriages are not re('ogmsed as 

marriages in Homan Dutch IJ.w, and the, effect of 

the 1!Jl:J Act was to exclude all IndIan WIves 

married under Hindu or Mahomedan law. The Act 

of H114 amended the 191:f Act flO afl to give an In. 

dian the right to bring in a Wife by Hmdu or Mahomedan 

law into this country. Dealing With thIS 

section :l of Act 2~t 19H. IllS Lordship fJc\id that 

the legislature I'ecognitled tlldt It was going too br 

to say that a pulygamous marrIage was never a 

marriage at all. It allowed an Indian to solect. one 

of his wives, otherwise :\ prohibited Immigrant, and 

bl'ing her into NatJ.l. ~u~ he had not thiS right in 

all circLUnstancel!. There were two provIsos. He 

could not du this if at the bme of the attempted int,'olIuction 

a Wife by a similar umon was residing 

hl South Africa. nor if there wel'e children from a 

IIbUar union alive in South Afr1ca. These provi- 

'!llons do not, however, effect Ayesha, since Fatlma 

IS resilhng in India and is childless Ayesna is, in 

torms of Section 3 (2), a WIfe by Mahomedan law, 

anll by the terms of that Section the husband has 

a free hJ.nu in bringing in which of his.. Mahomedan 

wi ves he pleases. It was said that he had no lliscretioll 

because -"one of his Mahomedan wIves formerly 

lived with him in Natal. There was nothing 

in the SectIOn to take away the husband's discretion 

III circumstances like thes£'. The wordmg of the 

'irst prOVISO, in thE:' present tenst!, was ngamt snch 

~ contention. AyeshJ. was, then-fon-, pl.unly eD 

,Hled to enter Natal. }'atim,\ is indepen.lently of 

IeI' huslJUnu a domiciled Nat.1Iia.n. ,lnlL mav as sl1ch 

)e entitled to t-nter Nat.tl. IllS LorJ5hll; gn,mled 

limself agmnst expresslIlg iilny opinion as to Fahnn's 

rights to return. It m,l)' 1)l' that the I,eglslatul'e 

did not fOl'see the result of these St'Chons 

when enacting th(;,Ill. Cll.~"iDl hl!" been eno.lbled to 

mtrouuce a second wlte into N,ltaJ, .Ilthollgh Le already 

has n wife in exi:-.tcnce. But thiS cannot 

.tffect the interpretatIOn of the pl.nn and obvious 

language of the Statute. l\h. JU8tice C,wter concurred. 

Mr. Jnstict' Tatb,tUl sdicl he W,\S Itouhtflll 

flS to the UloMing of Section :~ (2) of Act 22 of In.!, 

and thought that the Section was amblgqously 

Wt~'I1. He. theleforf'. lookf'd to the tlttte ot the 

law when Act 22 of l!lH was p.u;"eJ. At that date 

all wives marnt>Ll under polrgamolls systpmR of l.1w 

'\vpre not wi\t'S at, all. ,lIld no IndulU could introduce 

any "Olll.lll 1I:'1 Illst ,,'ifp, eYf'1l If she W,\;l his 

ouly wlf(', If his religion permitted polyg.lUIY. In 

f \)11 Parh.lment introducP({ ,I rellH'd~·. awi his LOI'11- 

[hip thought that the Act l'E'ally meant th.lt .m Indian 

could only introdnce a WIfe if he kept one 

Iwom:t.n to be trc:ltell as bll; wifl' in tt'l'lIlR of the 

immigratIOn la"s. HHo C.Issim W,IS tlt'.ltlllg" two 

women as IllS wivps for. the purpose of the immigration 

law. His Lords 1 11p did not dissent, but concUFred 

With great hesltalloo. 

The question put was answered in the negative. 

The woman Ayesha wa" givpn her costs against the 

BOJ.rll.-i\!alol Jlercury. 

W.\NTED LES~ AN'.(I-NATIONALISM .AND 

~IURE PRO-HU~IANITY 

To SOLVE THE PRESENT ECml'OMIC PROBLEM 

The follo'wing letter representing a very sane 

view of the Asiattc question appeared in a recent 

I""lle of the NaJal Af~CU,.y :- 

Sir,-Letters appeanog III your columns npon the 

ASlatIc question are more or less in the nature of an 

intermittent flow, but in spite of all thJ.t has been 

written and said concerning this economically importJ.llt 

sectton of N~tal's population, we, as a people, 

do not seem to make auy defiUlte move towards discl)vering 

a solution ~ the problems arising out of 

the existence of the Asiatic m South Africa. 

No doubt many people are in sympathy with th~ 

pomts of vif'w as expressed by .. Townsman" and 

.. A Countryman" in your recent columns, and 

there may be various reasons why thy are so, but 

we may safely suppose that the dominating reasons 

may be traced to '- 

(a) Race and colour prejudice. 

(b) A partial realisation of economic differences. 

(c) A beltef that ASiatics in the industry and_commerce 

of Africa are occupying jobs which should 

nghtIy belong to the present white population of 

the Union, and, 

(d) The fact that the majol'ity of ,people a.re more 

01' le~~ totally Ignorant of the economic workings of 

the system under whICh we live. 

It.is rather dIfficult to confine this matter to the 

restrlCted colnmns of the Press, but it is of such 

paramount importance as to warrant considerable 

time being spent upon it, even to the extent ot 

darmg to fly in the 'face of public opmion, for there 

mnst be qUIte a number of peopJe to whom it is 

glaringly apparent, that in order to cure the evils 

popularly ascribed to the presence of the AsiatIC, we 

must be prepared to go to much greater lengths than 

the mere curtailing or refusal of licences. 

One may be sympathetically mclined towards 

those who advocate the repatrIation of the whole 

AsIatic population, but even these must give way to' 

the stubborn fact that the South African-born Asiatic 

is a South African subject of the King, geogI-aphically, 

of COUl'Re, and IndIa bas as much right to 

-treat one RO born as a foreigner to Ihdia, as England 

would have ill refusing recl'>gnition to the South 

Afr1C.l,n horn of EUJ..(lish parents. 

In this connection I may mentiou that Geneml 

Smuts, when dealmg with the m,ltter ot the deportment 

of Emoppans from South Africa Some years 

a;.;o, when questioned as to why he had not deported 

the Routh African colleague!'! with the deportees, 

replied to the effect that South Africa toust cor. 

sume its OWn smoke. III any case, we may take 

it as an acct'pted fact that South Africa is the home 

of people hoi'll in the country, and t.hat being the 

ca.,e, we 1 annot legally expel those IruJians _who 

were hom hel't'. Thl:'! fact is a poser to the advocate 

of - lock, stock and b,m'el" repatriation, but unf::rtnnatfoly, 

the anti-Asiatic Will not accept this 

tact, and is consequently led mto worse confnsion. 

The scheme next in favour to repatriation is 

!\egregation, aml this too appeals strongly to those 

who do not stay to consider all that it may mean. 

~oo m,m}" Em'opeans ! YJ.C.lte.l by the ,Iep,lI'tl'ti In.han. For many who 

ddvvc,\tt: t,lli.s step, it would .1PP(;',t,r that they Wt'l't.l

INDIAN OPINION February 13th, 1925 

firm beilevers of .. out of sight, out of mllld," bnt 

ASIatIc segregation would not work out So tllmply us 

that, out of sIght they rUlght be, but so long as they 

were in SOllt):J. Atnca they could never be out of 

mmd, dnd for variolls reasons, but chiefly becduse 

no system of segregatIon Cdll cut them off from 

competmg agaulflt the reklt of, our populatIon or 

from competlllg against the best ot the worM. 

.. A Countrymen" ,tppeal'S to be chiefly cOllcelned 

wIth the ASIatic as d

February 13th, 1925. JNUIAN OPINION .45 ' 

TH~ CONTRAST IN INDIA 

BRITISH OrUII'IOIi ON !NDUN POLITICS 

The fQllowing \$ an editorial artide in a' recent 

hltme of Tlte Natlll'" and Athenaeum - 

It ;s rar() for any eouutry to dillPlay so striking a 

eontraHt between commerciaJ prOSPel ity and politic. 

: distress as that which Iwlla I1ffords to-day. If 

we are to take the Vicerof's word for it, (and there 

can be" no reasoJ). why we shoul£! not). Indian 

ecopomic cOJ)d).tions }lave not for many years been 

call).parable with those of the prellent winter. The 

AHElociated Cbambers of Commerce, which have 

been meetiQ/l in C,llclltta, are 'theijlselves a sign of 

the till).es. They repre&,ent the cO-Qrdmated businei\li 

(orces of Britjsh India. n was to this hody 

that Lord Reading presented his "prosperity" report 

of the Indian year. Abounding crol?/!. the railway 

earnip8s leaping up by crores of rupees, and II 

Reaborne tra,de rapidly overtaldngtJIe highest rej}Ords; 

jute and tea "bMWng in the sunllhine Of an abundant. 

pI'oflperjty;" an expected B\}dget SUrphli! bringin" 

relict o! taxation-sucb are ~he principal items iIf 

t~e VjceroY'i! ilurvey. The reCItal of theD;l. is, 

inveitably, bnked With certain fjtatements ~ULl 

in;IpliGations conceming the change of GovernJIlent 

ill London and the ~ssumption that the direction of 

Imperial _II-ffairl\l mar not be altered within a term 

of five years W' so. Tbat is as mllY b~; but it 

should be remarkf'd that the Brjtjs4 commercIal 

community in India rejlards tbe contlitioJ)s descnbed 

by Lord Reading I1S being bound up with the 

return to a more resolute temper iu the Administrati9U, 

an

'1!.:t1.f::!4:.:.6_-----------IN-D-IA-~_.U-1'-I-N-l-U-N-----P.!bru~ry 23th, 192~ 

permanency to the terms of the coercion Ordinance. 

It is peI'fectly plain that there is no peace to be 

obtained by such means. The Governmen,t would 

be wise to limit the scope of the summary procedure 

iii the tltrictest fashion; to aim at the quickest 

possible release of snch prIsoners as may be able 

io clear themselves of the cllarges of sedition and 

conspiracy; and above a11, ,to return, as rapIdly as 

lllay be, to l'el1anCe upon the ordinary. law .. Lord 

Reading as we know IS convlllced that hIS Ordmance 

was neces~ar~T. Hutmo Government that is strong 

and whm call attempt to rule by emergency 

lileasures. 

\ 

GANDHI 

, [By EDWARD B. HOOPER" M. A., 

VICAR OF NORT.lWRPE] 

_ We take the following very interesting article from 

tlie bncolnshire Clzr(Jntl'ie dated 22nd Nov. 1924 :- 

One of the most remarkable world personahtles 

of to-day is Gandhi, possibly at once one of the bestloved 

men and the most hated and detested, a sure 

SIgn of greatness. 

It will be a good thmg if Englishmen try and 

understand this strange indIvidual; we have inherited 

a great empire, and of that empire India i.s 

by far the greatest part, measured not in area,_ of 

course, but by population. In the past. many 

imposing empIres have come and gone: in the near 

,Past we have seen three great European empires 

pass away, is this British Empire of ours also to 

pass away? That question raises many problems. 

Have we the statesmen and the understanding to 

know how to _treat India with s~1mpathy, justice 

and goodwill? 

Should the -Empire-builder of to-day approach 

this problem in the spirit of racial domination, or 

with any Idea or sentiment for white superIOrity, 

then our EmpIre IS doomed. 

_~,_____ lm~W::a:L'J:E '~SUl'J\lRJOlU'lY:' _ 

I fancy that the ,study of a man like Gandhi may 

-help us very considerably, If we fail to understand 

him we shall fail to understand Indla; but lf 

we, on the other hand, begin to understaud, such a 

man, it will inevitably cure us of any sense of 

white superiority. 

This Gandhi at one time held a lucratIve post'in 

So,uth AfrIca, but infiuenced by the writIngs of 

Tolstoi. and through Tolstofbecoming acquiainted 

With the famous "Sermon on the Mount," he began 

to take a warm interest in the couditions of his 

countrymen in that colony of the Empire to which 

he belonged.- With him religion and politics naturally 

went hand to hand-and he led au herote 

Passive Resistance Crusade In South AtrlCa 011 

b'ehalf of the Indians III that colony. when he returned 

to-inma he was reCeIved as a naho,nalleader 

and a saint, and to-day he is almost worshipped by 

millions of Hindus and Moslems, and surely we 

may aud loved by countless Christians too, In many 

lands. 

A MAN THE WORLD NEEDS 

He is a type Of the inter:national man that the 

world needs so badly III these days. He has discovered 

that "patriotism is not eno,ugh," and he has 

no hatred for any rae!' Df man. 

Just recently he has come into the hme-lIght 

thl'ough the completion of a fast o,f 21 days and 

nIghtS and was. the recipient of a great welcome 

organised by the Calcutta Co,rporahon. Tens of 

thousands were there to welcome him, and this 

demonstration III hIS honour was a most impressive 

spectacle. 

These events cannot be ignored, they are essentially 

Indian, and it is not easy lor prDsaic 

Enghshmen to 11ll(lerstand them., India is essentially 

a religiulls cuuntry, amI the Sd.IDe Cdnnut be said 

of England. English Dfficials are t'asily, too easily, 

inclined to look askance at these events-it IS so, 

unlike any of our English national habits, and they 

feel uncertain where it may }t'ad, and therefDre this 

great Indian is somewhat "sl1spect" hy our lcading 

ImperialIsts, but it is imparative to Uti tu try and 

understand. Gandhi is India's "man Df rt'hgioll," 

and one of theIr master-mmds. ( 

WHY HE FARTED ? 

liut, we ask ourselves, why dld Gandhi fast, and 

what was the purpose of thitl particular fdst' Fast. 

ing is an indlspensable feature of all Orumtal rehgions; 

here in the West it is prdctically unknown; 

a few Catholics talk about fasting, but it is nothing 

very serious; the only fastilig in England i1'l com. 

pulsory. due t~ unemployment or destitution, and as 

such has no value at all; it is different in the East. 

There it is an essentially relIglOus act. 

Gandhi has an abhorence of all acts of violence. 

and because of these deeds of violence perpetrated by 

his fellow-countrymen, he voluntal'i1y undertook 

this fast as an act of national penance: everyone 

kf)ew why he underwent this ordeal. During his 

fast he was visited by many religious and political 

It'.aders, IDen and women, Hindu and Moslem. and 

a remarkable Christian priest, C. F, Andrews has 

also been in constant attendance; in fact he is the 

great friend o,f this wonderful Gandhi, whom we 

hardly know whether to call Hindu or Christian Dr 

-Moslem, for he so perfectly invites in his perso,n the 

best spiritual and ethical principles for all three religions, 

as unique as it is unusual. 

~ A strange man undoubtedly. but his influence in 

India is immense, and surely it was an act of incredible 

stupidity for a former Government to 

lmprison snch a character. Fortunately, we relel>Sed 

hIm. 

A DISA'!TER 

But it is deplorable that at such a time as to-.day, 

with-India seething with discontent, but capable of 

being led by statesmen of real insight an(1 sympathy, 

'and possessed of lofty ideals, we shOttld ha V6 CUoIlt't}r'. 

a man like I,ord Birkenhead, of all men, as our new I, 

Secretary of State for India. a man who is a cynical 

disbeliever in all idealism, and thereby disqualified 

for any Indian post. Such an appointment is a 

disaster ot the first magnitude and a peril to the 

Empire. 

We shall never hold thc millions of India by the 

swo,rd-it is both impossible and undesirable-bot 

if we win the loyal affection and adherence of a 

Gandhi, the links of the Empire will be firmly 

welded, to the lasting benefit of India and Engl.md 

and mankind. 

====== 

INDIAN QUESTION IN THE COUNCIL OF 

STATE 

A WITHDRA 'WN MOTlo.N 

Delhi, Feb. 9 (Reutel).-A lively dlscuBBion on 

the questio,n of the position of Indian subjects overseas 

was anticipated to-day in the Council of State 

- on the motion of Sir Deva Prasad Sarbadhikari, unofficial 

member of Calcutta, who tabled a requeet 

for the appointment of a Committee of members of 

the Central Legislatme and officials to repo,rt on th{~ 

steps necessary to impro,ve the condit~on of Indianll 

overseas. 

Slnce the motIon was sent in, however, Lo,,_, 

Reading, in the cOUl'!!e of a sympathetic reply to a I 

represt'ntative deputatiol1 headed by Slr Dinshaw 

Petit, advised patience, and deprecated anything iike 

acrimony thdt might embarf'38t' the delIcate nf't;otiations 

now proceeding. 

In view ~f this advice, Sir Deva PI'aB.ld Sarba/lhikari 

withdrew his resolution, reserving, however, 

tht' right to mDve it later when the results of the 

nt'gotiations were known. 

::In' Mnhallou H ... lJibull ... h, ncw member in charg-t:

February 13th, 1925 INDIAN OPINION 47 

of Emigration, infOl'med Sir D. P. Sarbadhikari that 

it would not he in the public interest to publish at 

this stage the correspondence with the South Afri- 

, can Go\'ernment, while correspondence I'elating to 

K"n~ a and Tau,L(anyika was only routine in charactf'r, 

News In Brief 

The Hmtlu (Madras) understands that Lady Sada!. 

siva Irer (wife of Sir T. Sadasiva Iyer) bas been 

offered and hall accepted a seat as Honorary M:agis~ 

trate in the Children's Coart which will be established 

nnder the new Children's Act. 

-0- 

The late, Mr, Montagu took up ornithology -&; a 

hobby, and had one of the best stuffed collectionll 

in Europe. It is lI

.... ~, ~,""I~ l"t16~te'l 

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.(fi 00\ It. "'tr 11·!~n~; !loe ~blk1: !It toh In: i ~Mi~ 'J.ol~\)1~ IJ.t{.l}P 'JU:~l'a' lJ-.P~11a-J-.~1a- :Wie~ l]l,l)) 

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lin: ~ ~lC, '~I~R Ii l"'~!~ \n1l~~ li\!; ,~~ 1'" ~ ~1~ llslHl l~~ 13fiD ~1J-.P91116''''~1a- It!!=(P"{ 1~~11~11: 

~ l]'.Ie." ~ J;.Ut~ • ~ ~ ~e ~ It!1i 1ole1 It'pe~ '''lPl~ llUtl[ 0 {},l}Ohll-J.a ltl~fC ~~~ l~ lh~l-n: 

l1lj~ 'i'~lh 000 t: 1:: I "'i'I1\ li'fl l!:, lh li£,1$ lyl{Jo,T?, \y1l:~1' ~l' li 1t e le1 1i lYlPhob\e li'J~lel1!: ll'el'i: 

\)l" 1l-I-§)1?h,{ ~l]'.I lt~~l~~hUtl-llf lltJ.§)l?h{ I l~~ GiilJn !kll1~llfl: ~~3 { ~ ~li e~~ lhU:\ 

'Ie' 1~li 1~.1l-h'ln: lP-11: 1Y1bU 't 'In:~c tc?~

-IJ'\It.'i'~ \)o~ h'fcl~ ~€,1$ lltJ.>J.all1l ~ tlfl: 1~''''~li , lilln: m.llR: ~ll- l::~lP ,lhlPk,~ 1f.>lf;1hln:' l::lt ... lolll~ 

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lin 1160 W~,M: t~ 1k"~1?l-f11h lh~f Ij~ ~I}a I ~J.o lltl~~''ft. "Ik. \)1 ch, H,Ii'il ~h~tr'flt 1l-Ija:Vl,~ 

lit \;;7\ '0 l~rt e~~ l~h:~~ '1:'.IP'~ \eP 1~1"'}q 

_ 'e·' Itlbel[ !lfc!A ~l}n 1):,J!; 1~eJ.a !kP?)lla-"~I6- stlclfl: ellt>l-n: 

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lo tP~ e£,1$l}>I}oPiftitl-D ?:C(I1~ P~11: 

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la: fl?lJ.o 

'I~~ l~tl hJ'e7 ;e,lhhltl< l~~,R lP1tll- l:;e"'~ el-Cl:lc ll-jlf1J1lfl: l'c€)I~ tnttltRlb 'Il- \Jut ll 

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~lk ~lQlt ~l1:.\)oc lhlt lPl~\)L'l) 11->1->€)I?J.oRlh , 'l~~ ,~~,,~, 114'V-t 

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lYl~);'II-J.a cl-tthl1 elHR t1etl:\ ~ 'e';l 'l~~ l~ol~ ~1~~ 11:?)l:elt ~lfl:lPl~lt I->h\}6 1~\iL~ en(~ f\J.alt 

=-~=-=-=-~~-- ------ 

eln:lltle t lre Rlt 

" i.ffl: h.\~\ t}1lfl:~\ f.:\ M.l)IP '~tb'~ 'fl:1~1) t.lt f.:\ ~P~t\. 

l·lnlre11J~1!re ~lre~S1

----- 

(~pitti.Olt 

--------- ------- --c----- ------- 

No.8-Vol. XXIII. Friday, February 20th, 1925- 

Registered at the G. P.O. as a Newspaper 

PalQs fouua.c. 

4 ""\"--- -~~~--~ - ----- -------~~- - - - --- - ----- --- -- ---------------- 

'0' ' 


'1\l CORRE!::!PONDEN'f informt! us trom Johan 

L!'il ne!'hllrg that tl'e agitation (If the Soulhclll 

SllDurhs European ASl!ociatwn hal! gone so 

tar that the Indian storekcepel'f! In that District 

Ilave bad to comnder the lves mto fin ASBocldtlon to comb.!t the evil. 

With that view a Ine'etlllg was recently helil and 

III AssociatIOn has heen formed, 'fhere are in tha> 

~jHtrict twenty-five to thlrtv Indian Htores, • 

'fhe following is the text of It recent leaflet 

muhtlhed bv the S, S, European ASSOCiation and 

mnted by Bake')', 'fhompson & Co, of Johannes 

JUrg - 

"Are you trading WIth the Coolie'" If so, YOll 

"ill realize the comleqllC'nce when YOlI find your 

lUl'lhalld and son disllliSHt'tl from theil' billets and 

'eplatf!ll hy Asiatics. Thj~ is It very Impodant 

,Jlleslioll tor (:very housewife to COntH,ler, When 

rOll deal wILh the Coolie yon IllUl:lt remember you 

tl'e l't'illoving the colour bar to deprl ve your own 

~hiltlren of employment, If you are btlll tradmg, 

IVlth the Coohe remember: we havtl your name on 

tho !Jst of defaulters to the wIllte btandar!l, and we 

'P8p('ctflllly solicit your co-operation in our enle'avonr 

to mamtuin a whIte suburb and put an 

'!loll to thiH sOCIal and. economic menace," 

l . --- -.- . 

! 1.'60 1 ifllhannetlb\lrg cot'respond~nt of tile Xl/telt 

~/,.r,'b·1j givt"s an exa'mple of the \hovemlh't on"tl'JOt 

)f'lnaking South Africol a white mrlll'K eonntry. 

ren Native memberll of the Cat'lton Hotel staff. 

110 saYEl, have been dlsrH1ssed. and ten white boys 

I.akap on in their pl,lct', 'fhe m~nagement 6K the 

botel 111 onthusiastitl' over the '''White S~~~~ Arlri~a" 

I)Os~i~lities. ,i":rhey cost U~'t 1:.!1?,.fe, ·these ~oung 

\vhi~ l~ys/' it IS sta}e~ by thenl, but we have the 

~hanctl of making somethmg of them, and at the 

~dffie time they have the chance of becoming- good 

waiters and ('Ooks. Theil tlJey may earn thE'll' ,tl 

~very

50 INDIAN OPINION February 20th, 1925 

last Saturday. The boys ran into the compound. 

Van Wyk fell from his horse and. rising, fired three 

shots with his revolver, killing one of the boys 

instantly. Good $hootiIl.g, but what had the natives 

done? 

No EXPLOITATION 

Referring to the native question In Afrjca Mr. J. 

R. Thomas says: " OUT black fellow-subJects must 

be dealt with justly, »~tl!.lJltly, paternaJly. , We 

have accepted a great trUst which we must faithfully 

discharge. It cannot be shirked, an~ must not be 

neglected. Our only ,justIficatIOn for attaching 

these lands to our Crown is the beneficial nature Of 

our adminlistration, and the fact that 110 ex.ploita~ion 

of natIve races IS possible under our flag. " 

The canting humbug.- 

--~-, 

CIVILISING THE ARABS 

Lord Thomson, Air Minister m the late British 

Labour Government, in a speech to a select 

crowd 'of British cap'italists, described a bombing 

expedition ~~ainst drab tribesmen in Arabia. 

n Th'e effect of our air attack was appallIng," he 

saia.. " Some 700 ~ibest'neIl. 'Were ldll'ed, and the 

rest, seized with panic, fled into the desert, whet;e 

hundrl'lds inore must have p~ru~hed from thirst. " 

So dId the pious pacifult Ramsay MacDonald do 

the work of bls CIlpitalist m.astel'S. 

We beg to mform oar readers. ,subscrIbers 

and friends that our representative Mr: Ardeshir 

Dinshaw is at present touring the Cape and the 

Transvaal jn connection WIth INDIAN OPINION 

work and'we earnestly hope that he will be given 

every assista:hce as In the past for which we are 

ever grateful. 

THE TOWN HALL MEETING 

THE Town Hall meeting of the lith instant l)f 

'11 ~ tbe'bur~esses o'fDllrban wllien was o-rganized 

by Counci'n

__ P_e_b_r_u~~ry~_20_t_h_'_f~~?,~!S~ ________ lN __ U_l_A_N-.U __ 

burgesses, while also he insisted that to preside did 

not mean taking an active part in the meeting. 

The Mayor restricted his remarks to the first 

resolution in connection with the propo.red remo.val 

of cert ... in licence revenues from the Natal MOUldl'~litlell 

anll said it was desu'ed that by thf'lf vote the 

l>OOple of Durhan would that evening bhow clearly 

tD the Government that thf'Y sl.l:ougly rtxp~ed regret that polIticians of 

other ProvmcCR. when speaking of this matter, 

always matie the remdl'k that it WdS the people of 

Natal who broug-ht the Indians to this countl'Y. The 

speakt'f denied thill aut.! SllltI, as he holU 8.1i£ tme 

only in tile number of licences III Durb.ln-the 

Asiatil'$ could not bq jU8t as pleased as the Europe,\n 

traders at this, he allded, 

_ 

Finally Generdl Wylie saiil tl11 m~eting .could not 

do better than b,ICk np the Governml'nt in its published 

views of the qnestion-than a;lk the Gon-mlIleut 

to give effect to its statemE'nt-and ill thiS 

c6nnectiori he quoted !It len!{th from a 8prE'ch upon 

the subjeot by the Mmister of the Intel'1ol'. 

anothE'r staunch advoe Lte of the III tlotenallce of 

EllropeJ.n SlllJl'elU-\cy in DI'. MrKerv:ie, sPc'mlle.} the 

resolution, an.1 initi,ll\y I\sslwed the .\;I\,ltICS that 

Enropoons did not - object to tl1em as a mce. 

l\rknowlei1ging that th~y w~re It \E'IY fine, noble, 

and olltt;talHiing raoe with a gre&t hi"torJ', But 

they -din eret. frol)l Europeans, dltrer('ll in ev(>!'y 

way, and,it w,tS not concelVable th,\t they should be 

, uccepted on an eqllal le\el. 

He dwelt nt length upon the enormOllS popnl.t- 

'tion of Inthd. that couM be l'eleasetI upon al1~' I 

country wbel·!.' their tOUlpatriots g..lillt'd the SlIpl e 

macr, hoMing this up :1.'> a l11en:I('O that lIIH"t n.lt ht' 

an~v~l to M

is that for the time being I am c-alled upon to smk 

my own views and be prep .. reu to presIde at any 

prop~rly convened public meeting. and that I am 

called up to exercise a spirit oflimpar~Iality in such 

matters irrespective of the displeasure I may incur 

in any quarter." 

GANDHI AND SOUL-FORCE 

A..L~ 

AMERIC.ll '1,'RIBUTE 

What has led a people, mll-de up of divergent religions. 

clashing social classes and lany shades of 

political opinion, to unite in calling him J\fahatmaji? 

Many disagfee 'Wlth him on political and other 

matters, but I know 'Of none who refuse hIm the 

title. The writer finds hImself among tlIose who 

cordially disagree with him in a good many things 

and yet who gladly and whole-heartedly call hIm 

Mahatma. He has gone through the stages of misunderstanding. 

calumny and abuse. and yet by 

sheer force of character has compelled universal 

acklIowl(tlgment that he IS a Mahatma. "the great 

!lOuled." This is " soul-force" of no ~n calibre. 

It h1ts brought hIm the largest personal following of 

alii" hVlllg man III the world to-day. -What IS the 

secret of it? 

Any attempt to analyze him or to ClasSIfy him is 

.. nigh fntile and impossible for Gandhi IS made 

up of- very diverse and sometimes seemingly inconsistent 

element Dr Rabindranath Tagore was 

asked by a lady, m the West/to fill ont a questionnaire 

card and give hIS weak point and his strong 

point; under each he wrote one word "InconSistency. 

" Gandhi could have written that with ev~m 

more truth'than Tagore. Bllt as a French philosopher 

has remarked that" no man is strong unless 

he bears within his character antitheses strongly 

marked. " so GandhI IS strong because he does bear 

tlIese antitheses within himself in a -remarkable 

blend. 

He iSthe meetinJ:(place of a good many scattered 

ideals and movements going through India to-day. 

For'inst'l.nce he sums, :up -the diverse ideals of 

ascetiHsm and service. -' The one IS an old ideal to 

IncUa. the other- newer o-n~ that is gripping the soul 

of th~ people. ; 

, " POWER OF SOUL POROE 

G ..mdhi has realised that m th~s giving up of 

things lies power. He MIls it .. 1\0nl-fo1'ce. " It is 

a sublj.matiou and modIficatiQn of the old t pa.~/JJ or 

undergoing of austerities m order to gam "ower 

ovet· "gals" and" over all -the worlds." But in 

GJ.ndhi it is more than that. and finel". During the 

terI'ible hme ot his twentY-Qne days' fast because of 

the' dlVlsio?s _o~"i" his people, ¥r. C. E:. A~re,,:s 

writes of hIm: M''S'zgaze tllrrt~ 'pack to the frad 

wasted, tortured spIrit on' the' 1:el:r11ce, by .my side. 

bea.ring-the sins anci"sQTrUWS of hIS people: With a 

rush"Of.emotion there came to memory the passage 

fl'om th~ Book of Lamentations. • It is nothing to 

you, all "l'e that pass by? Behold ~nd see. if there 

is any s(n"t'Qw like unto my sOl·row.' And in that 

hour of vls1on. I knew more deeply, m my own 

,personal lif&t~~lle meaning of the 9ross." Many d 

Hmdu unabl~to umlerstand doctrinally the meaniug 

of tlIe CroS~ has seen it as by a flash in Gandhi. 

One of the leaders of the national Il\Ovempnt excloaimed 

: " J never understood wh,tt your missionarIes 

were talking about until I saw the meanIng of 

the Cross in Gandhi." The le~dIng SOCial thinker 

of India when Gandhi was Jaded wrote in his paper: 

.. What the missional'Ies have not been able to do in 

fifty years. Gandhi by his tridl and incarceration has 

done, he has turne.l the eyes of India toward the 

Cross." He realises that m this way of thinking 

and acting there lies power-the finest amI final 

type of power. 

INDIAN O!,INION February 20th, 1925 

When he was in E" outh Afried fighting the battle 

for IndIan liberties lind rlghts by his passive resI~tance 

movement the~,imlentnr('d ()oohes got out of 

haml and did things that greatly pained him. He 

remonstrated with tltem to no avail. Then Without 

a word he went off 3nd~egan to fast. He hau f,lsted 

for two days when word went around among the 

coolies that he was ~fasting because of what they 

were doing. That ~changed the Situation. They 

came to him wlth fdded hands and begged him tf~ 

desist. assuring him that!they wonld dD anythmg r 

he \vould only stop this infhctlOn of sutTering OIl 

himself. That was prowess. 

When in the Ashram::One of the boys told Gandhi 

something tllat he believed. but which ldter he 

found out to be a he. Gandhi called the school together 

and said ... I am SOl'ry to find out that one of 

you is a liar. As punishnumt I am gomg to 

fast to-day." That boy could never get ovel' the 

fact that the man who RO cared for him WdS sl1fftring 

on his own account. Long after any physic.ll 

pain would have died away this mental and spmtudl 

pain persisted .and punished him. That is power. 

His asceticism is thus tOllched by a very tine unseillsh 

quility. The old Wlcetlc seldom or llewr 

served. ,To him it was largely a matwr of :.,ramlllg 

power for himself by asceticism. But Gandhi ble-nds 

ascptiClsm and service. One without the other is 

weak; taken together. as m Gandhi. they are tl"t.llll(llldously 

strong. Gandhi is a servant. He has never 

bid for power. It has come to him through service. 

A crisis came to him in South Africa when after 

reading Ruskin's" Unto This Last," he renouncl"d 

everything for the sake of and .. unto this Id.bt." 

The least and the last are constantly in his thonght. 

He is a serving asc~tic. 

A BLEND OF HINDU AND CHRISTIAN ELEMENTS 

But to understand Gandhi we must know him 

in regard to the source of his mOl"dl and spIrItual 

life. He is a blend of Hmdu and Christian elements. 

He is a deeply religions man. Thls can be 

seen by a glimpse into his soul at ,the t\ill~ Qf two 

great crISiS in his life. One was when he was ahout 

to begin civil disobedIence on a large scale. I ft,It. 

there would be a chaos and a bl'cakup If he should 

begin it. so I wrote hIm II letter begging him not to 

do. Out of that crltical momeut came b.\ck this 

letter ... :'flay I assure YOIl I WIll not emb .., k on 

civil disobedience without just c.'l.use. wlthout pl'oper 

- precautions an,l wh.1t if! mOI'e without COPIOUi PI'dY 

.ing. I !lin. pr-aying lllght ana .1 ~y for light and 

gUIdance in the matter. You hwe pel'haps no 

notion of the wrong that th18 Government has done 

and is still doing to the vital part of onr being. But 

I mtlst not argue. I invite YOIl to Pl-ay Wit'l and for 

me." ThIS reveals an lUtensely religious !I'>ul. 

Another instance. Neal' the end of Ins fast h~ 

WrItes: .. To-day istthe twentieth day 01 my penance 

and prayer. Presently from th(~ \\IOI·ld of pe;,,~e 

I shall enter tllf' world of strife. The more I think 

of it the more, hefpless I feel. So mAny expect m ... 

to bring togetheJ' the political partIes. I know I c.m 

do nothing. God can do everything. 0 God. mdke 

me a fit mstrument and n,;e m·~ as Thou wilt." _ 

He said when he came out of jail that hIS inten,t.ion 

was to" e~t1.hhsh the Kin~~lom of God in In4,lll. '" 

Now Gandhi 18 a Hindu." He c1.11s hhI\¢f' on~. 

He has s,"11 -that there wa» a tIme wlliA' he .... ~ 

wavermg betweE!n all iilleglance to ChrIstianity or 

Hinduism. and he d~ted that" tor me s,lIvation 

lay Within Hinduism." Bilt Hinduism is a very I 

wide terro. One c.m beheve in almost anything and 

still be a Hlllllu P,l.Iltheism or d.theism. transmigration 

or no trLlnsmigration, caste or no caste. karma 

or forgiveness. -But because (}aendhi is a Hindu it 

does not mean that he could not be ChrIstian in the 

very springs of hIS ch lracter and dl".1W up a b'l"e'

FehrlJ.1ry ~nth, 1925 INUJAN OPINION . S3 

Sf'rrnon on lite ~[()llnt cOUlpe~s almo;!t on eqnal 

tel-mil \\ Ith the Bh.1g"J.va.1 Glta fill' the domination of 

my heart_ " - 

Thl' 1l'.tJing social thinker of India, a Christian 

editor an. I ~fahatma Gandhi were takl'n together 

whton the first named said" Well, it is very difficult 

for nil to lIay wh8re our Hinduism ends and where 

,our Chrilltianity beginll_" And turning to Mahatma 

Flandhi he said, "Iso't that so, Mahatma Gandhi i''' 

After a moment's thought he replied: .. Yes. that 19 

110_ • Our Hinduism __ •. Our Christianity_ .. 

FoB.l! VITAL THINGS 

How thoroughly be grasped some of the essentials 

of Chl-istianity is revealed in one of the talks the 

writer had with him. I suggested to him that I 

was very (lDxious to see Christianity naturalized in 

Inllia not a foreign thing but a part of the national 

life and contributing its power to the uplIft of Iudia. 

I asked him what he would suggest that we should 

do ill order to make that pOSSIble. He thoughtfully 

r

-2,4 __ _ 

fronted, along the great borderland of the OCCIdent 

ami the Ol'lent extending throQgh NOJ,thel'n. Aj 1'I('.t 

and acrOSf! Weiltern anel l 

Cen.t,l'at' "\>11.1, trolll tlw 

Nort,hwesterl1 Atlantic to the "horeR oj the Intlutn 

Ocean, and even beyond." . 

OF ,INTEREST TO THE SPORTSMAN 

., W1:IEl't 1{AN.JI'li 

was intel'vIewed by the neWSPaPE'rs on the no-balling 

of ~jrnest ,Jones bv Jim PhIllips He supported the 

\lmplI'C lU a few nice httle remad{s. Of course It 

would have be"Em,bettm' it the hinous Imhan had reo 

m CE'mett>ry. 

A. O. JONES. 

Town Clerk. 

TO"wn Ole['k's OfficE', 

])m1>an, l.'ith .January. 1!12:l. 

:ttl~'lYrll.!- !I~~(,\ltt~l ~ ~~l:~ (':t J .)!,.c d. ':;'J- ~.:;'r' \:J~" ss keeplng him ohl. of the TE'st nutch tW9 days J. ,}, .... ,,,, ,::>. r.( ~.Jl.. ~(J4) .:;.\ ... "~! ~-5J1t rlj 

ahe

urging the submission to the League of Nations 

,of t?e g-rie"!ances of ~he Indians in Tanganyika, 

pa!hcularly III connectIOn with the law requiring 

them to keep their acconnts in English. Mr. Rangach.'lriar, 

as a mE'mber of the Colonies Committee 

and Sil' Siva Swamy Alyer (India's representativ~ 

to' the Leag'qe of ':tfations) llupporwd .the resolution. 

The supporter,s of the motion uttered a warning 

tJ( t India was likE'ly to a,bandon the League unless 

she bene~tted from her membership. 

BRITISH INDIAN COJ"ONIAL MERCHANTS 

\ ASSOCIATION " ' 

DJ'I'HIS Associatton w~s fOll~ded in the yea!' 1920 

11 at Bombay and Its obJects are to' safeguard 

the commercial rights and interests of Indian 

merchants and secure for them the· same rights' 

and priVileges as those of other subjects in the 

Colomes of the British Empire and to protect 

the civil and political rights of Indians resident 

in thc Colonies. The first annual report of 

this Association' relates tht> history of events 

that led to the formation of the body. For some 

years past !he Indiaxi merchants resIding and 

trading m the Colonies and especially in East Africa 

found themselves confronted with the various, disabilities 

in conducting their business and the events 

came to such a stage that Indian merchants -in East 

Africa decided to get-their grit>van~es' ~earessed 9Y 

sending a deputation to H.E. the Vicemy of Indi.a. 

This deputation consisted of leading Indians,of EaSt 

Africa. On' the deputation returning to Bombay 

the memberS felt the necessity of an.organisation of 

Indian merchants representing those trading in or 

WIth the Colonies and a general meeting was called 

for the pUJ:pose on the 13th August 1920 of all those 

interested in the' problem and an association was 

duJ.y formed and nltmed the British Indian Colonial 

Merchal)ts AssoClation. The President,of this association 

is the Hon'ble Mr. Purshottamdas Thakord~ 

C.I.E., M.llE., whose active work in the interests of 

Indians In the Colmlies in the Indian Legislative 

Assembly and otherwis~ IS well known. A peruilal 

of its annual reports gives us an idea of the in~ 

valuable services rendered by the As!!ociation since 

its inceptlOn to Indians especially in East and South 

Africa in the shape of protests and representations 

to the Government on matters affectlllg their commerCIal 

anq.political interests. 

' 

One of the latest acts of the Association is highly 

p:Q.i1anthropic as will be seen from the following 

extract of a"circular letter addressed to the Edito~'~' 

and Proprietors o{ the newspapers conducted, bi 

Indiaps in the various parts of the E""mpire by the 

President of the Association The lette!' IS dated 

20th January 1925 :- 

"Dear Sir,~At the t.st general meetin~ of the members 

of this ASSOCiation held 10 my o'ticelon the 3d instant the 

members of the Associalion vol'lDtarily raised a subscriptlO'; 

in order to send a small slim to various neWl>papers conducted 

by Indians in the various parts of the EIIl lire. The Idea of 

thIS was to communlclle to the editor; of '·arlOus plpers the 

approval of tbls Association 1D the wo!k they bave b!en 

dOing blllloW fo~ the betterment of the condition of Indum 

in the various parts of the Empire. I have pleasure in 

enclOSing h(.rewith a Bank duCt for a Slim of £50, as II 

small mark of our appreciation oC your work till now and I 

beg to convey to you the best wishes of my ASSOCIation for 

your ultimate success in the calise of Indl!!-ns you have so 

well espouied. • • • • Any other 'IIssi$tance that this 

INDIAN OPINION February 27th, 1925 

~soclation can render to you alld to IndIan. in your area. 

~I.ll recelv~ the most careful attention of the CommIttee! of 

hIS A'lSoclahon. • • • • Assuring you of tbe keenest 

mterest of. tbe Committee 01 my Assoclatlol in 1011• 

welfare.-\ ours Trnly.-(Sgd.) PURSHOTrA.'fDAS THAR 

KURDAS, President, Britlsb Indian ColonIal Merchants 

AssoCiatIon. " 

Thi~ practical example of the moral and material 

help 111 the cause of their fellow-countrymen out. 

side lndia redounds greatly to the credit of thE> ~ 

Association. 

We beg to express onr sincere appreciation and 

our deep sense of gratitude to the President and 

members of the British Iudian Colonial Merchants 

Association for their kind contribution and for the 

interest they are taking in our cause, and whil .... 

heartily thanking the Association for its good wi8hes 

we wish to reciprocate the same to the Association. 

" YET ANOTHER ORDINANCE 

N anot~er column we reproduce from the Kllla( 

IT Plol'Jf/,raal Gazelle a section of the Draft Ordinance 

to amend the Local Township LJW Xo. 11. 

1881, in respect of the qualification of vot€rs, intend- 

-ed to be tntroduced into the Provincial Council 

dUring the Ilext Session. This will be the fourth 

attempt in the Natal Provincial Council to disfranchise 

Indians residing in Townships. The first 

attempt was made in the year 1921 when a Privatt> 

Draft Ordinance was introduced by Mr. G. ll. Hnlett 

M. P. C" The intention of the Ordinance was 

the same as that of the present one, but the form of 

~he Ordinance was different. In letter and in spirit 

It was openly racial. It disqualified a person wh()" not 

being of European origin was a native or desc€'ndant 

in the male line of Ndtives of countries which 

have not, prior to the coming into- force 'of the 

~outh Africa Act, 1909, possessed elective representative 

institutions founded on the P~rliam€'ntay 

franchise." Under the Clrcumstances the Ordinauce 

failed to receive the assent of the Gov€'rnor 

General-in-Council. .Mr. Hulett, however was a 

hard nut and he re-introduced the Ordinance in 

,the same form in the year 1922 and it again failed 

to receIve the assent of the Governor-General-in 

Council. Notwithstanding his failure, however, on 

his l'e-introducing his Ordinance in the year 192:5- 

for the third time Mr. Hulett had the satisfaction 

of knowing that his persistency was not entirely 

fruitless; for, the Provincial COQncil had on this 

occasion introduced on its own a Draft Ordmance 

having the same object as that of Mr. Hulett's but 

in a greatly improved form in that it was completely 

shorn of its racial character. This Ordinance. 

however, had not the very far-reaching effect as did 

Mr. Hulett's Ordinance for it disqualified only those 

who were" unable, by reason of deficient education 

to read and write at least one of the offidallangnag~ 

of the Union to tM sali'!!arfl.n oftlv per.ool/ prt-parmg 

flU' Town Roll." (Italics are ours). But this Ordinance 

as also Mr. Hulett's Private Ordinance were 

both, however, ill-fated and were rejected. Then. 

last year came the Dr.ut Boruughs Ordinance which 

was venomous to the extreme and tackled the questIon 

of franchise at its very- root. That that Ordm- 

! ance would be assented to br the Governor-Generdl 

J.n-Council was beyond all our expectations. But

February 27th, 1925 -INDIAN OPINION 57 

to our utter astonishment and keen disappointment 

the Ordinance was ass('nted to and -thns the 

the Indians have heen deprived of their municipal 

f~chise. The preSt-nt Draft Ordmance now is, a.-l 

VoVpre, to merely cut the hranches after the root hd8 

be!n entirely dis pOlled of. The Ordinallce is drafted 

on the Ilame lines as the Boroughs Ordinance anti 

there is hardly any doubt that it WIll pass through 

the Provincial Council. And as to its bf>ing IhlnctlOned, 

it would be inconsistent on the part of the 

• Govprnor-General-in-Council not to sanction it having 

once sanctioned the Notal Boroughs Ol·dmance. 

After the passing of the Ordinance into ldw, to the 

delight 'of the Anti-Asiatics their noble task of 

ditlfranclusing Indians in Nat rnment in Inulcl whicl: l is so ['otten that while 

. llch as those of S' "'r' 'I art' I. II' .ul( 'hd.el O'Dwyer and Dyer 

~ 

poss osslble tleahng out jusb' 'ce unadlliterd.ted is im 

" hIe. T!H~ present COllrt d of justice In Imli,\ arE' 

Irt of tlMt system dU'..! ;evt: 'I"dl instclnces hd.ve shown 

~ 

learl,Y that even the judges 'lare not able to nse their 

wn Judgment but are alway )s guided by the sy8kxu 

. ~ 

which feeds them. Hence it is as diffi.:mlt in India 

to get justice as it is for the black man to get justice 

in this country. The Privy Council, on the other hand, 

is not under the inftuence of this system and is an 

institutIOn away from and Unpolluted by any prejudICes. 

Hence the only hope of getting adjusted the 

-wrongs done under the system prevalent in India 

is to go to the Privy Conncil. This is why Pundit 

)IoWal ~ehru saill it was useless to think of establishing 

a Supreme Court in India without attdining 

freedom, and this is why the SWaJ'd.jists expl'estled the 

op'mion that it wlllt impossible to obWn in (the 

present) India that healthy atmosphere, free from 

10Cc11 prejudICe such as was possible in England. 

We would remind our contemporary that the 

Bwarajists or the Non-co-operators in India have 

nothing against the British or the British institutions 

as such but the)' are against the perverteJ systeul 

nnder which tholle institutio.ns are being run. Moreover, 

India is fighting for the same freedom as that 

enjoyed at present by South Africa. Misconstrumg 

of facta by our contemporary is, therefore, either Intentional 

or, as we have said above, onr contemporary 

is living in a fool's paradise. As to the "abysmal 

state of affairs India would at once return the 

moment the last trdnsport carrying British soldiers 

and officials left Bombay," we think that India 

would prefer that "abysmal state of affairs" to 

the present system that governs them, for they 

would at least have the satisfactIOn that in a fight 

between two parties there is not a third' one under 

the guise of protection eating out the vit

INDIAN OPINION . February 27th, 192 5 

'Provided also however that no' person who at the 

1st day of January. 1~)2,5, was E'nrolle(l liS a \ ol('1' 

upon the Town Roll of any township shall be tb.squalIfied 

for or disentitled to such enrolment I!I 

that townshIp merely by reason of not bemg a Br.ltish 

subject, or for non-comphanc~ wIth the for,; 

golU'" provislOh In regard to parlIamentary qnalfi 

CjltlO~), or on accollnt 01 ihe racial (llsqnalificntlOll 

ahove mentlOn(ld, 

MINES AND WORKS AOT AMENDMEN1' BILL 

The following BIll "to amend sectIOn (our of the 

Mines and Wor~ Act 1911 (Act No. ]2 of 1~11), flO, 

as to enable the grant of certIficates· of competency 

nnder the regulatIOns made under that section to be 

restricted III certain areas and 'circumstances to persons 

other than NatIves or AsiatIcs to enable such 

re"ulations to impose,d\lties and responsibIlities on 

p;'sons otller than, Natives or A:inatICs and 'to 

apportion work on mines, l~ work8 and on machm,~ 

PI y between NatiyeS and ASIatICS ,lnd other pE'rsons, 

to '~)fl Introdnced by the l\:hlll~tcr of Mllles and IndustrIes, 

appears in' the [Jmon Gazette Eclrafj?dIIW? IJ 

dated January 22 ,- 

Be it enacted by the King-'s Most Excellent MaJe~ty, 

the Senate and the House of Assembly of the DnlOn 

of South Afrwa as follows :- 

1. 8ectionJqur of the Mmes and Works Act 1\111 

(Act No. 12 of 1911), is hereby amended by the> 

addItIon to the end of sOrb-sectIOn (1) of the following 

words - 

"The regulatIOns under paragraph (n) may 

provlde t.hat In such provmces or ,lreas as may 

be speCIfied in the regulatIOns, certIficates or 

compe,tency in any occupatIOn referred to III 

that paragraph shall nof. be granted to Natives 

or ASlaticb and the regulatlOns under any othE'r 

paragraph of this sub-sectIOn may restrIct certam 

classes of work to, and impose duties ami 1'"3' of work m thl' }OIlI1eS .1n'\ tJ1'dn-.tl'h's 

whICh Llw Govel rlOl'-Genel',lJ-J'1-()onncll mdY P:II'_ 

, 1l1,wk ffH' Y;;urop>-':ln'1. It IS proposP' I to /,(1\ r' tIlt' 

Gov\'rnor-Gpn"l,d-I1l-COllllCII, 1n otl\l'l' word'l t h, 

:'IIIl1I;-!ter of llillP>!, ,I (;,11'\" tltmch. "" 

Lpt u'! go a liltle furtbE'I' .llld c,ln·fullr (".. 1111111". 

the mterpretatlOn whwh the ::-;tatutl' pIM~l's IlPOll thp 

word.s, "mine" allt! "works," 

"The interpret.ltiol1 clause 1>11,lIl c\wIUle,ll 

works. metallurgical works, reductIOn WOI ks, 

oredressing works, petrol~>nm works, salt w

_F_e~~!ry 

27th, 1925~ ___ I:..::N_U_IJ\_N....-;-O_P_IN_IO_N _________ ~5-,9F_" 

THE I((XG'3 WRIT I~ INDH 

I The Nillul J/enltJ!I holi the f ... llowmg leadmg no~ Id 

its is-ue of the toLlI J08tan~:- 

It Jj seldom indped ~hat the SwaraJllit 6nds anything 

complimentary to say abont British Institutions ID IndIa 

or elsewhere, but it would appear that the JodlcialOommittee 

of the Privy CouncIl II an l'Xception to this &Im~t 

/llvereal condemnation. The 6ual conrt of Empi.e apptd.l, 

which recently aroused considerable discus.-.fon in 

C~nada on acconnt of a deci>!ion which I~ gave in a case 

involvin" Tra1e UnLOnism, has received the bleasillga of 

the pror:illenti non-I'operatin~ lawypr ant} one time co~leagoe 

of Gao/Jhl, Pondlt Mo~i1al Nehrn. ~oreover, ~18 

opwion walt endorsed by all h18 f~llow SwaraJI~ts w~o, In 

the Legililative Al!88mbly at Deihl, !oted en bloc m oppositioo 

to a p r opll8aJ for the es~~\>h8hment of ~ Supre.me 

Court of Appeal in I·ldIB. Tbl~ Ij B very mtere.atmg 

revt:lation of S"arajlst. mentality SIOce it showl! f'xscty 

how mnch justice the H;ndu or ,Moslem expects ~ get 

from his religious or racial opponents. The partiality. of 

most Indiana towards litigation of every sort aod description 

is Bufficiently well known 10 Natal, but it, ha, remained 

for ooe of the bitterest enemies of British ru~ 

to mltke the a~tonishin(J' arimission that without that pn7t" 

an appellant won d be denie I access to an Impartial tribunal. 

Such a statement ill nothing more nor It'89 t.han 

a complete acknowledgment of the failnrc of SwaraJ to 

a~~ert itself a~ ma~ter in its own honse, for, although Mr. 

MoWal Nehl'u was careful t., cover his tracks by suggest. 

In/r that under the wise and be~evolent ";lIe which be 

and his Jriends proposed to gIve to india, a Supreme 

Dourt might be established in ~hat country, the more ca~dId 

of his colJea"ues at once discounted the val de of thiS 

assertion by exp~essing the opinion that it is impossible 

to obtain in India that "healthy atmosphere free from 

local prejndice tpa~ is prevalent i~ ~ngl.lnd." "~I pre- 

- Jodlce" is an ple"ant way of descrlbmg the pubhc morality 

of a couotry °where, before the advent of th.e British, 

the modest ~um of one rupee would procure the early 

decease of an inconvenieut adversary. To that abysmal 

etatll of affairs Iodia would at onc~ retnrn tne moment 

the la31i tran~port carrying Bl'Illl:!h s'lidiers and officials 

bf, ilombay. The Swaraji'lts know this perf~t1y well, 

and for once in a way tbey have oot been afraid to say 

so.· . 

[\V e deal with the above in our leadlDg columna-Ed.] 

I 

PRIVY COUNOIL APPELS 

SYSTEM UPRELt} By ~IV ARA..J1SfS 

Delhi, Feb. 17.-A IItriking tribu',e to the respect III 

which the Judicial Committee of t"e Privy Conncil i~ 

held was paid in the Legislative A!Bembly, when, for' the 

first time siuce the beginning or the 8eg-ion, the Swarajist.s 

voted en bloc with the G:>vlll'nment, ill oppo~in!( a reso 

lution by SIr Hari Sin"h Glur, a wdl·known Nagpur 

lawyer alld first Vice-Pr~sident of the J)elbl UniverSity, 

who I'e~mmended the establi:j}ur.eot·of a Suprllme Court 

or ll}dia, to dispose of appcalli nu referred to the Privy 

CounCil in I,ondou, .. 

The motion was defeated by 56 vote~ to 15. , 

Pundit MoWal Nehru. a prominent non-cJ-operating 

lliwyer and Swarajist leader, said that incouvemence and 

expanse was not high Pflce to pay- for the justice which 

could be obtained from the Privy Conncii. 

He had known of several instllnc.H where the htigant3, 

, "\t reaiollable cost, had obt>uned jWl~il.'e before the Privy 

~:"4'l1lnctl in caSllS they had loat fro:» the lowe3t to the 

~tcm:rhest Court in IndIa. 

iuesti "'rhe Privy Council hid down important princi~li. of 

)Ollitiaw in caslls which were nserul bero!. 

MorC')ver, It was 

}pemseless to think 01 e.ta?Ji'lhing II Sllr .. em~ Court \~jtbO:ltr 

Jo\'~-dwaraj. _.' . W 

ts (hher SwaraJist3 expr~t!d L'B ""IOt'll thlit. It wa~ 

.c 'imposoible .tq obtain. in In ~Ia ,th,}r. 'he

60 tNDIAN OPINION February 27th, 1925 

--------------------------------~------------------- 

MR. ASQTJ IT"H 

Mr. Asquith, who has retur:'ea :rom Europe, hall 

accepted the offer of-an EarldcTI.' and will take the 

title of "Earl of Oxford" wlth the sub-title of 

Viscount Asquith of Morley 

THE I~DIAN DLP"CTATION 

Reports appear here of W:J.'l' deputation' of all 

parties, Indian and EUJ'Opear Jexcept the Swarajists, 

that waIted on the Viceroy a t Delhi yesterday for 

the purpose of asking the IndIan Government to 

make an effort to get the Sou~h AfrIcan Government 

to give an undertaking that no (urther steps tlhould 

be taken in regard to -Indiau ''Uterests in South 

Africa until th~ whole posltica has been eKamin€)d 

by a non-party confet'ence as was suggested by Mr. 

J. H. Thomas,' when, as CL'lonial Secretary, he 

VIsited South Africa. The l>-lggestioIlB of the deputation 

are not advan'ced by Indians for the first time. 

Mr. Thomas it IS true gave expression to the same , 

view. But it WilS not many months before his 

arrival in South Africa, Mrs. Sarojini Naidu, the 

President of the South AfrIcan Indian Conference 

Ul'i'e~ at the request oC 'the Indian community the 

lame 8ug~estion-in terms that such a couference 

Ih

February 27th, 1925 INDIAN OPINION 61 

patiw'~' Nor mw,t more IU'!tt\f'rR h(' amnittpd to any 

01\1' d."ll'lct tll..lll th!' lotal idhour m1' mineral wealth." 

--0- 

The American correspondent of the NI'll' I,/ilia 

(Madl'as) writes :- 

The Attorney.Ger.eral of California has renuerE'U 

a decision making it impossible for Asiatics to hold 

valid cropping contrilcts. Japanese, being excluded 

from land-ownership and from the 1 ight to make 

contracts for the lease or land, thought that they 

might be allowed to contnCt to buy fruit on the 

~"cII"', -n..~ ...,t."~ \~IIt'\'" J.~"IJ~ ,..~_~ ".., ,. 

.. I> 50 ~. \ ,

.----~--------,-- 

tNOIAN Ol'fN ION February 27th, 1925 

we have risen and to winch we shall return anu 

that we should be bound by R ",rong be of common' 

citizenship which no fetishism uu ever .bre..tll: ?" 

-0- 

The Government of Boml .. y :tas·!liI.llctioned the 

Bombay MUnicipality's decisL''l to put up an- iron 

fence of ten by six feet rouDl~1 dlEl place where the 

late Mr. THall: was crematE.l Oil the Chowpatty 

sands. 

-0- 

India has a sixth Secretary of 8tH.tes in the space of 

ten years: the Marquis 01.' Crewe, Mr. Austen 

,Chamb,erlain, Mr. Edwin ~amuel Montagu, Viscount 

Peel, L~rd Olivier and the Ef.rl of Birll:enh~ad. 

-0- 

The Governor of Bombay, while unveilmg a 

memorial tablet to Dr. Turn'J!', the late Health 

Officer of the City, spoke of the importance of adopting 

measures for the prevention of diBeases~ HIS 

Excellency said: "It has always struck me as rather 

strange that while we say that prevention is better 

\ than cure, we have been slow even in Europe to 

.recognise the vah,e of preventive medicine. It is· 

only compara.tively recently that this lJranch of 

medical science has received the attention it deserves." 

-0- 

Chicago holds an' unenviable murder record. The 

l'Mnes' Chicago correspondent says that officia.l statistics 

show that in less than six months more murders 

have been committed than in the whole of 

1923. In October, the latest month on which figures 

are avaihlble, murders have been committed at the 

rate of more than one a day. 

The Jam Saheb of Nawanaga.r, famous the world 

over as "Ranji" stIll reta~ns not a little of his old 

time agiflty. During the recent panther shoot of 

His Excellency the Viceroy at Samana, he escaped a 

nal'row accident on account of his pluck and cool 

WIt. . 

In the South Pacific is an islcmd called Bardoo, 

which IS ruled over by a widow. She went there 

originally in the hope that misslOnary work would 

assuage her grief ovel' thp-Ioss of her husband. She 

IS now ruler of t.he Islana, which contains only 

t.hree other whit.e inhahit.ant.

______________ 0 ______ 0_ 0 

tDpiltiott 

No. IO-Vol. XXIII. Friday, March 6th, 1925. 

Rl!gi.:.tered at tbe G. P.O J a Newspaver 

Pale a FoultP f..r, ft 


""" 

1\t T qllf'slion time m the Union Hou~e of ..\s- • hvpen this countl'y and Japan has been a source of 

Ltil ,,!'mbly l.lilL 'l'uNlllav Mr. N"l (~,A.P,. Nt'w- surprise to Mr. OtLl dUl'ing the course of his VIsit, 

e,liltle) IUIk('11 the 1\[1I11"tPI' of the Intt'I'lOr. arld lw llls["ls th.1t much mutual benefit would re- 

(I) '1'0 what extput, It at all, uoc.:! thp Government suIt from a ft-ee tr.111e policy. Whel'evel' he has 

lntcwl IlllIing UlI' prc'I'ol'lIt beb'JlOll to eUIIY out thc vIsited III South Afrlca he has seen Japanese goods 

prOllllh., of the :!I.ll!1lHt('r (A the Intel'lOt· to mtlOdlwc on sale at PIW(,S that he said could be reduced by 

Il·~tHlatlOll to dc.II with the AsiatIC questwn on the hal1 were-It possible for a Japanese firm ot repute to 

Iint'li of the motIOn mtroduced by the hon. member °cstablish It.~elf III this country, and thiS, says the 

fOl' 111ovo tiUl'lIlg the la;;t SCbHlon of PdIlldlllent,lanl1 X,,(ltt .Ilellllry, urought hun to the question

64 INDIAN OPINION . :\tarch 6th, 19'5 

--.:....-r--~----'~--------.---------------.- -- 

not pile on the'l}g!)ny, and make the position of the 

white mall intolerable by bringing on hitl} the hatred 

, .t' I H' .~j " 

of other peoples. 

Th~s 41d ~he ex-fr~~e ~pnj.~~~r o~po~e the estap11SBing 

of the colour bar ill pre UI~.lOn. If only 

tp.r~~~~igp" 1!ie~}~ ~~te prif.fice

March 6th, 192$ 

tNOlAN OPINI\JN 

he Bp~ke l.a:;t week apparently left the wrong Impression 

oh tlle' ~nnlsWr's mind, that he (General 

·l;;m"l1tsJ was threatening the Uovernment. This waR 

, roatt-cr which cut deeper than any -rarties. There 

'might Ile'members on either sHle who

66 INDIAN OPINION March 6th, 1925 

dren -would not regret it, atI it would bring evil 

results beyond the foresIght 01 any ID:ln living. 

Mr. SAMPSON (Lab., Jeppee) remdrked that General 

Smuta had not declared wll )ther hl\ was in 

favour of the principle of thir,; Bill or not. The 

late Government had had p}('nty of opportumty of 

pctssing legislation:. He wondered whether the 

i:\Tatives were sonsulted befOl,; the original nolour 

ftar"\Vas determined. He reg;p'ded thIS measure as 

'restormg to the white workf'l1'J on the Rand what 

llad been taken from them by force of arms (hear 

hear). In Europe, where people were almost 

'equally clhlised, it was eailY to talk about the 

.'ights of man, but not so in this country wheh' the 

(:1vilised man worked alongside savages. Until 

I~ome attempt was made to protect the standaru of 

tlfe of the white man, what protection was there 

,bat fl'w 'W hite man 'was not gomg to t" dragged 

Jown to the very low levt'l of the Nat17c wages. 

'rhe Factory A Ctil were for the protection of the 

K~kerl3, and of the property c,f the employer: His 

1 _'(-

March 6th, 1925 

INUIAN OPINION 

onH LONDON LETTER 

[ By OUR O~N COltRERPONDENT ] 

5th February 1925. 

The fifth anniversary of the Indian Student:.! 

Union and Hoste! was, under the chairmanship of 

Sir Atnl Chandra Chatterjee, High Commissiont'r 

for India. celebrated during Mail week. 

,_ Sir Chatterjee was recently the guest of the Royal 

Colonial Institute, of which he is a member and in 

responding to the toast said that he took his appointmt'nt 

not as a personal honour but as a compliment 

u> India. He had found since his rptnrn to England 

that it:.! pt'ople were taking a greater interest in Indian 

commerce and pohtics and welcomed this 

change in the attitude of the heart of the Empire 

towards India. It was not always realised how vast 

India was and what an important position it did and 

ought to occupy in the Councils of the Empire. 

They had now established before the League of N a 

tions the fact that Inoia was among the eight chief 

industrial nations of the world. Its exports and 

imports together entitled India to the -sixth pll\w 

among the foremost commercial nations of the 

world. Since the war their import:.! and exports 

had recovered wonaerfully~the total now exceedf'd 

£400,000.000. India took more than half her 

imports from Great Britain, but regretted that 

Great Britain took less than one-quarter of Indian 

exports. India had a monopoly in jute, hpr tea was 

popular, but she would like to see attention given 

also to numerous other prodncts such as wheat, oil 

sef'ds, manganese, tobacco, hides and skins, and 

wool. India was doing all she could to increase the 

extent of her cotton cultivation. At present she 

~rrew only short staple cotton but an organisation 

was now trying to grow long staple cotton. Trial 

h3ils were being tested in England With the assistance 

of the Institute and other interested associations. 

Pre-war average was only four million bales 

but the forecast of the present crop exceeded six 

million bales. Much of the material for the irri 

-,r::'ion and railway development llOW in progress 

had to be bought in England. Thus they were furthering 

one of the objects of the Institute. the development 

of Empire resources and the utilisation 

of these resources within the Empire and that while 

he was High Commissioner he would do his best to 

carry out the objects of the Institute. 

Mr. H. S. L. Polak has now returned from his 

tour in India. He is here-as he is in India and in 

Soath Africa-looked upon as an authority on qu~stions 

relating to Oversea India.ns. 

At an Ilome by Mr. and Mrs. Polak, it. was a 

pleasure to meet Capt. Hugh M. Meylel' who was a 

member of the .Uniqu Parliament and well known 

in South AfJica. Indians will remember that he 

'VdS of t.he few who, in thE> days of Passive Resistance 

in South Africa. stood for a fair adjustment of 

the claims of the 'Indian community.' And the 

Natives of South' A:frica, too, will recall his stand 

in the Union Pa.rliament a~Q.St the provisions of 

the Natives Lana Act. For a l time he sat in the 

British Parliament arl.

INDIAN OPINION March 6th. '9l 5 

tilat the ya1ue I~" lildTh:' to ,Gr~at Bri~n W Il~ost 

, jl I ,l "l.J J • 

ev}dep.~, fAI' I.tl, la l~l

'ttLlinn ®pinilltt 

~r\No. II-VOl. XXIII. -Friday, March 13th, 1925. 

R.g' .... red aube G.P.O. as a Newspaper 

Parcs rOURPEN,. 

1T 

DEPUTATION'TO THE VICEROY 

ON THE INDIAN QUESTlON 

HE following if! the full text of the statement 

presented to thA Viceroy by the Indian 

Jeputation that recently waitpd on His Excellency 

in connection with the Indian question in 

South Africa and the reply given to the lteputatioll 

hy. the Viceroy '- I f 

Many deputations have waited from time to time 

upon ;l1our Excellency and your predecessors in 

otfh:e in order to convey to the Government of India 

and through it to his MajestY'1I Government the 

intense feeling aroused in the nunds of the people 

of India at the treatment accorded to IndlanH in 

~outh Africa by the Government of the Union. We 

remember with satisfaction the sympathetic response 

of the Viceroy of the day and of your Excellency 

to the representatIons made on those 'occasions, 

and in particular we recall with thankfulness anll 

prIde how in 1913, when the situation in 80uth 

Afnca had rf'acheu a dangerous crisis and pu bHc 

sentiment had. been outraged by the bittel' persecution 

of Indians in the Union, your preJecessor Lord 

Hardinge placed himself at the head of the people 

of InjUn and voiced theh' alarm and indi~,.'nation ir. 

terms that extorted universal apprecmtion. 

, " To·day a crisis of another kind has beel\ reached. 

I(~f; true that the circumstances of the Passive 

Resistance struggle in Natal for just and equitahle 

trE'atmE'nt are not actually being reproduced in 

South Africa. Nevertheless a veiled warfrue is undoubtedly 

heing carried on again~t the rebident Indi.m 

population and steps ~re being tnkell and policies 

framed having for thE'ir object. if possible. th", 

expulsion and certainly the ruin and dt'gradatlOn of 

the unhappy Indian residents therE'. now Virtually 

lelldel'less owing to the departure, death or misfortune 

of those upon whom they have hItherto rf'hell 

for counsel, guid.mce and exmnple. , 

l'IETTLEMEN'r OF l~lU 

When the Settlement of 19i-t was reached between 

the Indian community and the Govel'l1ment of thE' 

Union, it was generally felt in this country that In 

I\hmt! there pal! sEleuretl no more than their mini- 

- Hltlln cl!].im ntHl fAr that tqey ha.l tQ nlake enormous 

~~cf\qee~-'Ylth t~e ~ynw~thYi ~uppqrt allll practical 

1I~8i~tance Af the ~pqple of mli4-Rnll thE'Y Itad 

Cj'qne tq Ow utmQst limit 0.£ hQT\QU1'uble concesslon~ 

lly (lAnatmtilla "IlI'tl~eJ'vedly to the olnlitlflt restriotjon 

uf IndIan lmmiC1l'ntion Int" the Unlon in orllpl' tel 

"llay th(l r.~n~ IUlll hOlltllity ot thtolr tt}lloW'¥'!ll(fI 

()o\ollhlls, 'l'M 1I1"ttlelnelit WaS bnililil uplln publlc 

~oognltion by th~ Union Government of the aancU· 

, \y of the vested rlg~ts of the, Indian resiuent!l, 

wbetht'l' individually or as a community, and Mr, 

-Gandhi clt'.trly intimatell \0 the Government that 

though his counh'ymen had nccepteu the terms ot 

t)le settll>mtml as regar~s rillltteis theI1 actuollly in 

111splHe BehveE'n the partie~, Utey, 1lE'\'erthcletlS, rer~flll~ 

of ~lt!.llltl\hltl III ~\1h!b. th\l)lIH\'t \'(~h deprhll'.l~ 

Ched the right and intcl1di:.!uJn Jue course til claim 

hit relltorllt\QIl ot lh' ,,\\HOlltl ll1!;ld,mU IUld prif!' 

- 

1J~1I1, il ItllI. tI'Ill'llIl( b~ ~i'!I,t. bitt ill.aHfl!i' rl.:!!ijlath1tl ~I, 

• J"\llhIlM~"h ~~UWl'h'. liMI\. 'Utili b~;j Il~V!tlll~ fllr 

fV~,*!~,!vt' ~kt ~~'!'Jl"tl ~~~I{~ ~~ ~'l!l! ~. ~hf!!~r.~I~ 

thronghout the Union. 

With the outbreak of the War the antl-IUllian 

~ampajgn of an important and influential section of 

the white population remained III abeyance, But 

scarcely had the Armistice been sil-,'1led when It 

Imn,t iorth again with incre.u.;ed violence, and In 

1:I1H m spite of the definite undertaking ot the 

Ulllon Government five years earlier to respect Indian 

vested rights and mterf'sts. the Union Parhament 

passed leg1t.;lation depriving the Tlansvaal 

Indums of even the legal right mdirectly to acquire 

and own lllllllov.lble plOpel'ty whIch With the 

knowledge and encouragement Ol'lgmally of the 

old South AfrlCd.n Govel'llment they had eXE'rcised 

freply for over thirty Yl'ars. 

THE ASIATIC COMMIRt>ION 

I , 

Encour.lgeu by this btrlklllg success the anti 

Indian prop,'\gandists began to extend their operation 

to Natal. l'he Union Government thereupon set up 

a CommitlSioll prE'8ided over by Mr, Justice Lange 

to examllle the whole rnd1.ln pOSItion 111 the Ulllon. 

It was at this stage that your Bx(,!'Uency's predeces 

SOl', Lord Chelmsford, who had persu;ttmtly advocated 

the Indian causE' in South Atrica, sought and 

obtained from the Union Government an invitation 

for a representative of the Government of IndIa to 

proceE'd to South Airica to assist the Commisbion by 

representing the Indian case to confer WIth the 

Cabinet of Gelwl'al HmntH. -8lr Bl'IlJ.lmin Robertson's 

able pI'e:.;enlatIoll of IlHli.l's C,ISe- and hIS 

pelletr.lting crItIcism of the eviuence led by the 

antl-Im\Mn party resulted m a tindlllg of tacts by 

the COIillDis~lOlIel s ~ubst.lntlally auoptlllg the IndIan 

point of view llml discrediting on grounds of vagueness. 

hMccuracy or exaggeration, the main hostile 

allegation. 

HOSTILE LEGISLATION 

It was hoped as a rt'snlt of this effort that the 

Union GovernmE'nt would tdke step~ to correct 

popular misconceptions :tnd corr!'spondmgly to improvJ,the 

Indian statuR, But the insecurity of 

General Smuts' GoVel'11iDent render{'ll it peculmrly 

Suscf'ptible to pressure from the anti-Indian party 

in the Assembly, wit4, the result that the Natal 

Provill'Cial CounCil was encOlll'agE'J to enact certam 

QrlUMllces prn!tibitiJHi In.lianil III the Durb,ln muni· 

cipfi.llaIl,l, t.lepriving Natal Inlh,m. of thl,) right to 

(llC!lfCl\l!Q tba municipal fr:lliChi>lti lind M'\"!'£'!Y rra· 

tl'\cUn,:r thilir 1I1tNIIlr prl'{Jarluna ii"I.tin4' I'i~htl!. 1n 

ilpite {If Indian PI'utt'lItd th~ Utilt OI'uiIIUnct> Ui?\Jfl \116 

advio" of bta ~ini"ter8 was 8Q&ent~d by the GOvI'l'n A 

or-General. thU!! for tht> tirst time introclucing in 

Natal the practice of racial sl'grE'gation. 

The other 

OrdinancE'S wel'e du'allowE'ol Ill' !I:'tRt'nt withheld. 

~ever.ll attempts h.lvel:Hnce Leen llull,' to :-eCllle the 

acceptance of these or Sllllil.lr Ordinances Lr the 

Union Government anu the news has recently 

reachell IUlli.! that in "pite of I'''peatell protest!! the 

Oovprnol,.(ll1net>\l haA bow IV\,'''/lte.l t, .. Ille O,.,lInancoo! 

depllvhlil l,t

70 INotAN OPINION March 13th, 192$ 

by the Natal Government when in 11\91) the Indians 

were deprived of the pal'hanH'ntary franchlse. 

GENERAL 811WT~' DECLARATION 

, At the 1917 Imperlal War Conference when the 

questIOn of the lhsalJIhtJes of the Government of 

India came up General Smnts, flpeakmg" on behalf of 

the Union Government. p"(j)resply held on L the hope 

that wlth the rC'IDoval, by the ('nactment of the 

UIllon lmmigratlOn Acts, or the fear of an Indtm 

invasIOll of South Afrlca the' grievances of the 1eRident 

lndmns should be gradually remedied. And 

at the 1918 'war Conference, Mr. Burton, the South 

African spokesman. paid a warm tnbute to the' law 

abiding character of the IndIan population and admftted 

that It was entItled to humane and just treat· 

ment. TIle South AfrIcan delegatIOn accepted th" 

resolntIOn passed unaIllmously by- the Conference 

recommenumg- to the various dom111ion Governments 

concerne(l the m,vestigahon of IndIan dIS· 

abIlities with a VIew to theIr removal. 

The Lange Commission'in 1920 reported thai the 

allegatIOns of unlawful IndIan llnmigration on a 

'large scale were not substantmted and thIS finding 

was supported by the Union c€'nsns fignres 111 1921 

whICh showed not only that the IndIan populationtwO-thIl"lls 

of which was bot'll 111 South AfrIca, was 

virtually stationers but that the_whIte po-pulatlOn III 

the Union had enormously Increased. In Natal 

where the complamts of nnf,llr competItion were 

the 101.1c1est, though the Indian population had m 

creased by the small amonnt of ;; -pel' cent., the 

European popnia,.tiol). had mcreafled hy 40 'per cent. 

In 1\)21 the ImperIal ConfE\rence- adopted it reso· 

lnhon recommemhng to the varlonR dOlllll1ion Goverllments, 

in VlCW of the changc in the con~titutlOnal 

status ot In-ella uncler the RelOrmtl, tbe l1esirability 

of conferr111g CltlZeI\ship l'lgllts upon

I 

M arch 13th, *92$ INDIAN OPiNION 71 

------------------~----~--------------- 

t~a' ftcatmMt (,f one class (.0 b;', ~I" je Y',1 '!n!Jject contemplate thp neCpsf;,t, nf impo~ing lIOI" fI e,.h 

III the domllllonR h:v; unfort~lr..LtJ;ly p"l'cra'a I. - restrictlOtlR on In.hans alr!'d,ly III the conntOn', a~ J 

The deputation consisted of the following ;- nnderstrltirred are the feelings of the whole 

conntry in l'egaril to the cOl1lhtions of Iwlians 111 

South Africa. Although no Ruling Prince is 

acfually with you to-day yet I observe that YOIl 

have receiveli meA8ages of sympathy ft'om IIiH HighneHIl 

the Maharaja of BIkaner the Chancellor of the 

Vhamber of Princes and His High ness deslI es It to 

be known that the princes am in agreement with 

the object of this deputatIOn. I welcome also the 

presence of the distinguished representatives of the 

non official communities and it is especially notewortllY 

that Indians and Europeans are assocIated 

together in this deputation aud WIth the Bltme purposo 

in VlCW. The question hefore ns is of the 

Ihmost importance to the future of the Empire and 

it is well that the British in IUllia should Bhow ill 

this unmistakable way that they identify thems('lws 

with those qUestions which affect seriously 

the interest anll the pOllition of India in the Eu{. 

pire. 

In your address you have' given a concise histori 

("t! survey of this complicated problem and it must 

be admitted that that survey leaves on the mind an 

iD?pression of deep disnppointment. On the conclusioll 

of the I~U tlettlement, as it is termed in 

your add redS, it appeared that the (',mses of futUre 

fl'ichon between the Government of South Atrica 

and the Imhans l'('sitlent within its bordel's h,ttl 

bN.'n moved, .At the conclusion of the negotIations 

of 1m!, a letter was written on heh.'If of 

General Smuts to Mr. G.mdlli, in which thE' tollowing 

passage occurs witli regard to the administratIOn 

of the existing law: ., The Mini~ter desi.res me to 

say that it is always, has been and will continue to 

be the desire of the Go\'ernm( nt to see that they 

are I\lhnmistered in a just manner with

INDIAN OPINION March 13th, 1925 

with increasmg misgiving at this moment whell the 

actron now taken in Natal 1:o11owmg that pro.posP(l 

in,Na.tal or elsewhei'e, snggests tlldt the po~ition of 

Indians ,in South Afrwa has reac1wd tlle criSIS, I 

should be unresponsrve, 1I1(1f'6 

of luchJ.ns resIdent 111 Somll Africa, Fr6in my own 

pel'sonal 1l;ndwledge I can assnre you that tlir Nar as-, 

imha Sal'ma, when :m ,charge of the {iepartment, 

laboured devotedly to 1!epl'f'Sent anef uphold the 

:tndl~n cause and I am CO(l vlllced that Sir M,thomeJ 

Habibullah'will not be benllld hIm III the eM'nestness 

of his endeavours to the same end, As a 

Govtirn1Ue~t- W&, have eonSlstenLly antI p'erslstently 

strli\ten to the utmoSL of OUl; capaClhes for this 

purpose, 

THORNS IN 'rUE PATH 

But I must not conceal from you that the dIfficulties 

which confront us are great, Your obJC't a" 

phc~¥car ~en IS-tO find a practical method oi 

achieving some result of removmg the dange!' to 

the whole position' of Iridlans III South Afl'lca, 

FeelIngs are deeply stirred, but It IS not suffiCIent 

to tehe}>'e them by resol\.ltlOL1S 01' speeches, We 

seek, yon seek, all seek a practical solution, I there- 

,£ore turn wl,th speCial interest to the suggestIOJl 

made by you at the end of your address, You 

propose that my ssarily 

"'-p~:,,'p~ ,~ d~llcate chal'acte!'. Nation,a~ 

\ susceptib.ilitw!' ,1/>1'SJlfl&Hy;arttused nQt onl~~ in In(lia, 

but e1$ewhere. -T,he Pll'~ we sl}al~ ~ye Jo :trE!1id, is-. 

dIfficult. South Afrioa has alrl"flqy ;tuh responsiOle 

Self-Government as a Dom.llllon wlthir,:'the. "Elllmli 

an11iiyouca'l'l:' a'Pprised' of tt,le,strength of ~he. feellllg 

an·l ,of th13 agits.tlOl1 ~in 'Sonth Afl'lca upon tHese 

ql11"~o 1 (lllSI EliUll tio"~l'Jimetit hall>its o~n problem, 

1\1l.l .., •• t'l;atfdllni~nUil :.tlR(,~ P'

, 

March 13th, 1925 INuf.~N OPINION 73 

and the Ilame objection holds in his case also. But 

thE.'re woul,l have bpen a 10nJ;l'er interval ill his CdBe 

l,Ietween the GovernorRhip and the Viceroyalty. amI 

on other grounos also'he would Bel'm tQ be the most 

suit,lhlp f'dndidate (If thp three for tile place when 

it l)('olmps ,acant. 'Vhf) knOWN hnt that next year 

the Ikiti.dl (}o\el nmcnt m"y bnd that Lord l1eadlllg 

Ahonlt on,this gl'Ollllll ag.lim,l the 

in' con:-.nlfation ,with my hrothcr Prim'e~, ' I as 

Chanc~Hor of the Chambt'r of PrineI'll w.ts 

privil ('lIhjects of Indian tit.ttes an 

wonhl vield. 110 I c s,LtilifddOl-Y 1'~'''lllttl anti secnre to 

am1 have declded to test the. legahty of the Ordl- 

honoureti positIOn 1n..all parts of th~ Emplre in

74 ____________ 1 N D IA~-,-v \\..)..N_I O_N_. ____ l\_la_r_ch_I..:..3t_h_, _1~9....::2 5:...- 

keepmg '''Ith India's nghtful plAce in the Bntish 

C,)llllllOnwe,lU\1 antI 1\1 confollnIty _ With the assij\lom; 

anll constant effoet" of His Excellency the 

Viceroy and the'Governmellt of India. Th18 meR 

S:1ge WitS puhlished In all t.l1O' lea1lmg Indian ll!:'WSplpers 

to v.:mls the end 01 Oclobel', 1~1'2;1, throngh a 

comrnn1l1qlle Ifl'll1eQby the Ch,lncellor't! Office an,I 

which or conrs!:' h,l(1 'spedD I reference to Routh 

Afnca and Kenya, and yon ,we at liberty to refer 

to these Lwts In )'ollr a(l,ll'('~s ,IS also lherl'tOl'e, to 

add that the PI'lUee::; are m agreement with the 

object of yoUt' depntatIOn and to pubhHh tlns 

telegram." 

INDIAN QUESTION IN THE HOU8E OF 

COMMONS 

LABOUR ~ UGGESTS RECIPROCrry - 

London, l\J\trch 9.-In the Honse of Commons 

this afternoon, Mr. Lansbury (Labour. Bow and 

_Bromley) asked ,vhich of the Rntlsh DommlOnlil 

and ColOl:tLes prolubltf'd I'll' restrictf'd the entry Qf 

Indians, and whether India restrlCted the 'entry and 

domicile of Britishers 

Mr. Amery. Secretary fo~ the Colonies, gave' 

partJcnlurs. whereupon Col. Wedgwood (LabQur, 

Newcastlp-under-LymC:') asked whether Kenya was 

the f'uly Crown ColQny that I'Pstricted the IUlmlgrailOn 

of 'British Inchans? 

1\11'. AlUC:'ry repIled that Kenya dId not Impose 

restrictIOlls. 

-,' 

Ml' LRl1sbury asked If Indll1ns were I'efused the 

I'lglit of domICile in 80nth Afncn, Canada, and 

Australia. He' proceedru to contend t,he Iu(lians 

should have an eqnal right WIth the Dominions to 

exclude whih's, when the ~peakel~ intervened, saying 

t,hat It was impossible to have a debate on the 

Bubject.-ReutC:'r. 

====== 

lNDIA AT WEMBLEY 

ApPRECIA'rION By PRINCE OF WALES 

'1'he following correspondence has passed betweC:'n 

QJe Prmce of Wales and the High CommIssIOner 

Gf Ipdm regardmg India's dIsplay at Wembley 

Park.- 

From His l{oyal- Highness to the Higli Com 

UllSSJOner - 

"As PreSident of the British EmpJl'e Jal't'in ln~la's diS plat, 't)e vC:'ry'lh'lll-erous 

appreciatiQn of ih~ r£l{;ult~ 

of theii 1 ;>Wo.rk. eX1Y,I'~~sed 

by Your Royal Hlghn~ss, 'vh~ch w11r~ a{t6ttf\1.l,t-!p 

tile'! gr~~te~t poslHbllO, ~laf1J?tiqn aritl7~~\.q9u~l1f~ 

~P~llt,.~ .. :lrtp'!(il~& 1: '\' ' , .- 

'to ' ~r_ M':':h. ....., .. " 

BO~OUGH OF DU~BAN 

MUIOMEDAN SECTION - 

GENERAL CEMETERY 

All persons claiming ownC:'rship of gran> lots In 

the Mahomedan St'chon of the General C('metery 

!lltllated' at Brook 8treet are reqn('sled to pro,lllce 

thpir receipts or othel' evidence 111 RIlPPOI t of thell' 

chums t.o the Chief S,mitary Inspector, Old Court 

House, Durban. On productIQn of satiRfactory 

evidence of own(,losl ip, the own('1"s name will be 

- registered in the block book which has bet'll prt' 

pared in conjunction with a pJ,1I1 of that p~rtion of 

the Cemetery. 

A. O. JONES. 

Town Clerk. 

Town Clerk's Oifice, 

DurlxlI1, 15th Jannal'Y. 1!l25. 

. ' 

~~6t~ 

~l~:t 

.. ~lo:t~,"[h !~H(\Lrl~l ~,«l.+l (":4.CHL:lL. 

uq!- :t-ll~+ll ~l~~L ~l ~ 'lY..fi;. !-/~~C1lrlrtl 

~~«l.+l (e.tQtPl+ll !-·Jt~e.tltJ(llt(.nrt..fi +ll~{l~L 

~lctt Hrtlotl ~q(JH ~l~t~ 'tl(tlrlt ~":4.l ~le.tlrll 

I ~!t+li 'tLru..fi '4~l~l ,~~':ll ~r~ ~~L~L 

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I 1:f .. ~'tH~ ~'4iet ;,~ H':lL..fi (-trl'd\ H11'4il 

~l~~. ~t~~~l ~'al"tH'{!r ~~l~l O(~ ~>-tl~ 

!-~:tctlrtrtL ~ r-:-I.Q.lPlrtl \~Urt..fi ~l~ ('\f:f~L~ 

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,!J j ..:),.1\» I~J).e.> J. \;I,y:1 £ ..:),;1; 1.:/1 ... &4.,. ..... ll_' .! 

\.. l uyJ £ '-,.e,j ?J "': I a, ,( L ~t"'"" .....(',j ,JIb} 

--"...,.. . )(t.3 l - ""t " L 

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c..r; Ib ~;,( J,J)J) 4il); bS ..:-JI~£: (..... i~-!,· ,J.~-j' 

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.!. -:",!l", )~ L ,f JI'-! ':;)..ltl'i ....}"'!-j ~,./ 

/ t- r "'t '(.. .. " " I 

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+ ~ t~( t.,.( ;l~ .!..it ... j ,..:.:..il· - ...."J 

" I.,/""".,~~,J-JJ" 

\:J'~ .. ~~,I '>I;'VJ-J-r':' ~~

f;- 

IltOt! 

'No. I2-VOl. XXIII. Friday, March 20th, 1925. 

l{l\hnl! on til(' "etion of tht> FIl101I Gn\ elll 

IIWlIt III ~,ll1ctj(m1l1g the N,ttoll B')l'OlI~h:'l O,'dllllllC'1' 

the 11/11'/11 ('tl,ll'm;) \\'llt(>;; -' It enlY PI()\1!lC'I' 111 

the Dtltllilltoh 1Il,IY, as N,ltoll h.l>1 (ILlIH'. ,h'pll\t' lll 

Ihall8 ot tll\'lr tll't'rlr Cli11'181w,\ right., 01H' by OIH, 

t1H'n.wIMtlsthe(},mdlti-Smuh P,Il't ""llh' Th,lt 

l'.ld lll'IY, in th,lt l,lf;t', lll' shol1\ n1 ,til It., bl\b~t.\IH l' 

lJy PI'ovlnt'iaT legb).ItlOll ulll!!'r tbe tlwory th,lt provinCIal 

antonomy IS sacrosanct; and who 1.110WS 

tlhlt, unlIt'l' tho guiRe of upholding that autonomy. 

the white Africa policy will not bl' gra,ln,IU"\'. 

stL'lllltlr ,m,l tnllr realisE'll to thc (Idriment of tl~p 

Intlhlll popn1.lhon? ThiR IS the ,tIn gel' tlL It n,m 

ill'sets IIltlUI\8 In th,lt DOlllllHon aillllt i:; up te) till' 

A>l,;elllbly to see tlltlt thell' light:; ,lit' protrdl',l 

agalll~t till'! IWW DWI.,.lce," 

'1'hu8 the llllldil (U,Ldr.ls) ·-Hulldl'edR of monk .. ,;; 

HI'e bein!{ expol'ted fl'om thil'l pountry tor til., PI;'- 

1111 ... 11 flf \\ h!j( lit "1411(". th)'t!,l.' ~'III1IJ IIl'U!/lH't1t 1/1 

111'ltaill /.\n40 C]tlrmall)', 'l'It" qUI'IiUlll\ ari'it'li, (H\ 

,IWI. 0\PI1 hO, It h,t" h,lttlll llP011 proy,'.1 tl1

spirit and sacrifice, they will have the people of India, 

the Government of India and the world helping and 

fighting for them. . 

'l'here IS a passage in the VICeregal pronoun.cement 

which needs supplementing. His Excellency s:qa, "It 

is stated in your address tha.t 'the Mumclpal Fr,wchlse 

was solemnly assured to Indians by' the Natal Government 

when in 1896 Indian!! were deprived of the Parliamentary 

Franchise.' But you have not IlldlC"tRJ the 

exact source or the nature of th~ assurance. My 001' 

ernment aN qJ.aking the necessary enquiries to verif.y tb(' 

positIOn." 'l'he stat~ment ma'ie by tb.e DeflutatiC\n i~ 

substantially correct. It was, however, not III 1896 but 

probably in 1894 that- the assurance was given. I am 

writmg from memory. 'l'he facts are these. It was 111 

1894 thl\t the first disfranchislDg bill was passed by tlfe 

Natal Assembly. Whilst It \Va'! pas5fllg through that 

assembly a petitIOn was preseptrd to it on behalf 01 Indians 

wherem It was stated thaL the Indians enjoyed the 

Mllm~ipal and induectly even the political franchIse. 

Fear wa"! also expressed that the deprivation of the' politIcal 

ftanchise was likely to be a preclude to that of the 

l\'luniClpal Franchise. It was m answer to tillS petition 

that the late' Sir John Robinson, the. Premier of Nat>J.l, 

and the late Mr. Escombe, the Attorney Geoeral, gave 

the a~surance that there was no mter~tioll to go further 

and deprive the IndIans'of the MUlllcipal FranchIse at a 

future {late. The disfranchismg bill was dIsallowed by 

the superlor Government but another nQn-rar:laJ in 

character was passed. The assnrance referred to by 

me Was several times repeated by Mr. Escombe who 

had charge 'of all the bills and who was virtually the 

dictator of Natal's policy whIlst he wa~ 1D oliice. 

VICEROY'S SPEECH AT THE INDIAN 

LEGISLATURE 

ON INDIANS OUTSIDE INDIA 

The followmg il:! the text of the portion of H. B. 

the Viceroy's speech at the op'ening~ of the Imhan 

Legislature ou the 20th of January dealing With 

Indians ontslde India ,- 

When consldermg the affairs outside India, attention 

naturally and mevitably turns to Indlftns overseas. 

When I addressed the Legislature in Janua.ry 

last the pOSltion of Indla.ns m Kenya was crihcal, 

and I foreshadowed the appomtment of a Committee 

to make representations -on behalf of the Government 

of India regarding the Immigration Or dinance 

in Kenya in particnlar and other ques~ions relatmg 

to Indians in the Colomes. The personnel of the 

Committee was announced in March last, and the 

Committee began their labours III London in Aprtl. 

They had a number of interviews with the Secretary 

of State for the Colonies' anu the officials of the 

Colonial Qffice and made representations regarding 

many Important matters affecting Indians in Kenya. 

Fiji and the mandated tel'l'ltol'les of Tanganyika. I 

cannot too highly praise the thoroughness and abihty 

with which they performed theIr delicate task, and 

I am grateful for the very patient hearing whlCh tlw 

representative of His Majesty's Government. Mr. 

Thomas, and the officers of his _departmel}t accorded 

to them. As regards Kenya, the conclusions arrived 

at by Mr. Thomas were announced m the House of 

Commons on August 7th last. On the questlOn of 

franchise and the Highlands there was no ,change in 

the position, "but as regards immil..'TatlOn His 

Majesty's 8ecretary of State f6r the Colonies after 

hearing our representatives was ,not satisfied WIth 

tht) Il~ts fr\ 11· 

ment upon all mMtel"s comiug withlll thew 

purVIew. 

NATAL BORoUnu'l OROINANl'E 

, . If the pendulum hds swnnl! in the dit'l;'ction 

de"sired by IUllIa on tilE'S;' questIOns, lhe pO'lition 

III South Africa, on the other h,Ulll, h'l~ been leRi! 

fa.vourable, Towards the ('nct of Decf'mbpr, the 

news was received t1ut the Govel'nor-Gent'ral ot 

ihe UnIOn of South AfrlC

March 20th, 1925 INDIAN OPIN ION 71 

thfl powprR of Dominion Govl'rnments in internal draft of pobce to fOl'cf' thebe people to Le vaccinated 

anu domestic affairs, the position llf one or" delicacy at a time when hit! in:,pectors haU found cases of 

and a solution will not be easy to find_ Patience small-pox, in many (,\l!P~ the p:ttJentR beIng hidden. 

will again bft necessary. I may remind you that away: to ,lvoill dE'kcbon. TIH' COllntrT IS thrroteDed 

with anolh,"l otlt-brt'uk of p!a£:ui. and whlh,t 

wben the position in Kenya heelllt'Ai 110t nnfavourahll', 

temperate argnments and full and frank our health officers ari.' doing their ntmo"t to pI'f'vent 

(,.Rcussion resulted in a better understanding of the it spreading. thongLtIellB white cltJzens are enCOUFagiDg 

these plpgne-carIIPI!l 10 roam about in their 

,'>Indian point of view and in a measure of relief to 

the disabilities felt by the Indians. I hope that. as midst, handltng eatables and mlxmg freely with 

in the case of Kenya so also in this case, r.ome remecly 

themselvps and their children. 

may be devised. 

Regal'dmg a decent standard of livin-g, many years 

of experii.'nce has taught us that the ASiatic prefers 

(0 continue uouer the comlitions he has been ac- 

ANTI-ASIATIC AGITATION IN THE customed to from birth. As a trader, he is Dot an aql'!t't 

TRANSVAAL - to this country. He adopts methods which no 

reliable white haUer h,iS any uesire to adopt. 

We take the following from the &nd Daily The losolvency comt has proved this times with- 

JIail :- 

out number, 

The picketing of Indian stores in the Southern They employ only theil' own class, because they 

Aubllrhs by youths and men in bIcycles has had a re- can- get them for next to nothin2, and yet some 

markable effect on Asiatic traders in the district. • people Sdy: .. Let the whIte storekepeer reduce his 

L'lIit year the Municipality issued over ~)O licences' prices equivalent to the ASiatic." • 

to Indians in the Southern Subnrbs. This year, it I can give you an I'xce!lent example of two shops 

:! stated, there has been a reduction in the numbcr that trade in simIlar Imps. one owned by a white 

tlO'llcences issued of about 33 per cent. trader anfl the othc·r 1'

INDIAN OPINION March 20th, 1925 

IndIan can complain if white p~ople make up thC'lr 

minds only to support men and women of theIr 

own colour. 

. It IS Important to remember, af] Mr, ROBtl pomts 

out in his excellent letter, that this is not simply a 

storekeepers' movement, If the AEllatIcl q\1e8tion 

concerned them alone they might be left, perhaps, 

to ,find their'own remedy, But -the future of the 

whIte race 111 South AfrlCa IS vitally affected, and 

the sooner that truth is recogmsed by ~very European, 

man or woman, the better WIn It he for the 

country, The Asiatic standard of hvmg 18 much 

lower thaf\ that 9f the Whites, Europeans cannot 

.reasonably\object to that, but they carl, and\ mUlSt ' 

ensure the elimination of conditions which, 111 the 

long rnn, WIll bring about the lowering of t!Ie 

European standard, 'fhat IS a duty which they owe 

to themselves, to then' chIldren, and to their country, 

if thBY wish to se~ Eill'opJ;*tIL ci.vllisation permanently 

estabhshed, Moreover, they dare not 

overlook that the more they-snpp~rt Asi"hc tretmg,' It~ prPHHlent, 

MI', Ah,lnl \V,lhl'l, IS entlf'elr unknown to mt', an.i 

I tIC) not tlllnk tint .\ meetmg of >!ncl, a tIm 111 nnrnbel' 

ot pellplt:' nnder !J I;:, P\ e;:;i,lency c Ul pO'!'!I!'ly repl'e"enL 

the> whole of In.lIall OlJllIlOIl III E bt Atl'ICa, 

lUll' ll'l :;tJlll L t!J,lt ~Il)mbas,l. Z !Il/'Ib II' ,mel Tang,lnnkcl 

III h,m le_t leI'" luH' J.ltCt Lv ,h'~')(51J.k,l thems'l 

n''! 11 "Ill ft~ (Jonclll.,IOIl-,l, ~o lI" ,v.; h:J

M:Hch 20th. 'Me; ~NUIJ\N OPINlqN 79 

~(INDlA;{ HIGHER E()UCATIO~ IN NATAL 

(By COUlIlCILJ.OR THE REV. A. },.U:Olllf 1I.A., U.D.) 

It is now five rears ago since that humauitarian and 

true friend of the Indian CommuDity III Nat

, 80 INDIAN OPINION March 20th, 1925 

given the Go,,:ernment of Imha full creult fOl' firm 

and thorough gomg advocacy or onr canse. Let us 

hope that It will do notluug 1l0W to fOJ'felt thIS 

claim. I am a \yd-re that til

~pittillU 

No. 13-Vol. XXIII. Friday, March 27th, 1925. 


4l\" 

Registered., the O. P.o •• s • News,.,.. 

Pales rouuRll(.. 

------------------------------------ 

THE sewnd seSSlon of the Fifth PrOVlDCldl COUll- tually OJ'dered out of the Court. The accused, who 

II cl1 ot Natal was opened on Tuesd.1y the 2-1th stattd that the child had told him to "voetsak" and 

instant and. as we harl expeded, the Draft had called him a "blooming nigger," was ordered to 

Ordinance to amend the TowDship Law, No. 11 of receive four strokes with the cane .... 

IIlSI whkh aims at depriving IndMns of the vote ____ 

in Townships was rushed through all the stages and 

pasiled. 

The Natal Provincial Gazette of th~ 19th of 

March contains a Draft Orrlinance " tor the estabb."hment 

of Townships." It is divitled into elevtm 

chapters and consolidates the defferent legislative 

acts concerning Townships into one. In the chapter 

dealmg with the qualification ot voters a similar 

clause is contained as thateontdineltin the Boroughs 

Ordinance and the Townships Fl'anchif.e Draft 

Ordinance indirectly disqualifying Indians from 

being enroled as voters. Among the various Laws 

and Ordinancetl which the present Draft Ordinance 

seeks to repeal are induded the Townships Law 

No, 11, 1881 ailtl the Townships FranehlHe Ordinance 

192.5. 

The Yolksl'ust Town Council havE' granted the 

local Indian Sports Club a portIOn of ground fOl' 

sports on condition that there should be no Sunday 

playing. The Conncil's I warning having, becn repeatedly 

disrE'gardell by Indians t~e fOl')nE'r is 

J'eported to have passed the following 1'E'801ution 

:-" The Indian Spot'ts Olnb having cbsrc/:,'llr(led 

the warning of the Council re Sunday sports on 

municipal lands, the priVllege granted the club be 

withdrawn for a perIod of three months. Any 

person found trespassing by playing on the ground 

ill question will be prosecuted." In reply to Councillor 

Payne's qUE'stion as to why Sunday sports 

were prevented, the answer was: .. Because the 

l\Iunicipabty has steadfastly upheld Sunday observance, 

and refused to s.mction 8un(hy games on 

Municipal gronnd. Peoph> could play on thE'l1' own 

ground if ther chose. 

'1'h9 Volksrust Town Council bemg It staunch 

follower of Christ;.m principles we are hopeful that if 

properly approached. and given an assurance that 

the Sunday rulE> would not be brokE'n in future the 

Conncil will forgive the Indian Sports Clnb and 

rescjntl the above rE'solution. 

~re is a rema;,~~::-:;:-wmg 

c1l'arly how 

the ~'lck man ~E'ts:-\\stlCE." in this country - 

"I &nnot underst.\\lll how some parents bring up 

their children," Bald Mr. Atkinson, when an unlfaau 

was charged with having as.l1mltCl.l a. little European 

bor of -1 yt'I\I'S of age hy thl'OWlil~' a stick at him. 

The child stated th.lt he said "vot't,s,lk" \0 the 

accused. ,,,ho threw a piece of wood whl(;h struck 

him on thl~ hend. "This chillI evidently thought he 

was qmte entitled to say ""oet&lk" to anyone. remarked 

the maglsh~l~. At this stage the child's 

father, "ho evidently rpsented the !I[agistl'.,te'J:j remarks. 

intel'l'upted the proceedings, and was even- 

By punishmg the Native the Magistrate has estabhshed 

it as a prinCIple that even a European 

chIld may URe abusive language towards a black 

man bnt the latter may, under no circumstances, 

retaliate. We should have thought the parent of 

the child deserved to be punished, rather than 'the 

Native, for brmgmg his children up so badly._ But. 

of course, where there is a questiou of white prestige 

to be considered:the question of justice, even in the 

Courts of Justice, is completely thrown over board. 

At a farewell luncheon given to the Prince of 

WalE'S at Savoy Hotel undE'r the presidentship of 

the new Union High Commissioner, Mr. Smit, 

replying to the toast the Prince of Wales Iii 

reported to have humorously referred to his 

hdblt of bringing back anything to which he took d 

fancy, and pictured hImself blocking the traffic ot 

London by driving an ox wagon through the streets. 

lIe is rt'pol'ted to have concluded by expressing the 

hopp that" he would gain first-hand knowledge of 

South Africa's "problems, and see for himself how 

these wt're bE'ing faced by the two great virile 

peoplE'S constituting the great Union." 

In the Indian Legislative Assembly the debate on 

the Fmauce Bill, which was carried by 75 votes 

to 40, was very animated, says Reuter, the Swarajlsts 

violently attacking the Government's policy, 

'saying the present administration must end. as it 

was condemned by the majority of the pM pie. 

Sir, AIE'xanJer l'tIuddiman (Leader of the House) 

sE'vE'rdy reprovE'd an Indian membE'r for alluding 

to the Govetnment as .. a devil's GovernmE'nt." 

)!.Ihomed Alli Jinnah had a brisk duel with Pandlt 

MotHal Nehru, who declared he intended to obstruct 

and wreck the Government. Mr. Jinnah argued 

that the country could not make the Government's 

pOSItion impossible while the Indians themselves 

were (lisorl.'llnised and powE'rless. He challenged 

PandlLNehru's statement that the Swarajists had 

a mandate from the majority of the onntry. 

8ir Alexander ?tluddiman announced in the Indian 

Legislative Assembly that his Majetlty-in-Conncil 

had assented to the Bengal Ordinance Act for the 

suppression of crime in Bengal. The Assembly 

(,~\rried l1[.,oainst the Govemment by 71 vott'S to 4;) 

Mr. P,Itel'S Bill proposing the repeal of certam 

special enactments, including the Bengal Regulation 

of SeditiOUS Meetings Act the Swarajists and IndepE'ndents 

voting togE'ther. 

Th(' E.lrl of Oxford and Asquith (Lord .-\.sqlllth) 

hdS been appoint~d .\ memher of the J udkiul COIUmittee 

of the Privy Council.

'INDIAN OPINiON March 27th, 1925 

A London message published in the Natal Mer-run! 

states ;- 

tord Readinglll retll.ri1 to Englartd may mean his 

retiretil.eht or rertewl11 o£ oflice for another period of 

two years, but it is considered improbable that even 

if a renewal is made he will rema.in for the full 

period of the e:l(tension. Two names have been 

prominently mentioned l'('garding the appointmenlr-Lotd 

Ronaldshay, who ~ was (}overnor of 

Bengal, and Sir George Lloyd, a former ('}overnor of 

Bombay, and a ,prominent Conservative member of 

Parliament. A third name being b1entionetl iE 

Lord Birkenhead, who IS credIted wIth a desire to 

succeed Lord Reading in India. 

... h .k t ~ 

LORD CURZON 

" 

"I'r HE death of Lord CUl'zon after a brief illness, 

II which wat!" announced by Renrer on tlw 20th 

intltaht, is rto small blow to the British people 

and the British Parliatil.~nt. His Parliamentary 

career is considered td have been very brilliant. :tte 

enteTed Parliament III ~889 as COllllervative member 

fOl' the Southport DivisioU\of Lancashite and speedily 

made for hIMself a. reputation ill the House of 

Commons. Re was Under-Secretary of State for 

India UI~1-92 ahd pnder-Se'cretary for FOrtlign 

Affairs 1895-98, botli«)f which posts' gave hini experiencre 

for1;h~ two s'phe;es in ~~hich \l~ made bis 

name ramous in later, years.. lIe heid office in 

various capacities during the 'War and in 1919 

b~mtme Secretary of State for Foreil9nAffairs in 

Mr, Lloyd tloorge's Mministratioo. After tho down~ 

faU of the Coalition he accepted the same office 

under Mr. Bonar Law, and. earned \vide l:enoWIi for 

the manner in which. he 'Conducted the negotiations 

with the victorious Ta.rks at Paris .~nc! ~~!:J.sanne._ 

:m; was one ,of tbi skongeSt sPeakers do bis party. 

The name of Lo'l'd 'Citll'ZoI1 is dosely 'Connected 

with India and her people 'Owing to his viceroyalty 

in 1899. lTnfortunately he -W1\S lctOked upon as a 

tietTor. Ne~r, pp,rhatJl;l, it -is believed, has there 

been:a mure diaapipoi'l'ttrug ~gilI1e 1n India tban that, 

of Lutd -Cui'ZOli, !lToiWith'sfufidil1g hill uhdonbted, 

good qilalities o~ heaft a~ well as ~is Imques'ticruable,abHity 

the feeling in 1nula hJls been thal:. he had 

trodd@n und~r foot every principle of sober~ statesmanshipMld 

very'Ofteu,justice, tact, and fOl'eS'lghtin 

deaHng'with the gTeat Dependency. HIS final 

Aut wllS tbe Part.i~on 'Of l3EJ11gal 1\-t the time of the 

Partition, the people of 13enfol reasoned with" Lord 

Curzon, h1iI.t in the pride of power, he disregarded 

all their prayers::--l1e took \ it for granted that Indians 

could oniy prattle, tfuat they could neve.: take 

any effective t!'teps. Ire used insulting lllngttage, 

and in the teeth of all opposition, partitioned 

Bengal. ,However ungracious his act may have 

atJl>ea'l'e~ ~ be at t}le time there is ,not t~ least 

ao'libt tMt in 'later "years it hal! proved a ):Jlessmg. 

For, it was that very a.ct that roased once again the 

national feeling In India which was put to almost 

e"\Tt3r-'lasting sleep atter 'the advent of the Brithlh 

rule. The sternness, the unkindness of Lord 

Curzon has, whether consciously or unconsciously 

been like that hf a teacher to his pupils and the 

loss of Lord Curzon to India can be likened that of 

a preceptor. 

WARNING TO FARMERS 

MAIZE SPECULATotts METHODS 

PreM'ta. March 20 (Rettter),-The tollowmg 

o1fici~l statement hQ8 Wert issued by the Laud 

BaItk. :-It appears that speculators are at preseltt 

travelling round the mail:e producing district;!, 

purchasmg from the farmers theIr pI'o,",pective crops. 

It is believed that, in certain cases, they pm'chat;e 

the crop outright, but in most cases they offer 8(\ 

much per bag for the C1'Op when re.\ped. 

Farmers should be very careful liS to the nature of( 

the agreement they enter into in thiS connection. as 

past experience has shown that the farmel' IS very 

liable to lose on the transaction. It is known that. 

in many cases the farmer has aol(l in ad\'ance, say. 

at lOs. a bag, The crop is estimated at, say, ;.1\10 

bags at lOs. a bag. This would mean .!:2;){l. The 

buyer pays the farmer, aay, £50 on aoool1nt. 

When the crop is reaped the buyer comes along 

wlth a bag of what he calls good maiTR, probably 

the best he can buy. He compares it with that of 

the farmer, and says: "No' YonI' maize is not 

up to slandard, I can only give you tis. for it." 

And the farmer frequently has lo accept it. 

,1'he obvioue remedy is. of conrse, for the farmer 

to eo-operate. lIe can then get an advance as soon 

as his crop is reaped, but if.he doos not co-operate. 

he should be very careful about selling in 3IlvJ.nce. 

If he Is ofl'ered a g?od price, let him sell by an 

aU meahs, but then he must be sme that he gete II 

written:cQntract with the buyer, making it ci('ar 

that the maize sold is maize reaped from certain 

landa, alid. hot maize of a cerlain quality. 

I The contract should also bind the buyer to take 

deUtery a.nd pay for the maille by a certain date, on 

pain of cancellation of sale and forfeiture of any 

amount paid in advance. 

It seems that these speculatol's are urging farrnerli 

to sen new, on the gtoun« that maize mIl be chcs,per 

later on. If that is so, why' do they buy? They 

argue that there will Ire a big SUl'ptus for export. 

thi.s 'y~ear ~ and that the ovel1l6ll1J price wiU fa.l~ ()I)IIlsequently 

local prices will be low. . 

As a matter of fact, whether the expottabll'J £'l1' 

plus is 4,OOO,.()()O, bags or 14,{)O(),OOO bagp, it ""n 

make no appreciable difference in the 'WotU'fj 

market price fOt' mai7Al. 

INtnA ANb SELF-OOVERN~mNT 

. ['he "ihbltne (lahore) in commenting on Dr. J. T. 

Sunderland's new book, "India, America and World 

Brotherhood," published by Messrs. Ganem and Co .. 

of Madras, gives prominence to the author's rep-Iv 

to the two usual arguments against the gnmt of 

self-government to India. One is that India 18 a 

land of many races and communities and of a 

variety of langues. "Why do these numbers make 

it necessary for the land to be ruled by foreigners 

and. atrangel!a?" 1!aYII Dr. Sunderland. "The need 

seems to be Just the opposite," a.nd he proceeds 

to show that the exIstence of the same or even 

greater diversity has never; yet been made an 

argument in other countries for depriving their 

peonle of self-government. The specific cases cited 

by him are those of Russia, of t~ fJoited States and 

of Canada. The first'two. he says,."'nave demonstrll.bly 

more languages and natienalities than India, while 

third has a greater diVersity, considering the nnmbel' 

of its population. And yet in none of these 

cases does any OIlfl assert that the people concerned 

are on this account incapable af exeJ'cising self-rule. 

The other argument is that if the BritJhli withdrew 

from India the whole peninsula would become Il 

chaos of bloodshed and \'1alence. This would undoubtedly 

be so, says the writer: if the BritiJsh were 

to go suddenly and to-morrow, without making any 

provision for successors, or tor any Government at 

all 'to take their place. But the same would be the

iNDIAN OPINION 

ca'lO in the BUlle ('on(lition in London and ~ew 

York. 

'The 'ib/lillie flfl'i alS/) rept'O,Lncetl from Dr. ~ltnd(~r- 

1,11)11'. 'JHU\C th" opinions of two eminent iluthfllltIPK 

wbiJ hllve ¥lealt witb the question of Til'Cparalion for 

Kclf·govf'fJUmmt either With dil'ect referet.ce to 

Indut'ot' In a genel'at way. One II! the G~rmdn 

Amel"ic.lIl slateHman, Mr. Kchvrz. "One of the most 

~ntet'c81ing experiments of my lIfe," he Itlys in hi~ 

l'emini!C(fnCCil, ','was the oiJscrvation of the educa. 

tional irrflnence clU'I'Clscd upon IUcn by the actnal 

[1)'a,cticO' of self;government. What is somt'tmw8 

call6jl tbe art of lelf-IIovernment is not learned by 

maSBe8 ()f people- theoretwally or even by the mel'll 

repre.entatlOn of the other people's experience:! hy 

way of instrtlctlve example. Practice is the (lnly 

rCfllly effective teacher." Ag.lin: "There is not 

any iustance In history of ';\ people having been 

taught to govern themllClvell by a tuteldry power 

acting upon the prinCiple that its wards should not 

be glvpn the power of self-goTernment \lntil they 

h.lve shown theIDeclves fit for It." The other quo· 

t.ltion is from the historian ChArles FranCIS AdaJlf!. 

"I submit" says this authority, "that there is not an 

instance ill all the recorded hililtory from the earliest, 

timCf! until now where Ii so-called inferior lace or 

commltnity hal9 been elevated in It~ character or 

made self-governing or even put on the way to that 

result through 8 condItion of dependency or tlttlage. 

I might Without much danger assert that the condition 

of dependency even for communities of the 

same race and bloo(l always exerCises an emasculating 

and deterioratmg influence. I wouhl undertake 

if called tlpon, to show that this is invariable-that 

from the inherent and fundamental condItions of 

human natnro it -has known and "'Can lcnow no exceptions."· 

Speakmg with particlliar refercnce_ to 

India, Mr. AU.tms added, in the lUost explicit terms 

tha~ notwithstandtng any or all material or other 

improvBRleutil made in tho country by the British 

llinM the E,\st India Company began its carf)er of 

eKplOitation and conquest of the land, British RuJe 

hal been a.n absolute faihlre as a means for incre.lsing 

the capacity or fitness of Indi,\n people for selfgovernrnt'nt; 

it had not incre.tsed that capacity or 

that fitness in the slightest degree but on the C011- 

trary it had actuall~ lessened it. 

'rnE PRom.EM IN EAST AFRICA 

This ill what Dt', Norman ley, an Englishman 

writE'S in his lately published book on "Kenya" on 

the nature of the problem in that Colony :- 

"Ellropean immigration has not filled and cannot 

fill the spaces in Africa left ('mpty by the slave wars 

and by the kind of exploration which since slavery 

WQS abolit;hed has prevailed in the }'rench and Belgian 

Congo as well as in Kenya Indtan immIgration 

c(mId fill these enlpty spaces. Also, our Empire 

contains immense scantily populate


wood (Newcastle-under-Lyme, Labour), who askt'd 

whether the Secretary of State or the GoVel'llment 

of India had made any representations as to the proposed 

colour bar legislation in South Africa and the 

possible effect upon th& amicable relations of the 

Union and India, ,Earl Winterton said, my noble 

friend, Lord.Birkenhead, has authol'is~d the Government 

of India to comnlunicate with the Union Government 

on the subject. 

Earl Winterton in reply to Sir F. Nelson (Strond, 

Unionist) said the pending legislation necessary to 

give effect to the, findings of the Lee, Commission 

would take the form of an amending Bill to the 

existing Government of India Act. 

In the cou~se Qt the discussion on Trade FaCllitles, 

Mr. G. Pilcher (Pe'Yryu and Falmouth) said there 

were only two inshlhceEl of money'advances to'wartls 

Indian schemes: :H~ knew of at least' one very bigscheme 

waiting for development in India and If the 

Indian authorities were approached by the India 

Office on behalfof the Trade Facilities Committee, 

they would find a really good reception for any 

proposal they put forward. He referred to the 

How,rah Bridge Scheme m Calcutta, The only 

obstacle to the erection of this very necessary bridge 

was the lack of moblle capital. The Bengal Chamber 

of Commerce had dlscufsed the possibility of getting 

mop.ey under the Trade Facilities Scheme, and if 

that initiative fOD which Mr. YUton had pleaded for 

were forthcoming from the'India Office

March 27th, 1925 


lltated that it was not pl'opoHed to proceed with the 

question 01 transfer during the prCHeut 8cI!8ioIl of 

Parliament. That, he thought, dh,posed of the 

qUE'stion at the preRent time. The matter hall Hilt 

yet reach('(l the stage at which his ~lajeRY'b Governmf'nt 

coulil announce any decision. It waR obviollsly 

premature to make any statement 8JI tq what conditions 

should be attached to any transfer. if and 

·when any such tr-.msff'r as was referred to in the 

qllf'Stion took plact': but, generally speaking, he 

could assure Lord Buxton that the provisions of 

Hf'('tion 151 of the South Afl'ica Act would be carefully 

adhered to. A pl9l1ge was ~rivt'n when th!' 

Act was being pal!8ed that, in the event of any proposed 

transfer, steps would be taken to ascertdin the 

views of tht' population, both native and white, in 

the territories affected. To that pledge the G()vernment 

adhered. They would not make any decision 

in regard to any transfer until the population had 

had a fnll opportunity of exprel!8ing their views, 

and any representations which they wished to make 

wonld J'eceive the most careful considt'ration of ~he 

Government before a final deCision was given. • 

Lord Arnold said he desired to press on the Govt'mment 

the extreme importance of making quite - 

flure that the natives themselves, and not merely 

the chiefs, were given the opportunity of expressing 

their views before any decision was made, and that 

their int£'rests in the land, labour conditions, and so 

forth were safeguarded. 

The motion for papers" as by leave withdrawn. 

And .in the House of Commons in reply to 

Colom'l Wedgwood (Newcastle-under-Lyme, Lab.), 

Und£'r-Secretary for the Colonies. Mr. Ormsby-Gore 

(Stafford) said :-In accordance with. the pledges 

given when the South Africa Bill was before Parliament, 

the House will have the fullest opportunity 

of discllssing, and, if they wish, of disapproving 

aDY prllpose(l transfer' of Bechnanaland, Basntoland, 

or,H-wa"ihmd to- th& "Union. 

ASIATIC IMMIGRATION TO AMERICA 

(By V. V. OKA, CLARKE UNIVERSITY, 

WORCESTEU, MASS-U.S.A.), 

There has b£'en a considerable misunderstandmg 

in India about the Immigration Act that was pass£'d 

in this conn try this year. This misunderstanding is 

further heightened by a few misleading articles 

appeal'iog in some magazines. I intend to dl:al 

with this question in all its aspects, because I do 

bplieve there is no country in the worM. which 

offers such 1\ nice place for students as this cOlin try. 

EARLY HI~TORY 

Had it llOt been for the rise of modern Japan, the 

eastern nations would have been regarded as entirely 

unfit for Self-Govel'nment on the lines of western 

political theory. The awakeniug of Turk£'y has alsoenhanced 

the prestige of Asia, known in this country 

as a "land of mysticism, witchcraft, orthodoxy, 

polygamy, etc." 

Dnring the closing decade of the last century, and 

following the discovery of gold mines in California 

when the new land on the Pacific coast was to be 

changetl {1'Om "wild deserts" into "smiling farms," 

not only 'was Asiatic immigration not prohibited, but 

it was directly encouraged. Bnt as soon as this was 

:lone and aU cultivabl£' land was occupied by the 

Americans, they b£'gan to show a hOEtile attitude 

towards the Asiatics because of the gradual attempts 

made by them to rise from their low statns to. that 

of farm£'rl'l Or businelt'l-men. On account of their 

industriouR and thrifty life their low standard of 

lhing and their exceptional agricultural skill the 

Japanese and th€' Hindus became a menacing £'COnomic 

factor. As ear1y as 1882 anti-Chinese !aws 

'W~re pasfled but'by ttl07 It irtl'Ong anti-Asiatic a~ha- 

,/ 

tion was LtUncheJ Oil the PaCific cQast· which iit the 

main centre of AlliatiC immigl"'duts. A law wall 

p'dB8ed in that year prohibiting the entry of Asiahc 

labourers into thi'l country. .Japan, to saVA her face 

from the hnmiliating impoflition of being oorr£'d as 

unfit for entry into thE' Fniteol Stdtes, agreed of her 

own accord not to grant passportR to any labourers or 

oth£'rwise nndesirable perbOnB to come to this country. 

This compact was known as the "Gentleman's 

Agreement." 

LATER DEVELOPMENTS 

In 1916, attempt was made to exclude all Asiatics, 

including even travellers and students. from entering 

into the States, but thanks to th9 efforts of Lala 

Lajpatrai and others who were here at that time, 

the Bill was modified, allowing stude~ts, travellera, 

and businessmen to enter freely for a temporary 

visit. Th£' "Gentleman's Agreement" with Japan 

was not cancelled. 

Last year, however, Ca1ifornia, one of the Pacific 

States, once more started the anti-Jdpanel!e agitation, 

She passed a law in the State J~egislatnre prohibiting 

any alien, ineligible for cItizenship, to own L'lnd in 

that state or acquire a lease over t.hree years. This 

cannot be at all called a drastic measure as is often 

sought to make. The State of California was perfectly 

justified in not granting nght to own lands to 

aliens who had been debarred already since 1907 

from becoming citizens of the United States by the 

Federal Government, and which alone had the 

p

, 86 . INDI~N OPINION March 27th~ 1925 

--!..----------- ---------"-- - ----- - .---- 

, 

Agreement" by allowing labourers to eonfe over to 

thIS cOllhtl'Y under the prete;xt of stuuents or travellerll. 

l thE; offer df the 

Durban, Corporation to the Indhn community 

to celebrate thiS l vent. - 

As the matter I::> of tllm6st importance 

all. Indlall3~ are earnestly req~ested to' elt: 

tend. 

_AMOD BAYAT, Cbair~an. 

SORABJEE RU6T01\UEE ) Jf. 11011. 

v. s. C.PATHE~ f Secretaries. 

. N.I.C. 

-,--..-- 

__ tl. :(~l~G'4~l",1 ~lq,Jl ~~l,!lq 

~Hi +tllhl 

rlp.l~ ~r.:t~t~ q~ttI ~~h~,.fi ~~~ tlb tiltl~ 

t4.L~~ ~ctt 'Uil~ (tlrl'tt'l H~L~i ~Uq ~. 

~~~~

J!ttfliatt ~pilliolt 

','" No. 14-VOl. XXIII, Friday, April 3rd, 1925. 

RegIStered at tbe G P.O. d£ a Yew.paper 

PIllC. rOVil"~lfC... 


~J...sI circumstances 

be accepted. aud as to that, there is no 

difference of opinion. But it is suggested by Borne 

, that, if the sum were augmented and facilities given 

on anywhere near equal terms with the Enropeans, 

the community should accept the offer of the Corporation. 

. 

There are others, however, who are doubtful as 

to whether Indians should at all particiPate in the 

jollification evenif offered complete equality. They 

feel that their position iu this sub-continent h' by no 

metmB 80 bright as to encoD1'Ilge them to indulge in 

any jollification. They feel that Wlitica11y and 

socially they nave been dragged down to the level 

of helots and towards that direction the Government 

of this cQllntry have not yet stayed their hands. 

There are already Acts in the Statute books' of this 

conntry that humiliate Ull. They have placed ns in

INDIAN OPINION April 3rd. 1925 

a position that cannot be" envied by any self· DR. MOLL'S OPINION OF THE PRo-ASIATIC 

respectjng people. And that is. not the end of it. Such '\The man who is pro-Asiatic in this country is a 

fUrther legisration is before tp.e Provincial Council and peril to the future of South Africa," said Dr: Moll 

the Union Parliament in the course of being passed 

of Johannesburg, in a speech to the N'orwoOlI Anti. 

~iatic Association recently. All over the world 

without heedihg to the voice of those against whom tue white races were fighting against the menace. 

it iff directed and stilr more is under preparation. Australia, Canada and the United States had closed 

And what is the reason for all this? Are Indians their doors to the Asiatics, and South Africa should 

in this country such treacherollli people? Are they not forget her duty to her future generatIons. The" 

so wild that they require all this control? Are The Indians, Dr. Moll declared, looked on Africa i:: 

their tenjtory in all seriousness, and he urged that" 

they nOf law-abiding? Are they seditious? Are 

everything should be done to fight the menace. The I 

they crhhinal? To that the authorities rep~y: "Oh movement should spread from the small townships 

no, they are the most law-abiding and peaceful into the provinces and throughout the length and , 

citizens: they have rendered llseful service iI\ the breadth of the land. One good pomt diseernible in' I 

development of this country." What then is the the effects of the menace was that it would be the I 

matter With them? They are very industrious; means of uniting the white population of this coun- i 

their requirem~nts are meagre and hence they are 

try. It was a most scandalous thing that the race : 

should be divided about little things when this I 

progressing much faster in every ,direction. But storm was gathering. There should be on(' big l 

they have not shown any inclination of becoming w,ute stream directE'd against the menace. 

rulers of thisCOl.1lltry, have they? Oh no, not in 

the lealit. _ 

And this is why Indians ill" thIS country strongly 

CHRISTIANITY VS. RACIALISM 1 

feel that the treatment they are sub)·ected to is A striking sermon was recently delivQred by the 

Rev. E. F. Paget, of Betloni, in the Palladium 

totally unwarranted. They feel that as subjects of Theatre;, i 

His l\fa;eaty: the King their lot in this country is Love, he said, as exemplified by the actions of j 

-anything but pleasant and therefore they feel that Christ was not the "weak and silly lientimental ,: 

tqIS is not a tlffi'e for them to rejoice.' stuff" which was being "dished out to the world." t: 

But w-hat has this got to do with the Prince? it That sort of love did not encourage anyone to acts II' 

- of sacrifice. "- :, 

is argued. / Chriet did not come to get rich ,quick. He was II 

The unJustifiable acts committed by the Govern- not looking fo~· poplIlarity, votes or brioos. He had ;! 

ment of this country agaiJist -a section of His no axe to grmd. He merely cami to Berve his H 

Majesty's_subjects are committed in his name and it fellow-men. jH 

is felt that in so far a.s His Royal lIighness is con-. The gospel of Christ was a revolutionary onE'. He' 

loved the humble. "He kept compant with the;, 

nected wIth this system he has to bear the responsi- sort of people you w9uld cut dead in the str('et be- 'i 

bility. 

._ ~ callse you did not want to be seen I'Ipeaking to them,''' ,I. 

Moreover It is felt that by refraining from.Arl1 add€d Mr. Paget. , t" 

jollifications we do/not in fIielOOst"'mean (6 c~~V"ey Any fool could: merely love nis friends and hate 

to His Royal Highness that we are lacking in our his enemies. The teaching of Christ demanded, 

f h 

'-' 11· to th Th' however, that any enemy should be treated as a I 

respect or 1m or m our a eglance e rone. friend. i 

What we wish to convey to" him is this that he "You can ridicule as much as you like about the: I 

should not be misgmded into the belief that all his tlieory of turning the other cheek and you can say' I 

father'S subjects are happy and contented; for it is a mug's game," declared the speaker. "If thad 

there are some of his lllOst l{)yal subjects who are is so, then Christ is a mug and you believe in and I 

b . .• 1 d d th . - h -1 f 

emg crus 1e un er e Jron ee s 

d t follow a mug." 

0 a espo lC R f . to th 1 b h ·.1 

., . - e errmg e co our aI', e salt

April 3rd, 1925 INDIAN OPINION a9 

--- ---~~~~------------------~----------------------------~ 

they wm'e the servar.tg of RighteousneBB and the mittee" and shdll consist of five- members of the 

Kmgdom of God. 

Council. 3 of whom shall form a quorum. 

"We "fe not." he said. "golllg to find a deliverance 6. Allliceuces iBBued under these By-Laws shall 

lir the way of sloppy sentiment. but by bravely be subject to all Laws amI Regulations promulgdted 

f,wing the situation. thmking justly. and recogDllling by competent authority. 3d well 118 to these Bythat 

every man. no matter what his colour or race. 

h..uJ a right to the greatest opportunity for full development, 

lIen have come to recognise that it IS 

'1I1)t pJ'ofiwlJle to be unjust. aud that reprClll:!ion only 

,..!I[Jclls pdin an,1 menaco in the futuI'e." 

J. Refel'J'mg tu the LI.L1ne that Wall often pl

90 INDIAN OlJlNION 

mittee shall be granted if applied for by the applicant 

in order to m"et such ?bjection. 

10. For the transfer of any licence from any per 

,SOIl or premIses to any other person or premises 

application shall be made in like manner as the 

applicants for the grant or renewal of licences. 

11. The pr~cedul'e to be followed by the Licensing 

Committee at its sitting shall mutatts mutanais 

be the same as those appertaining to the procedure 

in respect of the grant of Kamr eating-house licences. 

12. No licences shall be ~anted in respect of any 

premises un~ess they shall comply with the following 

conditIons to the satisfaction of the Licensing 

Co~mittee viz \- 

(a) All fruit, l'egetables and all food and nonintoxicating 

beverages intended for sale: aha!} 

be stored in a room set apart for that purpose 

~nd such room shall be well ventilated 

to the open air and shall be rodrnt proof, and 

shall at allJ,imes be kept in a cleanly and 

healthy condition and there shall be no immediate 

communication with any Hving or 

'sleeping apartment, and no sll,ch fruit, vege 

April. 3rd, 1925 INDIAN UPINION 91 

Wladyslaw Heymont is little known even by n:lI11e 

in England though his magterpiece The Pheat!:lnls, 

which td.rned him the prize this. year, has been 

tr.lnslated into several other languages. 

The preYioull Polish Nobel Prizewinner, H. Sienkiewicz 

has just died; his novel Quo Vatlis. a story 

of. early Christianity in Rl)me, was once very 

popular. . 

• Among the candit1l.tes nominated for 192i had been 

,thomas Hardy, the Russian Ma~im Gorki, and the 

Spanish ~ovellist, BlaHco Ibanez, well known to Englit;h 

frequenters of the Picture hoube tor his Four 

Hot'semen of the ApocalYPile. The prize 18 awarded 

annually out of a fund left in IS91; by Alfred Nobel, 

a Swedish millionaire and the invpntor of dynamite, 

to "those who have contributed most to the Cl)mmOrl 

good dlll'ing the year." The Swediilh Academy of 

Liwl'atur'l is responsible ior the award in litel'ature, 

there are four other prizes, three for science and one 

for work for the preservation of peace, each prize is 

worth about £ (j500. 

Dr. Rabindranath Tagore WIlS on a previous 

occatlion awarded the Nobel prize for literature: •• 

MAHATMA ~ANDHI'S }WHAT'S VI81T 

REFUSED BY VICEROY 

The tollowing is the interesting telegraphic correspondence 

that took place between the Vic~roy 

and Mahatma Gandhi and Mahatma Gandhi's com~ 

ment thereon appea"ing in the Youllg Ind/o' dated 

Feb.2!.i:- 

TELEGRAM TO THE PRIV A'fE SECRETARY , 

To THE VICEROY - 

10-2-1:15. 

"Doesl1is Excellency now consider it_possible to 

pet'mit me and my colleagues to visit Koha~ during 

beginning March." 

REPLY TO THE ABOVE 

13-2-25. 

"His Excellency the Viceroy desir('~ me to thank 

\ 3'Otr for your telegram and the courtesy that 

prompted it. His Excellency would have been glad 

to be able to fall in with your wishes. But his 

attention has been called to the advice you have just 

given in }' oung Indl" to the Kohat Hindus not to 

return to Kohat'unless the Muslims-make honourable 

peace with them Without Government intervention. 

The only construction Ilis Excellency can 

put on thitj article is that if you went to Kohat yOUI' 

influence would be directed towal'di the breakdown 

of the recent settJement. the effecting of which was 

a matter of great concern to His Excellency and 

from which he hopes and bolieves an epdurmg reconciliation 

will spring, His Excellency is Sure 

thel'efore that 16U yourself will appreciate how im- 

, potlsible it is for him to faU in with your wishes." 

SECOND TELEGRAM TO PRIVATE SECRETARY 

To THE VICEROY 

1!l-2-25. 

"Thanks telellram. In Youn,q Iml/o' mE'ntioned 

your telegram I have stated ideal .. but have no desire 

to disturb, withdrawal prosecution. My purpose is 

to estabhtlh real peace which I hold is 'almost impOSSible 

with Government jnterventiCUl or bE\!:ter 

_till with0t!~private and spontaneous effort. Intervention 

of m"!' friends and self can only assist Government 

effort so far as it promotes substantial 

/ ,~ce. PIE'ase reply Sabarmati." 

, ftEPLY TO THE ABOVE 

22-2-2,'). 

"His Excellency desire" me to th411k you for your 

telegram. The agree~nt which has now been 

laboriously reached was only pOSSible with tlle 

spontaneous help of private pel'80ns of both communities. 

It is of course of the nature of a compromise 

6etweell the two communities and any alteration 

iu its tel'md would upset the whole settJt!ment. 

Moreover it is only on the basis of this -settlement 

that His Excellency consented after much hear~ 

searching to

low. The burden of the land tax is very much 

lower that what it ought to be. Land revenUE; 

in IndIa is burdensome when the holding is 

sm,lller than an economic holding. 

"LE'gIslation as necessary for abdtrshing utleconomlC 

holdings. The present legislation was 

putting a premium on small farmlllg. The sille 

of a holdmg is seldom sufficIently large for the 

use of labour-saving machmeIY. The present 

state of leglslation is making all economic 

boldings to become a number of uneconomic 

holdmgs. There IS absence of a proper system 

Of vi11ag~ industries to take care of the su:plus 

people. \!

·~ lillian ar11& + + 

~'ttttgU 

No. J,5-Vo1 •. XXIII. Friday, April loth, 1925. 

llegiatered at the O. P.O •••• N .... p.p.r 

Pales "OU"l!~S 

A correspondent with the nom de plume, "Neutrality" 

writing to the fltar (Johannesburg) rephes 

to BOme of the allegations by anti-ASiatics against 

Indians :- 

"Thol1j;(h Mr. Kirkby has promised to tel'ln Indians 

or Chinese "coolie~," he talks of the so-called 

"ASIatic menace." :Mr. HOBS says the ASIatic "as a 

, trader is no aSSf't to this country." As a trader the 

Asiatic is the gredtest asset to this cot\ntry, whose 

wholesale stores (white) get customers in Indians, 

keeping money in the' country where they are 

settled, and are a boon to the poor -whiles owing to 

their reasonable prices and fair dealing. He further - 

argues that the Asiatics employ their own class of 

men for next to nothing. This is very tdr from 

hdug the case. Asiatic servants are never cheap. 

"I'hou&mds of whites, girls and boys, are employed 

by the white firms at monthly wages of £3 or so, 

excluding clothing and food, whJle it is impossible 

to get an Indian servant at the minimum salary of 

£5, including food. :Mr. Ross dwells a\ length on 

the "appalling conditions that exist in the Maiay 

location," I\S related. by Dr. Porter, the Chief Medical 

Officel' of Johannl'sburg. I will ask DI·. Porter 

and Mr. Hoas whose fault is this? Three years ago 

the Asiatic Inquiry Commission criticised the local 

municipality keeping Iltlch a shun in the centre of 

this city and. displaying utter indifference towards 

its health condition. Has the Johannesburg Municipality 

ever t.l.ken a step to improve the conditIOns? 

The Indians are not to be blamed. because they al'e 

ever, ready to follow the dictates of their "city 

fathers." There has been' II severe outbreak of 

pl,lgue in the Ol"ange FI'ee State. Is it due to the 

Asiatics? 

... MI·. G. Kam,llU', of Christiand (Transv.).lI) is informed 

by the Priucipal Immigration Officer of the 

Province of Natal in reply to his letter of the 26lh 

August, addressed to the Secretary fol' the Interior, 

that Article 12 of Chapter 22 of tho Or,mge Free 

, 8t.lte Laws provides that the restrictlolls on the 

entry ami rt'sidence' in the Orange Freo State shall 

• not apply to the inhabitants of the Cape Colony 

known under the IlIlme of Malays. 

~!r. P. Anjaneyulu P, !Dembet· of the Indidll Lt:'gislative 

Council, writes ;- ' 

Soyeral friends have uRked me why I ha.ve taken 

to ()hal'~:) V;pinning). and wp,cthcr it is not. a '{.11!.' 

NOTES 'AND NEWS 

~,~ 

?\l MEETING of Indians. ulldr the auspices of To them my reply is this ;- 

Llil the Natal Indian Congress. Wal! held on (1) I thought it was a 'fad' but now I am learning 

Sunday to discnss certain matters in COIl- it is not. 

llel,LJOn with the penoing. viSit of the Prince of' (2) It is the L.C.M. and G.C.1tI. that could be con- 

Wales to Durban. and a rl'solution to the following 

effect was adopted ;- 

ceived for all classes and conditions of men, women 

and children of this country. 

"That the offer of .£200 for Indlaft ct'lebrations (;~) It: teache/J the first lessons in humility, 

by the COl'pOI'aUoD of Durban to the Indian com- patience, and develops a sense of fellowship and of 

munity be not accepted, and that a committee of ten common brotherhood. 

members of the Natal Indian Cor.gJ·ess be for~d, (4) It serves as the fil'it, and the foremost 'tep 

With power to negotiate with the Corporation, fbr towards the solution of the economic problems of the 

better and more hononrable terms." country. . 

(5) It is the symbol of self-reliance. 

(fj) It helps towards the concentration of the 

mind with the music of the 'whirl', and one may 

feel as the thread is drawn, that one is contributing 

towards the weaving of 'the web of Indian life.' 

(7) Religiously viewed, the thread we make is 

the 'Yegnopavitha' (the sacred thread) of the country 

and the functIon is the 'Gayatri japam' of its 

votarIes; through it alone we become the "twiceborn" 

-the regenerate.-SwaraJya. 

The following discussion took place in the Imperial 

Parliament on India ;- 

Colonel Wedgwood (Newcastle-under-Lyme, Lab.) 

asked the Prime Minister whether Sir John Kerr 

had been appointed Deputy-Governor of Bengal; 

and. If so, why the Senior Executiv{' Councillor, Sir 

Abdul' Rahman, was not appointed, in view of the 

general practice in such matters. 

Earl Winterton, Under-Secretary for India (Horsham 

and Worthing). who replied, said ;-No 

"general practice" can be said to exist in respect of 

, the allministration of an Act which has only been a 

few months- in operation. The right hOIl. gentleman, 

presumably, has in mind the provisions relating 

to the filling of temporary vacancies, but these provisions. 

have no application to ths selection of 

substitutes for Governors proceeding on leave. 

Replying to supplementar:y questions by Colonel 

Wedgwood, Earl Winterton was understood to say 

that the Act of last year could not be said to have 

altered a practice which did not previously exist. 

The practice with regard to the filling of an ordinary 

vacancy was not analogous to the SItuation which 

had arisen under the Act of last year, which, for the 

fil'St time, gave power to the Secretary of State in 

Council to grant leave to a Governor which had 

never previously been allowed. It was Dot correct 

to say that they were imporLing a new principle into 

that Act... 

Earl Winterton. Under-SeQretary for IndIa, in 

reply to Mr. Lansbury (Rowand Bromley. Lab.,) 

8.1hl that Hyndman's "The Awakening of ASIa," 

Bryan's "British Rule in India," M. N. Roy's 

"Evolution of Economic Organization of India" 

and L'll.l Lajpat Rai's "England's debt to India:" 

had been prohibited entry 'into In(lia by notHic,.tions 

ulltlcr the SE"d Customs Act. The reason 

in the case of three of them was that the publicatiullll 

con\..Wloo ~ and maliciflU~ misrepre-

94 INDIAN OPIt-lION April 10th, 1925 

sentations of the' British Administrati.on in India. 

Roy's book was proscribed becaul!e all his wfltings 

and those of his wife were prohibited, in view of 

their complicity in a foreign orgamzed conspiracy 

to overthrow Brjtisb rule in India. He had no definite 

informatlOn regar

April 10th, 1925 INDIAN OPINION 95 

wished to exprefiS his views. Aftpr the Licl'nsinll 

Officer pronounc.cu his IleOI .. lOn, and before the 

Council could hl!tl'l'} tp the merltl! of the caB"'. 

hldivldual COllnClUors Wl'r(' approdc.hetl by intel rsted 

pUl'tiell Bunce their decision? Y ct that waf! the pnslliun ill 

which memhers of tile ClilinCiI founu LhC'uuj('lvell 

when deahng with the&'l licl'n8111g appealil. It was 

time the Council took .lra.;tic action. for it was olll~T 

fair tlll'lt membel·tJ sbould be protectl'd from this 

canv8>18ing. lIe 8uggested that the Town Clerk 

sbolJld be ailkell to submit a memoranJum on the 

subject. Perhapf! tbey cOlilJ Ilave a similar Idw to 

that which disqualified canrli(L'Itl's for billets if thl'Y 

canvafiBed members of the Conncil. 

"1 have sat at this hOI seshoe for six an.l a halt 

) ears. and I have never been approachell by anyone 

in connection with a licensing appeal," ob::;erved 

Councillor Mitchell. ~ 

Councillor SmIth: Councilor Mitchell can nevet 

he found. 

Th!.' Mayor aaitl apart from what Mr. Mitchell had 

sllid, thal'a were very few of them who had llot had 

the experien'te of being approached by someone 

interested in a licence. 'fhe Town CI!.'rk would 

submit a memorandum at! slll{gested. 

'rhe first appeal was made by Mr, Goulding on 

behalf of Moosa Brothers. who hdQ apphed tor the 

transfer of a retail licence from the corner of Berea 

and UmbiIo Hoads to premises at No. 121 Berea 

Road. One of the gl'onnds of -appeal was that the 

applicants, who had heM a licence fol' many years 

at the corner of Umbilo and Berea RoaJs, had been 

compelled to move from the premises b~ reason of 

the ground heing reb"lU'iled by the Durban Corporation 

tor town improvement purposes (road widening). 

It was also stated that there were several 

lief'nces held by Indians III the immedIate vicinity 

ot-12t. Berea Road. 

EUROPEANISING BEREA ROAD 

The Licensing Officer sahl 20 years ago DereR 

Road all the way up WRS occupied by IndIan shopkeepal'E\f 

bnt the number had been reduced to five. 

and this was now a European street. Referring to 

Councillor Smith's remarks ou canvassing. Colonel 

Molyneux. said he had been approached by several 

people about this licence. The pm'chaser of the 

pI'operty hall seen him and ,told him what Ii good 

fellow the Indian was. Yet when he (the Ucensing 

Officer) suggested that the purchaser shcmlJ have 

the Inllian in hiD own buildmg he was indignant. 

Colonel Molyneux addell that he was Willing to 

grant· the applicant a licence in an Indian area. 

Councillor Smith, who said he was in a pecnli.\r 

position, movt'd that instead of' considering tlie 

appeal in committee. in accordance with the usual 

practice. the Council proceed to consider the matter 

in publi"c. 

Councillor Eaton seconded the motion. 

On being put to the vote. however. the motion 

waa defeated and the Council accordingly retired. 

On reassembling. CounciUol' Hult moved that the 

Licensing Officer's appeal be upheld, COllncillor 

Kt'mp being his seconder. 

INFLICTINCI A HARDSHIP 

In the course of a long speech Bb...unst this proposition 

CounCillor SmiUl Baill he wanted the matter 

discUS8l'd ill public becauso he wantetl to give the 

I'easons which prompt~d him t. vote for or against 

a lict'nee. and thought other Councillors should do 

the same. He was in the peculIar position that if 

htl votel! !J.g'd.iulit a lioeuce be W'dS tolJ he did wrong. 

and if be yoted for he was still wrong. He did not 

want people to thmk he was looking for th.e votes 

of the big Mahomedan merchants; he did not want 

their votes. But in tIllS case he did think the 

Council would be inflicting a hardship on the dpplicant, 

who had had to move because pdrt of the 

building he occupied WdS wanted for street widening. 

This type of Inrlian was not a men.l.ce, 

Mrs. Siedle abo thought the CouuCII would be 

inflicting a hardship ou the applicant. • 

"I do not consider that the Licensing Offiler's 

decisions are always just alld fail'," said CounCillor 

Mrs. Kllight in support of her frank admission that 

she often voted against the Licensing Officer's decisions. 

The MaYOI': "Mrs. Knight. you IUust wlthdrdw 

that remark." 

Mrs: Knight contmued to speak to the appeal. and 

the Mayor again asked "Do you Withdraw, Mrs. 

KnighV" 

"Well, I don't know." she replied. 

Agai~ pre!ised by the Mayor and by cries of 

"WithdraW." Mrs. Knight agreed to withdraw. but 

she added that she dId not think the deCISIOn under 

diSCUSSIOn was just and fall' and she would vote 

against it. 

• 

No INJUSTICE 

CounCIllor Johnstone did not see where the injlJstice 

came in. They must recoglllse the facts, he 

said, and -the thinking Indians were recognismg 

that Indian licences could not be gl'anted III European 

areas. The Licensmg Officer had already 

expressed his wllhngness to give the applicant a 

licence in an Indian area. 

Councillor Kemp. with the remark "onr fnends 

protest too much." said he was voting on principle. 

Only recently an Indian purchase

I 

they WE're l\Ot rpprebented m the Con neil. 

He had !'loped, ho continued, tJl

2pril loth, 1925 ______ 1 N_V_I A_N-:O~P-IN_IO-N-----------=.:97:...-. 

"$ Reforms. which is just out. consists of'Majority anli 

Minority Rt'ports. The former inclulips the vipw!> 

of Sir A.lexander Muddiman. !:iiI' Mahomed Shafi, 

Sir Arthur Froom. Sir H. Mancrielf Smith and the 

Maharaj of Rurdwan, who SL'lte that thfl Act hlUl not 

hPfln In operation wng enough to affortl mattrial for 

l .,Idgment and that there is no /lround for the con- 

• J c1:wlion that it is a (aHUI'e. The Minorit)' Repm't 

~ive8 the view8 of Sir Tej Bahadur Sapro, *1' Sivatlamy 

Aiyer, Dr, Paranjpye and Mr. ,JlOn\lh who 

contest the viE'WS of the majority. 

The British Exchequer W88 rei'pllnsihlt' for tilt' 

cost of employing InlUan troops in the field ollt;udt' 

Ind.\a and ht'r fr9ntiers to the t'xteut to which it 

exceeded the normal pt'ace charge for Indian Contingents. 

This rule applied also to the Contingents of 

the Indian States. It ~ been recently announced 

that the Maharajahs of several In lian States had 

decided to waive their claims on the Bdtlflh Exchequer. 

The remission from the State of Hyderabad 

alone amounts to over .t:l,OOO,OOO. " 

Mr. G. n. Shaw, Sir AI,thur Pinero and otht'1" 

dramatists are demanding fees from literary societies 

which announce readings of ijleil' plays. They say 

they will suffer pecuniarly if the practice contmne!! 

to spread, all it is spreaoing, and that author!! i!holl.ld 

not be penalised in order that the masses may be 

educated! 

}:I. H. THE AGA KHAN IN ZANZIBAR 

During his recent visit to Zanzibar in rE'ply to an 

address presented to him by the National ASSOCIation 

under the presidf'ntship of the Sultan of Zanzibar 

lL H. the Aga Khan is reported to have made 

the following reply :- 

Your Highness, Your Excellency and my Countrymen,-I 

tl).ank Y9JJ very much. for yout: ldud. wPJ 

,come and biautiful address. 

, 71 ~J.aIll..iDdeed grateful to yon for so many referenct's 

,- l.Jwhat humble services I have been aHe to render 

to my countrymen and Islam. r have dOlle nothing 

beyond my duty. It was so kind of the Council 

of State in India and other Governments to recomwend 

me for the Noble Prize for peace for my 

efforts to have the Treaty of Sevres altered for the 

establishment of peace in the Near East. 

You have touched uP9n so many burning prohlems 

in these province~ and for Indians overseas in 

general. I Deel} hardly say that this question has 

been burning in the hearts of all Indians in India 

and elsewhere. We are at present swimming 

through a stream. we are fighting a strong b,lttle, 

we have neither crossed the stream, nor llave we 

lost or won the battle. Bnt we should not leave 

the ~trnggle either tnrol1gh over confidence or 

pessimism. It is not advisable for me to commit 

myself to any opinion as it is probable that a new 

committee would soon start its worj{ on the question. 

Only during the last fortnight a very influential 

deputation waited on His Excellency the 

Viceroy headed by Sir DiDshaw Petit. IUs H1ghness 

the l\faharaj,\ of Bikaner s11pported the cause 

on behalf of all the ruling princes in India. You 

will therefore see that all in India even the Government 

of India have been watching this pro Diem 

with very great sympathy and care and you need 

not lose hopes. 

The questlOn of 1'anganyika. gentlemer.. ill on a 

ditrt'rent basis. It is a mandated territory. and India 

is a member of the League of Nations. The pOilitiun 

of Indians there cannot be in any \V,\y atrt'cted so 

long as India is in the League. Ol.ly the otht'r day 

my frit'nd and colleague, Mr. Ranga Chariar moved 

a resolution in the Assembly stating either the disabilities 

to Indians there should be removed, (lr 

I~dl" Ih9~\tcl ,'lit (1\\\ (I( tJ\., l~Il\10, Thill Is, alii it 

'h~I1}ll brl ' 

The question of German debts has been more a 

It'gal question than a political one and solution of 

lelall quehhons as you know takes longer time than 

that of pohtlCal ones. The advice of the best lawyers 

in London h.ls bE'E'n taken and the excellent secretaryof 

your Indians Ovt'I"Beafl ASSOCIation In London 

watcht's the de~elopmt'nt WIth a very gre,lt care. I 

hope the question won .. l soon be satlsfactOl'Uy 

solved. 

As to your domesltc needs for a High School or- a 

Hospital it is rE'ally the Iluestioll for your aRsociation 

to take up. If locallt'aders bring 10rw,II'u d. pr.lcltcal 

propOSition It will Ill' snrely htlPPOI t .... l by all. 

As long all the leaders In ZaDzll.hlf do Dot do that, 

you wlll aumlt, it is very dlflicult for tho,e who do 

not stav in the Isl.lnd to give a leM1, howsot'ver 111- 

flnential they m.ly be, You can count upon 

their help and also help fl'om India as soon as you 

yourselveil 41ke the question up. 

The Indlans have played a very prominent part 

in -the development of thls country. Men lik" 

Stanley have mentioned the part pbyell by 

them in theil' books and I rejoice to see them still 

doing the Solme. The Hmdu-Moslem unity h! a 

Bettled fact here, and I am glad to seE' that in all 

congresses and committees Hmdu Mosleui umt.y is 

very stl'ong, I WIsh you success in your actIvities' 

and a still brighter ana pl'OSperOll"l career to yonI' 

AsSOCiation. Gt'utlemen, I oncE' agam th,mk yon 

for the hQJlour yon havE' done to me tlllS afternoon.-Zmmblll 

VOll'l', , 

.. 

*~.*.~~.~~~~~.~.*, 

... .. 

JIl 11 

~ ~~~.~.~~~ ~ 

~ Original Correspondence .~ 

~ ~ 

~ The EdItor, INDIAN OPINIO", ,: 

DUNDEE IlINDOOS REQtrIRE HINDU 

BUTCHER 

Sir,-Whilst one must unfortunatt'ly a(tmit thE' 

prevalence of the eXlstmg race prejudIce between 

the European and the ASiatic, one however shU 

looks for fair and reasonable treatment from the 

hands of those who are cntruflteu WIth power-such 

a persotJ. is our local LlCensmg Officer Mr, H.lrdy 

who has refused a Butcher's hcence to an In,han .1\1. 

M. Karim. 

I will merely sidte the facts and leave the Dunuee 

Burgesses to say how tar they approve of our 

Licensing Officer's deciSIOn from whoRt' aeClSlOn an 

appeal, in these parttcular circumstances, only ht's 

to the Town CouncIl. ' 

The facts are that 1\1. M. K,mm l.UlpliE'd for a 

Retail Bntcher's liclillce for prell!lsPs at the corner of 

Wilson Strert and Ladysmith Road, Dundee. -It 

was oppos_ed by the Dundee ChambeI' of Chambt'r 

of Commt'rce And two locolilmhan Butchers on the 

ground that it was not \\ithm the Asiatic area nor 

was it necessary. 

The applicant stated that he desirt'd to onen this 

Butcher shop to supply the needs of the Hindu 

community who were not able to buy meat from the 

European or Indian Butchers in town as they also 

Bold beef. The Indian Butchers had been domg so 

for the p.\St eight montlls and consequently the 

Hin,du community as snch were not able to purchase 

meat because their religion forbids the killing 

of cows or the eatmg of beef. 

The applicant had been approache,l by the Hindu 

community to open thIS bUiomess as they themselves 

had no member who because of religlOus scruples 

would und .. rt.lke the killmg of animals. The apphcant 

put in a petltion signeu by li7 leading Hindus 

supporting the application. A number of Hindus 

also gave ('vldenc!.'. The applicant stated his WIllingne811 

to confine h1msdxtQ supplying, tbe Hmdu 

J\~ed .. amletatl}

INDIAN OPINION April loth, 1925 

reasonable necessity of the IIinull cOllllllllnit,y and 

tha granting of such lice!lce would affect the preser.t 

Emopean or Indian Butchers as the IIl11du trade 

was not enjoyed by them. '1'hl:l eVidence showell 

that the Hmdus out.numbered the :r.LthoulPuans 

here and there are about l!iO in town. 

The objectors did not appeal' nor lijd they hi in(! 

any evidence at all to snpport thdl objections. It 

was pointed out to th~ Li(;eJlS111~ Oalcel' that every 

reason eXisted to Jushfy hiS gl'antl11g tlus licence 

and an authority was pOUlted out to him Ilnupr 

whICh he could at the renewal of tIm! licence refuse 

sqme If thy applwani failed to confine himself to the 

Hindu trakle. ) 

The Licensing Officer Tefused the apphcation 

stating that it was neither desirable nor necessary. 

This means that the whole of the Hindu community 

except those who are prepared to break caste prejudICes, 

are precluded from obtaimng mutton m this 

Borough and the Hmdu commumty are very milch 

disturbed in nunC\. owmg to this deClsioll- and still 

beheve that the appeal It IS mtendclI to bring brfol'G 

the- Town Council WIll be ::.ympathetlcally con 

SIdered. 

I feel cerlain that it IS not the WIsh or cleHire of 

the burgesses of this town that the Hmdu commttn 

Ity should be made to suffer and be depl'lved o{ 

their necessities, more so when the grantmg of this 

applicatIOn will not iu any way affect -the Europeun 

community and WIll not be ~n cornpetillOll WIth any 

other trade, The objectors are not Sl1pplYlllg thIS 

necessIty and will not permit thl'ough the Llcensmg 

Officer that thIS necessIty be sllpplieu. Is tIllS iau ... 

or reasonable? Can one beheve t.hat III thl'se enlightened 

days men could so fat, forget thl'ir own 

manhood and commit thes(! wrongs It is s,\{d that 

"God IS great and God is goorl," "ask III My name 

and ye shall recillve" and lfi HIS name we Will 

approach the Town COllncillors believmg that they 

WIll do what IS right. 

Yours faithfully. 

N. K. N AIDOO. 

Secretary, Dundee Hindu Temple and 

RepresentatIve of the Hindu commll'mty. 

ls~April1925. 

et

No. 16-VoI. XXIII. Friday, April 17th, 1925. 

I . 

RegIStered at the G. p.O. as a Newspapar 

Pales Foo .... ",s 


'7'~ 

treJJ OMM1+:NTING on General Smuts' recent speech Dealing with the ASIatic question Or.lUge Grove 

~ in the Union nouse of Assembly on the and District (Transvaal) branch of the SAP 

Colour Bar Bill Mr. Gandhi writes as follows moved - . . . 

in his l'OUfllj [mlla.- 

"That iLlioit1cs be repatriated." 

General Smuts has cOITcdJy given tho substance ___ 

of my conversation with him. My point was that 

wyi1st administrative difference thel'o was bouml to 

On the motion being formally secomled a delegate 

be so~g as human natul·e~remained what It was 

moved, as an amendment .- 

anil so long as the1·0 was a contlict between European 

culture and tho Indian, a legal recognition of 

"That, in the oplllion of this Congress the Asiatic 

-pI'oblem is one of the gl'eatest problems' fd.cing this 

the difference in the shape of the introduction of 

country, and as a Dleans of solution suggests that a 

the Rd.r sinister in the laws of. the country was an 

National Convention be summoned to discuss thiS 

intolerable burden, 'fho settlement of I!Jl! chiefly 

matter on a non-party basis, and make its reCODlmendation..s." 

'fhe motion wat! withdrawn in favouI' 

conslste4 in the vindication of the Indian pObition. 

With General Smuts' opposition we may hopt:' that 

of the amendment, which became the l:lUbtltd.ntive 

motion. 

the Bill will now be dropped. But let us not 

deceive ourselves. 'rhe Natal Disfranchising Bill 

recently passed is an extension of the 'Bar Sinister.' 

General Smutl!' opposition therefore means only a 

protest against the bar beIng introduced even in the 

matter of employment, not against the bar altogether. 

However I tender my congratulations to General 

Smuts on his plain speech at the risk of still further 

weakening his pohtical position in his country. We 

may not be satisfied till the South African Statute 

Book is purged of all legal inequality as between 

Whites I1nd Asiatics or better still as between White 

und coloured people. 

The second annual Oongress of the Union of the 

Junior South African Party was held at Durban last 

we'ok delegates, many of whom were ladit:'s. being 

present from all parts of the Union, The following 

message was sent to the Congress by General Smuts, 

the leader of the S. A. P.:- • 

"Wish your Congtess every success. ·Regret Parliamentary 

duties prevent me from being present. 

Remember you are the men and women of tolllQrrOW, 

and the duty of citIz(,Dship is a great 

responsibllity which even the young mt:'ll must 

share. -South Africa has gl'eat problems before it. 

Let the indll:lp.l1lt!able spirit which was ~howll at the 

National COllvention which sat at DUl ban in 1~108 

pI·evail." 

In el..horting the white people in this country not 

to quarrel, Sir Chas. Smith said, here they were 

overwhelmed with a non·European population and 

latcl' they would have the invasion of the yellow 

men, 

In the course of his rt:'marks His Worship the 

Mayor (Councillor T. M, Wadley) said: Youth was 

the time when they were going to get the best results 

out of a. man or woman. During the neit 50 

years the proportion of the population at the present 

rate of incrt:'ase would be something like 25.000,000 

coloured. people and. :3,500,000 whites, and this \V,IS 

tlomethillg for tht:'1ll \0 face in the futmf'. lIe hoped 

that their inUueuce would be felt in the proper 

Quarter. 

An Ermelo delegate said it was a cruel thing fur 

white pt:'ople to have to travel in the same trams as 

ASlatics, 

A Greyville delt:'gate said he thought this matter 

had never been tackled by all the Parties sitting 

together, because there was too much personal influence 

at play. The big business houses in West 

S,tx:eet would go smash to-morrow if the Asiatic 

trader were prevented from trading, and the speaker 

proceeded to comment upon people who would 

sacrifice their country for filthy lucre, and had too 

deeply ingrained a love of personal gain to trouble 

about their own countrymen. A lengthy debate 

followed, and the motion was eventually adopted 

A-NON-PARTY INQUIRY 

HE recently held Junior South African Party 

1f Congress has passed a resolution in con. 

nection with the Asiatic question, suggest_ 

ing the holding of a National Convention tl) dis 

CUbS the matter on a non-party basis. A resolu 

tion .. that. ASIatics be repatriateu" was wit 1.. 

drawn ill I,woul" of the above 'fhe latter 1esol u. 

lion was, of course, totally impracticable and the 

adoption of the former one proves that the Con_ 

gress was guided by saner COllnsel. But thoug h 

the resolution is comparatively a milder one it 

cannot by any means be credited with bt:'ing 

inspired by broad minded ness. The meaning of 

the resolution is that all parties should combine 

together and make Common cause in finding ways 

and meaus whereby to get rid of what is called the 

':Asiatic Menace." But even in Courts of Justice 

the accml"d are given a fair chance of defending 

~heir case'before sentence is passed and it is onlt 

Just and fair to gh·e the Indian -community a 

f,lir and full oppr)rlullity to defend their case 

before a final sentence is passed on titem by th 

rulers of tLis country. Hence it is that the Indian 

community have asked for the holding of an

100 iNDIAN (jPINtON April 17th, 1925 

inquiry i.nto t4e ARiatic cplestion on a non-party 

basis with replesentatirJIl on it of the Indian Government 

and Indian leaders of India and of South 

Africa. This request does not, however, seNd to 

have leceived any consideration from the Government, 

and if it has, no definite reply has yet been 

given. 

The Indian Government seems to ,be stIll 

negotiating with the Union Government on the 

Asiatw question and wbile the Asiatw edifice in 

this country 1S ablaze and no steps whatsoever 

have been taken even to prevent the fire from 

spreading any fqrther no results of the negotIations 

have ht been known t \ 

We feel that we would have at ,leac;t had one 

satisfaction from the Smuts Government had it 

beell in existence to-day, and that is of a definite 

reply as to its pohcy. It is not yet too late to hold 

such an inquiry on the lines suggested ana it will 

redound to the cro(ilt of the preseut Government 

itt t4at It was sincere in giving a fail' chance to 

the Indian community to defend their case. 

WHITE LABOUR POLICY 

A MOST DANGEROUS WEAPON 

D;a. ABDURAHMAN CONDEMNS COLOUR .BAR BILL 

Capetown, Apnll:3 (Reute.)-Delivering his pre 

Bldential address to the Conference of the AfrICan 

Peoples' Orgamsation, opened this evening in Capetown, 

Dr. Abdnrahman, M.P.C., saHl that simultaneously 

with the accession to power of the Pact 

Government, the great Native and Coloured probTem 

hacl gaineu considerable prominence, and the at 

-tempts that were bemg made to solv(' it werE' such 

that the whole of the non-European popnlatlOn were 

gravely appt'ehensive of their future. 

The SPll'lt in whlCh- the non-European problem 

was being dIscussed was producmg further dIscord 

between the EuroPElan- and non-Enropeal! sections, 

and boded III for the future peace and happiness of 

the country, 

He said the Act of Union .had faIled to bring the 

fusIOn of the two white races, and had made a wide 

gap between black anu whIte, whICh was due ma1l11y 

to the perniCIOUS prinCIples of the North having 

insiduously Cl'ept 111to the Cape. which was the 

home of the colol}l'ed people. 

Dr. Abuurahman dll'ccted the attention of the 

Conference to the ll1l1ustrIaI warfare which was 

bell1g waged against non-Europeans, even III the. 

Cape ProvIllce. A most c1,mgerous weapon against 

them was the passionate propd.ganda for a wlllte 

labour policy-a p01icy which had Its bIrth In the 

Transvaal, and was now bemg open ely belauded 

even III Capetown. Apparently the leaders of the 

"civilIsed labour" movement thougnt that coloured 

men had advanced far enough, anu that the Natives 

must be prevE'ntf'd from rlsmg at all. The Industrialavenues 

along which they could attain their -ambitions 

were being closed. The Minimum Wage Bill 

was deSIgned- solely to give effect to Clvilised labour 

and WQuid press hardly on coloured farm labourers, 

who were excluded, and would contlllue to be exploited 

for a miserable pittance. 

The Colour Bar BIll would sound the death-knell 

of Natives and Asiatics in the Union. 

lIe had no hesltation in saymg that if it became 

law the industrial colour b.1r would be the most 

inirlmtous and immoral piece of legislation whlch 

----------------_.- 

had ever defaced and besmirched the Statute Book 

of any civilised country since the abohtIOn of slavery. 

The coloured man, although omitted from the Bill, 

was already effectively kept out of every trade on 

the Rand by white trade uniomst.'l, and was not 

lIkely to be given certificates of competency to drive 

an engine when white trade unionists prevente(l 

him from doirg skilled work in the bUlldmg trades. 

- A demand was now, in fact, being made to solve the 

vast industrial problem of South Africa on a narrow 

racial basis. 

Dr. Abdltrahman held that a CIvIlised l.tbour 

voliey was impracticable, because the dt'wlopment 

of the country would be impossible without Colomed 

and Native labour. The work of the country 

could not be carried on bY,the handful of Europeans 

now here, most of whom were non-workers. 

Dr. Abdurahman maintained that the dominant 

position of the European population was not to be 

maintained by any spasmodic attempt to oust Native 

and Coloured labourers from work hitherto done by 

them. The sullen acceptance of such unjust treatment 

might last for a little while, but deep resentment 

would mevitably be engendered, and then woe 

bet~!/e those who had been authors of the injustice. 

The tiJUe had come, he maintained, when the 

making of laws should no longer be in the hands of 

one class or section, or one race, and he u,rged the 

Orgamsation boldly and fearleflsly at once to assert 

its just claims to full political rightl'. 

NEW COLOURED ORGANISATION 

CABINET MINISTERS ON PACT POLICY 

Oapetown, April 14 (Reuter).-The Afrikander 

National Bond of Coloured People, which is a new 

Coloured organisation, formed in opposition to the 

African People's OrganisatIon, opened in Capetown 

to-night. There was a crowded attenUancl', and 

amongst those on the platform were three Oahinet 

Ministers, Dr. Malan, Mr. Tielman Roos, and Mr. 

C. W. Malan, all of whom delivered speecheR. ., ~ 

Dr. Malan adversely criticifled Dr. Abclurahman'lI 

address on the previous evening to the Afric.tu 

People's Organisation. The Mlllister held that it ill 

the policy -of the Government that Coloured people 

must develop alongSIde EuropeanS on the EUropean 

standard, -and were not to be claased with Natives. 

He instanced the Colour Bar Bill all an attempt to 

carry

..... 

~I' 

April J7th, 1925 INDIAN OPINION t()I 

------------~------------------.---------------------------- 

THE LOWLANDS OF KENYA 

hecome imperialistic imaders of Africa and are 

Mr. C. F. Andrf'ws Writes as foJ1ows in Young 

cL'lSseu as such in the Sdme cdlegory with the Europeans. 

Though feeling the iron yoke of subjectIOn 

Inclil! ddtelJ 1t~"rch J2 :- 

themselves. they are rrolly to bring others into subjectIOn. 

They do not any longer stancl out on the 

At~er ~ f('cen~ vifut to pelhi, I feel it to he of the 

uiff1o!lt 11llport,lnce to JluJ,ke plain. b(')'onu any 

side of the oppressed. hut th~mselveB take the side 

Hhadow of Tllislln4en1tawJlng, how ('Inphdtically J 

"houl.1 objoct to anyone ht'mg sent ont from India 

otfi'\ldlly to investigate an nrea in the Lowlantls of 

Kpnya in whIch larue fl'ee j..'I'3nts of crown I.mds 

~jjhoultl be uiven to Jl}tlil1ns for co~qnh~at\On pnrposes. 

In the tirtlt placl'. to accept even wntatively snch 

an offer, or even to examine It with a view to 

~rprovdl. is to 8tl~}tifr the whole InlHan position. 

1< or the InUIUIl t/aiJ)l is not to Jl)celve free h'I"41}ts of 

CrQW11 lan'Ji! anywpere, but to recover the I!,gal 

rigMs ot SIl~e ~nt~ purchaHe ot laut) in the Highlamls 

whic4 have been illegally taken away after a Rolemn 

prDJn~e ha4 been m3q.e that they Ehould remain int,act. 

Indians are asklOg for aJ1 elementary pght of 

cltjr.en.,hip. 'l'h('y I,Ire asking to be pldced on a 

b.,Lllli! of e'luabty w~th othe1' citi~ens in the eyes of 

the laW. It therefore can ea.sUy be 8een thd.t i~ Inulans 

evep exatlline t}:le propoRdI tbat they tlhould be 

g)yen ,grants 111 the Lowlands, it will ve certainlY 

\U)IJel's,too!}. ,",8 tJ,eir final ~bandonmeJlt of legal 

I rights elH('where, J rIo not thin)! that it can be 

made too plain, tha.t t4e very qrt of sending an Indian 

otficial to examine an area in the Lowlands Will 

be interpret~d as a givjng np of IndJ;;l.1).. legal rights 

in the Highlands altogether. 

In the second place, for Inqial).B to use the Brithlh 

military force to take possession of a large area in 

the J,owlands. thl1s d('pl'iving the natives of still 

futher territory, it} addition to the 12,000 squar~ 

llllleB of fel'llie BOil that has been taken from them 

in the Highlands by the whites, is to commit all 

injustice. It means that IOflia, for the first time, 

by It definite Rct, is prepared to enter upon ,a pohey 

of imperial 'grilb,' whel'ever an opportunity occurs. 

That the Afri~n natIves. as far i,lS they have any 

voke o,r power, will P108t strongly object to any 

such llUlky of ·grab.' on the part of India, goes without 

saying. Ii they 4tre VOICeless -and powerless, 

then the wrong done to them will De all the greater. 

It mnst be rememb('red that Kenya is not an empty 

oounu'Y, WitJl 'no native inhabitants. It is a large 

territory. with only a very amall traction of gooli 

weU·waterQd agricultural Jand. If it had not been 

to.- the a..A.1.lour exploita.tion tJmt has been going on. 

with its inevltablo dmnoralisation, the natIve population 

wonld alroady have spr(IUd over the oultivable 

soil and occupied it. Even to-dar. in SPite of the 

exploitatIOn that has hlken place. the native 'reserves' 

are already provin2 too s,mall. It wOl,lld be an act of 

gfdve injus,t.ice, therefore. ~f Indhms were to seize. 

under the cover of Jkitish anll Indian bilyonets, a 

great slice of the territory stIll remaining open tor 

native occupation. 

In the tblrd place, tJle Indian claim to free immigratic.n 

into Kenya and UI-!'ant!a is based entirely on 

the ground that Indians al'e helping and not hiudering 

the native advancement. There is no other 

clauu than this. What is put forward is thiS, that 

for two thou:il.\n~l yellrlil the tratle between E.lst 

Atric!\ ant~ India h.\s gOlh> on. hlt11l\ns h;ne come 

Creely to Bj1st Africa and }liwe beeu hospitably ro 

~£'h-ed because they came in p('ace and not for war; 

hecause the tr

102 INDIAN OPINION April 17th, 1925 

Indians m this country For instance, an IndIan' 

can now, for the first tmle in the history of South 

-Africa, pl'ep3re for and obtam either his B.A, or 

B.Sc., and any other University degree~ without 

eIther incurring t~e expense ot going to England or 

India for the necessary 'education. ThIS college lS 

turthermore an offiClal centre of the College of Pre- 

ceptors, l .. on(lon, whose cel'tificares and (liplomas are 

known anu j'ecogmsed- throughout the world. '1'he, 

College Hostel, whIch was open'ed about SIX weeks 

ago, has not already justified Its eXIstence, but its 

iuture Sl1ccess IS absolutel V' assured This 18 all the 

'more \remarkable when I add that 1 h~vc not 

appealed to anyone lndlan or any sectlqn of tfie 

Indian community for funds, and I have no intemon 

ot doing so tor thel pt'esent, although IndIa hel'seH 

has assured me of her ready and full support, s'honld 

I at'any tIme conslder It necessary. 

The IndIan people WIll reJOICe wIth me, when I 

state that arrangements ha VEl -been made for a fm ther 

15 bOYS to be receIved at the College at the 1st of 

• May. 

In concluslOn, I appeal to evel'Y sectIOn 01 thee 

'IndIan community to support and take full ltdvantage 

of this unique opportumty t-OI' raising the 

standard of educatIOn of tile lndmns, and thus lemove 

forever one of the prmcipal pomts of contention 

so often put forward Ly ,the Enropeans aE a 

weapon to be used for the furtherance of their own 

desires and for the furthel' su ppreSSIOll of the Indian 

commumty of the Umon of South A.frica. As the 

, result of repeated and 1l1creasmg requests from all 

parts of South Afr'ica, arrangements are bemg made 

for me to visit all the bIg centres and CIties through 

-out the Union Immeduttely my "pl'esent -public work 

\\7111 enable me to do so, for the purpose of addressing 

mass meetIngs on mattels ot VItal interest to the 

Indians as a whole, Includmg our educational work 

and, tl;te creation of a Scont organisatIOn throug'hout 

tlie UnIon as already exi-sts In the-Transvaal turough 

my efforts.' Most ImpOI:tant of aU, matters affecting 

the -future of the Indians as an Integl'al part of the 

people of Sotlth Africa. - 

INDIAN STUDEN'1'S IN A1IERICA 

DEPORTED FOR EARNING WAGES 

Lala Babu Ram, Clel'k, Ferozepore Cantonment 

writes to TIM} 1'nbune (Lahore) - 

My y;ounger brothel' proceeued to AmerIca In 

19,22 with the sole object of gettmg higher educatIOn 

there. He tooli: Us. 2,000 from home, out of which 

Rs. 1,000 was required to dt'tray hiS .)ot1l·ney expenses,-and 

when he landed at .\'luel·lcd he had 

Rs. 1,000, with hIm He Joined the Mechanical' 

Engmeering class, ,the course of winch extends for' 

4 ye3fs~ In ordm' to do someth~ng by W

April 17th, 19%5 INDIAN UPINION 103 

---.----------- 

News in Brief 

DUI ing the recent l'ar}idlLental y l)y·",leltilJn 

('nmpnign at Klerksllorp Mr. .hthnr Barlo~ a 

~dtior alist member in the course of a speech Sdid 

tIle (;overnment was dmwing up a Bill whkh 

woulu enable the Municipalities to uillCriwlhdte In 

gr\ntir g licences against Asiatics. There was on 

the slotks a ~mprehenf,ive Bill dealing with the 

l\'holE' AHiatic qnefition. 

cil~ l~~~1ti ~tlie -q~i:ql~"'l~l 

-0- 

~~1~~l 

Gpneral regul"tlons fromed uUfIE'r the Health 

f'ommittt'N! Ordinance for Bellair anu Hillary 

and Rydf'nham Public Health Art>aIl have been publilihE'd 

in the Kalal Prol"Jnflal Gazette datt>d April ~. 

~ll. "bl~lltlal " 

-0- 

On the evening of the birthday of Mr. Dunning 

~\t'la dl. ~i9.n~ ~·Q{Y (!y'U ~'utl. 

thej'rincipal of the Union Collt-ge at Johannesburg ~~r\L-'3dqiitliit ,{letlrtl itlll ~pnrtl ~l.{l

!'~~ It"!lt ,,'l~h~ ~h. ~W'( llfl: "ll~~ 

c'~h. ),.JH lIih. ltlll: l}tIl~ 31lr. '~-~lR"P tlp~ \}I.lln: liR~blln: l~~lplPlr. !:::mb )"\OI~.~ R~1';'1'e !~~lt lk\.ola.h:) t'l!!~ filI1. lYl~-,Il~l1~~ l"'lPl~ }\.oI~~ .~ \}'lbbWs> ~h. ~ltl~ ~ { ~ l):13lnlbh 1]1~'t 

~ In: I!! ~t' 11~ Thlh.l).~l6- '1!1'\ lln:U~ ~lfl: ll11Eh: 

{. ~ 'l'!",ie ~b tR~ 3~ 1f.7ltl: k;1~ tp\All (kltll-' t '- \.1.1'.... ' {lit lhlo ~~G1~ )It'll'1'l l::1}t~ ~1H: I!!I~h _ t1}P ]kl;:lti ite: J"'~ lhe~ l}-lbbl"'la J..Jli~k tL1lh. 

1r/"~ t Pl.;ll.r. l~ {~1 ~Isl~t 'it!: lJ..~ij:.~ l~!ilJ'lfl: 1'6§)1».: JJlh. 1\n: 'l~';t ~l"b )lt~ It1'rt Ie 

- ----- : "e!JeC lP~ tp.n~ l)hJl~ ~l(1d~t lhllt~hlY~ lm.lla: 

; 0 lfiPlh .• nt~ tp~ lj.lt 'l::)h~ rlr.e)' JklbtJlb~hI: Ihk lHl~ 

~ 'i"h r~~ l::'~l),'~ llt1-t11 )S.~ hl( 'Pchlb ltl1 ;~lp a~ '}>J..nl}-.j? 1),,)]%, \.o!f:.Jlh. k§)'~ ~hl}fiD 

~ H.l[ln1J6'tr; It r""lfi:.l)~ t~1}1t ~ 1I"~~~~ - --- 

~J.. ~'r!lR~ l~ tUnlb ~~.H: ThI~h.'hI: lJ:I~ l~ 

'l!:'il 1~"",J.n: lltl};p'l-M l:-le[ ',fjel~ll'\~ Ilfl: tlfl: 

l1-!'b12 Jje!~ 1~1h. )'lc7 1~~h. lPtU,:' 1~1l-.j~ 1l1!: .I!!p.~ . 

pll-J;llie H.~ po l?11·, Ie lj~ t'be~ l~ltl1=il~) 1}lI'l}l:,? @e'G 

~hl-!}n 1ft P"',1);; lli?: tl):P kl~A 1\.o1}:.h1j:) pl~l11.~ F~ 

~In: 0 ~1b~ 1(1(t. hl~PJIa: 4~ le1~~ IhI: I!! 1=iln ~' 

~tJIRUf~ ~lltl( Pit 1)'-~~!{ l~" :t~?l l~lf'it 1~1"~ 

@lUtk' ~'}> (~U-)t ~l}a ?nil lhJJlt. It~ ~"_1(? tt: 

"Ie.' 1~~'ft. 1-,ler 1~1!! 'ft. ~l1ll'i: lP/.!) 1P1:I):' 1101fc-·k?l .~ 

hlil~ l):.\Jl~ h!kJ:ll.np ''''lY''''~ U'1~~ l~li'm~~ lel~ 

lltl~m lhllt~ t l.Eh: '{ ~':.lfe,h' ,..n"l}tt~ ~Ml+> 

hlht J.o e~ l\!!!B~llf . :''h:~lP\.olh ~loA: 1:§~h Itl~ l\Jlllf 

em: le.lls lP~ ~lR l};hthl: ~'l!b 1}tlhIR~1!! eli?: 1Cl~ 

lhlI'tTh'~}-pl~ j}>ll'i1j I-ti: tfI~ lh~ ,.~ 'f\.lk l}Un 

-Hlla'it 1::11.1: ~ ~Jlt ~ 'GO lP'\Jl~,H:c ~lj: (lh1: Plt 

't1P'!! ~.~l) lJ.r, ~1-tl:: ~h ~l-n.~ t'hel( llplr.1:: ~h 

~lM~ ~ tP]I},lJ)lc tylP'!! !11.l~~ ''''''P'~ lPG1 '~""'~§) 

l!"j!h ~lt~ ).~1H: )ppl~ "'"\~lj ~h It1=ill1:~ 1\.ot;W,lt t 

tla- J.~ ~'Ifl: }Pl~?~ ltl11~~ 1101;t~ t'lt -!l>lh'l.o 1~ 

rt!: 0 ~llt Jl'.elf \Jl'itelj ~k.l)-tl1~\.oj l-t?k.1: ~elo~ 

'0 C1P~~ k11::, "~Ij 15J£l, llfl: P-l}n ~~~ H~h 

1J)!~lt' 1j}->~ >>-101.f~ 1?' ~eH;hlhl: -Pk lit 1=ilWl\.o lell!! 

-l}l'}l '~lfilc,AII \.0 1~ t}P0 tlPl~ t~hlHl:; f8hllfl: 

~h. ~~1~~ f3~h ~MJ 11ft: \J11h. l11~hJ l\.o~i'k-'l: 

17H"~ ~'}l.{ ~t}(\1c n~11n: @h.llfl: 'P'}l 1 @tllt1\ 

~hl/ft: Thlh. ,!!!:w.1t Unl}'l. Unh Th\J.~lh. ~lfl: ~l0 Ihle l?;tl--!lt ,111t'i::.JR 1(t!, ~tRl1c lk)l~k lPelt llfll ell. 

f\1~ ,'I> Rl"~J11t Th\)J~b hl}'l.l~t-lfl: f8h.1J.n: lit fto~ lJ.n: ~ ~ 'P~ ~"!:,~ ~lh... ~tJ P\p:Plb ~~1'6 elPl~ 1! lH: 

'P?l ~~lfiql.rl Mtt ~~,?1R: H~ jPhllfl: ~ltlmlJ~ \}'Ih~ ~IJ,dle '11. blt~ l\t~ ~ ~h1~ ~~~ ~h§l p=.'ft. If? ]k 

l}1~ rIP}> lHhlHlt!: tl~lY)p 1~1~ lj.>la-~ lJ.n: ?~~l~lh, PhU't ~?lt.(: 17,!:plJ) th5) 1

~ ndiatt .C®pittiIlU 

No. 17-VoJ. XXIII. Friday, April 24th, 1925. 

Registered al the G. P.O •••• Ne .. ,., .. 

PRICR 1'00.'''11(.8 

l\\.KT R. G. H. Hulett is introducing a draft Ordi- 

11 V II nance in the present session of the Provincial 

Council to amend Ordmanc,e No. 4 

of 1923 which is .. The Rural Dealers' Lioensing 

I.aw Amendment Ordinance." The text of the 

Draft Ordinance is reproduced elsewhere in this 

issue from the Xu!al Provmcial Gazetk. It seeks to 

limit the duration of the Licensing Boards to one_ 

year only instead of three, and to restrict their rights 

iu connection with the granting of new li'l:~nses. 

According to section 3 of the above Draft Ordinance, 

if after the hearing of an application for a new license 

the lloard m'e of opinion that the licence ouglit to be 

granted they shall recommend accordingly to the Adminilltr provi£les that the Administrator 

shall have a discretion to decide that the 

licence shall be granted or that it be not granted. 

Section 7, further, provides that the decision of the 

Administrator _ will be in the same position as a 

decision of the Board and all provisions of the 

Ordinance in regard to appeal and otherwise shall 

apply in respect thereof as if they were decisions of 

the Board, which means, that from the decision of 

the Administrator there will be the right of appeal to 

a Rural Licensing Board of Appeal provided for in 

Ordinance No.4 of 1923-a body to be appointed 

by the Administrator for the whole Province' or~ for 

any specific part of the Province. 

The Draft Ordinance "To amend the Public Health 

Committees Ordinance 1923" which was passed recently 

by the Natal Provincial Council has been 

assented to by the Governor-General-in-Council and 

has beel' promulgated in the l'rol'ilwlal Ga.zetk 

of the 16th instant. 

At a special meeting of the Durban Town Council 

held. on Monday the 20th instant, Councillor 

Smith's motion .. that for the purpose of municipal 

elections in future the Borough of Durban be treate4 

as one ward " was defeated after a lengthy discussion 

by nine voWs to seven. The Mme mover moved 

auother motion .. that in order to promote public 

interestin the civic work of the Borough all Council 

meetings be in future held in the evenio/l" which 

was carried by eight votes to seven. 

At a meeting of the Transvaal British Indian 

Association held on Saturday the 11th mstant Mr. 

E. S. Asvat waS elected chairman and Mes...,rs. A. A. 

1\Iirza and D. 1\1. Nursoo joint hone secretaries. Mr. 

Cassim Adam was chosen as chairman by the 

majority by means of nominati,ons sent in, but 

owing to his departure shortly to Europe he expressed 

his inabihty to accept the position at present, 

and thanked the community for its appreciation. 

Mr. I. I. Hazaree, the retiring hoh. secretary, submittRd 

his report and declared that owing to Dlany 

reru;ons he could nol possibly take over the secretarial 

position again. III.' l'(\(}uestetl thl.' community 

not to re-elect him as sllch, but he promised to assist 

the (''ODlUlUDity to Lb.e. best of his ability in all 


'71" • 

matters affecting his countrymen. The meeting was 

adjourned sins dl~ for the election of other officers. 

At the annnal conference of the Industrial and 

Commercial Workers' Union of Africa (natives) held 

recently at Johannesburg the pass law question led 

to a lengthy discussion, and the following resolution 

was adopted :- 

.. This conferen,\e is of opinion that all P8SJles, no 

matter in what shape or form, are nothing more or 

less than an institution of the present- capitalistic 

system of government to reduce the African wOl'kers 

to a state of abject servility so as to facilitate 

their uttermost explQitation. ' 

.. Furthermore, the conference condemns ill toto the 

proposals of the Joint Councils of Europeans and 

Natives intended for submission to the Prime Minister, 

and, in the opinion of this conference, the only 

alternative is the abolition of the pass system, and 

shonld the Government insist on perpetuating the 

system this organisation resolves to embark on a 

passive resistance movement to the measure, with 

the ca-operatIon of other organised bodies of the 

African peoplE:s, particularly the African National 

Congress. " 

At the fourteenth annual conference of the African 

Native National Congress held in Johannesburg 

last week and attended by delegates from all over 

the Union, Mr. S. M. Magatho (acting president), 

in the course of his speech, explained that the fact 

of holding a conference at aU was due to the nativeil 

being unable to understand why they should be 

treated with injustice. "We are not extremists, not 

exaggerators," he con tinned, "bu~ we are agitators 

who will agitate until we get our just rights." 

They, he went on to say, were born in Africa, and 

they -would die in Africa. It was for the rights or 

the native people. and the freedom of their conntry 

that they would fight. Whatever money the natives 

earned was spent in this country, but the Indians 

whQ were given the right to trade here and were 

treated a thousand-fold better than the nnfortunate 

aboriginals, carried their money ont of the country. 

Referring to the enforcement of. the ordinance 

whereby native women wonld be compelled to 

carry night. passes, he said that if, as was represented, 

that would prove a cure for immorality, the regulation 

should be m6de applicable to aU womenfolk-European. 

Indian, and Native. 

A native boycott of His Royal Highness the 

Prince of Wales when he visits South Africa Wc18 

advisetl by Mr. Sidney Bunting recently, when, as 

reported by the Communist paper, the I"ternalwnal 

of which he is the Editor, he addressed a meeting 

of 1,500 natives convened by the Industrial and 

Commercial Workers' Union. Referring to the 

enemy of the native people Mr. Buntill$ is reported 

to have said :-" Yom: enemy, too, is not merely: 

local -South African. natives ofwn appeal to Britain 

as a protector, when. as a matter of fact, British imperi.ilism. 

wh~ re.presentatiy~ is abouL to tour.

106 INDIAN OPINION 

South Africa, is largely responsible for 'your exploitation. 

You will be only asking for your bosses led them to ,do so. • 

or with any sinetl'ltv. SOUle ulteJ'ior motive" have 

to remr.m your booses for ever if you are so foolIsh 

as to turn out m the Prlllce's honour; instead of . 'fhose tllat are not IMrticipatlllg are doing b(ls it has been 

freely expressed among all classes of the community. remedied to some extent, But there are othel 

In the course of a speech at Madras on the present much more important, reasons for them not t(: 

situation Mr. Gandhi is reported to have saId :- participate, and in tbis connecthn, it IS mr)st 

" You will not expect me to.speak on what may necessary that the attitude of the Iudi III COIllm;lDity 

should not be taken amiss by Bis noyal 

be termed the l~\>litical side of the question. I am 

uninterested in it. Whllst It is aIJ. integral part of 

the Congress organisation, I have purposely refrainE}d 

from mterfering with it. I have no aptitude We wish to assure Bis Royal Ilighness tha~ we 

Il1ghnesfl or by the members of the 1 uling class 

for it, and I have no faith in,it. " 

British Indians in South Africa, are not lacklllg i~ 

The opening ceremony of the 1\1. K. Gandhi our loyalty to the 'fbrone nor 'in our respect for 

Senthamil School generously built by the Bai Jerbai Bis Royal Highness's person. The peaceful and 

Rustomjee :£,rust in May Street, Durban, WIll be law-abiding manner in which Indians have lived 

performed by Mr. S. B. Pather on Sunday the 26th in tp(S country, quietly suffering the ever-increasing 

political dIsabilities and assi~ted the BI itish 

instant at 9 a.m. All are cordially invited by the 

han. Secretary to attend. 

Empi.re whenever it was in difficulty -is ample 

proof of their unswerving loyalty. But the reward 

WELOOME-TO HIS ROYAL BIGHNESS Iorthat is that with- the granting of Self-Govern- 

11J) EFORE our next lssue is out it lS hoped ment tQ_ tills country HIS Majesty's British Indian 

1..1.2) that the soil of South Africa will have subjects have been sold to the rulers of this 

been sanctified by the gracious footsteps country. Such (lcts have been committed by the 

of Ilis Royal Highness the Pliuce of Wales. We, Union Government in the name of Bis Majesty 

therefore, take ,this opportunity of extending to the King that would stain the fail' name of fhe 

His Royal Highness a very hearty welcome on Britis~ ~mpi~e. British. fair-play and justice do 

behalf oj the Indian community of South AfrlCa. not .exIst In t~l,) co~ntry In so fa.r as the dal ker 

We hope that his tour will be a very interesting __ subjects of HIS Majesty are concellled. We need 

and an enjoyable one and that when he goas back not enumerate here the various disabilities under 

it will bring to him happy recollections of Sunny which \ve are suffering. In a word, we are not. 

South Africa. • treated in this country as citizens of the British 

Now si Ice His Royal Highness is on an official Empire. We are treated as helots and that is the 

tour and siuca he hdli1 come to see with his own status we are offered and special laws for the 

eyes th} extent of tha great Blltish Empire and purpose have already been enacted in the name of 

the cOldLiJn of the British subj~cts rtsilent ill His Majesty the King and furthermore are under 

~h~t Empire of whom he is to be the future King, prep~ratio~. We have no voicl} to oppose these 

It 13 only nght thclt he should go with a kUJW- acts III thIS country We were, however, hopeful 

le,dge of the true state of affairs It is th3 poJtey th~t. as ~oyal citizens ot the British Empire the 

of Governments, especially of countries where there Bfltlsh G

, IJCtln un occ I"io 1 for jny to U'i if it were to J edress 

-,' I;\'eu a few of our vital griI.lV,lllCC., and IJring us 

peac) and happiness Lilt Lluder the existmg state 

(Jf alT,1ll8 it is Illl occasion fol' grief and sorrow. 

DHAFT ORDINANCE 

• .. To AMEND ORDINANCE No.4 OF' 1!'23 " 

. , The above Draft Orumance proposed to be mtroduced 

mto the Natal Profincidl Council during the 

preKent Session, has been publitlhed tor general information 

in the PrOI'MIIIIJ.1 Gazeltp ot the Hjth 

instant. The Draft readi! as follows:~ 

Be it enacted by the 'Pr1>vmcial CounCil of the 

Province of Natal, as follows :- 

1. The wordli occurrmg in SectIOn set'en, Sub· 

lIectlOn 1, t/tree yertTB, are hereby deleted, and "one 

year" substItutoo, and the term of office of members 

of the exitlting Boards l:!hall expire at the end of 

I~'25. 

2. All references in Ordinance No.4, lUtZ, to the, 

powers of Licensing Boards and appeals are to be 

constrned subject to the provisions of tIllS Ordmance. 

3. LicenSing Boards shall not have power to grant 

an applicatIOn for a ne\) licence. Lut if at the hearing 

of an apphcatlOn for a new' hcenc. the BoaI d 

are of the opinion that the licence ought to be granted 

with Ot' without any such suspension as is prOVided, 

they 8h,t11 recommend accordmgly to the Administrator. 

A minute shall be >»»»»>J>>»»n~ ~o 

~ OUR- LONDON LETTER i 

~ [ FROM OUR OWN C03RESPONDEST ] ~ 

~ 21~th March 192."). ' ~ 

o ::::~E(E«'~~~ »»»»~~ ~~o 

The death of I,ord Curwn for the moment over 

ShldoW8 everythmg III London. Yesterday a service, 

solemn "lliI it was ImpreSSIve, wa

108 INDIAN OPINION April 24th, 1925 

The appeal 'of Robinson against the Midland Bank 

otherwise known as the "A" case, has been dismissed. 

Many will be happy to hear the last of this case. It 

attracted at the trial ullparalleled attention and was 

far from edifying. /' ' 

Signs of early spring are everywhere-daffodils 

and crocuses-and promises of a new life for a 

short space to the vegetation of/ the country-such 

as t.hrive but during the season. 

To sit on the httl€\ piel'S Oil the banks of the 

Thames and watch the smaller ocean and rivel' 

bO!l.t/:l is a pleasure to those who come from' seaport 

tqwns. 

\ ) 

A NEW SPIRIT IN" INDIA 

Under the above caption the Natal Mercury writes 

the following leading note :- 

The proffering, wIth ,becoming hesitation, of ,an 

olive branch to Lord Birkenhead by Mr. -nas IS the 

outcome of ,ecent important developments in the 

political sitJlation in IndIa. Th_e failure of the 

n&n-co-operation movement and the extiactiou of 

Mr. Gandhi have brought more and more mto prominence 

the fundamental differences which separate 

Hindu from Moslem. ReligIOus bigotry and intolerance 

have led to fresh- outbreaks of vIolence" 

and such incidents as the mnrder of Mr. Day and 

the Bengal polIcemen, from which-many promment 

Swarajists emerged with reputations anything but 

enhanced, have been tempnrarily forgotten in the 

light of what oCClll"red at' Kohat and- In the Punjab. 

These sanguinary encounters between Hindus and 

Moslems show that despIte the undoubted success 

(from its own pomt of view) which Swaraj has 

achieved, it still has in it!'! paths obstacles which are 

formidable if not msuperable. The temporary consolidation 

of -all shades of Indian political thought 

against Lord Reagipg's "_ll11J...c.h discussed B~ngal 

Ordinance has ceased to be a reality, and although 

Mr. Das critiCIsed that measure in hilil reply to Lord 

Birkenhead, he alilo tacitly admilted the existence of 

seditIOn and unrest by inviting the Secretary .of 

State for India to make a searching mquiry into the 

revolut~onary movement. Mrs. Besant, a woman of 

cOl).rage and also of' advanced views, has admitted 

the neceSSIty of the Ordinance, even though she 

considers it to be regrettj:lble. It IS probable, therefore, 

that with the dIstinct turn in the tide which: is 

causing the Swarajfsts to trim thelr sails and take 

stock of, theIr position, the visit of Lord Reading to 

Engla,nd will, be of the greatest jmportance. Whether 

or not he will return to India IS a matter of 

surmise. Lord Birke_nhead is reported to be not 

altogether averse to filling the poSitIOn of Viceroy 

himself; at any- -rate he has frequently dropped - 

hints-alD-ce'taking office that he intends, should circumstauces'll.llow 

it, to visit India and gam firsthand 

informa'tiQn in that couutry. But when Lord 

Heading arrives in LondoI! there wIll be t"fo "tirst-' 

~lass tntellects"-we use the term in all sincerity 

-concentrated upon the problem of IndIa's future. 

Poles apart in political thonght, these two emment 

lawyers are,two of the clearest thinkers and most 

far,sighted men of their day. Perhaps it is the 

knowledge that they can be relIed upon to see 

through bluff and arrogance, and whilst pursuing 

the paths of progress resolutely to oppose anything 

in the nature of coerCIOn, that has put Mr. D.as mto 

a more reasol1ab,le frame of mind. There iii a sectIOn 

of public opinion to-day which is prone to regard 

IndIa ail a Dominion already well-nigh lost to the 

British Empire. If Lord Birkenheafl and Lord 

Reading can provc this pessimism to be unfounded 

they will have rendered an imperIal serVICe whose 

value it would be impOSSIble to @ver-es¥unate. 

INDIANS IN SOUTH AFRICA 

Mr. C. F. Andrews writes in YOIlII.7 Intllft dated 

March 12;- 

Things are clearly gOing from bad to worfle in 

South,Africa and there is no telling where they WIll 

eueI. In two separate measures, wjlich have been 

put forward by the Governm!'nt in pnwer, 'A"naticR' 

are discriminated against and classed with 'natIves' 

as contrasted WIth the 'coloured' peopl!'. It IS 

somewhat difficult for those who have never been !.> 

South Africa to understand cleal-Iy "'hat such dltl- I. 

crimination means. What has to be realIsed is, th,lt 

the great bulk of the 'native' population is entirely 

uneducated. On the other hand, the 'coloured' 

people (i.e. those who have a slight mix:tnre of European 

blood in their veins) a/'e on the whole a 

'fairly literate community.' It appears that the 

Ipolicy of the new Government und!'r Gcnel"al Hertzog 

is to depress still further the 'ASIatic' and to 

raise the status of the 'colourf.'d' peopl!'. 

A further measure, is scbednle!l, ~herehy S011th 

African citizenshIp will be confineQ to the pure 

white ,population, which has been horn and bred in 

S'outh Africa. An Englishman coming out straight 

from England will not have hiB citizenship ion South 

Africa as an inhl'rent right on account of his EnghRh 

birth and origin. He will have to take ont naturalisabon 

papers in South Africa. Leading new~papets 

111 Sonth .i}frica suggest that a compact hajJ been 

made between the Labour Party (whicb relies chiefly 

on the BritIsh labour vote) and the NatIOnalIst Partv 

(which relies chiefly on the Dutch vot!') on the 

understandmg that the Nationalist will support a 

strong anti-Asiatic labour policy providell that the 

la.bourites will mpport a strong 'burgher' policy. 

In addItion to thIS, we have the fur~her n£'wil that 

a new segregation measure, of even more drastic 

character than the late 'Class Arens BIll,' is already 

being prepared. It will-be remembered that the 

MunICIpal Franchise Act for Natal, depriving Indians 

in future of Municipal Franchise, has now 

been passed and sanctioned by the Governor-General. 

If a racial Segregation Act is also passed, it will be 

difficult to see what will still remain of the ·'vested 

rights,' WhICh were to be strictly observe!} under 

the Smuts·GandhI Agreement of 1!l1-t. 

In the Transvaal, a picketting system and a boy. 

cott of all Indian trade has agan1 been started. This 

time,-in the present inflamed atmosphere,-it has 

met with snme measure of succetls. The repatJ'iation 

ot Indians in Natal by means of Government 'r'e 

Cl"uiters' is shll praceeding. I have personally 

cross-examined those in Madras who have returned. 

Tlaey have told me, that t3.ey have been unable to 

find employment in IndIa. They are therefore now 

to be fonnd, after great misery and privation, enter. 

ing the emIgration depot for Malaya, asking to be 

sent out of India to the rubber plantations of the 

Federated Malay States. Truly the whole situation 

of Indians in South Africa has reached the lowest 

pomt where even stout hearts may find it difficult to 

look forward to the future with hope. There is one 

redeemmg feature, however, which continually 

meets us in every fresh information that reaches us 

in India. The Hindu-Muslim problem out there 

does not exist. In face of common suffering Indians 

are one people,-one in heart and soul as well as one 

in Indian birth. - 

Mr_ Gandhi adds the following foot,.note on the 

above:- , 

III view of the foregoing gloomy study of the 

sitllatio'· in South Africa, the remarks of General 

Smuts Q1Iot!'tllllst w!'ek in tIl4'so columns deriv(> an 

alldNI intel·est. The plcketting rpferreci w by Mr. 

Andrews is nothing but veiled coercion. If with all 

the elaborate precautions it did not remain peaceful

April 24th, 1925 INDIAN OPINION 109 

everywhere in Im1itl in 1921, how less likely is it to 

be peaceful in South Africa, IInly those who know 

its white population can realise. 

INDIA IN THM UIPEHIAL PARLIAMENT 

~he Earl ot BirkEll'lhead, Secretary of si.lte for 

/ (lndia, introduced the Government of India (Civil 

Services) Bill, the object of which ill to amend the 

provisions of the Government of India Act by 

exempting PI'oposals for expenditure on certain. 

salaries, pensions, and other payment8 from sub· 

mil4sjoq to Indian LegislatureK, and to enab~/'t ro4's 

made under the Act relating to the Civil ServIces of 

the Crown in India to be dispensed with or reLued 

in certain cases, 

The Bill WaN read a first time. 

The Earl of llirkenhead moved a resolution declaring 

that it was desirable to appoint a Standing 

Joint Committee of both Houses of Parliament on q 

Indian Affairs. lIe said that such a Committee had 

been establit;hed each Se8llion since 1921. It was 

apparent to everyone that great advantages might 

be derived f['om having in existence a body representath:e 

of t/oth 1I0uscs, and including much Indian 

administrative 'experience. There were a considerable 

nUIT.ber of members of Parliam('nt especial. 

ly qualified to deal with Inditln subjects, who would 

be in touch with the developments from month' to 

month of Illdicln affairs, and available to advise on 

questions al'ising from time to time as to the amenu· 

ment of rules fI"olmeu uuder the Government of 

India Act. He was anxious not to make any general 

statement on Indian afftlirs, either to the Committee 

or to the Honse itself, until he ha.d had the advaqtage 

of a pcrsonal discussion with the Viceroy after 

hill arriV'cll ill this country at the eud of next montb. 

He hopod the 'House would agree in uue course to 

refer to the Joint Committee the Bill to amend the 

Government of India Act. which he had just introduced, 

and which had been framed to enable effect 

to be given to certain recommendations in the 

report of the Royal Commission on the SuperIOr 

Civil Services in India, presided over by Lord Lee 

of Fareham. 

The motion was agreed to. 

THE CAPITALISTS' -PRAYER 

We cull the following interesting prayer of the 

C..Ipitcllists from the ltl{lIf'naflOnal.- 

Lord from whom all blessings flow, 

Let the Glory all be thine. 

Keep us on top, and the other class below, 

And let all the Swag be mine. 

,0 Lord, ere I go out to biz, 

I leave with you my soul. 

Grant that I may draw the profits, 

And the other chaps the Dole. 

Mansions thou hast prepared for me, 

I thank thee for my whack. 

Grant, Lord, the other chap may bt'. 

Contented in his shack. 

I pray for the masses, 0 Lord, the lost sheep, 

And I hope that you never will find thetn. 

At the Labour Ex.changes they are drawing 

the Dole, 

Gracious Lord. till I'm ready to grind them. 

Thy curse 0 I~ord, on Bolsheviks, 

Those monsters (01f pollution, 

And guide me, 0 my Saviour, guide, 

Away from Revolution. 

My War Bonds, Lord, are 5 per cent., 

I pray thee, make it ten, , 

Mt needs Ilte small, God grant them alIi 

r r~r "'''"1' Imkl", "'1"~lJ; 

'q,l~ Rq~~l ~tJta -q~l=ql~-tlfl 

~lll\~l 

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....--_ .) lPlc~ tl-lli3 llil};'l~ mc~ ltl~ lkHi3 ~!)1: l~follk. 

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t12 INDIAN OPINION May 1st, 1925 

\ 

nise their oWQ kith and kin there tan be no 

complaint. while real lIrogreBII will be made 

tmvat'ds the solution of a difficult problem ... 

The editor'g sermOn on seH-help really amazes 

Uli! Seli-help in its real sense is indeed a virtue 

but in the present instance, we think, the term is 

wi'ongl), ut'ed, It is not self-help bl.t~ I'lelfishness. 

Europeans are tluJir own mal:ltel'B, and for that 

matter every individual is his own mast~r and is 

entitled to do what his consoience dictp,te8. By 

buying goods from the indian the Em'Opean is bi 

no mean~ rendering any great service to the Indian. 

H~ buys because he finds the goods cheaper 

and so does service to himself by saving hi' 

money f(\1' his growing childre~. If, on the other 

hand, he chooses 110t to buy from the Indian, the 

indian is surl:'ly not going to dtag hini in his store 

~mi compel him to buy fl'OD;l him. 1£ the Indian 

finds that the prospect$ are no~ favourable he will, 

all. his ow~ Ilccord, leave ttDd find some other 

occllpatioll. This is tlie natural Murse and each 

individual should bit allowed unhinder~d to follow 

the natlwo.l oourse. But to boycott the Indian and 

to shut every avenue of occupation that too Indian 

might possibly enter and then ta.lk 01 self-help icJ 

the height of hypoCJ;isy. If the anti-Asiatic propagandists 

and the Editor o£ the Rand Daily 

MaiL think they ,1.1:e thus doing sel'vi~ to their 

own "kith and klD," and to the British EIIlPil'e. we 

would venture to suggest that they are grel\tly 

wista.ken. They are zuisleading the poo~'er class 

of peopb by fo:rcibly directing them to the pat1,l o£ 

ext~'~vagancel'"nd, thus bringi!lR aboHt their eady 

ruination 

"Kith and Kin !" Are not Briti&h I"di

May 1st, 1925 

JNDJAN OPINION 

then presented with beautiful boqueta and ~Ir. 

Makan tbe Contractor was prescntc.>.u on behalf of 

the Trust With a .mall cheque in appreciation of his 

5plendhl work. 

The proccooingil were rendered interesting with 

nahonal songil sweetly Bung at intervals by the 

acbool children. 

Prizea were then diatribute(1 to the children imd 

thll very deUgh" I fJnction terminated with a vote 

t of Uumks to the chair at 12 p.m. 

BLOEMFONTEIN NATIVES 

How 'tHE WHITE MAN EXACTS OBEDIENCE 

To HIS ADMINISTRA1'ION 

1'116 I'pportil of the shooting expedition that took 

place at the Bloemfontein N~tive Location on last 

week's Sunday and l\Iooday make painful reading. 

Whilst reading it one cannot belp but rpcall the 

Dulhoek tl'"tlgedy in which about three hundred innocent 

and armless Natives were shot down in cold 

blood, The whole trouble at Bloemfontein, according 

to repOI'ts, arOSe as a result of an attempt by a 

European constable accompanied by a Native p>Jice 

body to arrest llome women who were drinking or 

brewing kafir beer in a hut in the location. The 

women appal'cntly called together a crowd who 

attacked the ~on8table. with the result that both he 

and the pollce boys had to turn and run. A 'report 

was made- to the police hE'adquartel'8, where the incident 

walt regarded in a serious bght, and ~ strong 

detachment of about twenty police was immediately 

dispatched to the s.cene of the trouble, By thia 

time 3n angry crowd of Natives had gathered, and 

when the police arrived they were met with 

showeJ's of stones, while sticks were brandished in 

a threatening way. The position began to look 

u,mgerous. anel the officer in charge of the police 

ordered his men to fire a volley over the heads of 

the mob. The climax was'reached when a rifle 

bullet mortally wounded one Nathe. 

By this time the Deputy Commissioner of Police. 

Colonel Beer, and the Supermtendent of the Location, 

Mr, Cooper, had arrived UPOIl the scene, and 

endeavoured to get the Natives to disperse to prevent 

'further bloodshf'd. The .Na.tive leaders said 

that they would get their people to disperse provided 

the police first retired. This was not agreed 

to. Fortunately a welcome interlude occurred when 

a heavy shower of rain. followed by Ii hailstorm, 

, helped tG disperse the (:rowd. Afterward" the 

Native. decided that they would not attewpt ferree. 

but that they would ca.ll a strike of aU the Natives 

in the Lm,"II.tion to express their indignation of the 

killing of one of their number by the police. ' 

The news had by this time filtered through thl 

the town, and alarmist reports went round. with the 

reiliuli that n(unerol'lS I

II4 INDIAN OPINION May 1st, 1925 

Natives chose, delibel'ately and after 2-1 hours in 

which to consider the pOSItion, to oppose tile represeptatives 

of the white man's Govel'UQl,ent. ThIll 

choice they made with their eyes open. The consequences 

were inevitable, It will always be so 

whenever men, white or black, ,attempt to thwart 

the authority of the Government. 'l'he Native mnst 

learn that he cannot take such action as he did 

yesterday' without the ,conseqnences falling heavily 

upon himself. -Until he does learn that he cannot 

act in an illegaf way, we are afraid that happelllngs 

like those of yesterday afternoon, regrettJ.ble amI 

tragic-as they are, will be bound to occur. Theil' 

non-recurrence lies in the hands of the Natives 

themselves, for, as we have said, so long Il:S the 

white II;lan remains in South Africa, the whIte man 

is going to go'yern the country, and he will have to 

exact obedience to his administration." \ 

GOVERNMENT TO -HOLD AN INQUIRY 

Renter's Agency is informed that th~ Government 

have decided to appoint a, Commission to inquire 

into the circumstances in connection with the above 

trouble. 

o~~EE

- May 1St, 1925 INDIAN OPINION 

. , 

1902. For 1 y~~ ~~ wbrk~~ as an official in Natal 

hilt in IllR3 !Ie was or~t'CI by the Bishop of 

Maritzhurl{ (Dr. ]\facl'orie) 3lf B\!lhop's A8~i8t.ant for 

Indian Mi8l!iollll in the DioceSE', becomihg, later 

Diocesan Superintendent of Indian Milll:lions and 

Canon of Maritzburg. In HIOO he was appointed J 

Dean of 8t. John's Kaffraria and Rector of Umtata, 

"einA' alll() at various times, Vicar-General of the 

Diocesce. 

In 1912 he remo\'ed to Capetown where 

be was for a short time Vicar and Sub-Dean of St. 

George's Cathedral and was appointed Rector of St. 

rarnabas, Capeto'wn, in l!na. In the South African 

"ar he served as medical officer of the Natal Indian 

Ambulance raised by l\faha'ma Gandhi, and re- 

Of iwd the Queen's Medal with. two clasps. In the 

Gleat War he served in France as a Captain in the 

H.A.:U.C. His only son, who was in the S.A.M.V" 

was killed in }

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T -- --.----r-----.--.. -_. -_ .. , 

·~lretn~11re "lre~S1 

v

itegi.toor.dattheG.P.O. as a Newspaper 

No. 19-Vo1. XXIII. Friday, May 8th, 192 5- 

PRICR FOIIR"''''. 

, ----~----------------------~----------------------~~-------- 

;or,,, 


TlnJ Nalill Pl01'tI/f wl (]a£etle of Uie :mth April have been showing deep concern in the cause of 

II (the .Iate of thn arrival of Iht! Roy.tl IItghness their fellow·countrymen overseas. We note that the 

the l'rin~(l of Wales) contdins the Ordinance Inclitm &'(Vti Reformer, a well-known journal publish- 

"'fo amend the lJOcal Township L,~w :No. n, HPH, cd in Bombay, has commenced pnbhshing an Overin 

resped of the QuaitficatioJ} of Voter~" dnly soos Monthly Supplement to be devoted especially 

!lI!!lf'nted to Lv His Excellency the Governor-Gene.·al- to questions relating to the condItion and status of 

in.Council. Thil! Ordmance tltsqllahfies Inthaus m Indians in foreign lands. It is intended to publish 

the Townships of Natal from exercising thetr votp. this 811pplement WIth the third number of the 

Reformer every month. The first pubhcatioq to 

". 

While the Durban CorporatIOn has otTered a gift 

of t:200 to the Indian commumty on the happy 

occasion of the visit of HIS ROYell Highness the 

Prince of Wales, His Excellency the Govemor. 

Qenerell hels been pleased to present the Indian com 

Illumty with the above mentioned Ordinance in 

remembrance of that aUl\picions occasion. The gift 

of the Durban COl"pOratlOn Indtans have IJeen strong 

enongh to reject. But what abont the Governor 

General's gift which hal! been thrown upon the 

Indians whether they mayor may not like to accept 

it. Are they Ktrong enongh to rejent that" It is 

high time that they were. 

.\. ;\Jceting \V;lEhcll of tht, hurgeflf!cl'1 .•\ resolutIOn waf! then~fore 

pa~>lt!tl to the ('tred th,lt, III VIt'W of e\lnal status not 

Ldng granted Indiaus could not parht"lpate in the 

official ct>lebrationt!. The resolutIOn was passed by 

a majority. A furtht'l" re~olution, that negotiatiomJ 

wlth the Town Council be t:lttll continued was also 

pafl,.'~{'d ant! the meeting was a1ijourned till next 

Hundar· 

Oil Monti,ly,morning, having receivetl a e:lll from 

JIis Worship the l\I,lyor, 1\[r. V. L,twrence, the vicept·esitlent 

aut! )h·. S. HllstomjCf', the Hecretary. N.1tal 

Intlian ('ongTess w(Ont to the Town OtJiee and were 

tlefinitel~' infmuwd by Ills WOlship the )1a:;or that 

lllIliallt! will not he allowed to partiCIpate in the 

Chic Dinm'r in honour of H. R. J1. nor wIll they 

he allov. ed to enter the Town H

liS INDIAN OPINION May 8th, 1925 

\ 

was ao essential tor illccess Ilt the bar. A.bQve everything 

else they bad to be vareful tba' thef . did flot 

sell their c()nsoi~no. fOl' a mesa Qf pot~e. lit wi.hed 

they should lulve aa t4~f 

Meal a lawye., like 

Manomohan Ghose who was a fl'lend of the poor 

and did so muoh for them. They should not be 

meroenary and had to devote themselves to the service 

of their oountry and htunamty at large, He 

had given up his prt\ctioe as he found it difficult t9 

secure justioe in law oourts and. he oould help the 

poor and the distressed better even 11 he did not 

practice as a lawyer. 

--- 

At the Bombay Legislative Council a reply Wa,t! 

given in the\uegative to a question vut by Mr. K. F. 

Nariman whether the Government could give 'anf 

idea. as to how long they propose to continue tbe 

ban against Mr, B. G. Horniman (the able and fear-, 

less editor of the BrJ.mba!/ Chronicle who was devol'ted 

owmg to his fearl~sness in exposing the wrongs of 

the Goverrunent.) A further question bemg put as 

to whether, the Goverllment pro~Qsed to oQDtinue 

the ban perpetually the reply given by Sir M. 

H~yward was; "1 have nothing to adct to my 

answer." 

DURBAN INDIANS AND THE PRINCE'S VISIT 

-'f will be remembered by oQr :readers that the 

IT Dw:b3ol\ Indians wer~ offered a $Uln 01 £200 

by the Town Oouncil to celebrate the occa.sion 

of the visit of His Royal Highness the Prince of 

Wales. As 8. self-respecting section of the bur .. 

geS&1es Indians considered thls action· on the part 

of the Town Council to be insulting, and they could 

have, without much ado. refused the offe:r awl sat 

quietly. But out of loyalty to the Throne and 

reapect for His Royal Highne~ they felt. it was 

their duty to participate in the general celebrations 

if they eQuId do so in an honourable way and 

without ill any way losing theit self-respect. With 

this object in view they wen. out.of their way to 

ask, tlu'ough their Oongress, jor a deputation to 

be heard by His Worship the Mayor. ' The' deputation 

expressed their willingness to participate_ in 

the general celebrations l:mt pointed out that 'the 

S,UD;l. of £200 o!ie\'oo fOf the purpose by t~ Council 

was m08$. humiliating ~nd they could not accepli 

it. If, however, they were treated on equal terms 

in every respect with other sections of the burgesses 

they would tab part in the general 

celebratio'n~. From the report of the deplJtation 

we are able to see that His WOl:Srop the MayO!' was 

himself very sympa.thetic and was willing to meet 

the requirements of Indians in every way; but the 

Oouncil members were not all of the same mind. 

-Of courS'.} th& methods of the Town Oouncil blotrring 

~ few individual members whose voice is in 

the wilderness-notwithsta,ndiuS(, liowever, whose 

sympathy the. commu.nity much appr~iates-al'& 

w6J1.known, and Indians have suffered quite sufficient 

humiliations at their hands. But, it was felt 

that, on a most important occasion like ~his, when 

the Heir AppareIl;t was COn;ling to visit Hi~ 

Majesty's sti1!joots. they wQuld be moved, if bynothing 

else, by their BritiSh bi.rth to give way aad. 

tl"e;.lt Indians With equa.lity to which they were ~ntitled. 

It would not only have redotUtded to their 

creait, but whatever their past actions. may ha"e 

....... been and ~~eir future are going to be, they would 

have for once been uble to show to the highly 

honour~lt anrlmost ftSpected rep~eutative of HiS' 

Majesty the King how truly British they were and 

how they belived in the British principles of freedom, 

justice and fair-pl.lY and how they practised 

those principles. 'fbi~ was, however. not to IJe. 

Race prajudice -is deeply rooted in tllPm and lhey 

are determined to show to His Royal lIighne..s ( 

that it is not only the Boer element in this country, 

as h is boUeved, that ill-treats Indians, but it 

iii th6 B"i\i~h (80 called in our opinion) element 

that is up in arms against His Majebty's British 

Indian subjeCts, They have ~ot seen theh way to 

meeting the requests of the Iudians even by an 

inch, - 

From the fulal reply given by His Worship the 

llayo!' to the officials of the Natal Indian Congress 

we 16am that Indians are totally debarrE'd from 

all civic functions to be held in honour of Ilis 

Rnyal Htghness-although they are held with 

their mOney and in their name! 

It should be clearly understood by our people IIoi 

well a& by the au~horities that when we ask fol' 

I'e presentation in all the general functions 8uch as 

the Civie Dinner etc., it does not neces-.;arily mean 

that Iridialls are anxious, or seeking the honour, 

to dine with the Prince. It is the principle of 

eq-uality that iliey wish to be maintained by the 

a.uthorities: 

-There may be public prejudice. That there iii 

we are fully aware. But it is for Indians to under 

.,tand that and til give way wherever it is possible 

to do so without losing their self-j'(lspect, and this 

the Indiana have been doing aU a.long. It is however 

wrong for the _uthoritielil to be guided by public 

prejudice._ This attitude of the local authorities is 

much to be regretted. It only amounl~ to thili, 

that ~ey refuse h recognise Indians as burgeS8e3, 

aud thia sla.p in the face given unhesitatingly by 

the Council on a Blost important occasion in the 

history of Durba.n should be sufficient to awaken 

the Tndians from their slu.mber. No sel£-respect-o 

ing I~dia.n can even think. in the ci~uU1stanCe8, of 

participating iu the genoml celebrations or to have 

anything to do with any nltenl1tive offer made by 

the Council. Last Sunday's meeting has passed 

a resolution to the effe~t that in view of equal 

statu'i not beinet' granted IDdian~ cannot. pal'f.icipate 

in the official celebrations. It is to be hoped 

tha.t everJ Indian will abide hy this deeision. Our 

non-participation does not mean that we are dig.. 

loyal, nor that we are l.wking in our l'ebpect for 

HUI Roy.u Highness. Durban Indians have soot 

a welcome message to His Royal HighnetlS on hi3 

arrival at Capetown and they may l're&en~ him 

with an address on his arrival here if the authorities 

will allow that to be done. 110re than that, 

aa we have already stated previoualy, this is not a 

time for Indians in South Africa for jollification '-. 

but for mourning for all the humiliations they are 

being subjected to, and the tatest of them is in 

the shape of the Local To\Vnsh.i~ L~w Amendment 

Ordinance passed by the Natal Provincial 

Oouncil and just assenteQ to by His Exoolleacy 

the Governor-General-in-Council.

, May 8th, 1925 lN1J1AN OPINION 119 

WELCOME TO H. R. n, THE PRINCE OF 

WALES 

NATAL INlJIAXs 

The Natdl Indian CongreSl! telegrdphed the following 

welcome to His ROYdl Highness the Prince 

of Wales on his arrival at Cdpetowll :- 

"Private Secretary, Pl'inc~ or Wales, Capetown, 

N.dal Indian community join other sections of 

~Houth Afriwu community in extending heattiest, 

sincere and corcllal WE'lcomll to His Royal Higbness 

the l'tirtce of Wales, the future King Emperor, to 

the Union, and confidently hope and pray that his 

first visit to this portion of his Majesty's Dominions 

will be happy and pleallant, and will be conducive 

to the happir1es8, peace and prosperity of the cosmopolitan 

community of thIS Sub-Continent." 

The followmg reply has been received from the 

Private Secretary to His Hoy-al IIighness :- 

.. Prince of Wales mueh appreciates the message 

of 'Welcome from the Natal Indian Congress and 

thanks them all for thelr good wishes." 

CAPB INDIANt! 

A welcome address was pres~nteci to His Ro}al 

IIIghness by the Cape Indians. 

~NDIANS OVERSEAS 

The ilUlum SO()J[Il Reformer in its Indians Overseas 

Supplement dated March 21 writes:---:- 

Among the problems which claim the earnest and 

immedlate attention of the Indlan public are those 

which relate to our countrymen in foreign countries 

within and without the British Commonwealth .••• 

• •• India and Indlans have a long tradition of 

successful colonisation in dlstant lands. 'rhe torch 

of tndian religion and civilIsation was carried all 

over Asia and beyond by Hindn and Buddhist and, 

in later centuries, also by Mahomedan merchants 

and missionarles. l'hii/ expansive phasCII of Indla's 

national history ceased not much more than a 

thousand years ago when the country had to conserve 

all her resources to defend herself from foreign 

invasions. The l·e-establishment·of internal peace 

and external security under British rule, has enabled 

us to presume the interrupted process of national 

evolution in many directions. One of the most important 

of these is the settlement of Indians in 

foreign lands. 

Whatever may be the circumstances 

which led to their emIgration from India. they re. 

present her culture and civilisation, and it lS laid 

upon us in the Motherland as an imperatlve duty to 

see that they are in.. a position to do it well and 

worthily. It has been said that we OdD do little or 

nothing to help them against oppression and humiliation 

till we get Swaraj. But the only way of 

getting Swaraj is to stand up for the rights of our 

people especially of those whll, either through ignorance, 

racial custom or social antagonism. are in a 

position of disadvantage as compared With their 

fellow-citi..:ens, whether at home or abroad. In the 

case of our countrymen abl'oad OUl' duty is all the 

greater as the distance from the Motherland is a 

special disadvant..'\ge demanding special efforts on 

OUl' part. In the Imperial Indian Cltizenship Association, 

we have the nucleus of a great organisation 

which is needed to keep watch and ward over the 

intel'ests of om' fellow-countrymen overseas. It.is 

our purpose in this Supplement to focus Indian 

I public opinion on this important national duty. In 

conveying OUl: greetings to our countrymen abroad 

we invite their co-operation in our endeavour to be 

8 living link between them and the Mother-conntry. 

'l'he Iniuall Sot'ltd RR/orl1lM" is especl8l1y concerned 

with the social evolution of the country which, 

after all, is the most secnre basis of national solldarity. 

That evolution, will have to take account of 

the needs and conditione not only of the communities 

at borne but alsu of those abroad, in order to be 

worthy of Great and Greater India. In fact our 

countrymen abroad with their wider outlook upon 

the world can tnakl' more valuable contributi

120 INDIAN OPINION May 8th, 1925 

about its busine~ in the main undisturbed by political 

forces that secure so much publicity. The reports 

of the Reforms Enquiry Commlttee serve to 

show that there are, as there must be, in so novel a 

system as Dyarchy, many points which call for consideration; 

if the system has worked -badly, the 

explanatiofl is that extremists. have sought to discredit- 

It in the hope of securing immediately the 

complete me~ure of Swaraj favoured by the Minority 

report. ~ord Rawlinson (who is to be succeeded as 

Co~mander-in-Chief by F. 'M. SIr William Birdwood) 

in a speech on the IInclian Army evinced 

genuine sympathy with Indian (aspirations, but 

pointed out the perils of forcing the pace. What is 

true of the Army is tru'e of the Government itself. 

Racial-consh\erations complicate the problem of 

Indianisation on the military as on the political 

and administrative ,sIde, and Lord Rawlinson refused' 

to be,a party _to'measures WhlCh might be fraught, 

with "vital consequences." 

BISHOP ON "N"ATIVE PROBLEM 

EVILS OF THE PASS SYS'rEM 

The BIshop of Johannesburg, Dr. Karney, made 

an important reference to native problems at the 

Diocesan Native Conference held at- Potchefstroom. 

He $poke of the principle of the Colour Bar Blll as 

being absolutely un-ChrIs,tran, expressing the hope 

that it would not go through Parliameut. 

- 'fhe present, said his lordship, was a time of great 

anxiety and uncertainty, as they dId not/know whaL 

was gomg, to be the results of certain Acts andmeasures 

b~fo.fe Pa.rliament, in. addition to which 

there was much poverty and unemployment among 

the nahve populatIOn, ,/ 

N~thing was so bad for {luy country as UIlcertaintx, 

but it Was clear that greater opportunity 

shouJ.d be given to J3antu peopl~, both for educa.tion 

and-f-()p

May 8th, 1925 INDIAN OPINION UI 

LORD llLRKESHEAD'~ HEPLY 

'1'he Earl of Birkenhead (Secretary of State, India), 

"n replying, said that Lord Olivier tm.l not exaggerated 

the !\everity of the course which he and his 

colleagues in the Labour Government had authorised 

tht' Yiceroy to take. When he (Lord Btrkenhl'lld) 

,first hpcame aware of the drastic nature of that 

COl1l'se, he felt it his duty cart'fully to examine the 

justification which was alleged lOT the authorisation 

of powers so remarkable----almost unprecedentedin 

India, and he had been Il9.tisfied that Lord Olivier 

was abso~utely jUEti6.ed, having rt'gard to the nature 

of the evidence which was before him. 

Hevolutionary conspiracy existed in Bengal be. 

twet'n H112 and 1917. It was only successfully repressed 

when the leaders were confined nnder 

Regulation :1 of 1l'!1l'!, and many of its subordinjlte 

members were dealt with nnder the Deft'nce of 

India Act. Most of those persons were relt'ased 

after the Hoyal Proch,lmation of 1919. and it was 

psychologically inter('Hting to note that JIlany of 

them had since abHtained from revolutionary ac'L. 

'1'0 the remainder ap amnesty was gradually extended. 

but a large number of those IIpeedily retnrnt'd 

to their previous methods and reDrganised 

tht'ir old association. By the'end of 1922 two main 

terrorist organisationil had been revived. Arms and 

ammunition, mostly smuggled fl'om abroad, were 

collected, and a new type of bomb was monufactured 

and elaborate and carefully conceived projects for 

aStlassination were devised. During 1923 and 1~124 

outrages took place and plaus for assassination continued 

to be made. Lord Lytton, the Governor of 

Bengal, from the first took an enlightened view of 

the situation, but that view did not immediately reqommend 

itself to the Viceroy or to the Government 

of the day. Some of the ringleallt'ril were a~rested 

parly in 1924, nnder Regulation :3 of 1~18. That 

did not

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---------------------- 

e 1re llt ~ . tJ.a lee ~ 1).- 

, 

1 uililn 

Itegittered at the G. P.O .... N ...,.,.. 

No. 2o-VOI. XXIII. Friday, May 15th, 1925. PRleB FOUUIIJI1\d.. a mall as a 

man. In taking the.slep they"'p.ave- taken the resignationists 

have committed a very serious blunder. 

. . -- 

It has come to orir knowledge that the Indian 

ewployees of the Durban Corporation and, other 

ignorant people are being thre:ltened that If they do 

not participate in the P).'ince's .... celebI·,\tiolls they 

w'duld be .. kicked out of Uteir jobs and kicked out 

of the counby." We ,~y~ot know to what extent 

this is true and who is l·esponsible for such a propaganda. 

We are certainly not inclined to believe 

that. tb.Q CQrpoIation Otliei.al& would 00 a. p;u:ty to 

ALL'S WELL TlIAT ENDS 'WELL 

"J'r'HE visit of His Royal Highness the Prince of 

11 Wales has 'uQused considerable interest and 

enthusiasm among the Indian community 

of Durban and we feel sure that if such keenness 

would be sholVn by them in all matters concerning 

their well'lre in this country they would be enjoying 

better conditions of life than they are at present. 

The_Congres

INOIAN OPINION May 15th, 1925 

mention of a boycott at any time or at aIlY place; 

aM it was Well for the Secretary of the Congress 

to hll.Ve tminted put thi$ gross error. 

Orl. Tuesd.ayjs Mercury there were reports belittling 

the_ work of the Oongress in connection 

with the Prince's visit which was again the result 

of hasty and thtHightless action of SUm\:) of our 

brethren and anothE:lr cloud hljvered over the 

Congress as a circular.was being distributed call- 

ing a, "Mass Meettng" of, the merCl1l1tiie community 

for that evening in connection witli the Prinoo'B 

visit and "to pa~s a vote of no confidence" in-the 

_offiCials of t1LE~ Natal lndlan Congress, the lattell 

being the main purpose. The officials of the Congress 

h!J.d made it ,their business to be presont at 

the meeting and after the Secretary had fully explained 

what had been done up-to-date the idea of 

passing a vote of no confidence was thrown entirely 

overboard ang a resolution to participate in the 

general- ~elebratlons_ was_defeated aIld one to 

Mcord a reception independently ttltt lUI. was 

passed- and a comt.dittee was fdtnied for the 

purpose. This resoiution has onbe mora uplield the 

principle for whidh the Congress has all along 

been fighting and sO let us hdpe tlJat all's well 

that has ended Well. 

PRINC~ TO ATTEND JNlHA,N CELEBRATIONS 

The Maydr has beeri nqw tlfficiilily adV'ise~d by ,the 

Prime Minister's Secretll.I'y that thllPrince of Wa.les 

will attend the Indian celebratiQns· in Durban oil 

June 4.' - 

The venue for the Indian I celebrations wh~ch 

are tl't take place mdependently 'of -t,hEl Corporation 

who has n'Ot acceeded to the jr resolves that 

in the eV'ent of the Indian community holding any 

special function such as a children's demonstration. 

it shall be incumbent that His Royal Highness shall 

grace stich fnl1ctiofil! with his pt'esence." 

The meeting wWch co~JiJ.enced at 3 p.m. terminated 

a~ 1 p.m. with a vote of much deserved thanks 

to the chair. 

A MISREPRESENTATION 

l'he jt. Iton. Secretary, Nata1 indian Congrese, 

addressed the following letter to the Natal Mercury I 

"Sir,~Ih publishing a report of the Indian mass 

meeting in your issue of to-day, you do so under the 

sub-heading of "Proposed Boycott." 

May we point out that neitl1el' in. the resolntlot1s 

passed nor in any of the speecbes has there beeI1 

,any suggestion or thonght of boycotting the visit of 

Ilis Itoyal Highn'lBB. The simple truth is that in 

view of his Worship the :Mayor'. inabihty to accord 

the Indian community its just due and proper status 

ih the furthcoming celebllations, the mass meeting 

has, after ths nio!rt; thoughtful deliberations, decided 

to abstain from participating in its official celebra.- 

tions. 

_ 

But 011 the otlrer hand, trrle to Indian instinct and 

our respect for the Throne and for the .heir to the 

Throne. Indians will certainly adoRt many means 

and measures to give expression to their sentiments. 

Yours faithfully, 

801UnJEE RUSTO:M:JEE. 

Joint Ron,'Secretary, Natal Indian Congl'ess'

. 


'-, - NATATJ INDlA'liS AND THE PHINCE 

r' the Natal Jfercur!l has the following leading 

ar~lcl(' in lis i&!ljf! of the 12th llIstant :- 

H ha.'l been left to the Natal Indian Congl"e

126 INDIAN OPINION May 15th, 1915 

\ 

counted ,at great length the circumstances leading 

up to the meeting, and detailing communications 

from the Mayor of Durban. He spoke for more 

, than an Jtour and a half in Gujarati and followed it 

with a brief summary in English for the benent of 

the prej;js representatives. 

Mr. Rustomjee opposed the ,following resolution, 

which was proposed by the ChaIrman and seconded 

by Mr. M. A. Motala. 

I 

" 'l'hat this meetmg of the Indian COmmtlnity of 

Durban hereby resolves to participate together with 

other sections of the community in all the celebra 

/ tions in honoUl' of the visit of the his Royal Highness 

the Pl\ince of Wales to Durban." 

Mr. Rusflomjee endeavonred to make an a~endment, 

but this was disallowed by the Chau'Illan. 

Mr. Rllstomjee stated that the honour of 

300,000,000 in India was at stake and that the local 

Indians should be careful how it dealt with the 

question. 

' 

" Do not dig your own~ graves, but stand by the 

Congress and do not participate in the celebrations." 

The followdng resolution was framed, proposed 

by ,Mr. ~ooknoodeen and seconded by Mr. M. A. 

Motala :-This mass meeting of the Indian 'community 

of Durban and district hereby resolves to 

accord to H.R.H. the Prince of Wales a reception 

npon the occasion of J;!.is arrival withm the Borough 

of Durban. 

Mr. Rustomjee and other representatives of the 

Congress declared themselves satisfied w,ith the 

proposal, which was carried unanimously. 

Mr. A. 1. K~jee in the ,course of' his speech 

strongly condemned the action of some of the members 

of the Congress Committee who' have sent In 

their resignation. 

The no-confidence proposal was apparently thrown 

over board. 

The following committee was elected to, make the 

arrangements for, the visit of the Prince .-Messrs. 

E. M., Paruk, M. A. Motala, Rooknoodeen, Abdul 

Hack, Ismail, Mahomed "Haffejee, Bhawani Dayal, 

K. R. Nayanah. Lep. R. Gopaul, D. P. Desai, V. M. 

.Jooma, :o\.jam Haffeje,e" ll., ~lJlasun~rum,- SO!'abjee 

RustomJee, Jack M60dley, R. 'IL' Naidoo,,~M. 1. 

~Majoo, P. S. Aiyar, Joseph Royeppen, Ismail Gora, 

V. Lawrence, A, M. Lockhat, M. Bethasee, S. K. 

Pather, S. R. Pather, D. S. Chetty, S. Emmamally, 

M. 1. Kajee, C. M. Anglia, A. 1. Kajee, John 1_. 

Roberts, P. R. Pather and V. 'So C. Pather. 

A~YAN BENEVOLEN~,HOME 

FOURTH ANNIV~RSARY 

The foUrth anniversary 'of, thtj aboTe Home was 

celebrated on Suuday, April 3: IH2.5, at the Home 

ground!'!, Mayville. :A fair mustel' of the Indian 

population-mere present,~and many febcitous speeches 

were m~depl.'ii~~:.tJ:1e actIvities 'Of.. fh~ ~ome"il! 

succourlllg the poor';1'rrd< needy. .' 

The secretary's annual relJo'r~tated ,that during 

the year the :f.[9me accomD;lodated 48, persons, ofwhom 

37 were claimed by their relations on the 

strict understanding that th'ey were not ,allowed to 

beg. on the streets. ,Thil Home had also, sheltered 

-nnd. provided elothing for 11 destitute and aged 

women. ' At the present time there were-13 inmates. 

TJae Provincial Authorities had recognised the usefulness 

of the Society py making a grant (Jf £100. 

and .the Immigration Departvnent had": shdwn an 

inter~t in the iristitutioI!, which was greaily 

appreCfa.w.d. It was7~wmg to the activities of the' 

Society th'"a't'Alle profe~si6nal element of beggars ~as 

on the decreaSe, and the Society's thanks were dne 

to the police authorities for whole-hearted co-operation. 

The report also thanked the stall holders and 

squatters at the Indian Market and the Indian 

grocers, etc7; for gifts in kind which had kept the 

expeI\s~s of the Home at the minimum. 

~~~~~~~~l'»»»»»"»» ~o 

~ OUR LONDON I,ETTER t 

\Ii [ FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDEN r ] i 

\If 9th April, 192;). ~ 

o~~E

May 15th, 1925 INDIAN OPINION 127 

started a geological survey in India an,I wonderfully 

good work had been Ilone. It bad been followed up 

by very fine enterpri'''m the part private individuals 

IlO that they cot. ·~~onfidently claim that India 

wall in the forefront in many respects of mining and 

" ,metallqrgical enterpriee in the Empire. Their PTOtluction 

of coal was only second to that of the 

United Kingdom in the Empire. while their iron 

deposits were known to everyone. In 1!IOS, the 

mineral production of India totalled about £X,OO 1,000, 

in 1920 it amounted to over £:30,000,000. They 

hoped to make even greater progress in the future. 

They were sending young Indians to this country 

for training and he was gLtd to know there was a 

fair number of Indians among the associate s~udents 

of the Institution. .They were making every effort 

for industrial progress and they realised that that 

could only b~ done with the aid of science and by 

Indians attaining a high professional standard. They 

had found it necessary to start a mining college, and 

he hoped that the college, when it was establishef,J, 

would be a feeder institution to the ImpeAd 

College of Science here. 

The Government is seriously alarmed at - thlldifficulty 

of staffing the Indian Civil Service with 

Its due propol'tion of Englishmen and is taking 

.teps to l'etriEVe the position, for it bas recently 

materially improved the conditions of service. Sir 

Robect Horne speaking of this "tragedy" the other 

day declared that if things continue as at pl'esent 

the great work the British had donel in India will 

disappear entirely without any conversion, revolution, 

or uprising of Indian people demanding forms 

of native government. 

Mrr R. K. Khan, of Durban, Natal, Advocate, an 

ex-Secretary of the Natal Indian Congress, has 

arrived in London from the Continent and is staying 

at the Regent's Palac~ Hotel in Pi.ccadily. 

16th April 1925. 

The Maharajah of Jodhpur who has arrived in 

England on a five months' visit is ,staying at a 

private house at Wimbledon. He is aC!;lompanied 

by his four wives and a large entourage of secretaries 

and scrvants. The primary object of the 

Mahru'ajah's viEit. is to match his famous Pol.o telWl 

against th,.e finest British players at Hurlingbatn, 

Rochampton and other Polo centres. He has bl'ought 

over seven players, including Rajah Hamat Singh, 

who is the captain and a celebrated pla}er. Seventy 

Jodhpur ponies have been transported from India 

, and they are stabled at Minehead, with Capt. A. H. 

Williams in charge. The Stud far exceeds in number 

and also in quantity the ponies which the 

Americans brought over for the international match 

with Britain two years ago, tlO whatever else may be 

lacking the team is rich in horseflesh. As a matter 

of fact the Jodhpur side consists of experts. 

- The Secretary of State for India has appointed 

Sir C, W. Rhodes a member of the Council of State 

for India in Lonuon in succession to Sir M. Hogg. 

whose tenure of office upires at the end of April. 

Sir Rhodes has sel'ved on several civic bodies in 

India including the Bengal Chamber of Commerce. 

Bengal Lt'gislative 90uncil and the Indian Legislative 

Assembly. 

The death has occurred in India of Risaldar 

Mazhar Ali Khan of 1st Skinner's Horse, who in 

1879 saved Lord Robert's life during a march in the 

Chardeh Yalley, and twas for his bravery awarded 

the Order of Merit and promot.f'd to Indian Officer 

l'lmk. 

Lord Lytton formally assumed the acting office of 

Viceroy arid Governor-Genepl of India on thE!' 10th 

April in Delhi. Mr. Crear, the Secret.'!ry to. the 

Home Depm-tnlent. read His Majesty's Warrant and 

Sir Brod Bahadnr Shadi LaI, Chief Justice of Lahore, 

administered the oaths of allegiance and of office. 

Blackheath, which at other times is one of the 

quietest spots in England, was, during the Eastel' 

holi~ays, a scene of attraction. Every imaginable 

kind of amusement was there and tens of thousands 

of men, women and children indulged themselves to 

their heart's (Oltent. 

But the writer was not a 

little amllsed to see among the palmists and the 

phenologists an Indian-who claimed to be "Singa, 

the Indian Hindu Gypsy." Dressed in the fashion 

of this country but for his headdress, which was a 

turbau, and a coloured coat. he nE!'ither spoke nor 

made signs of any kind but just looked at the lines 

on the palm of the band or ran his fingers over the 

head in search of the bumps and 10 r in a few 

minutes his report was in the bands of his subject 

and the insignificant fee in pence was in his pocket. 

The Eastel' weather has been exceptionable and 

the Seaside resorts and places of interest in the 

country were crowded by lAndon's millions. 

• 

INDIA IN THE IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT 

Mr. LansbllrY'(Bow and Bromley, Lab.) asked if 

it was the iutention of the Secretary for India to 

invite Mr. C. R. Das and Mr. Gandhi, together with 

other representatives of Indian opinion. such as 

Messrs. Sastri, Lajpat Rai and Dr. Besant, to 

come to this country for a conference on the best 

methods for secnring full co-operation between ~ll 

classes m India for the re-establishment of social_and 

industrial peace in that country. - 

Earl Winterton. Under-Secrctary for India (Horsham 

and WOl'thing).-His Majesty's Government 

will receive with sympathy any concrete proposal 

put before them by the lndian political parties with 

the support of the Government of India and the 

local governments concerned, but if is not their 

intention to give such invitations as the hon. member 

suggests, fol' two reasons:-(l) The direct con". 

duct of policy and administration in India bas been 

entrusted by ParliamEfnt to the Government of 

India and.the local governments, and it is therefore 

with these authorities that any discussion or negotiation 

of this kind must take place, and no useful 

pUl'pose would be served by the intervention or 

pal·ticipatioll at this stage of !Iis Majesty's Government 

in matters which must ultimately come Qefore 

them for decision, and for the decision of which 

they are responsible to Parliament. (2) Though the 

Viceroy is about to visit this country for the purpose 

(among othel's) of discussing with his Majesty's 

Government the political situation in India, it 

-would be placing both him and the Government Q.f 

India in an entirely false position if his presence 

hel'e were mad" the occasion for negotiations with 

(he Indian political parties. - 

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, 

No. ~I-VO). XXIII. Friday, -May Z2nd, 1925. 

• egl!.hreo Ji 

PRIGS Fou ....". 

." n ..... o . ••• New.paper 

T 


" i ~! 1 

HE Ceylon InJepenJent writes:- Tbe news I tog for and not :merely the parlitipalion in the 

is current In official circles 10' Londoq dinner. 

aod Calcutta tbat His Majesty ,tbe King Mr. Josep4 Baptista has bf'en elected President 

will in aU probability visit India during tbe of the Bombay Munici.pal Corporation. He has long 

A"tumn of tbls ye~r. If tbe report be coo..: championed the cause of Labour, BIlys Nell' India, and 

f 

• d tit d t ft tb t I may be trusted to nse hill pO!lition to improve the 

IfDJe a, a a er a e,.......a er e re urn 0 lot of the labouring classes in the City. There is a 

His Majesty from his beaUb cruise iO tbe good deal that needs to be done for them in ,many 

Mediterraoeao..,.....we gatber from latest mail directions. 'In politics, Mr. Baptista believes in the 

advlces tbat opportunity. will be taken of tbe pl'inciple of ReSponsive Co-operation advocated 'by 

visit lor His Majesty to be prescnt at the' State his leader the late 'R. ~. TUak. 

opening of tbe new capital Delbi, and to preside The Natal Jfmurg through its "Man in the Moon" 

at tbe inauguration ceremony" of tbe 'Imperial columns conveys Ow following to the Indian com- 

Parliament tbere, His Majesty's second visit to munjtr ;- : 

India will no doubt be ' bailed with delight by It it) to be hoped that the Indian community will 

many millions of his subjects and the sover ..:.tns 

compose their dlff('rences and unite in giving a real 

"'b and genuine ea.'1tern welcome 'to the son of the 

of the various native states wbo will fie witb King-Emperor. It certainly is not the occasion to 

each other in offering tbeir King-Emperor a accentuate their differences With the whites, because, 

most loyal and bearty welcome.. ,It is not they have nothing to do with the matter in hand. 

possible at this early date to sarmise' waat Is Moreover, the,.. know perfectly well that a mixed 

.. I g I d ' gathering at a ci1ic luncheon would wreck the whole 

~e 0 p anne. " business, and woutd 1ead to considerable fraction 

In the course of his recen't address to the Women's 

South African Party Oongress held at Worcester 

General Smuts is reported to have said :- 

With illiterate peopl~'one h,ad to be honest, there 

was no place f9r slyness. Mr. rielmaIi Roos had 

said at Kterksdorp, speaking of the Wages Bill, that 

the standard of wages in: the' town~ woutd be iilcreased 

so much that' Coloured people would have no 

hope of getting employment and would rush to the 

{arms, but addressing the Africander National Bond 

Association of Coloured, People, formed by Nationalist 

agents, Mr. Tielman Roos had ,said that white 

and oolour!ld 'would be placed on a footing of absolute 

equality as ci'rilised beings. Those, pointed 

ont General Smutf!, were two 'Voices of the Pact: one 

for the oity and the other for the country. These 

were all matters which would alienate Colqured 

people and make them lose all trnst in the worq of 

the white man. " , ' 

and bitterness. Much all some of' us may and do 

~ deplore racial divisioJ;ls and religious cleavages, yet 

we have to work w$th thin~s as they are, and the 

Indians are by no means wJthdut their distinctions 

and 'their castell. Would tliey consent 'and agree 

upon half a dozen Indian representatives drawn 

from every section of the Indian population from 

the so-called coolie to the Imam. They wQuld never 

select seven to carry' out the scheme. Tpere would 

be worse bickerings and culuminations about the 

choice than there is about the exclusion. The lhdiane 

kno1V thiS; but Ifome of them seek to rrulke 

political' capital out of 'the aifait. Personally' I 

should have been ilad if there could have been Bome 

pectlliarly Jndiau f\lnction wpicjl tpe ~ince could 

have at~nded foX' a few minuj;es, bt/-~ bis time ilt 110 

1imited that every section of the J'0p\llation must 

inake some sacrifice. 'No doubt the Freemasons, for 

exatnple,. would liave been happ'Y had he' attended 

lodge or the Anglicans had he been present at a 

church service, but the Prince has to remember that 

his father's subjects «omprise all and every JiKle and 

-We have received a letter signed by Bhawani colour, and it is no easy task for him to steer cl~ar 

Dayal, B. A. Meghraj and M. aeethasee Mahartij of 'all prejudices. Everyone of uS should therefore 

supposed to be in reply to our comment on unite in BD'loothing' his' path and not throw up 

thelit resignation from the Natal Indian OongreBS barrierS', lind I believe the majority of 'the Indians 

Oommittee. The letter has not made us any .ee thie. 1t i~ a few malcoiltenti wl\o have been 

the wiser 8S to the justification of their action and spoiled in Oxford or somewhere who are 11lising the 

we do not believe our readers will be any the wiser equali~y stunt. ' 

by it. The letter is a lengthy one and it is more an • 

attack on the editor personally and also on other 

individual!! than an explanation of their attitude. 

As to their argument abQut half-au-hours dinl16rtable 

equality which they are not out for we have 

repeatedly stated and do not mind stating it once 

again that it is not that equality that the Congress 

has been fighting for but fol' the reoogllition of the 

P1iJltiple of equality where the commnnity B8 'a 

whol~ i, tloncel'ned. 

1t i. the duht to J>e i~vit~d 

.\". \~,O ~lv!o ttlnnu ,t~lAt t~ •• Oonir'l!~ bl\. been flsbt~ 

That"Indians are not without their distictions and 

casl.a .has now-a-days become a very oonvenient 

argumentofor Europeans jn defence bf an ever growing 

evil amongst them, but at the ~me time it is 

constantly dinne4 into our ears that the European 

civilisation is far advanced. The fact is that while 

the Indian civilisation is rising the European is 

sinking lJecause the Indian is working towards the 

abolition of a deep-rooted evil whioh the lilutopaan 

t. apRl\rontlr too !!6Ber to adopt. '

INDIAN OPINION' May 22nd, 1925 

Of course Oxford and these places are also monuments 

of the real European civilisation that teach vent to personal grudge even at the cost of the 

work of the Congl'es, and not only th,lt but to give 

the principle of equality but they too ~ppear to have 

community's honour. At a time when WI:' are 

grown too old for our South African intellectuals 

who would rather have the superiority stunt taught fighting for our rights With the authol'ities it grie\ e8 

than the equality. But'Indlans cannot be expected us much to say some bltter words to some of 0111' 

to unlearn what,they have already learnt. 

own brethren who clal-m to be educated and yet 

cannot realIse the harm they are doing to their / 

-fellow-countrymen by cl'e.lting fnction am on gilt 

Another taunt to the Indians by the ]Jlf3rcttry 

through its "Man in the Moon" columns is that themselves wlth base motiv('s, The eXisting COIllmittee, 

however obstinate it may be to carryon Its 

"they (the Indians) changed their minds as much as 

any woman could." We should be grateful to the work, has at nQ time represented the community 

"Man" for tl:ij.s at~vlC,e whlCh should serve as a gUlde and it does not now represent the cOllllllunity an

May 22nd. 1925 INDIAN OPINION 13 1 

a1.low it. the Prince will readily and as heartily condl'scend 

to accept the reception. Hut unless the 

Indians are united such a thing is not conceivable 

and even if it were they could not and would not 

sllcleed. 

NATAL I~DIANS AND VOTE 

'rh~ yearly votel'il roll will be pUblished shortly 

in all the Municipahties and Townships of Natal. 

This mOHt important right of Indians baH been taken 

Ilwsy by the pa88ing of the Municipal Consolidated 

Ordinance and the Townshipill Ordinance. Counsels 

opinion has already been obtained by the officials of 

the Natalllldian Congress, which is favourable to. 

wards Indians cause. It is intended to dispute the 

right of the local Provincial Authorities in the form 

of a test ease. 

Qualifications required for a Voter are as follows; 

(1) Owner of Landed Property in a Borough or a 

Township. e. 

(2) A tenant paying a yearly rental of £10, or 

more. 

We al"e requested by tile officials of the Congress 

to inform the Indian pu blic that all Indians having 

the necessary qnalifications will see that If they are 

on the last years roll that their names goes on to the 

new voters roll. Those Indians not on the roll but 

having the quahfications are asked to submit their 

names to the local authorities or make necessal:y inquil'ies 

through the following gentlemen, who in 

due course are asked to communicate with the Head 

Office of Congre88, P. O. Box G70, Durban. 

DURBAN-Mr. V. S. C. P.

132 INDIAN OPINION May 22nd, 1925 

Yve 

of it. 

That Mr. Beyers himself has some doubts as to its 

ultimate wisdom and is not without some twinges 

of politillal conscience seems indicated by his concluding 

remarks. - Although lie is "more than ever 

convinced that the Government is acting on right 

lines" he frankly confessed that "he looked forward 

to a time when such legislation would be rendered 

unneoessary by the force of circumstances." The 

inference is that in Mr. Beyers's' opinion the draft 

Bill is rendered necessary by circumstances to-day. 

What is the justification for this view? The Minister 

of Mines declares (1) that "the argument that a 

colour bar should not be put into a statute but 

should be enforced by custom is an unworthy one"; 

and (2) that "it was absurd to Mly on the good will 

of the Chamber of Mines." as regards the first 

point, we can see nothing unworthy in 3 dlaincli~a.,) 

tion on the part of a Governlllent 01' a Parliament 

to take legislative cognisance of custom, wh~ther 

trade custo~ or otherwise. The less the LegislatuTe 

irite~feres in these matters the better, jf only ,on the 

principle of letting ~sleeping dog'i lie. There are 

variQus customs bearing \1Pon the employment anu 

relations of white and naQve labour in all parts of 

South AfrICa, but no one in his senses luts eve!' sug. 

gested that these cuetoml'l, whether of' the taetorYI

May und, 1925 


the workshop, the garage. the stable, the fields or the 

boutlchold, should receive fltatutory sanction. This 

was one reason why in th~ Act of HIll the qU('tltion 

of the c01l>ur pat ,Walt left. to he dealt with Ly regulation. 

We oUJ'l!elves did not approve even of that 

method of dealing with it, but it was infinitely preferable 

to the method now adopted by the Governmellt. 

In the United Htatcs, where there is much 

l;t!!er coloured population than in South Africa, no 

i_ ..,ll c()lonr bar exist!!, either by L'lW or ,regulation, 

but ,in practice cer~in occupations arc usually reserved 

for Europeans and others for coloured men 

in mixed. com~tlnititlS. Neitb,er in AJnerica nor in 

South Africa is a large employer of labour going to 

risk; serious trouble with his men, with attendant 

lOBS and, i~efficienc'y, by flagrantly disregarding 

custom and pnbhc opinion in matters of this kind. 

As regards :Mr. Deyers's second point. we can only 

repeat what We have just said, and add that subsequent 

events have ampl~ confirmed the statement 

we made ill 1!}23. In commenting on the HUdick 

Bmitn calle~ wa wrote: "The ratio of white to coloUl'ad 

is not likely to be disturbed. . . " The 

trades apd industries in the Transvaal In which the 

largest proportion of white laqour is employed have 

never come under these colour bar regulations at 

all. . . In the case of the mines there has been 

a colour bar of sorts ever since the Anglo-Boer War 

and before it, a\ld w~ venture Ito pre~icj. that this 

colo'ur bar of custom and conveni~nce will not 

apprec;iably be \\ffec;tlld hy the Supreme Court's 

decision." , bur preiIlction was right. The.. ratio on 

the minps tQ-~y js m()re favourable fQr Europeans 

than it was before the colour bar regulations were 

declared ultra vires. 

With ~egard to Mr. Delers's Qt;her statewents l ~va 

can only refer him t6 the ferms of Mr. Justic'e 

Krap.ae'a J,u~ment "i1\ Nov~tp.be~., ~923. R~flIJing 

to the law of 18t1.3 he said that while it ditterentmted 

aga~ the llatilp peca~se of hi~ lack of ~viUsation, 

in pollcy it "seemed to contemplate his gradual 

emancipation," wherpas "the polic.y of the rtlguIa~ 

tion" (the policy which the Government now proposes 

to extriuJ and to make statutory) "deprived 

the natJve from enjoying the very fruits of his 

advancement," ,.In other words, the majority in the 

Union Parliament to-day is proposing to do something 

f

134 __________________ I_N_D __ IA_N __ o~P-IN--IO-N------------M~ay--2-2n-d-,-1_92_5 __ 

\ 

\ News in Brief 

Writmg in rOlmg Ind!a on the pl'actice of Indian 

National Congress organisations to accept money 

in lieu ,of yarn for membership, Mr. Gandhi says ; 

As a member myself and as Editor, I have no 

hesitation in saying that the practice is illegal. 

Whether it is so in fact or not, only the Working 

Oommittee can decide. I have no desire as "'President 

to give rulings 'in such matters, but as a common 

Sense man writing for a commonsense people, I 

remind the' Congress-men that the idea of importing 

mbney payment as an alternative was discllssed and 

rejected. __ 

H. H. tJ\e Maharaja of Gaekar came to the throne in 

May 1875 and the 50th anniversary of that 'event 

falls on' 27th May 1925. As His Highness is in 

Europe: the Golden Jubilee. cannot be celebrated this 

summer. The I .. egislative Council has passed a 

resolution to celebrate the Golden Jubileo this year 

when HlS Highness may be in Barodl!. 

The Bombay Chronicle says that a strange child has 

been born at Multan with two heads, two noses, fmw 

eyes and four ears with only one body. :people l!-re 

flocking to seE' the strange child. 

It is annonnced that Sir George Lloyd has accepted 

the offer of the High CommIssionership of. 

Egypt in successioQ to Lord Allenby. 

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF SOUTH AFRICA. 

(WITWATERSRAND LOCAL DIVISION). 

BEFOl!.E THE I{ONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE DEW AAL 

JOHANNESBURG, Monday, the 18th day of May 1 1925. 

In the matter between :- 

THE TRUSTEE IN THE INSOLVENT ESTATE OF 

LEWIS WALTER RICH. 

. ApPLICANT. 

and 

HAJEE SULIMAN AHMED ABED, MAHOMED 

SULlMAN KATHRADA, AMOD SULIMAN 

ASWAT, SULIMAN AMOn BAKHARIA, MOOSA 

MAHOMED MOOTAWALI and MAHOMED 

'ESSOPJI BULRULIA. 

RESPO~E~TS. 

Upon the motion of Mr. N, E. Rosenberg, of 

Counsel. for the Applicant and upon reading the 

Petition filed. 

IT Is ORDERED :- 

1. That a Rule Nisi be, and is hereby, issued 

calling upon the Respondents to shew canSt" i(any, 

in this Cpurt on the 9th day of June, Ul25, why 

they should not hand over the 'l'itIe Deeds in respect 

of Stand No. 4192 in the Township of Johannesburg, ' 

formerly No. 120, Township of Burgersdol'p, to the 

Trustee in the Insolvent Estate of LEWIS WALTER 

RITCH, failing which or in the alternative, why the 

Rand Townships RegistI-ar shall not issue dUPlicate 

Title Deeds in respect of the property aforemen 

'tioned. 

2. ,That service of this Rule Nisi be effected by 

publication once in an Indian Newspaper, circuJating 

in Johannesburg and once in the Uni(}n Gau:tte. 

By order of the Court, 

(Sgd.) J. C. HlNSB1!:ECK. 

Registrar. 

Brie R. Ritch. 

Applicant's Attorney, 

14/16, Asher's Buildings, 

Joubert Street, Johannesburg. 

NOTICE 

Nation and Languag~ 

, 

A Lectur~ on the above Subject will be 

delivered by Pundit Bhawani Dayal, Edito;:" 

," Hindi" Jacobs, at the M. K. Gandh{ 

Library and Parsee Rustomje~ Hall, 140, 

,Queen Street, Durban, on Monday the 

25th May at 7 p.m. sharp. 

Public are kindly requested to attend. 

O. H. A. JHAVBRI, 

Chairman. 

B. M. PATEL. 

Secretary. 

'The M. K. Gandhi library and Parsec 

Rustomjee Han Committee 

(\l~"Ut ~~ ~ ~';\ ~llle(l:t ~i~r\l ~l(\ 

etl!it 't.~o ~~r\ :ttll.lll ~l~al' ~ ~ll. 

l. ~ll~ ~u~~~ ~!\ "l'

~ ndiatt (fJ pitt inn 

No. 22-Vol. XXIII. Friday, May 29th, 1925. 

R.e,.sured ., the G_ P. o •••• N •• spa," 

1'.'cs 1'0u ....... ,. 


~l" 

T liE following f.·om the Datll/ Herald will be two Indian 'bus driver;! were charged, one with 

11 educative to those who profeSB to be well- having stopped in a posItion other than one of those 

willhers of tbe British Empire and think they specified under the regulations, and the other with 

are working k\wards its solidification but are actually traverlling streets in which Indian 'bus traffic was 

we,,-king towards its ruination :- not allowed under these same regulations. Mr. 

The events in India and Egypt have brought us Mitchel, who appeared for both the ac and Indians in Kenya has i?een 

reached in the elections fO,r, and the first meeting of, 

the new Municipal Council says a Nairobi report. 

The European community actually produced ten 

candidates for five seats, and heavy polling took 

place. Those elected, in a ~eeting With the Indiall 

members, voted another European as the eleventh 

Councillor, thus ensuring a European nmjol-lty in a 

fully attentled Council. No Indian was proposed as 

the new Mayor, but a gt:eat efIQct was matle to make 

all Indian Deputy l\I,wor, and this was only defeated 

l)y the casting vote of the newly-elected Mayor. 

Thus Europeans have won the first skirmish, but 

the narrow majority proves that the IndIans Will 

win th~ day if the white Councillors get sl.\ck. 

Replying to Sir Robel't Hamilton (Libel'''!) in the, 

Hom!6 of Commons, the Hon, Qrmsby-Gore, Undt'rl:)eCl'tltary 

for the Colonies, said in accordance with 

the decil,ion set forth in a White Paper in July, 

192:1, areas had been reserved in Lowbnds of Kenya 

"with a view to ascertaining the Iudi,lUs' demand for 

'agricultural laud. The matter was in a swte of suspenSlOn 

pending the examination of the land by representatives 

of local Indian interests and the Gov 

E'rnment of Iudi'l, or both. He was not aware thdt 

the Government of ~lJia had taken any action in 

the mat.tel'. 

' 

A peculiar judgment waS given in the DIu-ban 

Court by Mr, U. U, Wallace iu the c.lses in wh.ich 

asked for a remand m order that he might have 

tlme to look up authorities on the subject_ He 

intimated that he would endeavour to prove that 

the municipal by-law was directly opposed to the 

statute that on the payment of the general hcence of 

£1 the owner of a car could travel in any pat-t of 

the Province_ For the purposes of his case, he was 

going to argue that Durban was part of the Provmce. 

He would also challenge the validity of 

making the additional tax retrospectiYe. In this 

case the actual tax had been paid in January last, 

and the additional tax was passed on Feb. 18. "It 

should not," he contended, "have come into force 

until January, 1926." 

May 2!.l, 

Remand was granted until 

• The total number of deaths during the month of 

March in the Borough of Durban were 79 of which 

3:3 were European and ao Asiatic and the rest Col 

OUl'tld and Native. Cases of infectious disease 

totalled 38 of which 27 were Eurgpean and.t Asiatic 

and the remaining were imported and Coloured and 

N,ltive. 

Total revenue from the Inditm }'lo\rket for the 

mouth of 1\1"rch W,lS £1,012 3:3_ ld. an incl·ease of 

£277, /'is. 1d. as compared WIth the corresponding 

month of !a.st year. . 

Revenue received by the Corporation during the 

month of ~fdrch from Natives totals £7-149 6s. Id. 

of which £-1547 !.ls. 9J.. is del'ived from the &l,le of 

beer. ' 

Preaching at the Clifton Wesley'an Clx11rch, Johannesburg, 

recently on the "Statesmanship of 

Missions," the Rev. J. GIyndwr Davies is reported 

to have stated that mission work was never more 

needed in Africa than at the present time. He was 

!Uraul the black m.m had ~" fai,th in the white 

~ .~~ .:> ""

INDIAN ()~INt()N 

man, and the ~\l'ty of the (Jhurch wl1~ \Q ilee V~at he 

-lid n,ot lose fa}t.h il), the w!;lite ml!-'Q.'s re,li~on. "The 

!lJ.i~~on tie}d W.day f~qu)res ~l thJ;l best FIilQ and 

;W0Plell- ~v,~~lab\e becll:,!se t!J.e respons)l>ility lS ~eat," 

he I?(l,id. W 9 J'eq~ir.~ a t~\le allq ~ne inlerIlfetation 

of the Gospel. We must plant a,t this sf!lge of the 

economical, social and spiritual transition in the 

native life the best Christian ideas and ideals." 

'TJter!~ FllTy t}V~ t.p.t:lt~ t4~t played s.tr?p,gly 2~ t~~ 

lives of the natives in'this continent-the Mahomedan, 

like an avalanche from the north, with all his 

corrupting influences, and the W.l,~.,tlJ' }:n W1tlve 

centres, who frequently showe4 ID"Qe(! ~njl «;l i~ ct;lI~!li

~ principle!,! of justice and fairplay. It is ~n ev~ry 

.}.tY elPcl'icnce of l1lany anunfortulWte Indi,m and 

'it is merely by a stroke of luck tlwt an isolated 

case readies the Courts of justice. What is noteworLhy 

is that whenever sueh a ca'>Cl has rel}cbed 

the Courts of justice it ha'! almost illvariabJycaus~d 

. 

s~vere criticism to' be passeq against the Immigf!l~n 

,. Department. .This would prove the rotll'uness 

of the ways of the Dopartment. Each such 

criticism, althoQgp has not the effec~ aD, the Depar~ 

meut Whose hi~l1-handedness ~s aa -.bad a~ ever is 

~evertheless worth recording, 

• 

,Hi 

Wallaub all£>l£ei.! that hp hal! bef!U in SOllt4 AfrlCJ. 

'20 years. aner Wallabh, was described in the Supreme aud c9unsel described'the action of the official as 

pouli to-daY. illeg~l. The alllount was subsequently subscribed 

I Accordillg to Wallabh, he had been domiciled by Wallabh't! friends, I;>ut was then rejected. 

in t\le country since 1902, and it was not until he f'l cannot understand the ImmigratIon Departc\aiO'!ed 

,flOO aJ:'rears of wages from a eompatriot, ment at all," o\Jserved Mr" Justice Gardiner, comtllat 

tJil! r~ght to be heJ:'e was questioned. His debtor, menting on tbe absence of affidavits from the 

he) a'l~ge(l. gave false'information about him to the authptities. "Ii frequently acts in the most un- 

ImmigraUOl\ Department, who promptly arrested reasonable manner anq gives the Court no assistance 

l;\\~ ~nq proceeded to ship him to India as a pro-, at all. It is the mo:;!t high-handed department 1 

~ib\teq immigrant. 'l'he ship had already left when 

hi,S attorn~Yil lluccee

whole questiOn, and it it is at all possible I hope to 

introduee the measure right at the end of the session. 

Mr. Nel (S.A.P., Klip 'River) : Cannot you, publish'the 

Bill before the end of the session: 

The Minister: No. It is not ready. 

INDIAN OPINION - May 29th, 1925 {! 

with Lord MiJ.leton. The btter was a C~llege-chun::~1 

of the "superior pnrzon," but in abihty he was fal] \ If 

inferior to hIS friend. But by a strange freak ot ,'}., 

fortune when Cllrzon was India's mighty MogUII;,,~ 

over the head of this Mogul WaS sitting in WhitehallLw 

Mr. St. John Brodrick as Lord 1I1ldleton then W,18:'W 

the Secretary of State for India' What a gt'caIJ'J' 

LORD CURZON AND' SANJ V ARTMAN' humiliation for so "great" a Vicllroy to tdke hia I 

Following is an article from San) Vartman on Lord orders from one whom he looked down upon t!; his I : I 

inferior in every posslble way?, Friction, umlell.d 

Curzon:- 

l 

In many respects tl}e late Lord Curzon was- a such circumstances, was inevitable and this develop I ,VI, 

puzzlin.i p~rsonality. Genius he had, no doubt. He ing with the course of time ended in open enmity Ii L 

had Elllergy, he had pl!lCk and, above all, he had No wonder, in the quarrel that soon d!'veloped l)el t 

what is po,pularly c~ned an inexhaustiblsamoun! of tween the Viceroy and the late Lord Kitchener, th4t f 

cheek. He was the son of a British pe~r-though Secretary 'of State sided with the Commander-in I,,,' 

that peer was a clergyman and poor-but he rectified Chief, aud ~urzon had to leave India, as we 11.1., 

the fatal mistake of, being bom pOOr by mal'1'Y'ing-a know, in a most ignominious mann!'r. Lord Curzom:'j 

rich American heiress. At the very threshold of his never excused Brodrick for this official defeat ~n(j, 

life he found sy:tD.pathetic _ponsors to baok pim up in his pompously childish fashion he il.i8ued hill 

in his fu,tm'e political career, and aided by his own magniloquent proclamation that henceforth Wher(!l" 

" , h 1 k' the mighty Lord Curzon condesc"ended to attend Mrl4 

,talents and personal gIl ~~ear y made a mar III St. John Brodrick must be absent! This showef,~, 

the House of Commons, a very stern and discerning. 

critic of aspirmg politicltl debutants. His friend!; most conclusively that Lord "Curzon WdS incapabl,lll{ 

found him a "sincere pat.riot. He was warm-hearted,' of rising superior to petty jealousies and quarrelf'l'J 

transparent almost naive, indomitable in effprt and Seven years of "mogulilJm" in Inuia hau SPOil~lt"~1 

very loyal to hisJriends. When in lively mood he him and in England though he lived subsequentl )[' 

was the best of good company and would keep J1 for nearly twenty years he was like a fi~h out !, 

woole dinner-party in laught~ and ,admiration at_ water. Mr. Lloyd George spoke well when he 8.Li Je,) 

his brilliant ~llies." A.ud yet strange to say, with "George Nathaniel Curzon may suit the mild Hind~I)1 

d but not England." But Curzou did not perhapi L 

all thIS sup,erabundancc of personal chal'1ll of hea realise that his inordinate vanity, his self-consciou~~» 

and heart George Nathalian Curzon, was III the 

practical contse-,nf, his'life, a failure. "He never ness, anri his vaunting ambition to shine above al II , 

brought off anything successful. In Indla at first - and at all times, were so many naIls in the coffin 0 I 

, his life's failure. There is no doubt, that he wante')r 

with great ideas for th':} benefit of the native races, to serve his Qountry, but he wdnted to serve himsell'l1 

he alienated the Engljsh populatIOn, and, later, in° at the same time. He, in fact, wanted to serve tWit 

attempts to conCIliate Anglo-Indian opinion, he masters and ended by serving neither well. Whelr~ 

alisnated -all the native feeling. He became the very aeronautics was not so well developed he wanted t, L$ 

type of the prancing pro-consul, with a kjnd of in- fly and little wonder, he soon came to grief. Thal'l'\ 

soJence and- ar!,ogance, of speech which lost him the was the real secret of his failure. , ' 

~atitude he desarved for much genuine bard work" 

and many efforts, of p~manent value. )t was to 

have been the most brilliant reign that India had 

ever I!leen, But on his departure ther~ was none S(l 

poor as to do him reverence, and even the usual 

native ceremonial farewell was boycotted. lIistory 

will trace from this disastrous rule all those increasing 

storms of unrest and discontent which have 

made India an abnost desperate problem." This is 

an accurate thumb-nail snmmary of Lord Curzon's 

character, but it doe':! not say in waat way or by the 

POSSession of what fatal quality so lavishly endowed 

a man failed in life and, brought disaster to everything 

,that he j;ouched. We think the ego in' him 

was inordinately developed. He 'was feverishly selfconscious. 

'EarlY' sUCCess had spoiled, Jiim and -the 

constant homage paid to his genius. had turned his 

'head. 'Like the constitutional courtesy,that prompts 

fu! to' say 'that the "King does no c wrong," he had, 

by his early success in life, had -come to believe that 

George Nathalian CurlllOn, too, can do nothing wrong. 

He had a genuine love for the Ea,st, no doubt. But 

it was a selfish love. For him, a kindly God had 

created the whole East for the' sole purpose of expiQitingfLord-Cu~zon's 

supeJ'ior genius! The East, 

for him, ,was a vast playing ground for~his own selfglorification 

with India as a happy hunting-ground 

for the mighty Jupiter to hurl his devastating 

thunderbolts at the poor and meek mortals of this 

under-world. -Lord Curwn, even in his Oxford 

days, was a "very superior purzon" and all his life 

he walked erect with hls head always touching the 

clouds. And here we find the true key of Lord 

Curzon's failure. Arrogance was the dominating 

rule of his life. It was this al'l'ogance that kept him 

apart fro~ his fellow men and though a loveable 

Dlan in his own way, h.e was more feared than loved 

by those who came in tusiness contact with him. 

Everyone ~ow knows the personal quarrel he had 

CECIL RHODES A"N'D ASIAN INDEPENDImC:;d 

, I 

Af~er describing the imperialistic aims of Ceed 

Rhodes in The Chinese Student~' Montld!!, Dr. Taral.· Jf 

nath Das observes .- - : 

Cecil Rhodes held that it is the will of God tw; J 

Great Bl'itain through the co-operation of the UniW)[~ 

States of America and through the superior genilitrt 

of the Anglo-Saxon peoples would dominate tJ1" , 

world for justice, peace and liberty. We find tmJ J 

Great Britain is ruhng India and dominating majt(.It 

parts of Asia and other sections of the world keef"~ 

ing hundreds of millions of people nnder subjectimiJ:) 

denying simple justice and freedom; and we c

_ ~~y _2.9th J _1~25 INDIAN OPINION 139 

----------- --------------------:~well-calclllatf'd 

manner, particularly by spreading 

p,lucation, and with the co-operation of all peoples 

Dnder flubjection to !lecure freedom of the oppressed 

people" of the world? A few Cecil Rho,le.! of new 

typ£' are hadly need£'(l in all countries of ASia awi 

Africa. They should inscnbe in their heart, the 

ideal of Asian independence, equal opportnnity and 

III} discrimination against any peoplf', bN!llul'e of 

rac p • to be achieved through concerteJ action in all 

pa~~ of the world. 

'1'heir ideal cannot be achieved within a year or 

two nor can it be achie\'ed by mer£'ly delivering 

speecht's. by adopting resolutions 01' by rousing 

racial bitterness between the F.ast and the West. 

... Life-Iong consecration to the ideal. untiring work 

,to 8pr~ the Irospt'l of freedom, augmenting wealth 

!by deveolping national intelligence and efficit'ncy. 

industrial and economic strength and proper inter- 

. national understandings are needed to win the 

victory. None with a light heart and hasty judg 

,ment should respond to thiB call. Only those who 

have a vision and sllstained energy should undertake 

to perform the duty of crowning humon freedom 

through many-sided activitie&-World Peace 

with Justice and Liberty tn All Peoples to be 

Achieved Through Asian Independence. 

~~~!I 

:,"S RETURN 

(By :MR. ~ F. ANDREW~ IN .. YOUNG INDIA" 

At the time when e poet, Rabindranath Tagore' 

left Inllia fOI' South America in September, 1924, we 

had very great anxiety about his health. In China, 

earlier in the year, when- I was wit..~ him, I had 

witneslied his extreme weakness. But the invitation 

that had. come from South America asking for his 

presence as the representative of! Asia at the 

Centenary of South American Independence, outweighed 

with him all considerations o( physical in- 

J firmity. The spirit was willing, even though the 

physical body was aU too weak., _ 

With an eagerness that astonished us all, he 

hastened on from Europe by the earliest 'pol58ible 

steamer and arrived at Buenos Aires very early in 

, November. although the {lantanary celebration was 

I not to be held until December 10th. He felt that 

any stay in Europe, where the crowd would preM 

upon him. might consume what little strength hehad 

and make the further voyage to South America 

impossible. 

In the middle of the stormy Atlantic Ocean he 

wrote in Bengali a remarkable poem. He refers to 

this in a letter, which he hail written to me; and he 

~13S given me permill8ion to publish it. When I 

received the letter. with its poem, I recalled at once 

the hymn, which we had been singing again and 

again at Delhi during the fast: 

The pathway of the T..ord is to be trodden by 

" heroes; it is not meant for the timi(t: 

, ...... He that would drink the cup of the Lord 

mUilt abandon his all. 

In his letter he told me that at the time of writing 

he was visited with a u-rrible oppresl5ion of soul. 

more mental than physical, and his poem revews the 

p'!:thway of release that he found. 

The Tempest.' It runs as follows:- 

'. , Half asleep on the shore, 

. 

' - 

You dreaded the voice of the Tempest. 

When he thundered in your ears his.'No.' 

.~• .j You had said to one another, 

That the store had its plenty, 

The house had its comfort.- - 

When suddenly, grinding his flashing ~th, 

The Tempest growled. 'No.' 

But I made the Tem\,est my comrade, 

and left my shore, 

' 

He has named it 

With tny ship tossing on the sea. 

I hal'e trtllted the rettible. 

I h". 811e4 !D, W1a with btl bteatb, 

An,l my heart with his assurance, 

- that the shore is there. 

He crit'll to me : "8 vagrant you are, even as I. 

Yictory to you ?" 

Things are s1!attered to pieces, scattered by the 

wind. 

The timid murmur i. despair: 

"This is the end of Time !" 

The Tempest cries: "Only that remains. 

Which is utterly given away." 

With trust in him, I march forward: 

I look not back, 

While the hoarded heap is swept away by the 

-&od • 

My traveller's reed iii tuned 

With the tune of his ioud laughter. 

It sings: .. Away with the lures of desire, 

With bonds that are fixed, 

With achievement that is past, 

And hope that is idle. - 

Learn, for. your drum, the dance of the reckless 

waves, 

.Beating against the rocks. 

Away with greed and fear, 

And Power's banner borne by slaves. 

Come, divine Destruction, 

Drag us away from the house, 

Lead qs away from safety's path, 

Come with the flutter of your wings of death, 

Spread upon the wind your cry, 'No.' 

No rest, no languor, no ease, 

No load of feebleness weighing down the 

head. 

Knock and break open the miser's door I 

Scatter away the gloom of storage! 

Banish the self distrust, 

that seeks a whole wherein to hide, 

Let your trumpet proclaim in the wind 

Your terrible, 'No.' 

"I Every time that I have read over this poem, it 

has brought back to my mind, by some inner asRO- ?? , 

~a:ti~canthe days of the faat at Delhi and thee,·oI.~~II.Mt. 

ne ymn that have still in my own recollection. 

especially aStlOCiated with it. Tht're are also the 

parallel words of Christ, which have gained an 

added meaning for me each year as I have grown 

older. 

, "He that will save his life sb.'\ll lose it, 

But he that loseth his life, the same shall save it." 

After the poet. Rabindranath Tagore. had reached 

the Argentine Republic his health failed him again. 

The kindly people of that country treated him with 

the utmost consideration and conrtesy. Seeing how 

ill he was, they demanded nothing from him except 

that he would remain in their conntry and get better. 

, They came to him for spiritual comfort and he was 

very happy with them. ' 

The same thing qccurred over a.,aain in Italy, after 

his return to Europe. He appeared only once in 

public, at Milan; and after that he was obliged to be 

in bed for many days. The doctors at last consented 

that he should go back to the warmer and sunnier 

climate of his own motherland for a short time. A 

sea voyage is to him the greatest restorative of all, 

and he is a splendid sailor. But the doctors urged 

very strongly indeed. that he show,", not spend the 

'hot weather this year in a tropical clima~ A home 

is waiting for him near Bellagio, on lake COmo, in 

northern Italy, and our earnt'JIt prayers and hopes 

are, that with perfect repose, in one of the most, 

restful places in the world, he may regain his 

physical strength and give the world c.nce more 

some new poems of matchless beauty. 

, 

WORDS OF THE WISE 

When a man gives yon a piece of his mind, give 

him in return only a piece of your heart. 

'there ia a waf that 1IeGl:t18tb right unto II mad. btrt 

the e%!4 thereof are tb' .,. CfI 'eatb -

INDIA IN IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT 

'The Earl of BiI'kenhead, Secretary for India, 

moved the second reading of ~ne Government of 

Ihdia (CIvil Servioes) Bill, which he said would 

haVe great consequences in India. The provisions 

of the Bill wer1:) limited in scope. bnt they were 

essential if the Government were to carry ont the 

declsi'On already arnlOnllC(fcl to accept and put into 

force the main recommendatIons' of the Royal Commission 

on the Superior Orltil SEll'vices in India, presided 

over by I.ord Lee of Farehit'I:tI. The recommendations 

aimed on the one hand at re1I1oving 

certrdu anxIeties, financial and otherwi1!E:1, from the 

services,\and, on ~he ~the~ hand, s~tisfYitl.? Indian 

opinion that the prinOlples tlnderlymg- the ~eform 

Scheme wou:ld'De observed in the ServICes. 'fhe recommendations 

wel~e a deliberate compromIse /between 

the Indian point of view and Service opihlOn. 

No useful purpose was gaIned by Ignoring the fact 

that thete we)~e ,two poInts of' view ·~tnid which 

those who were responsible for the Government of 

India, whether m India or in 'thifl country, must 

~teer a prudent middle courSe. The recom1I1etldations 

which blmefitteli the Services were tile granting 

of small mcreases in overseas ptty ahd issning 

overseas pay in sterling at 2s. a .rupee as a rit'otectlOn 

against the fluctUating rate- of ef(change. That 

meant an additwn of about £135 a year to the pay 

of an officer iti the middle yeai's of his liIervice. In 

the seoond place, there was an iUCl'ease efl:~cted In 

the pensions of members of the uncovenanted ServiceS 

from 5,000 rupees (£437 lOs.) to 6,000' rupees 

(£525) for 25 yeitrlil' service, and ft'om 6,QOO rupees 

to 7,000 rupees for 30 yeats' servitle. Thet'e was a 

grant to all officers of non-Asiatic domltl11e in the 

conrse of theIr service of four return first-class 

passages and one sihgle passage for ('ath child. The 

total cost of the relief under the various heads 

w6uld be oue ctote of rupees, 01' £150,000 a Ye.1r. - 

The atlCeleratetLlndianisation of the Servicel:! was 

accepttJd as !Ii prinmple with a VlliIW to producing, in ' 

the case of IndIan Oivil Service recl'tlits, a cMre onehalf 

E~'ropean and one-half Indilln. In 1924 Iudians 

iii the Indi.an Civil Service constituted 17 per 

cent. of the toml number of officers. Ih the police 

the percentage was 11. Although.time alone co~'Lld 

show, an increase of Irldfans in 15 3 r ears in the Clvi1 

Service and'in 25 yeat's in the -ponce to 50 bel' cent., 

should not prove too ~api:d progress. The pOl:!slbility 

of maintaill1ng that b!1lance and relying< on -it to 

provide a eoilipeterlt and reliable civil administration 

in In'iha must dep~nd on the cbhtribut(ofl by 

Great BrItaih of the very bi3s~ of the young men 

produced, by her schools and univel'sitieli. Ilis 

greatestaml!ety at the present moment, looking at 

the matter in cool perspective, was not mOYllments 

arrd tendilncies in India, grave and- menacing as 

some.of them, had beenl hut tua fact that the finest 

CivIl Service il'l the world .had snown, e!in~e 1914, 

m!l.ny, signs of liick of iln);tulal'ity. We should nevel' 

have kept our. position In In4ia had It not, been for 

thG' dev_otionj abihty, and c.haracte~\of the Givil.$.et'. 

vice. He could not e1rpla.in why tI!.e attractlOri'

®piuinn 

No. 23-VoJ, XXIII. Friday, June 5th. 1925. 

Reg.'terellallhe G,P.O. as a Newspaper 

PaIC. "OOIl'EN~. 

IHI 

of Parties, I feel confident of an assured and honour- 

able p1lCe for her in the Councils of the Elllpire. 

IS Highness the Maharajah of Kutch, who 

in 1921 represented India on the League of 

Nations, an(l Sir John l,ane Harrington, 

formerly an otlicer in the Indian Army, are 

arranging an expedition to Africa, for the purpose 

of big game shooting and making scientific collectionll 

for the Royal Geographical Society and the 

Natural History Museum. The party, which will 

include Lady Hat'rington, will [tart from Khartoum, 

apd proceed first. to l\Iongalla, return t9 the 

~abat River, and explore the Ajuba River. 'fhen 

it will ascend the Baro River as far as possible, 

after -which the expedition will attempt to motor 

-to Kassal via Rossires. The expedItion WIll be 

~uipped with a shallow draught and fast motor 

boat, and three caterpillar cars, ,complete with wireless 

installation. The actual journey in Central 

Africa will oCl;lupy about three months. 

Speaking recently at the ceremony of the laying 

of the corner-stone of Y. M. C. A., Madura, the Rt. 

Hon. ~rinivasa Sastci fn the oourse of his speech is 

reported to have said ~-"In England I have often 

been to the institution popularly known as Shake 

"peare Hut, but whose real name is Indian Students' 

Union and Hostel mainhined by the y, M. ,C. A. 

A good deal has been said by slanderous tongues 

about SOlne thing or other attaching to the work for 

~he students done by that institution. 'There is 

absolutely no foundation whatever for any criticism 

of the character that one hears now and I have 

always esteemed it a great privilege to be able to 

recommend this institution so useful,' 60 indispensable 

and. really so conducive for the modern 

spiritual welfare of the hundreds and. thousands of 

our young men)Vho find themselves adrift, nearly 

helpless, in London. I say I have always be-en 

proud and I have esteemed it a privileg& to bear 

testimony to the absolutely unsectarian and cosmopolitan: 

nature of the service rendered by that 

institution," 

.' , 

J n view of the various cables coming through to 

the effect that Prohibition has faUed., it may- be 

interesting to note that the "Wpts" were utterly 

rounded at the recent American elections, and Prohibition 

.stands to~ay supported by the strongest 

"dry" Congl'ess and Senate Legislatures ever elect69, 

The final results show: The Senate, 73 

"dry" members, 21 "wet" members, and 2 vacancies; 

the House of Representatives, 319 "dry" .members, 

111 "wet" members, and five uncertain. 

These, it must be admittell, are great '''dry'' gains in 

both the Senate ami. House of Repl·escntatives. 

Dewan Bahadur Vijiaraghavachariar. India's Trade 

Exhibitioner, in the course of a speech in India is 

reported to have said :- 

If India continu)s to exhibit the' same attitude 

towards the British Empire as she did during the 

War, an attitude'I noticed, often referred to with 

~'l'atitude \loUd pride b~, ~l Englishmen, irrespective 

_ 


7iN' 

Commenting on the above New Indue writes :-' 

Since there is no War going on India cannot 

" bleed herself white," Quite in the sense that Lord 

Hardinge described in 1m!. But she 'c.tn provide 

-markets for the Empire's goods, supply it with her 

raw materials, help it to develop remote territories 

with cheap labour until it is not Wanted, and then 

bring it home again, maintain a huge Army at her 

own expense, and thus lighten its burden, find an 

outlet for its children in her own higher Services, 

and willingly tmbmit to all the oppression and 

injustice and humiliation of a subject race. Then. 

we also have no doubt that references to India by 

Englishmen will again be tinged with pride an(l 

gratitnde. But the pride and gratitude have not 

materialised into the Freedom India hoped for, 

hence, her attitude is that of keen resentment. She 

was recognised as equal on the battlefield in death, 

but not as equal in hfe in her own land. 

Saya the Zanz,bal' Vou-e -The Colonial Secretary 

has -approved, it appears, of the recommendation 

made by the late Governor of Kenya as to the composition 

of the MUDlcipal Council of Nairobi, tho 

capital of the Colony. 'fhe Councll is to consist of 

twelve members, of whom five are to be Europeans 

elected by the European community, four Indians 

elected by the Indian commuDlty and nominated 

by the Governor, one Goan elected by the Gminese 

community, one official and one European, co-opted. 

by tlie other members. This arrangement has been 

accepted by the Ind.iall8. the protest agamst election 

by commnnal electorates being maintained in the 

provision that the Indian elected members will sit 

in the Council, not by virtue of the election, but uy 

virtue of appointm(mt by the Govern9r ! 

In a recent issue of the "N.C.W. of Great Britain" 

it was noted that an effort. was being made to bring 

India into the I.C. W. and that a small committee, 

with the Marchioness of Aberdeen as its chairman, 

had been formed in London. Indian radies passing 

through London are asked for their advice. about 

their various Provinces, and several of them have 

gone back to lod13 anxious to work towards the 

formation of local or Presidency Councils. When a 

tertain number of these have been formed, it may 

then be possible to establish a National Council for 

all India. There is already an established Council 

of Women in Bombay, re'ldy to affihate; Miss Cornelia 

Sorabji, Hon. Yice:-President for the I.C.W. in 

India, from her headqllaters in 28, Chowringhee, 

Calcutta, is in correspondence with several willing 

helpers in Calcutta and in the as yet untouched 

Provinces; and there seems a good prospect that a 

National Council for India may come into existence 

ere long. The Secretary of the London ProviSiOnal 

Committee is Mrs. Gray, 200,. Palf\Ce Chamber!!, 

Bridge Street, Westminster.- ...."

Reuter's tnessage understandil that official intimation 

wilf shortly be published in India that 

certain powers which, nnder the Government of 

India Act, were given to the Bengal Legislative 

Council, will revert to the Governor of Bengal in 

Council. It is pointed out in well-informed circles 

in London that under the Dyarchy certain powers 

were deleg~ted to lnwan Ministers in the Legislative 

Council. The Swarajist Party, thinking probably 

they had not received sufficient concessions, refused 

to vote .the salaries of the Ministers. A deadlock 

ensued,-and as certain sections of the public busi· 

ness came to a standstill it became necessary to take 

action. 

--- 

A Retl~r's tI1essage ftom Pretoria. repor~ that 

four IndIans have been arrested on a charge under 

the Gold Law. It is aneged that tJiey were 'found 

in possession of gold to the value of '£250' When 

arrested three Of the accused were about to board 

the Johannesburg train. On visiting the Asiatic 

bazaar the'police found a goldsmith's p~t. 

WELCOME TO OUR ROYAL GUEST 

~J.\yE extend,a hearty welcome, to His Itoyal 

\'1\1 Itighness the Prince of Wales to this 

Province and especially to Durban· 

Much as Indians were ahxious to participate 

in celebrating this; unique and happY oacilsion 

together with the other sec::tions of the burgesses 

of this Town tney are not able to do so 

unanimously because they have unjustifiably been 

refused an _honourable position as It seIf.respecting 

section of the burgesses by the Corporation. 

Anti~Asiatic feeling in this Town is very high and 

strange to say most of our City Fathera eveh are 

not void of that leelipg. If they had any respect 

for His Royal Highness it was their duty to 'put, 

aside all such feelings and to act harmoniously 

with every section of the burgesses irrespective of 

cJ,ass, colour or creea,-U not for anything else for 

the sake of expediency as we have already stat~d 

in a. previous article. But 1 no, they have not been 

ahle to sacrifice that feeling and yet they profess 

to be the m.ost loyal citizens of the llritish Empire 

and are most anxious to accord a right royal welcome 

to the Prince of Wales. It is sheer hypocricy. 

It is true _that we are responsible to a cet· 

tain extent ,fo~ the presen:t. state of affairs as we 

were not able-to stand unitedly. There are a few 

irresponsible individuals in our community whO, 

for reasons known to themselves- have not hesitated 

to sacrifice the interests of the whole" Mmmunity 

to ,gain their own ends, and have gone 

a.gainst the Congress who has ever been :lighting 

fo1' the just rights of our '6rethrell and have on 

their own a~d without, any mandate from the 

{Jom.rnunity expressed their willingness to accept 

the humiliating terms ofiered by the Mayor. The 

-Mayor has taken advantage of this division in our 

community and totally ignoring the voice of the 

Congress has taken into cO'l:6.dence these lew 

irresponsible men who have neTer at any time represented 

the community and has forced On the 

community a programme which- is considered by 

a large section to· be humiliating'. Nor self-res· 

pecting Indian nor any fair-minded :E!uropean can 

INotAN OPINION June 5th, 1925 

consider the qelllands made by the Congress 

in an1way nnjust. Out' friends"who have chosen 

to become the pets of the Corporation too in their 

innetmost heart rE'a1i-:e' that tlie -cause for which 

the Congres's was fighting was right but the idea 

of t1eir_ becoming the pets of the Corporation has 

apparently blinded thell1 to their duty to their 

fellow-countrymen. ,1.1 

We wish to point out at this stage that we have\ 

the hlghest esteem for His Royal Highness the 

PrinCe of Wales but we hold our sell-respect. to be 

sacred above everything else. Our fight is with 

the Durban Corporation who has obstinately refused 

to accord tha.t status to us and has thus 

pre'tented us from celebra.ting this occasion unanim.ously. 

As repre~~ting those who are against 

participating in the celebrd.uons on the present 

terms we wish His Royal Highness will not misundel1ltand 

our delicate position. We wi&hed 

there had been no jarring note in 8

June 5th. 192~ tt.:DIAN OPINION i..ij 

----------~~----~.-----~--~----~~~------~ 

his august rank as future Emperor of India. / This 

" he smilingly accepted and retained in his hanlls 

when the Royal motor car proceeded on its way 

amid a final salvo of applause. 

The incident, completely unrehearsed though it 

was, passed off with great eclat, and will create a 

splendid feeling of pride and gratification throughout 

the local Indian community. 

, r: WHAT PRINCE THOUGHT OF INDIANS' 

WELCOME 

ALBERT PARK FuNCTION 

Durban's welcome to the Plince has been sincere 

an4 deep, and the Indian community, no whit behind 

the Europeans, gave His Royal Highness a 

magnificent reception on the Albert Polrk this mornjng. 

From an flarIy hour Indians had been pouring 

into the park, and by the time the Prince arrived it 

was computed that 15,000 of them were present, 

there beiDi no less than 7,000 school-children lined 

up in front of the dais. The orchestra of the Natal 

:Musicians" Society, an Indian organisation, led Ute 

music. and from a very early hour the park Wal!! gay 

with banners and vividly-coloured dresses. By 

noon the whole area of the Oval was covered with 

people, and from the dais as far as the eye could 

see was a Burging mass of humanity, waiting exp,ectanUy 

for their Prince. 

DRlVE ROUND THE PARK- 

Exactly at 12.30 the Royal cars were seen entering 

the park, and on the instant the whole concourse 

burst into a roar of cheering, such cheering as has 

not yet been surpassed in Durban. The Prince 

drove slowly twice round the park so that the 

people on the fringe of the crowd had an excellent 

vlew. 

He reached the dais through a long line of some 

100 ex-service men. who were drawn lip in two 

ranks, and his appearance was the signal for the 

orowd, led by the band, to sing "For He's a Jolly 

Good Fellow." Mr. E. M. P~ruk, the chairman of 

the Indian Reception Committee, welcomed His 

Royal Highness, who was accompanied by the 

Mayor. on the dais, and said: "May it please your 

Royal Highness, I welcome you in the name of the 

Indian community. I wish you long life, and pray 

that you may be one day OU1' Emperor. We hope 

you willl'etnrn safely and tell our King that we are 

his loyal subjecta. May God bless you." 

A LITTLE HINDUSTANI 

The Prince, who was in mufti, smiled happily. 

"Thank you very 1l11lch, for your kind welcome," 

he said, and turned to face the crowd, to be garlanded 

at the same moment, and presented with a 

bouquet ()f carnations. His Royal Highness, still 

smiling, handed the bouquet to someone else, and 

inquired anxiously whether he should address the 

crowd in English. "I know a little Hindustani," 

he said, but on Mr. Paruk assuring him that the 

people spoke English, he turned to them. 

"I thank you all for your very kind welcome," he 

began, "and I wish you a prosperous futnre." The 

crowd roared. and the Pl'ince smIled agdin. 

• "Splendid," he remarked. 

.Another boUquet. this tiIfl6 from a tiny Indian 

girl, who was lifted up to the dais, and then the 

---.. waiting children broke into "God Bless the Prince 

of Wale.s," singing it with wonderful enthusiasm. 

Three tremendous cheers followed, and then the 

Prince was presented to the members of the Reception 

Committee, shaking hands with e~h of them. 

On the dais, in addition to Mr. Parnk, w('l'e Messrs. 

H. L. Paul, C. M. AAglia and A. Ra.i. 

The Prince chatted for a few miuutes with Mr. 

Paruk, asking whence the majority of ~ crow"l 

hailed, and displaying a considerable knowlet4e of 

India and its inhabitants, and then he left tOO dail! 

to be driven away amid a continued roar from 

15,000 throats. It was a great recpption, and Durban's 

Indian community have every reason to be 

proud of the way in which they greeted their 

future Emperor. 

M. K. GANDHI LIBRARY AND PARSEE 

RUSTmlJEE HALL 

ILLUMINATED WITH eOLOURED I.IGHTS 

INDIAN DECORATIONS 

It is evident that in spite the dissention that arose, 

probably largely through misunderstanding, amongllt 

the members of the Indian community, they have 

risen to the occasion welL 

Grey Street has been Waily decorated by ownerll 

of premises in the street and by general subscriptions 

In Queen Street, the Bai Jerbbai RUltomjee Trust. 

has liberally decorated the M. K. Gandhi Library 

and Parsee Rustomjee Hall, coloured lights standing 

out in the words "Long live the future Emperor of 

Iridia," the whole couonr scheme being in green, 

red a white. 

It is in similar colours that the individual d.· 

corations are carried out, Taken from the flag of 

India the motto .. Heaven's Light our Guide," i. 

freely used, and there is also emblazoned .. Swara.j 

is our birthright." 

THE COLOUR BAR 

PROTEST OF JOINT COUNCIL 

The Johannesburg Joint Council of Europeans 

and Natives has forwarded a memorandum to the 

Minister of Mines and Industries in which it 

opposes the Mines and Works (Colour Bar) Blll "by 

all the.means in its power." 

Among the reasons adduced for its attitude are 

the following:- 

"The principle of a colour bar in industry is 

economically unsound aud morally unjust, and is 

without precedent in any ciVilised country. The 

application of this new and dangerous prineIple is to 

be wholly in the discretion of the Government of 

the day (by very wide powers of regulation), whereas 

Parliament itself is in duty bound to control and 

tQ make itself responsible in detail for every applicatiGn 

of a principle WhICh may involve such seriolls 

social consequences. This dangerous measure is proposed 

at a time when there il!! no evidence whatever 

that the Hildick-Smith judgment has beell followed 

by any considerable substitution of natives for Ea-. 

ropeans on the gold-mines. 

"So far as the openi.ng up of new places for Europeans 

is concerned, the numbel1l of natives employed, 

even in unskilled occupations, is comparativelr 

small (ou the go1d mines, which are primarily eoncerned, 

only a matter of hundreds). To replace 

these by Europeans will do very little to relieve 

EUropean unemployment,- aud that little at an 

absurdly dispropor\ionate cost. It will adversely 

affect the relatiS>Ds of Europeans and Natives, and 

will create a seUBe of grievc1nce. !f.- every opportunity 

of development is denied to the natives, all 

sections of native opinion will inevitably be drawn 

together on anti·Eutopean and extremist lines. The 

Bill is bound to cause a fundamental disturbance of 

existing conditions, the extent of which cannot now 

be accurately estimated. 

"The displacement of Europeans by Natives is 

effectively prevented by trade union vigilance and 

by the pressure of public opinion. But displaced 

Natives are powerless, and can only cherish a sense 

of injustice and resentment against their white 

rul_era. 

AsUTId V. COLOURED 

"The Bill, in differentiatin~ between eoloUTed

144 INDIAN OPINION June 5th• 1925 

\ 

people on one hand and Asiatics on the other, 

threatens to provide new antagonisms in the alrea'1y 

much divided South Ahicanl,ody politic. 

Impressions that will inevitably take their place 

in tl1e minds of the Natives if the Bill becomes law 

are: (a) That Europeall laboul' is unable to compete 

With native labOUI', however civilised, without unfair 

extraneolls aid; (b) '],hat the Bill is a conscious, 

though clumsy application of the Imperialist plinciple 

pivide et impera; (c) Newly formed native 

labour unions are frigtttening the Government to 

take protective measures. ) 

The Colour Bar< Bill stands with other mcasllres 

s11ch a~ the' Mimmum Wage ,Bill and the 1913 Land 

Act (still applied for the most part only so far as It 

Imposes restrIctions on Natives), as part of an UI1- 

defined policy of segrega:tIOn. There can be no 

justificati\)ll for the one-sided application of' sllch a 

policy by measures imposmg serious restrictions 

upon NatiVes, without any compensating privileges, 

or any protectIOn wha~ever for just native int~l·esb:!. 

"TIED TO THE ·LAND" 

The repoet alludes to the thoroughly unsatiSfactory 

conditio,ns prevailing on many farms before 

more natives, 01 natives now employed in industry, 

ate fOl'ced into farm labour. 'rhe very low 'ltandarJ 

of native farm wages (agl;iculture being excluded 

from the operation both'of the Colour Bar and of 

the Minimum Wage Bills), is proof that,in spite of 

occasional local shortage, native farm labour is, on 

the whole, a wasted asset. Observation 'shows that 

the operation of the 90-day labour.ten,ant system 

immobilises large numbers of potential native la.bourers 

who are in effect "tieLl to the land," nndel' 

employed and under-trained, so much so that 

natives are Justified in resentmg a policy ,vhich 

aims at pushmg them on to the El1l'opean farm'l 

where they have no prospects of i91provmg their 

standard of livmg. 

No provision whatever has been macle for natives 

already displaced in the pursui.t ot the Government's 

"civilised labour" policy-nor- foJ' the relIef ot 

natlves suffel'1ng fr-om severe economic pressure in 

congested native areas. The m1rnant is singllbrly 

inopportune for legislation /which much tenu to 

aggravate the seriousnesS of this sltualion .. 

"Failing an equitable policy ,of segregation," says 

the report, "the only sound pr9tectlOn for legitimate 

white interests IS to raise native standa.rds. The 

present measure IS calculated to depress the native 

standard and to aggravate the evil. This rednces 

the 'natIOnal dividend' and circumscribe;! a m)stimportant 

mal'ket, for the products ot South Afrio.1n 

agrlCultuve and iudustl'les." Experience shows (e.g., 

in the Transkei. where virtual segreg.1tion is seen in 

practice) that the material 0(' economic pl'ogl'ess of 

the native population creates wants such as bl'idgebuilding 

01' motor or agricultural m:l.Chinery rep.lir 

shop1', which are, and C.1n to-day, only be ,snppheJ 

by the initiati~e of E9ropeans and by an iRfiltration 

of Europeans IptO the segregatIon are.1. ':I,,isbtion, 

like the Colom, Bar Bill, will close avenues to 

natives and prevent them from learning to meet 

tuese needs ,for themselves in their own al=eas. 

THE MINIMUM WAGE 

While in Enropean countr~es the pt'inciple of a 

minimum wage may hav~much. to commend. it, its 

application to South African conditions ne6ds most 

careful scrunity. When to a niinimnm wage Bill 

is added an undisguised Colour B.1r Bill the injustice 

becomes obvious. 

'rhe Joint Council resolved .- 

That immediate representa~ions be made to the 

Prime Minister (a) cOJlveying the Conncil's opposition 

to the measure,' (b) dl'awing attention to the 

fact that native opinion has not been constllted on a 

measure profonndly affecting all Mtive interests; 

Co) requesting that inasmuch as the Prime Minister 

has himself stated that the announcement of his 

complete programme is postponed for at lea9t a year 

the restl'ictions Oil natives proposell in the C ~lou~ 

Bar Bill should not be considered before that programme 

is announced. ' : 

:phat the Counct! take steps to place its vIews before 

any Select Committee that mar be applintel. 

EVILS OF NATIVE PASS SYSTEM ,. 

JOIN"f COUNCIL'S FINAL RECOMME~DA"l'IONS '\ 

"The pass system is. no doubt, an MKy means of 

controlling those who are subject to it. but It is 

uevertheless crude and repulSive. It shoultl not. he 

beyond human wit to organise onr soci.!I system to 

give the native liberty ill the lan,l of hi'! hirth. Few 

Enropeans realise the irritations and fier'ce rC'Helltments 

caused by' the pass system. The thrcJ.t to extend.it 

to women inflames the n.ltl ve to resistanoe. 

We have had to respect these feelings. B:lt. even 

the proposals now submittl:'d (ellpecially Cl.LUse 2 (a), 

(b), are regarded with dislike and feal·. This clause 

tries to control the influx into the towns and to 

meet the demand for more parental control. The 

'itati¥e people deplore the ease With wI1ich native 

girls are able to escape home dlsciplme and are 

enticed into the towns. But, while there is an 

almost' unanimous desire for p.1rel}ta\ contl'ol, 

Clanse 2 is not as unanimously supported, largely 

because of the fear that it will proviue an easy 

means of introducmg a form of pass." 

"Our inquiries have confirmeu our conVICtion 

that the reintroduction of the Night PaSS Ordin.mco.) 

in respect of native women would bil to tmlCh the 

evils which stirred the Mimster of Jllstice and ,. "11' 

selt to actIon, and would add anothel' pow 'ul 

irritant to those which ah'eady CJ,llse unrest among 

the native people." 

The above are extracts from the covel'ing letter to 

a memorandum submitted to the Prime Millitlter 

by the .J()iut Conncil of Enropeans and Nativei.l. The 

letter is signed by the Bishop of JohanneOlbnru, 

H. S. Msimang, Rev . .Ray E. PhIllipi, Mr. J. D. 

Rheinallt Jones and Mr. R. V. Selope Them 1. 

The_ memorandum which is the result of the 

Joint CounCil's deliberations aHel' consllltJ,tioll With 

the native welfare societies, native chieft:1 and other' 

organisations, iu'ges upon the Pl"im3 Minister not to- 

, alter the present position until a native conferen~e 

has been convened under the Native Affaird Act 

1920, to consider the propo3ed scheme or any mojifications.-'rIM 

Star (,J ohannesbllrg.) 

TURN INDIA INTO IRELAND 

1\1;R. NATESAN'S GRAVE WARNING 

In the Council of State India recently Mr. CI'erar 

moved for a consideration of the Bengal Ordinance 

SJ.pplementry-Bill and mlde It clelr that it was inten 

(led to clear the obstacles which stooll in the way 

of India ad vancing on the road of responSible Government. 

Mr. Yamin Khan said the fact on which the Governor-General 

had proceeded to take the entire respO'lsibihty 

for th} promulgatIOn of the Ordinanc3 

and this bIll, were not before the House and that in 

the circumstances he would leave the Bill to be pJSl! 

ed or rejected by those members of Council whe 

know the facts. He (1\11'. Yamin Kb.all) woultl not 

take the responsib~lity. 

1\Ir. Natesan asked Government not to turn India 

into another Ireland. By this Bill the Government 

wJs thinning the ranks of co-operators. He regretted 

he COl11d not respond to the appeal of 1\Ir. Crerar. 

Sir D. P. Sarbadhlk.1ri theu qpposed the BIU. 

Sardar Chlranjit Singh supported the Bill aud asked 

the Council to trust the Viceroy. 

111'. Vedaml1rthi after a short speech - walked out

_ J une 5th, 1925, ______=_1 N:...:...::.U_l_A_N-.O-P-I-N-I-.O-N __________ 1-:..45 

of the Clumber as a protest 81-(ilinst the passing of 

the mIl which he C0l1111 not honestl,.. Rl1pport and 

t1l

{NOlAN OPINION June 5th, 1925 

problem!! the British democracy is called upon to 

solve. Much as we learn from all these, there are 

few among us who are able to -aay with any degrfle 

of certamly that we know what the people of India 

want. 

WESTERN EXPLOITATION 

We understand clearly that in spite of all the 

efforts of our beloved frlend Gandhi, Western commorClalism 

with all its sordid horrors is surely fastening 

its grip on portions of the country and upon 

large groups of the people. We also know that socalled 

rel\gious differences sometimes-cause rlOts and 

bloodshed; and 'fie know all that is vocal il1 India 

cries aloud for Swaraj, or Home Rule. Up till the 

other day nobody had said exactly what was m6l\nt 

by Home Rule. Now \ve have received in this 

-country a set of proposals put forward. by'a conference 

held in India which goes to show that)£ the 

British Parliament is wise enough to give heed, the 

people of India maY be sent ,forward, many steps 

forward, on the road to absolute self-government 

and peace. 

' 

CONVENTION BI,LL THE ONLY SCHEME KNOWN 

We understand the need which exists for starting 

th" new constitution by re-establishing the village 

commune. All true self-government starts with the 

mdivldual anti fpom him spreads to village, township 

'ani city but before these proposals can be intellIgently 

dlscussed on this slde, very much propaganda 

work, must be done. There need be no doubt at all 

as to what the British people wlll do once they understand. 

We who are engaged in 'this work are 

but fe..y in number; in addition we are h!l:,ndicapped 

'Pecause we are British and the shoe does not pinch 

us as it does our brothers in India. India must 

send lots of more missionaries to these shores and 

they, should come determined to work and efficiently 

equipped for the work. 

' 

MUTUAL AID 

I have -no faith in those who say India can work 

out her own salvation unaided and alone. She needs 

us and we. need her. It may be said Britain needs 

the wealth of India more ~han India needs the ,organising 

skill and domination of Britain. Domination 

is abhorrent to me. I want not a forced unity 

but a unity as among equals. The WQrId ge~ smaller 

every day owing to the annihilation of space. If 

the resourCeS of India ,are to be developed, we may 

be quite sure that this will eventually mea)l the 

entry of India into the world'!! markets I1S a competitOl' 

WJth nations of, Western Europe. There will 

be no pea,ce, no har!p.ony, when this situatioll arises. 

Westerners cannot and WIll not allow their standard. 

of hfe to be pulled down and 'wrecked simply to 

enable sets of grasping, greedy capitalists to wax fat 

at the expenee of millio!).s of people, whom they 

may grind down to the lowest level of subsistence 

in order to build uy huge profits. 

What, after this, have I, a Britisher friend of tmlia, 

to say to my comrades ana friends in all pal·ts of the 

great Indian -dominions,? Simply this let us each 

agree that we are, desplte the colour of our skins, 

brothers and .Sisters and as snch let us strive to evol Vt:l 

or thinl£. (Jut the sort of social indusLt'ial org.lnisation 

which wVl enable us to overcome all economic difficulties 

aud establish true co-opet'ation l:!etween two 

grent nations. To this end ihe British Tl'ade Union 

Movl'ment must help our Indian brothers in their 

task of organising trade unions. We know how 

hard and difficult a job thiS is, but we also know 

th3.t as we have overooDle ,tqese difficulties, so also 

wlll our brothef!'\ ill 11).dia Qvercome thelll. But they 

I\eetl h·)lp,. 3,d ,lllust ask qs tQ give it tq th~m. The 

gI1Ql\t"f} ~~w:-. 'ft;a,4e~ 'Unioq OQngre~fj WQ~lq WilliQgly 

~e!1~ ~nt, ~ff'nim~ tg 8@lp it th~f ~W~ tllVlt9

~ ndiatt t1fA + • 

\WptltlllU 

N(', 24-Vo). XXIII. Friday, Junf! 12th, 1925. 

JI. gi.tered IIube G. p.o. a •• Ne ....... r 

PUCB Fou ..... c.. 


"7l~ 

THE Maharani Regent of Travancore has chosen TheTanjore District Board haB passed a resolution 

II an Anglo-Indian gentleman belonging to a to teach Hindi in aU schools under its management. 

family long domiciled in the State. A Reuter's __, 

telegram from London statei that Mr. F. E. Watts 

hopes to proeee\! to Travancore in May to assume 

duties of the Diwan at the end of Jnne. Mr. Watts, who 

is a Barrister and has been practising in London and 

Midlandl' for the PaBt five years, is reported to have 

said that the appointment came to him as a IlUrp'rise 

and was entirely unsonght for. He eODsiderea he 

was selected on personal grounds in view of his 

family's century-old connection with Travancore. 

Mr. Watts' selection. foreihadows the separation of 

the connection between "Church and State" which 

has been so long traditional in Travancore. The 

Hmdu residents of Trivandrnm are protesting 

Ilgdinst the appointment of Mr .. Watts as Dewan of 

Travancore since the Hindn religious institutions aB 

well as olher oopartments of the State were under 

the administration of the Dewan and the appointment 

of a non-Hindu would not be practicable so 

long as the religious inlltitutions were under the 

control of Government. 

Mr. Gandhi during his visit to Trivandrum where 

he was State guest visited Maharaja's College of 

Scienoe where students presented him with an 

addriss. In reply he is reported to have said there 

were limitations to Rcience and scientific research 

aI4d that they had to explore where they shou1d restrain 

themselves and where they should let themselves 

go. He deprecated the idea of students seek-' 

inl.( scientific knowledge for obtaining means of 

livelihood and exorted them to take to it for its own 

sake amI emulate the examples of such eminent 

scientists as Sir J. C. Bose and P. C. Ray. He referred 

to unfortunate circumstance that students in 

India were mosUy drawn from middle classes who 

ha~l oonsequenUy lost nse of their handil and did not 

l'ealise dignity t>f manual labour. He advised them 

to place their practical knowledge at its disposal of 

vilL'lges to 8SIIist in introduction of spinning wheel 

into every household. 

In reply to an advice of. a reYolutionary to l'etire 

from public life. :Mr. Gandhi writes in Young 

/litilfl :-"1 caunot always have it my own way. If 

I have had my share of 1air weather. I must face 

foul too. I must not abandon the field of battle so 

long as I feel that I am wanted. When my ,,"ork is 

done anu I have become IY disabled or worn-out 

soldier I shall be put away. Till then, I must continue 

to do my work and endeavour to neutralise in 

all ways accessible to me- the poison of revolutionary 

-activity." 

Mr. Gandhi then advises the revolutionaries to 

spread out into villages and try to bring sunshine 

into the dark dungeons of millions of their countrymen. 

That would be worthier of their ambition 

and love of land thfln the existing unquenchable 

thirst for the blood 01 English offici, lIs and those 

who are assisting them. It is nobler to try to change 

their spirit than to take 'their lives. 

It is understood that the MadraB Medical College 

Council has unanimously resolved to recommend to 

Gov~rnment that L. M. S. Degree of the MadraB 

. University should be abolished only after a suitable 

medical diploma to replace the degree is established. 

. 

The term of office of Mr. C. R. Das and Mr. H. S. 

Suhrawardy as Lord Mayor and Deputy Mayor of 

C'dlcutta respectively having expired recently the 

Calcutta Corporation have re-elected Mr. Das 'as 

Lord Mayor and Mr. Suhrawardy aB Deputy Mayor. 

The Academic Council of the MadraB University 

considered the report of the Committee appointed 

to inquire into the qUistion of encouragement of 

Oriental languages and accepted the proposals of the 

Committee for the establishment of an University 

Institute of advanced Ol'iental Studies and Research 

in dir!.~~ and close connection with the Oriental 

Manuscripts Library. They alllo agreed to the proposal 

for instituting fellowships for thEe' promotjon 

of Oriental studies and the appointment of a PublicatIOn 

Committee by the Syndicate for encouraging 

and 1;lndertaking the publishing of important works 

connected with Oriental studies .... 

Mr. C. V. Venketaramana_ Iyengar, :rtf.L.C., ,who 

ga.ve notice of introducing local option, Bill in the 

MadraB Council has recei ved a reply from the 

revenue Secretary informing that His Excellency 

Governor has declined under Section GOO Goyernment 

of India Act to accord sanction for the introduction 

of the Bill. 

The news that H.R.H. the Prince of Wales is to 

stand as one of the sponsors for the little dau&rhter 

of Mr. and MrS. T. M. Wadley (Mayor and Mayoress 

of Durban), whose birth wail announced on Tuesday, 

has come 3f' a pleasant surprise to Durban. His 

ROJal Highness has suggested "1\lary" ail the name 

for the lIttle lady. 

Sir William Snowden. Chief President for five 

years of the State of South Australia who is touring' 

round the world enquiring into the administration 

of jails and forest conservation by the various Governments 

arrived in Madras recently on his way to 

ColomLo 611 route to AustraliA on the completion of 

his tour In India. In Iln interview with the Associated 

Pre!!s, Sir William referring to Australia and 

Indian immigl'"dnts said:-"1 found in travelling 

through India that there is an impression here that 

Australia legislates espe&ially against the entrance of 

Indians. The fact is there is no more discrimination 

in onr immigration ldws against the admission of 

Indians 8S there is against Germans. Americanll, 

Russians or any other nationalities. The only test 

applied, apart from health and finaztcial qnalifjea-

148 INDIAN OPINION june 12th, 1925 

'------~~-------------------.-------------------- 

tions so that nO mlin shall be admitte4 if he be a 

c~r!>ni~ ~nJah4 or 4~~~ifut~ per~.~?,. ~s th~ la?guage 

~BqO rh,?h e1' er r n?~ c~Fer 1~ \la~le." 

MR. . ANDREWS AND UNION PREMIERS 

tf~NE of my most vivid recollections was the 

~ - tl1e fir~t ci4lis -of South Af~~~an S-~~!Igg~ 

in thJ beginning of the year 1!:l14. Ofr. 

C. F. Andrews writes in a contemporary) General 

Smuts had let Mr Gandhi and "Mr. P?Ta'jr' and lIfo 

Kallenback out of prison in order ~o COme ~o terms 

if possible with the leaden on the Indian side: 

The news h.d spread round Durb~n lik~ 'Wild fire 

that there were 'negotiations about to' begin and 

t,here was a~useIDent in many faces as ~opl~ 

said: "Gandhi will' beat"Sinuts again !,n 

'An ultiinatuk had b'eeD. launchM"from the"Tngia_h 

si4~' th~f ~ie~s ~he i~iq~it9~~ ~fltax ~_f}i'e 

~bolished the whole Indian {:ommunity 'ill Nata~ 

woUld offer passive resistance by ~arching into 

the Xransvaal -and getting tnemselves anested. 

~r. ~it~~hi w~s ~re~~ri.n¥,\to ~ea'd '~~eu: ~n~' ~~ 

d~t~ had peefl ~xea. The m~r~l+ ~~~ tq ?e~w on 

JanuarY 16, :JW4. 

I think it was January 8th when the telegram 

VoW lJeneral. Smuts readleg Mahatma GandlIi. He 

was staying quietly at Phoenix Settl~ment on that 

day about l4 iniles away -froni Durb'itn. When't'he 

tei~gr~m arrive4'askrpg 1ft. f1did~i '~'~eei 

p~~e~'ar ~~uj;~ in :r,retofia, t'here )v~s j~~ time to 

ca.tcP. the afternoon train into Ddj-ban, ~21hurried 

to the country'railway station. When @ g'6t ' to 

Du'roan'e were just g01lig out of ehtr~nc~ 'to the 

s~~tjon 'rpeu'tn.e /?tatj9')l '1f~ster st~PRe~r~ll(l' s~fd: 

~~lIelio, ,Gan.(U)~; '!low are ,y,ou get!i.{lg along with 

General Smuts ?'~ , ' " 

Mah8,tmaji said: "I am g

favour with the white man by srllrtUD~ the black 

Ulan 'wfo t~ oUI' brother.'" , , .' '" 

Q~nerdr Uertz~)g i~ no~ 

l!kelY to remain long in 

power, Even nmv his Go\ernment cannot show 

It \n.ljonty withdut relying' on the La.bour 

vote, He is a's oleai~y as possible'the inferIor of 

General Smut,s iIi'abiluy' a:itd 'imaginlltioll and 

even ,vhile 'General Smuls is out or office.' he Will 

guide 'tWa countWl'n an emergency' as M haS done 

I J (I f 1 ~ t I ,1' I r ,. 

qurfp,q' thestqa.,t mO!ltlls C9~cerning t~e Indian 

question, The tact that General Hertzog has 

beeil ready to listen' to' llim reveals a true greatil~S 

of titinitity in" hilll also and ~ves one ~ope 

... 1 i I II ", j • ' 

for the ut!1!e of s country ~ftai can proquce t ree 

such men as th "lISe I have tried to descri/:>e -Geneml 

Botha. Gen:nsl Smuts, General Hertzog, 

--:. . ~ - : -: - . 

. ~. 

~... ~.. "I • ,'.... 

AMERICA l' M{E~ NOTICE OF INDIAN 

LlW1SLATUHE 

INDIA SHouin bitL'\-SEI'l!'AR EASTERN 

, ,;. '1M'AllOttA irION CO\s'FER'ENCE' i 

, ..t).lJ jmpo~~i K~erlca:~ papers have taken notic~ of 

the pass~~o 9f 4Ie pill. by the 4sse!Dbly at pathi, pro. 

posing reciprocal treatment for ,the Untted States 

ar(d l~e' CdlcrnieJ whicH treat tndians as an inferior 

x'a(:~.' 'jJle' New "y,ur'A: lfven.rtfl f OBt makes the -foUow~ 

itig' cOnlinent :_' " I , , " 

- .1iThe' ~ctlon of the Indian Legislature at DelfIi in 

adopting :a' reciprocity' ltteastll'e on inferiority is 

tlatrl~thing' neW in the 1ine of internal relations. 

Gd'Vernments Ilke' 'the 'United States Which treat,-the 

Hindus as'ihfet"tor people wi11 in'tt1rn to be put' on 

tJie !nfel'ioriiy'fi~t by'tliem. I The act scems plausible. 

Among'tlle wCbfern nations it seems quite all 

rig\lt to appif to alt.otttel' nations anq peoples a sliding 

scate of disparaging' appra:isal.....:.Mck~al''d 'peoples 

liere, arrest~d 'development there, 'corrupted, 'in~ 

dompetent at1d the'lIM:- By the new Hindu' Act the 

rule'will be made'ttl work both' ways:"-lVelv Yor.t 

£CMdlf/ P,ost,!Febrtiary 5, 1925. 

' 

i!;tOf course, the. Indian pe'opl~ must not forget. that 

thef Cannot expect equ'al tr'ea'tmen"t'in Atnenca 'un; 

leBS they can acquire equal status within the -British 

Empire and in' their 'own 'Connttt. ' In their 'own 

oountl'y the Indian' people are held to be inferior 

and incompetent! by (he' British ovariol'de 'and thus 

they have not full .hare in' their own government. 

Indeed, the Viry sense of self~respect of the 'People 

of India has forced them' to' adopt reciprocity legislatiun: 

I 13ut'-this Inimigration question has a tremenll~us 

sigfiifiCllll'Ce'in international relationS'. 'Indian 

statesmen should take'noto that 'the Immigration dis~ 

cl'itnination hi the' '.#tnglo-Saxon wodd iB directed 

against India, China and 'Japan: It is' dll'ected 

aialnst Eastern Asla'whl're abont 900,OOO,OOo-people 

n'Vl'. The '.questiorl will n'eve.. be '1lO1ved unless 

Chhm recovers hcr fnli sovereignty by abolishing 

aU forml! of extra-territorial' jllrisdiction and Inwa 

achieves. at;least the sallIe kind 'Of independence as 

Canalia br' Australia enjoys. "It is n.othing unnsual 

to suggest. that because China, 'Japan and India have 

common 'in~est8 'invol'ted in' 'World 'affairs, flU' 

Sighted Indian statesmen Rnd 8chola11l of these COUlltries 

should co-operate in solving these p'roblelll.9 in 

a way \vhtdh will lead to better understanding between 

the East and the W cst. 

, As u'matter of concrete'suggestion for Indian 

statesmen who are 'diSdUssing the probability of 

holding a congress of all 'Asiatic nations in India, 

possibly through the leadership_of the Poona Sarvanltmik'Sabha 

(as suggested in the JIarhalla), in the 

llear futur~, we rC'opOS& that lnditl shOUld call for a 

a }tal' Eastt>rn Immigpation COllf~ren()e to l)e held in 

149 

Cawnpore durmg the session of All-India National 

CoIlgN'SS ~uring the Cl1rlt!tmaa week of 1925 in 

which aU the peoples of the Far East partlCularly 

are to be invite4. Of course, other lldtions will be 

allowed to participate. Jhpan is' going to hold a Far 

~tern Meilieal Conference ill Tokio in 1926. Is it 

too mUch to expect that India will take the leadership 

in calhng the Far Eastern Immigration Conference 

in the near future Y 

COCHIN AGAIN LEADS 

In certam directions 80 quickly dOeB the women's 

movement advance in Inmd. that each month Sees 

Bome new and noteworthy step forward being taken. 

This month we are happy to record that a woman 

has been nominated to an Indian Legislative Council 

f01'l the first time ilt ber own right. The Government 

of eocMn has nominated Mrs. T, Madhavi Amma as 

a member for its new Legislative Council. It will 

be rembered that the sister State of' Travancore was 

the first to' include a woman member; but Dr: 

Lukhose Poonen, the fady in question got her seat 

iIi the Council by virtue of hel' 'appointment as ~ 

'substitute for the Darbar ppysiCian, a man. Now 

Mrs.' ~Iadhavi 4.mma is the first- woman' dtl8Cfly 

appointed as a memJjer of lm important' J.,egishitive 

Douneil, 'We congratulate hf'l' on bemg the recipient 

of the historic 'honour amI hope she will be the 

forerunner of many Indian wOllien ~I.L,C·B. Cochin 

State has been ever in the van as reg~rds women's 

progress, which is what'one wouhl expect to a State 

where matriarchy still holds sway, where the rate bf 

female 'htet'acy ia the highest in India and wnere 

the wife of the Maharajah wields very great political 

influence, 

THE ACTING GOVERNORSHIP OF BENGAL 

EARL WINTERTON SEVERELY HECKLED 

In the House of Commons recently Col, Wedgwood 

asked wby Sir Abdur Rahim, Semor Executi\'6 

-Councillor was not 'appointed Acting G(}'vernor 

of Bengalm vie,v of the geneml practlee in suo!1 

matter~ ( 

Earl Winterton replied that',no general Pl"dCtiO& 

could be said to exist in'respect of administration of 

the act which had been into operatIOn only tor a few 

months. 

' 

Col. Wedgwood presumably had in mind the 

provisions relating to the filling of tempOI'al';r 

"Vacancies but these did not apply to the selection of 

substitutes for Governors proceeding on Jffive~ > 

001. Wedgwood asked whether there was anything 

in the Act passed last year authoriSIng the 

change o['prdctIce which had been usual for thi! last 

sixty years and whether there was a single precedent 

for the place of a Governor being taken ·by anybodr 

not 011 the spot except the Senior Executive Councillor. 

' 

Earl Winterton rephed that last year's Act could 

not have possibly altered a practice' that' did Jiot 

exist and ha\'e statutory authority to a situation 

which did no\ prevaIl before. No precedent could 

be found ia what was done in filling O'rdinaty 

-vacancies temporarIly. . 

Col. Wedgwood asked whether Ear} Winterton 

suggested that the filling of vacancies in the past 

never-occurred and that there had never been any 

practice other than the one indicated in the question. 

• Earl Winterton replied that the practice of iilling 

ordinary vacancies could not be col1sidered anaIogous 

to the Act of last year because it was the first time 

in British India that it permitted the Secretary of 

State and Governor-Gene~! to give Governors leave. 

Col. Wedgwood asked: Are you importing into 

that Act new the prin?!ple which will be permanent?" 

\ Earl Winterton: No,"

EUROPEAN ASSOCIATION AND MR. DAS 

The following statemen~ has been issued by the 

European Association :- 

" Althougn.,recognising that a reservation may be 

con:sidered-t-o lie in Mr. C. R. Das's declaration that 

his abhorrence for polibcal crimes pf violence is 

only equal to his abhorrence for their inevItable 

antidote in the shape of repressive legislation, the 

Council of the European Association views his manifesto 

with satisfaction as an nne!Iuivocal condemnation 

of the use of violent endr.J. The Council cannot 

ignore the atmosphere of deep mistrust that uudoubtedly 

exists in the Indian pohtical hfe to the 

serious detriment of the successful solution of 

India's difficult political problems. They do not 

desire to emphasise the r~asons for it or apportion 

blame, but welcome the manifesto as an authoritative 

announcement that the party of MI'. Das deprecates 

any bitt clean methods in the fight for their 

objective. That the speed of progress to the goal 

$et forth in the, Government of India Act will cauSe 

difference of Qpinion is certain, but with the goal 

itself a,ccepted by the British Parliament and by ·the 

British and lndian people's political progre'lS should 

be pOSSIble wlthout the inflammation of racial feeling. 

In inviting the Europeans to co-operate in 

resis~lUg the repressive legislation Mr. Das asks for 

a degree of confidence which is not yet possible in 

the light of the past experience. The Council is 

confident, however, that, if the policy set forth in 

Mr. Das'l}manifesto is to govern the future political 

activities, an improved atmosphere of good wIll 

aUlong all the communities will facilitate the sucGesful 

removal of those obstacles, which, at present, 

hamper India's progress. 

' 

"1'AM AT THE END OF IT." 

'RT. HON. SASTRI, AND LIBE1!,Aus'\. 

WILL~HE BECOME A SWARAJIST? 

At an inform.al talk' with the citizens of Kumbahakonam, 

Rt. Hon. V. S. Srinivasa Sastri., expressed 

himself on the attempts made in India at 

present at unifying t~ various com~unal forces by 

means of an all partles conferenct' at which the 

.. leaders confabulated and found differences insuperable." 

The disuuion and suspicion found in 

the country were naturally reflected on the floor of 

the Assembly. Mr. M. A. Jinnah who was regarded 

as the most effective ambassador betweeu the two 

communities, Hindus and Mahomedans, ana who 

was a thorough.,going nationalist at one time was 

now an advocate of special Muslim claims and admitted 

that his views had undergone a change. 

Hmdus and' Mahomedans were weaker to-day on 

account of their dissensions than they were before. 

In consequence of ,these dissensions, Government 

had grown stronger and dni not hesitate to supersede 

Sir Abdul' Rahimjn tile matter oLthe Governorship 

of Bengal. Sir Abdul' Rahim's claim by law and 

justice was good but it was ridiculously dismissed. 

The Indiau Civil Service felt entrenched. in an Impregnable 

position due to the Lee Recommendations. 

It was the way of British statesmant he said, when 

he had done a wrong to cover it up with the forms 

of law, no matter how. , 

Speaking on the idea of a deputation to England 

at the time of Lord Reading's ViSlt,_ Mr. SJ.Stl'i said 

that there was no USe sending auy deputation" unless 

all parties were represented or all parties 

sent separate deputations. He could not say 

whether th~ Swarajists wonlJ agree to the proposalof 

a deputation since Pundit Motnal 'Nehru 

had already shut his doors against all such ideas 

until an invitation came from Whitehall for a deputation. 

,}Ir. C. R. Das' statement l\lr. Sastri said was 

June 12th; 19'25 

hOPQ{ul, bn' Lord Birkenhead over-interpreted Mr. 

Das. Referring to his own (Mr. ~astri's) place III 

the LIberal Party, Mr. Sastri said he was at the end 

of it whwh meant that he was very near the Swaovajists. 

He was inclined to be a Swarajist if the 

SwaraJMs dl'opped from their plan one or two 

things such as wreckmg the constitution. 

. A CORRECTIO-S 

The Rt. Hon. Mr. V. S. Srinivasa Sastri makes the 

following correction of his speech reported in 

Madras papers. The sentence in my Knmbakonam 

talk havmg been reported wrongly, I have been 

much misunderstood. I said that in the Liberal 

Party, I occupied that end which was nearest to 

SWl!rajlsts. The report splits the sentence at the 

word "end" and represents me to have said that I 

was at the end of the Liberal Party and was prepared 

to join the Swarajists. 

THE NATIONAL CONVENTION 

PLEDGE MODIFIED 

DR. ANNI~ BESANT ON THIS YEAR'S SESSION 

Dr. Annie 'Resant before leaving Cawnpore for 

llolJl.'uay explained to a press representative tho 

work which had been done by the session of the 

National Convention which came to an end. 

SIr Tej Bahadur Sapru who presided ove~ its deliberations 

was ,selected president and the Righ"t 

Hon'ble V. Srinivasa Sastri, Vice-PI'esidenr, whlle 

Dr. Besant would continue as General Secretary and 

Mr. Ranganatham l\Indaliar treasnrer. The Bill as 

she stated in the lecture was now ready in the final 

'form and she was planning agitation 011 a large scale 

in support both in India and in England. So far 

the convention had been confined to the members of 

the Legislature and representative bodies, but that 

the drafting of the measure was over, she saH the 

general council of National Convention had directed 

its members in each province to form a provincial 

sabna with Sl1Ch subsidiary bodies as it may find 

necessary for enrolment of members of the Convention 

sabha in order to(} carryon a widespread an I 

persel'vering agitation in support of the BIll. The 

constructive period is over. The period of agltation 

now begins . 

'Subscription to the Sabha will be one rupee a year 

or a lump sum of Ri!. 5. Persons with income of 

Rs. 30 a month and nnder will b3 enrolled at annal! 

four -only. Clubs Associations and branches of all 

Inaia organisa~ions will be enrolled at Rs. 2 a year. 

, Secretaries of each will receive a copy of the 

monthly convention bullettin which will be the 

medIUm of communication with the members when 

agitation begins on a large scale. 

The original pledge for joining the National Convention 

has now been modified in order to enable 

the movement to grow round the Bill since the firilt 

pledge was intended for ca!ldidates standing for 

election. It now runs as follows :- 

• 

"1 promise to support the establishment in India 

of a free commonwealth with the King Emperor as 

its head WIth central and provincial G)vernments 

each consistiug of the King's representative, a cabinet 

responsible to the elected Legislature antl a judiciary 

, with a provision for amendment of the constitution 

similar to that possessed by self-Governing dominions 

with a providion al90 for such tr.1nsitional 

arrangements for army navy and air force as will 

bring them under Central Legislature when the 

Cabinet supported by Legislature declares its readi. 

ness to assume responsibility for the defence of the 

commonwealth. _ 

I promi.se not to engage in any secret conspiracy 

and not to Uie any hut' peaceful (lud law-abiding 

means to gain the above objects."

June -12th, 192 5 

IN1JIJ\N OPINION 

Pel'8Ons not familiar with 'political details wilT be 

enrolled on making tl e fonowing promille8 :-I 

promise to work with my fellow countrymen to 

obtain Swaraj and to use only peaceful means for 

~inning it." 

MR. PATEL AND THE PRESIDENTS HIP 

OF THE ASSEl\fDLY 

We are somewhat surprised to learn on very good 

authority that Mr. V. J. Patel is a candidate for' the 

post of President of the Legislati ve Assembly. The 

election takes place, we think, next Angust when 

the Assembly 'Will meet for the autumn session at 

Simla. But already very active canvassing is Nlid 

to be going on. The post carries with it a monthly 

honorarinm of rupees four thousand and from the 

pecnniary point of view it is certainly something to 

tempt even very capable men. But at the sam8. 

time, acceptance of this position will mean the 

death of the political life of the Honourable member 

who may be induced to do 110. Mr. Patel is one of 

the stalwarts of the Swarajya Party. He is about 

the most uncompromising opponent of the present 

system of administration in thill country. He has 

been the most outspoken advocate of mass civil disobedience 

through which he believes India will 

achieve her political emancipation withont striking 

a single blow or shedding one drop of blood. For 

such a man to seek the presidential chair of the 

A8flembly means political suicide for himself and an 

irreparable loss of driving force to the Party· of 

which he is one of the most prominent leaders. 

Yet we hear that even his own Party is ready to 

vote him into this place. Perhaps the motive here 

is to get this inconvenient part1san Ollt of the way. 

J!'or it is notorious that Mr. Pat~l made Pandit 

Motilal's position anything but pleasant dUI'ing the 

passage q~, the Tariff, Act- last summer. Be >tnat 

however as it may, this readiness on the part of so 

strong 8 Swal'ajist to accept office, though it may be 

an elective one, does not indicate a healthy tendency 

in the Swarajist Party. No one who wants to fight 

for SW8rllj can afford just now to bury himself in 

the presidential chair of the legislature. If Mr. 

l~tel be really elected the Assembly will certainly 

be the pOOl'er for the loss of his fighting speeches 

amI his unconscious humour. 

MH. GANDHI'S SW ARAJ SCHEME. 

In the course of his presidential address at Belgaum 

Mr. Gandhi gave the following points for a 

~cheme of Swamj :- 

1. The qualificatiou for the franchise should be 

leither property nor position but manual work. such 

'or example as suggested for the Congress franchise. 

.. iterarY or property test proved to be elusive. 

danual wOl'k gives an opportunity to all who wish 

o take pru't in the government and the well-being 

If the State. 

2. The ruinous military expenditure shant.! be 

urtailed to the proportion necessary for protection 

f life and property in normal times. 

;1. Administration of jnstice should be cheapened 

£ld with that end in view the final court of appeal 

Ionid be not in London but in Delhi. Parties to 

viI suits be-compelled in the majority of cases to 

.fer their disputes to arbitration' the decisions of 

lese Panchayats to be final fXQept in cases of corlption 

or obvious misapphcation of law. Multiicity 

of intermediate courts should be avoided. 

LBe law should be abolished and general procedure 

onld be simplified. We have slavishly followed 

!l cumbrous and worn out English procedure. The 

ldency in the Colonies is to simplify the pralure 

110 as to make it. t.aa; tor litijltnt8 to plead 

I!~ l1~fi llk!elJl . , 

1. Revenues from intoxicating liquors and drugs 

should be abolished. 

5. Salaries of the Civil and Military Service 

llhould be brought down to a level compatible with 

the general condition of the country. 

Ii. There should be re-uistribution of provinces on 

a lingoistic basis with as complete autonomy as 

possible for every province for its i~ternal administration 

and growth. , 

7. Appointment of a commi88ion to examine aU 

the monopolies given to foreigners and, subject to 

the findings of the commi88ion. full guarantees to be 

given for all-vf'sted rights justly acquired. 

l'I. Full 'guarantee of their status to the Indian 

Chiefs without any hindrance from the Central Government 

subject to the right of asylum to subjects 

of these States who, not being offenders against the 

Ppnal Code, may seek it in Self-Governing India. 

, 9. Repeal Of all arbitrary powers. 

10. The highest post to be open to- all who may 

be otherwise fit. Examinations for Civil and Mili. 

tary Services to be in India. 

11. The official language for provincial govern. 

ment, legislatures dnd courts, within a definite 

period. to be the vernacular of the province: of the 

Privy Council, the final court of appeal, to be in 

Hindustani: the script to be either Devanagari or 

Persian. Tho language of the Central Government 

and of the Central Legislature to be also Hmdustani. 

The language of international diplomacy to be 

English. _ 

~~«««~;:.~~~::~;;;:~»»> ~t 

iV E FROM OUR OWN CORRESPOYDENT ] . 

iV 14th May, 1925. i 

o «EE«««««

15~_~,~,~, _______________ 

IM __ b_iA_\_N~O_P_I_N_t_O_N __________ ~Ju_n_e __ 

i2_lt_n. __ i~_'~_~_ 

not bnt! be impl'(>sf;Cd thai, dl,H'UetCl' in the individuals 

of a comlllunily makes for its FIlth at.1on and its 

happines:!l ~t\st as the Japanese have realised in their 

nation-buildmg. 

The Geddes Food Enqniry CommisslOn in its ,report 

l'ellgIDmeT).ds. the esta~lishment of a Food 

COllttcIJ to, supel'vise, the staple food traue, to illvestigate 

in consultation with local bakers' asso\!iat~(;ms 

thE:' fPpal'ent ,ovel'lappi ng wit,h waste of . energy 

and e~p~ihture in, the l;lakmg trade, to ,consider 

v:rhethei' consumers who have their .bread delivered 

should not pay for, the ~ervic.e so that bread soid 

accross the counter m;l.Y be ,cheaper, to IDll.iutam 

clos~ anll co~tinulI~g supervision on the system of 

fixiJ?gj the price, of br@ari by ,bakers' associations and 

to intervene when prIces tend to become unreasonable, 

to wa~ch the operations of pnce fi,xing ip. CQl,1- 

flectlOn with milling .by associatipns and to. mterv~ne 

if necessary in the in'~~;t";ests ,of ,the consumer. ,The 

CommissioI1 also recommends the {)ompulsory registration 

of all retaU butchers subject ~ the corulltions 

of reg:istl'y year Tor tue glittering London 

seaseu, In Mayfair they call him "The man with 

the Fairbanks smile." 

The Maharaflil~, of, Jodpur is busy w~t1i his polo 

team-the te!l;m thatwon recently both the P~ince 

of Wales Cnp at Delhi aud the Chamionship Cup in 

Calcutta.' Early in Jime their first important match 

will be played at Rochampton. The Maharajah has 

l'eeei;ved an m"9'itation'l'roru lthe Uhlted States Pvlo 

Associatwn to"ta.ke ht$ teani' to Airterrcil afteto the 

U)hdon Season, to coinpet& in the,tournameht", tlitl'l'tiI 

but it is not yet known whether the inVItation will 

be acnepted. 

K S. Duleepslllghjl, it hepllew of Princ.e Hanjitsinghji, 

the Jam ofiNa:WnagJ.r, has won il place- for 

h'imseWin the Cambridge UniverSity Cricket Eleven. 

He 'has been doing weli WIth the bat antI there are 

prophets whO declare thab he will yet be another 

Ranji-others are more wary anfl refuse' to pl'cdif't 

itS sul:Jh~hbldIrig1 thn.t bar -Dr. W. G. Graoo, Rlllji 

was the greatest liutsinan fnd' ther€'fol'e one coulJ 

not safely prBdict anoth(;r-Ranji. - 

Welt\bley is once mOl'e't4e great attraction. Thou. 

sands wend their way to'it byaay and in the evening. 

But it'is not on exhibition that one ~.m walk 

th~oiigliln It day. 1t 'can only be done in l,itswhich'mettns 

to'See it thoroughly one has to visit it 

a good l~any times, 

• 

'The first public employment exchange in Inaia 

l~a's Men ~set up in Madras accol'ding to a' report received 

by the International I .. abour Office of the 

League 'of Nations,at Geneva: , _ , 

thIS is the first step in 'carrying out a pal·tiewar 

provision of the Internat~onal' L1lb06r C()llve'ntibIi 

011 unemp!uynient which has' been ratine(l by the 

Government of1ndia. 

This Convention was adoHtect hy the fir:;t. ail;~ua! 

se'l~ion of the Intemational Labonr Oonf"'l'enca hel11 

at Washi.ngton in 19H1 and prOVIdes for the ealss. to guat,) then! 

from injury, to observe til) cQnBtit\l~ion, and tho 

laws of tbe Fe~eration. to fulfill PlY ltntleK con, 

scientiously. and to do justice to, every ,man:'1 ~.~ 

help me God." FrOl;I1 all accounts. jt w~s ,a ,tluit,e 

affair. The accession o( ,HiUltenbufl~ to power ha~ 

been rooeive(l without enthutliaslU on the Contment 

and ~n lj:ngland. , 

•• 

The 'London County, Coancil is probably ,the 

largest Corporation in the wortd. Recently th~y 

sat throllgh the night-conttllnonsly for 21 bours in i 

all-mid yesterday from 2.30 p .. m. in the afternoon I 

to 1-30 a.m.·nithe morning;' The members of the' 

Council evidently are no shirkers. 

I ( ;- f ~ I '. • ,. , ... ' I 

WJtb the,passmg ..attvay.of. Juord..~IiIn.er •. yet(llnother'l?;reat 

figure has been removed from the. B.d. 

tish Empire.l i Lord Milner, wire) WillI-, 71. ' was a 

bachelor. unhlltheage.of 61,. when he ma.rl'ied .the " 

widow of,Lord Edwa.rd Oecil.., He li?a.TeB ntl-' hell U 

and by' his death tile- Vi~county VeOOIDIPS ex1inct

3t"lian 

,_/ 

@viniolt 

.. rNo. 2S-Vol. XXIII. Friday, June 19th, 1925. 

Recistered ."be o. P. o •••• Ne ..... per 

PalC", Fou..,.".,", 

NOTES 

4,,, 

AND NEWS 

------------------- to fight with: the British have kept them from 

'1\\ CABLEGRAl\I from Darjeeling reports the sad getting any arms. 

&1\ news of the death of the Lord Mayor of Ca1- But I assure you the British know that if India 

cut13 Mr. C. R. DdS. the great Indian leader flames into revolt. if all the three huntlred minion 

an,l pnblic wOJ·ker. The. forward movement in tonk to cutting the railroads an,l the telegraph lines. 

In,lia rpcpivell a Hpt-1Jack hy snch a g1'f'at loSE!. We aud burning down the factori(>8 and the government 

hope in our next iflilue to refer to the life and \"ferk buildings. the little handful of white pf'ople w"uld 

of the late Mr. Dati. find their military force perilously inatiequatf'. ~ 

We are compelled. whether we wIlLor- not. to· 

The funeral of the late Mr. Wm. Hosken took recognise that in the Hindu we are de-alillg with a 

place in Johannesburg. The Natal Indian Congress great people, having a very old civilisation. and an 

placed It wreath on his grave and also sent the intellectual and spiritual tradition as high as our 

following telegr,lm to his family in Johannesburg :- own and in some ways higher. _ , 

"Natal Indianll deeply grieved your great lOBS That is what Gandhi's soul force is doing; it is 

pray 00,1 rl'store pl'ace on his soul." 

making all of us stop and think. It has made some 

The death occurrpd at Paris of the famous In(lian 

Prince. in the person of Hia HighneilS l\Iaharajah 

8indhia of GWaIiol'. Hon. Lieut..General in the British 

Army and Hon. and Extra Aid-de-Camp to the 

King. ,puring t,he Great War the Prince rendered 

Biuna! Bervice by organising the hospital ship 

T..o)·alty. in 1!H4. and financing it for the duration 

of the War, lind. in addition, his troops fought with 

distinction in Francl'. East Africa, Egypt aud Mesopatamia. 

His beir. to whom the King stood sponsor, 

Id only nine Yl'ars oL age. 

There paS.'led away on the It.ith instan,t" after a 

krief ilInl's.'!. at the Ilge of eighteen years. Wilfred 

J.auril'l Sigamoney, the eldest son _of Mr. B. L, E. 

8iWlmoney, at 8ydenham antI his mortal remains 

wt>rEl laid to rest at the Christ Church Cemf'tery on 

the 17th instant at a~lO p.m. in the presence or'a 

large numbl'r of relatives and friends, among whom 

were many prominf'nt members of the Indian community, 

amid mnnifestations of general grief. The 

cortege proc{l('ded from his father's resi

154 INDIAN OPIN ION June 19th, 1925 

----------------------~--~--------~~~~~sta~i.on, 

decorated with flags, bunting anu evergreens, 

whICh was admired by young and old. On the arch 

~ere the following words, beautifully written. 

Welcome to Colenso, Indian Communitv." H.R.H. 

arrived on Tuesday evening and passed throngh the 

archway, and after inspecting the ex-ServICemen, 

Mr. Ebrahim R. Ismail (of NIzamoodeen Coy.)' 

was. introduced as the representative of the IndIan 

community by Mr. Moyers, of the' electrification. 

Mr. Ismail presented, in the name of the Indian 

community, a beautiful address of welcome, and 

added a few well chosen worus WhICh R.R H. duly 

acknowled~d. He inquired whether the IndIan 

community was large in Colenso. after receiving a 

fqr:mal -reply H.R.H. moved off towards the stahon 

amidst the cheering of the large crowd assembl@d to 

pay their homage to their future King. 

Wil1i~m HoskE'n showed 11irn'leH to he Ollr great(>'lt 

friencl in our time of greatest need. We (',m 

never forget hig friendship. To hi~ re1.\tiveQ WE' 

offer, on behalf {)f our Iellow-coUlotrympn throughout 

South Africa, and many now in India, h(>artfeh 

sympathy. Only Mr Gandhi himself ('ouM T;,.~~ ~~\'''' ~\e, 

:roUes b,ut ~e ~as bUlJt a ~:"e sun shone. .., The i\1r HO'lken alon lY with snch' well-kn ·wn Ell npean 

, P> 0 1 . 

is said to ('clip,e every ~ covel' and walked boldly fnends aq ~fr. Albert C,utright, Rev. J, .J. au', 

'the MaharMah o!-fT The Prince conld not Will Mr H. Kallenbach, Rev. Chas PhllJip~, Mr David 

>l'"" 

in L()(ie.nn. -Pollack, Rev ,Tobn H'Jf\vard, and others, formee!' a 

~ 

, , 

Comm ttee of Sympathisers which exerted II trelTIPnriolls 

po"er fqr good. As chairman (If that 

TIlE LATB MR. WiLLIAM nOSKEN 

,1~NE by one the old staunch fl iends nf the 

'&)J Indian coIIl,munity pass away. In the 

death of Mr. William HosKen, ono of t,:e 

best of our very :goou. friends and helpet~, .the 

Indian people, especially of the Transvu,ll, ha\Oe 

suffered irrep1l'uble loss Well d(r we rememhpr his 

noble endeavo'urs on behalf ot anI' community 

when it Was in tbe tbl'oes of a tcrlIble strnggle for 

\Self-respect and very existence, ~Iany tllnes he 

aoted as mediatol' and, spent a great deal of his 

time, as chairman of the Enropean Committee of 

Sympllthisers, in battling with the clifficlllt qne'ltions 

which a' the time of tl,e Pas'live Re'li.tance 

Struggl,t},were SO,aCll e. Not only did hI' tlRe his 

great inaue Ice and tl10ral qnalities in fightll1g, on 

tJ-tri' behalf, General EilJt1IlIS and a Stu1lbol"n (fov· 

ernttlent, but he frecj,Uf'otly did ~l'eat eervi .. e by 

~tandlng alongside Mr, Ganrlhi and the [n,li.1n 

leaders on pUQlio platforms, and t,here put forth 

his persuasive powers in c~lming and reasoning 

',N'ith SOIlW·,ot ou~ countrym!1n who sometimes were 

slo\V ~ I follow the somewhat delicate nl'gr)tiation'l 

which were being carrieo on be. ween the Indian I 

leaders and the Minister rf'presenting the Government 

With perhaps the one eKception of the 

late Mr. Doke, we can safely say thlit the late Mr, 

I Committee, JMr. Hosken took a b()ld st

, Jqn~' 19th. 19.25 INDIAN OJ1INJON I5S 

-- ~-------~-------------------~~--.-~------------~--------------------~ 

t~ my ~ery conviotion, if, in a time JikG thill. wMn' gaol" during the passive lesit and West is West. He has also 

Nevertheless he dill not hesit.tte to boldly speak suggested, as is well-known all over the world, that 

for justice and fairplay After stating his reasons , the twain shall not meet. Professor Chu admits 

why he could not support the Chamber's resr]ution, 

Mr, Hosken went an to'speak of p'l8sive resis 

the Chinese professor holds that, although it IS true 

the first part and rejects the second, In other words, 

tance OR a'weapon':- , 

that there are clear-cut distinctions between the 

civilisations of East and West, the two civilisations 

Passive resistance' had ever been the defence, must meet in bmes to come. But how is it true that 

especially in their own nation, of those who had these two ci vilisatlOns are entIrely dIfferent from each 

he en legislated agaim t unfairly. and wit/lout their other? First of all, the Western civihsation began 

consent and approval. He thought that passIve near the sea. Greece founded her national greatness 

reslstance'was dl:-lItined to De t4e ,great' weapon of upon navigation, and her greatee!: adivities were on 

democracy, destined' Iiot "only to bring about an the sea, The sea is 'uncontrollable. To struggle 

ameHoraUon of the exploited ploletliriat of the world, with the sea is a most trYing and hardening exercise. 

but also 'to' brinli about the 'universal peace of tq.6 Consequently, to one who-attempts it, it means the 

worM. ,RuBsia Had' given tis an eX~J1lple of passive reqllirements of vigour and force: it develops group 

resiBtance; England at: the present moment-"'Was a-ction, expedition and commerce. Roman civihsation, 

as..every other European civilisation, was the 

showing DS an example of pa!JBivf resist'ance .('egarding 

the education movemerH:, ,A~ be ,lo95ed a~ it it fnlition of thIS process of growth. On the other 

was tht noblest ot every nation who were organised hand. thE: Eastern CIvilisation was an inland one, 

into passive rel!istance, at'! oeing th'e most effective As a whole, Western civilisation has developed 

weapen to,'llleet the difficulties in front of them. through an active struggle with men and nature, 

'{'hey were toW it wasa dangeJ' becau$e'of the native while the East has been nourished and nurtured by 

people. They must also beat' 'in mthd that unless nature, fostering in time philosophy and tradition. 

they tried to treat these natives faIrly 'and righteously The Hindus in art and philosophy, teptesent a distinct 

type of Eastern civilisation, Due to fertile 

they would drive them Into pa!!sive ,reflistance, and 

he thought it would, come, if in the flltllre they soil and warm climate and abundance of nature's 

went on administrating as'they were doing to-day. !lUpply. India is naturally a home for leisure, medi· 

THB MESSAGE OF, GENERAL BOTHA tation and mlstioism. Wells in pis "Outline of History" 

says: 'The history of India for many centu 

Mr. Hoakeu, though' a friend of the oppressed, 

was at one despondent. He thOught that we were ries had been happier, less fierce and more dreamlike 

than of any other country." It is the circum 

fighting for a forlon battle and 'hE', out Of regard and 

love for \lit, addre~ the historic meeting of 31st stances and environment which have made West' 

July. l!l07, at PI'etoria. He ,Ielivrred to the meetinu 

the mes..'l.'lge of General ~o~ha that. whilst that vigour, restlessness, agi'rE'ssi\'enes,'l, mtolerance, group 

masculine. Not only is the West marked by force and 

~ent1eman felt for us, he was sure that we wer!J organisation and action. but even in art the West is 

"kicking a~aiust the pricks," ,Th~ General, tbrou~h masculine. The East il feminine, and because it is 

Mr. Hosken, advised 11S to abandon the straggle and faminine her people have never been aggressive. 

how to the Inevi!al;!le., Mr. Hosken emphasised the The weak side of the Eastern civilisation is its inefficiency 

in handling the practical phases of human 

point by declaring tha~ Gen~1i'lLl BoJha could not reo 

peal the Asiatic Act even if he wisped. That most enthusiastic 

meeting held in th~"coinpound and under intrinsic merits. The Eastern people did not ex 

lift'. Bllt the Eastern civilisation has its many 

the shadows nf the sacred I\{osqu'e respectfully de plore the ocean extensively I nor did they dIscover the 

CliI eu to I\CCel"t Mr, Hoske.n's advice amI unauimou!!l), 

l'$!-afflrmed .its re$Olntion to continue the ful. pasSive and tolerant, they seldom committed 

new wovld. But as they were careful ami thollgh~ 

IItJ'uggle l\ntll the obnoxious Act was repealed. The· serious blunderl! OJ' crimes. It. ill the writer's belief 

lIame !\Ir. Uoaken. When he realiSed our IItrength of that the :Ealtteru oivilil!8tion is on the whole more 

purpoRt'\ expresiled bie regret that he evE'l' advised hnmape and more Wholesome than the Weetern. 

us to abandon snoh a great IItruggle. 

• China for example, has asaimilated manr raceSI )'e' 

,~R. HOSKEY HO~OURED 

there has been DO hann done, to any. Mio and Yio, 

the two abori8lnal tribes of China have been living 

for more'than four thol.sand years in the interior of 

China enjoyin'g their self-govE'rnment and citizenship 

privileges; bnt it is well-known what has 1:1ecome 

of ~Re


organisation and co-operation are manifest in India 

and China. And if the East is changing, surely the 

Western civilisation cannot last in its present form. 

If it goes on unmodified, it will ultimately result in 

self-destruction. We need not allude to another 

world war for a warning. Let us take only industry 

for discussion. Most of the Western Powers are 

struggling for a world market. Big capitali~ts and 

corporations are no longer Ilatisfied WIth local or 

national exploitation. All are looking for world 

control. The present rate of production is tremendous; 

the rate of consumption of natural resources is 

also astonishing. For the next hundred years, even 

allowing that the r.1te of consumption remains the 

same, lumber, oil, rubber and even coal wIll suffer 

considerable loss, if not near-exhaustion. Would 

not this be a big catastrophe to the people of the 

twenty-first century? Granted that the natural resources 

be sufficient to last for ever, the industrial 

progress still cannot go on Inchecked. The We&t 

needs a temple bell to rest; and the East will provid.e 

her with it. On the other hand, the East needs 

the bugle call to action, and she will have it from 

the West. The twain shall indeed meet if the twain 

shall hve. 

THE PRESENT LULL AND ITS CAUSE 

The present political lull in the country is now 

universally noticed. What does it signify? Is it 

the lull that precedes the storm or is it the lull that 

settles down in the country after a terrific storm? 

Or are the people tired of making seemingly fruitless 

efforts and thus allow things to drift as best 

they may? Or are they waiting for a powerful 

lead and a powerful programme to rouse them from 

their present apathy or is the lull the final word 

symptomatic of a state of helplessness without an)' 

future, WIthout any gain? Who will ~ive us the 

right answer to all these querries! Personally we 

are of the opinion that not one but several causes 

have contributed towards the present state of 

national listlessness. The nation was subjected in 

the past five years to a state of high pressure. 

"Swaraj within one year," was the slogan that, U11- 

doutedly, lifted the country off its feet. The prospect 

of the future was too allurmg and bright and 

the prize was worth the natlon's best (Jfforts. To its 

credit these efforts were ~oon forthcoming, but the 

expected Swaraj dld not materialise. The expected 

happened. The raging storm of high hopes yoked 

to high efforts was ilucceeded by a state of exhaustion 

and hopelessness. You cannot keep a racer for 

a long hme under the reim.. The leaders made th& 

nation run like a racer, with the rEsult that the 

latter got soon exhausted. This lost ground the 

nation has never been able to recover and from the 

initial defeat subsequent disasters have followed. 

That state of implicit confidence and hope on the 

part of the nation that always is the most valuable 

asset possessed by leaders, once lost was lost for 

ever. Subsequent f'iforts, following ever-changing 

programmes, grew weaker and weaker till the present 

state of complete inertia was reached. In the 

meantime, Gandhiji 'Tas sent to gaol, and we all 

know what followed his involuntary incarceration. 

We have always pronounced the great political 

awakening as a one man's show. It was Mahatma 

Gandhi here, Mahatma Gandhi there and Mahatma 

Garidhi everywhere. Gandhiji, practically, for the 

time being, had become the nation's head, eyes, ears, 

hands, feet-everything I It was a picture of most 

wonderful personal triumph ever achieTed by a 

singl~ndividual in any part of the world. But 

few reali~' d that the picture WdS most humiliating 

fQr a natio 1 of 300 millions of people who were a 

bllimoUl'in with all their mi'iht and ~al11 that the, 

were fit for Swaraj and yet could show to the world 

only one m.1n who was capable of being the nation's 

leader. No wonder, the enemies of India, were not 

slow in taking hold of this fact as a valuable handle 

to turn against Indians for their Swarajic pretf'llsioDs. 

And sad to say when Gandhiji was in prison, the 

condition of other leaders was such as to provide a 

powerful justification for the adverse criticisms of " 

India's opponents for Rwaraj. Let us say that!. 

Gandhi jI'S sndden illness in prison was a God-sent 

event. It was a blessing in disguise, for it provided 

the Government with a welcome excuse to f'et free 

their illuitrious prlsoner with a show of grace and 

favour. Gandhiji's liberty revised the drooptn/t 

.spIrits of the nation, but it' was only a temporary 

'revival. The lost ground was' never regained and 

the process of drift proceeded slowly but surely. 

In the meantime, let it b61 frankly acknowlf'dged. 

that the coming into life of the Swarajic Party un· 

del' Mr. C. R, Das was a great blow to Gandhiji's 

prestige and position. Peace was patched np betw~n 

the two great leaders. but there is not the 

least manner of doubt, that both are tilling their 

own furrows in their own sweet way and pleasure. 

Gandhiji's faith in khaddar is sublime. He swears 

by khaddar, he lives for khaddar and is prepared to 

die for khaddar. On the other hand Mr. Das's faith 

in Council-destruction is no If'ss sublime. He 

visualises Swaraj by methods of destruction and his 

political BIble teaches him to give no quarter to 

Government. Obviously, Mr. DdS'S new and dynamic 

programme was grasped by the nation with 

enthusiastic avidity, and for the time being, everybody 

was a Swarajist in the sense of Councils-destruction. 

But Council destruction was a nine-days' 

wonder and very soon the new toy lost its primary 

shine. Councils were destroyed and yet the whef'ls 

of Government turn.ed with Swaraj as distant as 

ever. Even the firmost advocates of DdSian politics 

are now convinced that once again the nation must' 

acknowledge Dasian political tactics as a failure. The 

ratSOI& d'eire of Council-destruction IS to paralyse the 

Government in its administrative capacity and as 

long as this consummation is not reached or reali~ed, 

the Dasian programme must and ought to be as a 

failure. In the meantime, Dr. Annie 8l'sant has 

been concocting her special medicine, her own 

special panacea for winning Swaraj. We are sorry 

to say that hel' 10ng-\1atched Convention-Scheme ha'l 

fallen fiat in the country. Very few take it seriously, 

and indeed it is whispered on all hands that the 

proverbial mountain has been in labour and has 

been brought to bed of a tiny mouse. This then, is 

a short summary of the country's present political 

situation. Gandhiji's political force has visibly 

diminished, Swarajists have cantered forcibly in the 

field of action but they have not achieved much, 

and Dr. Besant's much-advertised panacea bids fair 

to be nothing better than a polical quackery. To 

make confusion worse confounded, leadf'rs of lesser 

lustre, but highly useful all the sa'me, have fallen 

out with one another. It is a wise and true saying 

that when doctors differ, the .patient is ?ound to 

Buffer, and poor India, a political invalid. is now 

suffering because her political doctors are fighting 

and trying to find out in a most meticulous the difference 

between twiddled om and twiddledee! Before 

a round-table conference between Indian leaders 

and the Government nominltcs ever materialises, 

there is now far greater need for Indian leaders of 

all pohtical parties to meet at a round-table conference 

and after revising the past to ooncert an united 

programme for a joint action In the future.

June 19t~1925 __________ I_N_D __ 

INDIA'S nSE TO TIlE EMPIRE 

While Lord l'tIt'8ron and the other "friends" of 

India are doing their best to prevent collapse of the 

administration by recruiting campaigns at the Univerllitie8, 

less ~

-"V~nd~mataram" and received Mahatma Gandhi as 

the' prophet of a new age, India's leader and the 

politlca~ saviour. All communities were fully represente'd 

at the station. 

A large number of Europeans eagerly watched 

the moat dramabc scene and probably considered it 

a glorious moment in. their hfe, remembermg that 

in no country in the world a living personahty 

was so much honoured as the Mahatma. Calcutta 

offered a' princely reception to Mahatma 

Gandhi whlCh wlll be remembered for a long time 

to come. ' 

A UNIQUE HONOUR TO ONE OF INDIA'S 

SONS 

On December 5th "The Grasselli Medal" of the 

Societ~ of Chemical Industry was awarded to Dr. 

Bairam D. Saklatwalla, at the Chemist's Club meetmg 

in New York. About 100 prominent chemists 

attended the meeting. The presentation address was 

made by Dr. Wilham H. Nichols, himself a noted 

chemist and chairman of the board of directors of 

the Allied Dye & ChemlCal Oorporation. 

• Dr. Saklatwalla went to Germany with a Tata 

techmcal scholarship and recelved the degree of 

Eng. D. from the Royal Politechnicum Charlottenberg 

III 1908. He was a Oarnegic Research scholar 

at the British Iron & Steel Instltute during 1908- 

1909. In 1910 he came to the Umted States. He 

is a member of many sClentIfic societies. He is one 

of the only two IndIans whose name appears in the 

biographies of the "American Men of Science." 

Dr. Saklatwalla first acted as Research chemist at 

the VanadIUm Oorporation of America where lie 

later became the General Superintendent. Recently 

he has been elected to be the Vice-President of the 

company. 

Dr. Saklatwalla is perhaps the first and only Indian 

who has distingUIshed himself internationally 

in the Industrial chemical field. HIS achievement 

marks the begiuning of a new era in India in the 

conquest of India's most needed problem-the industria1- 

economlC problem. His accomplishment is 

of great sigmficance to modern IndIa. It is extremely 

unfortqnate that a man "whose achievements alone 

made possible the Vanadium Industry III America." 

could not have utlhsed for the service of hls Motherland. 

~'t =tct~lGJ'1.4. ("Utt{l~l ~i&l~i' 

~. :llil:fl~rll ~lat-tl :/J{~~~i ~'l.l~~) 

" ~tli' ~a' 

~(1~!H :tUi' ~. 

jUHi(4!H "Utl~d ~~. 

'tL~t1it ~i;q,rf, ~lULl ~~ tIt\

Friday, June 26th, 1925. 

iteci.teredaltheG.P.O._ aN_po 

PIIlC. Foa ... "". 


~,\' 

l\\.VOT even G .. ndhi or Tilak was ever the centre bnted something distinctive." Every Race and 

A'\! of such a demonstration as markl'd the Cune- Nation has, of course, "something distinctive" but 

ral procession of Das on Thursday, says the why does not BI'itain import Ii proportion of each 

Morn;,,,/ /'osl'8 Calcutta correspon.lent. It is im- into her Civil Service? 

, possible to estimate the crowd, and it can only he 

said that countless thousdnds assembled in thA 

- - - 

In connection with the South African Asiatic 

vicinity of the station at six o'clock in the moming. 

They came from the outlying districts. some m ex- 

Policy the New IndUl writes :- 

-. The statement by Dr, ,)falan, Minister of Interior 

pensi ve motors, others using lorries, bicycles, tr.vp-· in t?e Unio~ Go,vern.ment. of South Africa, forel 

cars and carts. The arrangements for a procession castmg the mtroductlon of legislation embodying 

rnlIdpHecI immediately the train bringing the coffin the Government's Asidtic policy at the end of the 

al'rived. The handful of police alld volunteers in' present session of the Soutb Afrjcdn Pdrliament will 

attendance were hopeleasly swamped, and progress' ~ause nq surprise. While the Government of India 

became impossible. Of the scores of aged Indians' IS ~attering it~el~ by thin~ing that it is engaged in 

with whom the correspondent talked, not olle failed, dehcate negotIatIOns, the South African Government 

10 remark that he had never seen anythlnl4 approach-, 

ing the sight pr(senwd by this vast and ,motley 

merrIly goes Its way with tvmahawk in hdnd. If 

the proposal for a Ronnd Tdble Conference had any 

collection of humanity. It had been arrangl'd that chance of accep~ce, the. Union O..overnment \yould 

the procesl!lion should make a seven-mile detour to surely have deCIded to WIthhold legislation till after 

the blnping Gh'st, and it was expectt'd that the the Conference had beeu held. '115: there no limit 

jourpey, would OQcuPy three honrs. But the first 

two miles occllpied, an hour each, progl'ess being 

w?ic~ a Do~iDlon Oavern~ent' rna'y not overstep 

~Ith ImpuDlty, even in the exercise, of its rights in 

made'by inches. Gdndhi came specially to Cdlcutta, domestic" matters? 

and, wearing only a loincloth, WIlS carried on the' 

Mr. A. P. Chou.dr~e of Dnrban writ~s dwlo),ing 

sholllders of 'volunteers immediately behind the· 

the apatby of IndIan community of Durba.n, particularly 

mentioning the Sold demise ~t 'tile Idte Mr. 

bier, on which.wreaths werf'l thrown by the hundred. 

Every vantage point alonll the route was occupied, C. R. DdS. 

wilJdows being crowded while traffic was completely 

suspended. In the markets most of the shops were 

closed, indeed the CIty was in a state of chaos. From 

all parts of the cOllntry rep'orts are coming of hart,lIs 

&nil condolem;e meEltinQs, A most extraordinary' 

DEATH OF MH. DAS 

atmosphere prevails. ~.

!NDIAN OPINION 

June 26th, 19z5 

fate of all who strive to lead our nation into free 

'dom. ". 

We 'have no doubt that others will be found to 

tako up the work Mr. Das has laid down Just as 

we say: "The King is dead, long live the King ;" 

so must we say' "A great leader is dead, long 

live the leaders." While the nation mourns a 

great 108"!, it must look to the next man' take up 

the burden until we reach the goal, 

On behaH of the Indian community of South 

Africa, we extend to the relatives, friends and coworkers 

of t\J.e late Mr D.ls, our heartfelt sympathy, 

and pray that the same spirit of sacrifice and 

publIo service may fiU the hearts of those "ho 

follow in his footsteps. 

THE LATE MR. C. R. DAS 

BRIEF SKE1'CH m' HIs LIFE 

, From the C .ngress Diary, 1923, we learn the 

following interestlllg facts concerning the life of 

the late Mr. 0. R. Das ,- 

Ohitta Ranjan. Dlls was born liLt Calcutta on 5th 

November,1870 He was the second child of his 

pate ltS. He was educated first in the T...ondon 

Missionary Colle,ge, Rhowanipore, whence he 

matncubted in 1886, ang subRequently m the 

Pl esidency Oollege Calcutta, whence he took his 

B A. degree in 1890 After taking his degree he 

went to England originally with tile idea of competing 

for the 1. C. S. ~ut events happened which 

saved his being drafted into "the heaven-born service" 

He,took an active part in the electioneering 

campaign of Dadabhai Naoroji and his speeches 

-attracted attention both 'in England and India. 

Later on, when Mr. John Maclean, M. P, in the 

course of a lecture made certain extremely off~JUsive 

remarks against tho Hindus and the Mussulmans, 

Chitta Ranjan Das. organised a meeting of 

Lhe Indians in England to prote'lt again-.t Mr 

Maclean's cOllduct and made a 'powerful speech, as 

a result of which Mr. Maclean was forced to apolog'Se 

and 'resign his seat in_ Parliament. Soon after 

he was lped now by God Himself." His sacrifice 

is so great that it has elicited admiration even 

from high-s'"'uled Englishmen. Sir Michael Sadler, 

the late President of the Calcutta University 

Commission, wrote in the London Times: -''Chitto 

Ranjan's wonderful sacrifice (Rs. 6fXXJ01- a 

month) is unparalleled in the history of the world. 

Indians would do well to follow him" 

Chitta Ranjan's entry into Bengali Legislature 

dates fl'om 1895 when he published a volume of 

Beng (Ii lyrics calJed Malancha. He started in 1915 

a new Bengali monthly' The Narayana.' He has 

published Ma.la, Antaryami, Kishore-Kishori and 

Sagar Saugit. Iu religious views he is a Vaishnavita 

of the Chaitanya school. He retaio.s some of 

his f..ther's views of the Brahmo Samaj. 

From his ea.Tly days of his life Chitt..l. Ranja.n 

took an abated interest in the development of &If 

Government in his land and had been an active, 

thou,gh not a vociferous member of the aflnual 

gatherings of the Congress and of the provincial 

organisatlOns. But hiS real entry into practical 

politics dates from the internment of Mrs Annie 

Besant. He-addressed many meptingl to protest 

against the inu-rnment of many yOWlg men under 

the Defence of India Act. In response to ,be Premier's 

appea' for more rpcruitment to tlJe army he 

spoke again and again urging the release of t1~ 

interned. Henceforward iu all his political SPeeches 

he emphasi~ed our cla.ims to resp'lusible Government 

He is a stauDch believer in the immediate 

fitness of India for Swaraj. Of all the ~er\\ in 

Bengal Chitta Ranjan was the first to rally roU1~d 

\fahatma Ganrlhi in preaching the Satyagraha. 

He was a. membAr of the Committee deputsi by 

the Indian Noltiona.l Con~ress til conduct an independent 

inquiry of the Pu.njab disturbances. As 

Mr. Das was convinced that the nf)W Reforms did

, - . 

DQt":.tna'tetially~ -!t!ter" the situation, he oePo3ed 

C()4)[Mtati)'D with tnen\ al the A mritsar C()Dgres"! 

thouJ:,ih l'host"" o£ 'the leadets including M.Lhaim:i 

G1l.til:lhr,,'efe ih IIavour' of the Reforms 

, 

tNblAN btttNtu~ 

'Alld in 

a,V ,rr21.)~hiUty be wO!Jld hav!-l kept back,~r6m Ji?lit'f.'~~.~\lt 

vnpt~lN .ev~,n~ f1~~pf,lr!ld, which lletermined 

,tlie, ne~t rftagp, In hljl'p'Jl!tlf'a career. ttnat event 

• .,! ~,8 J ~~~: r~~. 9£ Npn-qG-operation movement, i In 

t~~lYl~nnU?,g lie w3s,i¥>t.in f.lVQur of withdrawing 

st],la.egtl, !rolJl.scn~Is aD4 Coil gl'8 and boycotting 

LilW·.QO\ltt'J. ~I,l.t QtjNagp~.r, a prplf"lDged discus. 

s¥Jl:v,.ithIMa\lat¥13 .,Oqnnhj convil\

)62 , INDIAN OPINION June 26th, III 5 ,i- 

I 

The articie of faith of this party was to enter the 

Council, and' oppose on 'the floor' of the house all 

He abandoned his flourishing practice which ex-;\ 

ceeded £5000 a month. He disposed of his furniactions 

of the Gov8l'hmet1t which were deemed to tares and properties and devoted aU the proceeds t() 

curtail the 'rights, Jjrivileges and powers of the charitable purposes. Born and hrl'd in the lap of 1 

people.. The central idea of this Party was to dis- fortune, he took the vow of simplicity and became I 

organise the system of Govern'tnent so as to compel the prince of patriots. ' , 

it to expedite the gra.nt of a full responsible Govern- When the call of India [m· Non-eo-operation j 

ment on 'a Dominion status; and the sea.t of this reached Bengal, he courted imprisrmtnoot followl'tl 

cousti£uti0nal fight 'Was waged in Bengal. The late by 30,000 students whose sfJul he ver\y W.lS. He' 

Mr. Das was ()ffered the Premiership of Bengal, became the leader of India in 1921 after M.lhatmawhich 

he refused. He was elected as the Lord Mayor Gandhi had been sent to prison. He was elected 

of 'Calcutta and was re-elected this' year to that President of the Indian N.ltil)nal Congress, at G\ya,) 

unique civic post. 

the highest honour which Hindl\stan can confer on 

Although 'he deferred ft'om Mahatma Gandhi, he her children. He was many times elected Presi,lent 

loved an,d-admired him for his sincerity Of purpose of the Bengal Provincial Con~r'ess and w,~ virtu ,lIy 

as also, fQr his:matchIess patriotism. ' - \ - , "the uncrowned 'King" 'uf Bang.d.! H3 I was' the 

Das 'was a man of iron will and lately he openly leadei- '6f the Swar.ljistlf and J.t)rl M l~or of Cahmtta.: 

conuemned acts of anal'chism, which raised it head It was he who brought about the -(l~d\ock in the 

her

• 

June 26th. 1925 


dll parties in that country is necel!8al"Y for the preservation 

of a White South Afrim. should be sanctioned 

by statute or by subsidiary legislation nnder 

statute. If a policy of colour discrimination is to be 

followetl. it matters little whether the policy is embodied 

in law or in mere regulations; but in one 

rellpect it is mucA better to have sppcific legislation 

"~'ng Ilanction to this policy J".\ther than keep up an 

nppearancp /'If equality'in the laws of the country 

RntI proville for every kind of (listinction in regulationa. 

to which public attention is not 80 easily 

drawn. Since the best means of obtaining redreB8 of 

an injustice is to expose it to the ~rntiny of the 

worIJ. An all its nakedness. the native of Sonth Africa 

will.lostt pothil)g bnt gain ~ethil\gJ by having th~ 

coIQ'r. b~ inserted in the I\'"ry, laws of the country 

In.~ 9f wJ'll.ppizw it, up in l'Pgulations. Already 

the ~onscience otJCood Christian men has spoken ont 

verf!st~nglv ag.unstthis idea of keeping out natives 

from certain occupations merely because they wear 

black SkillS. but the idea has nothing new about it: 

it is being consistently put in effect for several years 

past. ,Yet the main point in the denunciation of th~ 

Churc4es is that the measure is "a disastrOus innovation." 

etc.. It is neW only in the sense that it has 

attracted attention now in quarters where it had BO 

far escaped notice. 

Asiatics too are specifically mentioned in this 

legislatio~. They may be excluded just li}ce natives 

from any of the occupations which the Union 

GOYernmrnt wish to kecp as a preserve for the 

whites. Gen~l Smuts has cnriously enough esponsed 

the cause of Indiana on this point and has 

already earned the encomiuJDs of superficial observers. 

But anyone who carern~ly reads the speech 

which G~"eral Smuts made on the Bill in the Union 

Pllrliament will see that he is not opposoo. by any 

means to EliscriPlil)ating against Asiatics if such discrimination 

is neQesBary in order to maiptain white 

SUPl'PQlac1'J~~~.!ltJ1.f~!Cla'li !ll ~ha~ he ohjects is 

tha~!,lruliall4 'Art,AsJlliiCl}! sho~ld ,be mentioned eo 

nom~, iJ\. th~ 

legis,ation. ".oenenij, Smuts has no 

doubt cM8is~nUy ,avoide4 a reference to Asiatics as 

suob in all antj-Asiatic legislation that he promoted. 

The Class Areas mll. for instance. which was 

directed against Indians and which was infinitely 

more drastic in its reaction on them thirn the present 

Colonr Bar Bm. still did not directly mention InlUans. 

III, it seriously meant that our opposition 

should b.e, less strong to this Bill which does not 

mention Ind,ians by name but' 'tho very object of 

which is to drive Indians out of the country by 

making it impossible fo~ them to trade in important 

centres than to the Colour Bar Bill. which makes a 

direct D\ention of Asiatics but which after all will 

not be so injurions to Indian interests as the other 

Billilponsored by General,Smllbl? 

We for our ,part 

wou\d much Pfe(et:!' law which is discriminatory 

both in f

, 

,Anptl\er gFe\i~ figqr~ of tpe (treat War, G~n~ral, sl~c.c.~SE\flll, went on stril~e~ an,d for m~ny .dan tlwre 

Fr:~nch, w)lq'fo~ 4is serviceli! was lljlade :{i;al'l of Ypres. were scem'A of disprt 

whU~ Agnes b'eC(i.me·l,ady Poynter, WIfe 'Qf aoqther dlscusl;led 25 year~ ~Wo by ~he Zionif;;t Cong~ess, \\na(i'Y'PeeI{ f§['ves 1-\1,s impreSsions in th'e ID,a:n decla~ed t~at, while the ~ew ,Ur\lversi~f W~iI 

10ckl1>te~ of ''Il~ca'r.in·1f cIties a,nd ~ig~ prices ±of - me~rit tl) be a nmfying centre of Jewry'ij sc~ttere!1 

p06\:"g60ds>ilj'th~ SOVIet couritr~r:' 

elements and to, fOfJ;ll. the {ocn~ of the reha'QiI\\\\\1Qn 

lnqm ll.jill ~.Jft~,?-ol1. kbowl~uge,of the w.orktngs ot .)no !flner. w..Q6f;h,~ J 

of Intel'Ulltional. },;aw.. The 5tt.ld~nts who b.a.d ,SOlU1t.,. tl)e adrnmlstraLive lUachll'lel;Y ollllat. to W Ike hiIJll,ft, 

prac.~ta fol' ex.oee.tin, tbo"ot~Ol' ~dt1lat.e. ·1,0 bJi a ~ormidable ~i~10 olt, th, G,GVew.~Mt •... - . -:y .

~piniott 

No. 27-:"'Vol. XXIII. Friday, July 3rJ, 1925. 

R. &islered al the G.P.O. aa a Ne_per 

Puc. rooa ••• ,. 


~." 

'1tt T a meeting of the Southern Subnrbs EurQ- H. H. t~e Maharaja of Jodpur, H. H. the Maharaja 

Ln..\ pean Association htftd on the 17th June a of Gwahor anil H. H. the Maharaja of Mysore will 

resolution was passed unanimously protesting be ~ntel'tained du~ing t.he summer months by the 

against Asiatics presenting their address to the PrInce Umon. A receptIon wIll be given during June by 

at the same place as Europeans, in view of the fact Lady Mond. who is lending her drawing-room in 

Milner Park had been set aside for colourerl people. the afternoon for that purpose. 

"It is not in accordance with the spirit of the conntl'y 

that Indians shonld be allowed to present their 

addrt'ss with ours," declared Councillor J. H,Qatson, 

"in view of the fact that the Indian is trying so hard 

to obtain t'qual rights with Europeans, I do not 

think we should give him this opportunity of 

placing himself on the same level as we are." Mr. 

H. M. Ross declared that Natal had set Johannesburg 

a bad example in dealing with Indians. 

[We refer to the a;ove in our leading article .....:.. 

Ed. 1.0.1 

The Ladies' Committee of the Southern Suburbs 

European Association held their first concert and 

dance at the Masonic Hall, Kenilworth, on Saturday. 

There was a large attendance. During the interval 

thf\ President of the Association said: "Therp Beems 

to be some misapprehension; some people think we 

are out to prosecute or persecute the Asiatics. This 

is entirely wlOng. We believe there is plenty of 

room in this country for all, but we do object to the 

intermingling of white and coloured in a white rt'sidential 

district such as ours. Our movement airnp 

at the education of white residents to support and 

trade with their own kith and kin. We have in 

this district men living with, and in some instances 

married, to colourod women, which is a stan,ling 

~isgrace." 

The Fellowship of Reconciliation-a. body started 

by Pacifists during the War, is holding a summer 

Conference this year in Yorkshire. The programme 

promises to be an interesting one. Dr. Henry T. 

Hodgkin, whose work in connection with the Peace 

Movement is so well-known, is retnrning to England 

in July and will speak at the Conference on his 

work in France. The general subjpct of the papers 

and disCllssions will be the relations of Eallt and 

West as illustrated by studies of conditions in China 

and India, and their reactions in Europe and America. 

Dame Adelaide Anderson, formerly Chief 

Inspector of Factories in this country, and an 

authority on industrial conditions in China, will be 

present. Mr. Shoran Singh has consented to speak 

abont India, and Mr. C. F. Andrews is also expected 

to be at the Conference. The Conference will be 

held from July 31st to August 7th, and further 

particulars may be obtained from the Fellowship of 

Reconciliation, 16, Red Lion Square. London, 

W.C 1. 

The summer programme of the BrItish Indian 

Unionjs now being arranged and will include luncheons 

between May and July to Lord Reading and I 

LordJBirktnheod. ,: 

A correspondent discussing this subject in Young 

India writes:-Tbe foreign imports of cloth 'totalled 

1,~7! million yards in 1922. In the same year 58 

mIllIon pounds of yarn was also imported. Taking 

that this latter was converted into 400 million yards 

or seven yards per pounll the total foreign cloth 

would be 1,977 milhon yards or nearly 20 crores of 

yards. One crore of Cbarkhas or one Charkha for 

every thirty men and women in IndIa would be our 

need to replace this cloth. The number of handlooms 

would be about 12 to 15 lakhs calculated on 

the average given above. The same correspondent 

points out that in tbe eight years from 1914 to 1922 

the mills have increased their spindles by 600 thousand 

and looms by 30 thousand and the improvement 

in. the production has been 600 million yards. 

The capItal has also increased by over eight to nine 

crores ~n fifteen years. To replace the total import 

of foreIgn cloth and yarn a mill programme even 

under the most favourable circumstances would 

prob~bly take not less than thirty to forty years. 

~ut . the fig\lre~ about wear and tear and deprecia~ 

tlOn In the Indian mIlls are striking. They come to 

nearly 170 lakhs a year. Once ill 20 years the 

depreciation amounts probably to as much capital 

dS is invested. Further the taxes (Super Tax and 

Income Tax) the Excise duty, Rlilway freight and 

local and Mnnicpal rates paid by the mills amount 

nearly to 337 lakhs a year. These 3~ crores every 

ypar are bemg borne by the consumers. Under the 

Charkha and handlooms scheme a considerable part 

of thIS would be saved for the people and be available 

for industl·Y." 

His Highness the Maharaja of Rljpipla, an Indian 

State, bas announced that primarY education will be 

henceforward free in his state and has offered Ri!. 

7,500 per annum for technical and higher education. 

It is good to r.otice tbdt Indian news is filling a 

larger E pace in foreign newspapers than it has ever 

occupied before. Tlte Inl.ernational Women Suffrage 

News draws attention to the appointment of Lad!: 

Sadasiva Iyer (wifb of Sir T. Sadasivd Iyer) who has 

bepn made Hon. Preslliency Magistrate for the City 

of Madras, will be hailed with satisfaction by the 

public of that Province, for she is respected by all 

for her faithful service in all good causes, and her 

outstanding ability as an eloquent speaker and wise 

leader. The Fort S. George Gazelle announces the 

same appointment for Mrs. V. Panduranga Rao, a 

native of Mangalore, that city noted for the advancement 

of its women; and for Mrs. Bume Stanford. 

recently of South Africa, where she had a~ extel;l~'l.e 

experience in the working of Children's Courts and 

vigJlance work. Tbus, Madras City has taken a.

166 I NOlAN OPINION July 3rtl, ') 5 

longpr step forwa.rd than Bombay, which gave ouly 

, the mOl"e limited powera of JttsUce ot the PMce to 

foul' WOll1en first, but the Madras PresIdency Magistrlltes 

lnclud@' this tille wIth the nt'st clMs Bench 

pOwers. Lad.y Sadasiva Iyer \$ a nl.emb~r of the 

Central Committee of the Women's IndIan Association, 

and President of the IndIan Ladies' Samaj, and 

Mrs. Stanford is the -CommIssioner of the 

Women'a lnQ,ian Associatl()n for ~rk aonnected 

with the Children's Act. The othpr Women MagIstrates 

of thE' Prf'sidpTIcy, \{,·s "\1. E Cousins, B.Mus., 

for S lioldpet, an I 1V[r'l. Javalakshmi A.nima, B.A., for 

M,I,lmapalle, arE' also membprs of tb\'l Women's Indian 

ASSOClatlOn. It IS only a couple of m(;lnths 

since the ASSOCIation of Honorary Magistrates, and 

the \\fomeh's, \Inl:lian Association, memoralised the 

Law M€ll1ber that II ChIldren's Court should Ibe 

estabI\shed in MMi'lIll, in whleh it was desirab~e that 

both men and \vornen Magistrates should work t() 

gethpr and therf for(;' requpsted that more womeh 

Magistrates should be appointed. It must be hIghly 

gratifying to both Associations that their request has' 

b-een granted so e~peditely. 

. 

TIlat :the Mahottl'edan menace WIn be one of the 

.gravest t)'rob'Jil'ttIS 'of the Iuture III 'this country was 

tWe assettilm of a 'speaker at the Rotary Olub lucheotI. 

~st'erda~, 1\Ir. ,~. J. 'Sawyer, a local business man 

*ho has spt3n't Over years in 'the }jjas't. He dId 

not anticlpa'te much trouble riSIng from the Indmn 

'ql1~stioh owing to the low-class-the l1ntouchable 

·type which came here. It was in the question of 

relIgion 'Would hot race that the danger lay. He 

l'o1nt~d 'Oilt that wh{Je the H:indu would usually 

mart-y titre 'Of his OWn people, the M:ahomedan 

\Te1'y Gften ifitetttlarr~ed among his co-religionists~ 

the Malays. 

Both \'Vete better 'physically than the 

Hihdtl, and in 'tillS 'there was the promise of a strong 

'3.iid 'virile race 'I3piingin~ up here. "Religion before 

naftionallty wlll be theIr watchword,11 declared Mr. 

'8aw'yet-, ~'an'd ~nyoiie who reads the signs of the 

t.imes ~rl'ght Knows that it is one of the aims of 'the 

'Mussttiman bith to make A.frica a Mahommedan 

'Co'ri.'tineut right from the Mediterranean down to the 

. Cape. The speaker main'tained that the Indian 

" 'trader prefBrred doing a credit trade, especiatty, 

With the Government empl'Oyee 01' one in constant 

'templ.oyril'en't, smce it efiabled. him to get his cusl!\Ome\os 

ilhd-er his tht'tttIb. 'The key to the whole 

sitll'ation waS the tact 'that he thrived. on the poverty 

l\tld i"J.1'lj,)l."ovi'

.., ~". 

dehherdtions. ~[r. SnraLj"e Hllstomjee h,i" specidlly 

exten(le a SUCCQISf\1.1 event. , . • 0" ." 0 .' 

i .... l· 'i1i ' , I r •• ' "f'i& ' , 

--'Ii;~H I; "(.' ,,,,~ , I·'} f • 

:, ,J ,"',:f f .' ... 

.~, .r~" . ~ .\B.ll.OWMltWEDN,ESS. 

1\\ T the meeting' of ·the' So.athern Suburbs' 

n 

European 'AssbCiatioli' (joh&Dnesburg) held 

on -tbe H'th '.hme; a. tesolution· protesting 

:lgainst 'Asiatics ~esentin~' an iidd~es~i to the 

Prince of Wales At the sam& pla'~ as Europeans 

was passed. 'rhe PriDC~ has p~8Se;! thl'ough J 0- 

hannesburg, and the incident lfefetJ;oo to tends to 

show the nario\Vmindedlwbs of tJ{~ 

iN l:>lAN OPINION 

Europeans in 

J olumnesb urg and its iru~(;undlng' ~illtricts. 

~ ~~ in S~ .A!rica' have sufficient experience 

of the pin pricking policy as pursued b,.. 

the EuropeaIIB, a.nd the ~eSolution passed by the 

S6iti&~iJ :Suburbs EUrop~ail ~&Sdt!iauon ~s the 

latest insult hurled against the hdia~s. 

We 'oanntlt ,understand the mentality -of the 

Gentlemen-if they may be termed as such-who 

passed this resolution, suffice jt ,to lSay howe~r 

that no person with any sense of decency will 

ever ~her sueh a .. esolution, How tIle presentatib.a',w"n''aHdrils~ 

to tlie Pricioo by tbEr Indian"! at 

thb 'sa-t.rI~ plaC& as Eu~6Veans, can be' treated as a 

damour for ~Q.ufIl ~g\lts,,~rtaWl PfLSSes o~r comprehension. 

{" 

,']Jhe'addl!ess,w$S t6' be preS®ted to no less' a 

persona~e than. His Royal Highness the 'Prince of 

Wates~the\ ":fu.t~~' '~in.percU· 01 India.. The India~ 

w6J;e trying ~o pay homage to t;he most'popular 

young man in the world. They desired to 

show their loyalty to the Throne, just as much a'l 

did the European~. For the tim~ being they ha.d 

f~goti~u the "lp.juatices ,t~y wefe continuously 

sulj~cted 'to, they had, f~rgotten. the repress,ive 

laws that were passed wIth 'a Vlew to mamng 

their progress, in order'that'a fitting welcome ~a.y 

be givim 1'9 the Pcirice. Tha Eur9pean~ did not 

appreciate this action on the part of the lnuians, 

but dirty ~l!.(ltics were 'Pul'sued b,y the Europeans 

w,ith' & view to preVenting the Indians hont presentih8 

a:rl) addres~. Is there a more glaring 

example of ».a,n:owmindedq.ess ? , ' 

What would ~ave been the consequence if the 

Indians, as 'n direct answer, to the resolution l'& 

fused' ·to· ;proc6l'd with' 11.e presentation of the 

address and COl.lveyed their rea~Qn to the Prince? 

w.', ,wodld ,have thought that the occasion of 

the visit of the Prince of Wales would be too great 

~n 'acbaston to brltlg into play the hatred against 

the Indians. The incide~t referred to js one 

of t.hQse1 infi ta.nces where gross inj\lstice is 'being 

intlictied to indians -in this oountry. We hope 

the Printe of W'a1es will have seen sufficient in 

this, cOun~ so that a true 'picture of the condition 

oUndiw in South -.Africa will be presented to 

him .. 

ZEERUST COUNCIL REBUFF 

CotrR!' ORDERS LlCE~CB FOB .Air A.su.TIC 

An interesting jndgmeJlt. iOVQhing th& y,reaent 

eitortB III the W t'li'tern l'ratulvaa) &0 limil t.M al!tirities 

of "bidtif traJeI;S. ~ given bJ tlla ma.giBtrate 

at Zeerust, who fonnd that the local council bad not. 

, exercised its discretion properly in r.eftu;Uig to aa 

1n.lidn a licence to trade as a butcher. , 

The latha.n. G. ¥ohideeu, appli~ I:c1r ILlietm08. on 

May I), and on lIay lIJ the Mfdical OBker ollIealtll 

inspected the premises. He r.epdrtsIl llOu· 

day, a move-ment is on foot to 9l'~ ~ ,publiC 

testimoni~l on his behalf. 

, Nawdb Khan, who hIlS lougJlt, in ml\UY ~~ 

: ana who, liuring the Bt)er war Wail. meQlbel'.Of t1a.e 

body,nard of Lor-l R"berts, LQrd ,KjtcllRet•.,aa(! 

bter uu J :'.hlller, W3S diBCharg~l «m thtt' co.ru:lasioli 

of the c.wlp,ligll. rooeinng a pCll3l61l ~f£lO. t:llo.tUll 

and in l'(>CogUItion of meritormtls jlel'yj,ce. an _ward 

of J-lUd In his Dative plAce. J{a.sbmir. . . 

])uring the Gandhi passi"e rooilltaace movement. 

Ito was arrested, aad 81l~qlu~nU'y his peDillan .. 

I .lodeit~d alld hia lap,d .. ~tt~ Since. tkeD A ...


has been dependent upon the charity of the Indian 

community to support himself and his large family. 

Sir William Dalrymple, Mr. Richard Hosken, 

Mr. A. V.' Lindherg, and many other prominent 

citizens are taking a practical interest in the proposed 

testimonial, contributions to which will be publicly 

acknowledged. 

It is understood that the question of the forfeiture 

of-the Jamadar's pension, etc., will be considered by 

the B.E.S.L., with the view to making representations 

for its restoration. 

Through inability to secure employment, Nawab 

Khan is in destitute circumstances. 

the w~y to Paris, the German hosts would in all 

probability have swept the major portion of France I 

within a very few weeks, and the fate of the War \ 

been decided ere it had scarcely begun. Yet to.&y 

her position is, in spite of the advances recently, 

mqde, substantially similar to what it was, with' 

the added prospect of being doomed to remain in a 

position of servitude in a mighty Empire direct~d 

by six white partners. Far from being treated witlt· 

respect by th~ Dominions, her position will ere long' 

be moch worse than the preeent, if she does not. in 

the meanwhile, make hasttl to alter it. 

THE DOMINIONS AND INDIA 

Since\the WaJ;, ,tli~ status of the Self-Governing 

Dominioos has undergone a remarkable transformation. 

'They are no 'longer content to be regarded as 

daughters of the Motper-Co)lntry with a I!ubordinate 

status in the Imperial hpusehold, but claim to be 

treated in every respect as a partner and an equal. 

British statesmen of every party recognise this claim, 

and are seeking means to satisfy It. The Conservative 

Government is introducing Imperial Preference 

in order to bind thereby the Dominions more 

c~osely to Britain. The Labour Party believes in 

the ideal of an Imperial Federation of Free Nations 

with a common aim and mi8sion sufficiE'ntly to look 

upon it as the strongest bond between the c9nsli: 

tuent parts of the Empire. It is only in the region' 

of foreign policy that the Mother-Country has at 

present exclusive control. So it is in the direction 

of this policy that the Dominions are attempting to 

gain a voice. They have made it clear that in 

future, in a war precipitated against their wishes, 

Britain could not rely on their co-operation. Th'ere 

is not the slightest doubt whatever that sooner or 

later, sooner rather than -later, machinery will be 

devised for continuous consultation with them, paving 

the way for joint direction of affairs. In the 

meanwhile, recognition 'O~ the new stature attained 

by the Dominions is showing in various ways. The, 

Slilcre,tary of State for the Colonies is busy,' we are 

told, closely studying the future organisation of the 

Colonial Office. It is expected that a Bill will 

shortly be introdqced in the House of Lords-why 

the House of Lord, we do not know-providing for 

the appoiD~ment of an additional Under-Secretary 

of Sta.~e. It is suggested that the new man (or 

~oman) should deal ;with the Dominions, the present 

Under-Secretary dealing with the Colonies, 

Protectorates, and Mandated Territories. rhe title 

of the Colcnial Office is also to be ,changed, in order 

to emphasise the closer relationship with the Dominions. 

The proposed bifurcation of the Colonial 

Offiee is not being made to confer any new advantages 

upon the Self-Governing Dominions or to free 

them from any existing restrictions. For, in the 

domestic sphere they already enjoy the fullest freedom 

possible, and,the powers of Disallowance and 

Veto, vested in His Majesty the King, are never 

e\Xercised. The Secretary of State for the Colonies 

is for them only a channel of communication with 

His Majesty's Government. The proposed re-organisation 

is only meant as a concession to sentiment, 

the Self,Governing Dominions disliking the idea of 

theil' affairs being handled in an office with the 

traditions and outlook of the British Colonial Office, 

which has still very large autocratic powers over 

the affairs of the ColQrll!:'s and Protectorates. While 

eocmuch deference a,}~nxiety to placate Dominion 

sentiment is displayed, llow is India being treated? 

Her sacrifices in the War wefe greater and more 

valuable than those of all the Self-Governing Dominions 

put together. If her soldiers, flung into the 

fighting line at a time when the troops of Britain, 

and the Dominions were not ready. had not barred' 

AN UNREPORTED INT~RVJEW 

BETWEEN READING AND BJRKENHEAD 

-( B1J B. F. BHARVCRA} 

B.-Well, Reading, how are we? 

R.-Not too good, 'not. too bad. 

B. - Why, Reading you are really modest 1 

Haven't you killed non-eo-operation? 

R-Not quite. 

B.-But haven't you divided the Non-co-operc1- 

ters ? ' , 'r 

, H.-Yes, in a way. 

B.-And are not tbe Swarajists and Independents 

fighting amongst themselves? 

R.-Yes, to an ~xtent. 

B.-And are not the Hindus and Muslims quarrelling 

amongsHhemselves? 

1l.-Yes, at times. ' 

13 ....... ls it; not all to the good? 

R.--Yes, to a point. 

B.-Then what is the bad feature of this show? 

R.-It is this, Birkenhead: that whilst the SWc1rc1- 

jists and Imlependents are fighting, they have no 

love fOl our present system. 

B.-Hm! But what about the Moder ltell? 

R.-Even they are SilO wing their teeth! 

B.-Hm! Then what about the Muslims? Tht!Y _ 

are veer.ing ~ound to UB. - , 

R. -Some of them are; but there are large ,sections 

of Muslims, who are very hostile to us. 

B,.-What? Are theY' more hostile to liS, than those 

, howling Hindu agitators? 

R.-Yes, Birkenhead, Yes. 

B.-How can that be, Reading? 

R.-Why, our Foreign Policy in Egypt, in Iraq, 

in Hedjaz is greatly resented by llrge sections of 

thoughtful Muslims. 

B.-What about Palestine? 

R.-Well, that is included also. 

B.-But, Reading, I can't understand you at all, 

as regards Muslims in India. Why, Malcolm Hailey ~ 

iEi showered with ,Muslim Addresses! 

R.-Yas, but they arEl from the Publicity Com-, 

mittees. which are Hailey's own babies! 

- B.-Hm ! But is not Mr. G.mdhi a broken reed? 

R.-We may think so, or say so; but truly speaking, 

he is neither a reed, nor is he broken. 

B.-Don't you think Lytton has shown his iron 

hand? 

I 

R.":"'yes, he has; but that has only deepered the 

old wounds. 

B.-Well, Reading, according 19 yont reprasen. i 

tation, the sitllation''is neither too good, nor too baol 

, in India, so why should we worry? , , 

R.-Worry! Worry we must. unless we are pre·~. 

pared to lose India in near future. 

B.-How can we do that, Reading-with 8uch' 

terrible unemployment in Britain, with economic 

rivalry and hostility springing all round how can 'Y~ 

let India slip out of our hands? Surely R~ing, a 

shrewd financier like yoo don't need a tip from me. 

B.-I fully realise the position here ana in India, 

and hence have come aU the way to have a heart-toheart 

talk. 

B.-But, tell me Reading, what do our Governors 

'.

, July 3rd, 192 5 INDIAN OPINION 

and officials recommend 01 to do? 

, 'H.-They are so hope]eBSly divided and yet in a 

"y onited! 

" B.-How's that. Reading? 

H.-You see, they are nearly all onited, that there 

shall be no radical change before 1929. But meantimE'. 

some lIoggest repreBSion and division, and few 

ot~J'I1 to wait and watch and to throw a few 

c1'u'fubs! 

B.-What's YOllr view, Reading? 

H.-Jostice and statesmanship demand a bold 

move and recognition ot India's right to govern herself. 

B.-But, what aboot our Capital, our trade, our 

industry, our rich markets in India? 

H.-Well, I have brought 'Blackett- here to IBfaggard 

that. 

B.-Then, what you mean is to make a grand 

political gesture and retain all economic hold and 

\power in oor own hands? 

I 

, R.-WelI, that at least, if nothing else cau be I 

jdone. 

'_ 

I H.-Why, we can request His Majesty to proceed I 

,to India, hold a gl'3nd Dllrbar, announce ,a collple of 

Governorsl)ips for Indians, and a Maharaja as Chief,. 

of the St&c! 

Some one knocks at the door, and enters Lord , 

Hardinge. 

H. Friends, I have just over-heard your last·· 

words. You can't hold India now by Durhars and, 

decorations. Spare His Majesty and deal with 

India with prudence and eqnity; or else we shall 

Boon rue our present po~icy of drift and division. 

i~EE

( \ ~.,,' 

_ INDIAN Ol'lNION 

.. J'" I J _ \ I I I I 

rights are in Jeopa~y in that ~ou:ntn' and tbey have 

to look tQ the Gov.ernor alii the Kmg's r?presentative 

t6 ~dld thEr~cale$ (jf iusttee in, the midst ot

,3tlL[iun 

. .... - 

No. 28-Vot. XXIII. Friday, July loth, 1925. 

RegIStered at the G. p.O • ••• J!l ..... per 

PRiC" 100 ...... 

DURBAN CORPORATION AND ASIATICS 

SUGGESTED ROUND TABLE CONFERENCE 

~N the Gth instant, the Durban Town Council, 

~ on the initiative of Conncillor n. H. Kf'mp, 

who had addresoled a letter to the Town 

Clerk on the snbject, diRcusfed the ASIatic question 

at lenuth. 

The recommendation submitted by :Mr. K('mp was 

as follows :- , 

.. That the Government of the Union of SOllth 

Africa be informed that in the opmion of the Dnl" 

han Town Council, the only true method of solving. 

the Asiatic 'Qnestion in so far as it relates "L'O this 

country, and particularly Natal, lies in the directIOn 

of a round table conference bE'tween representatives 

of the Union, Britain and IndIa; further, that the 

Union Government and the Union Parhament hE' 

asked to take sllch steps as may be necPRRary f,)r 

convening such a Conference in this coantt'S without 

delay." 

Speaking to this the mover said the Union had 

nevpr formulated any definite policy on the Asiatic 

question. Even only a few days ago a Minister 

indicated that a certain section would not be meluded 

in his proposed legislative measures. They 

happened to be from the Cape; but how about 

Natal? A numbE'r of public people believed that 

any resolute attempt to faca the Asiatic question in 

Natal was making a situation whICh would be 

dangerous, or to say the least of it, would h'ad to 

rashness. They told us the matter conld not be 

hurried, and wonld como in due tune like rain 1rom 

heaven, and conld be att..'1ined Without efftll't on the 

part of the people, Great measnres were !lewr 

achievt>d in that way. 'l'ht>y were tLe r

(NOlAN OPINION 1 uly' loth. 1925 . 

I\IltP.l'essing the hope th",t the mover would not press 

the motio~l CouncillQr Eaton said he was jealous of 

the dignity of the Council, and would rather see 

such a motion dropped. 

Support was accorded by Councillor Mrs. Benson. 

His Worship the Mayor. whilst not disagreeing 

with the m.otion entirely, thought that it dId not 

come within the province of the CouncIl, and he 

feared that they stood an excellent chance of being 

told ~ JI\inC\ their own, business. . 

Fwl0Win,g a r(lply by Oouncillor Kemp, the motIOn 

was put and carried on the following voteR: For. 

Councillors Lamon.t, Smith, Shearel,', Mrs. Knight, 

Mrs. Seiedle, Kemp, and Mrs. Benson. Against: The 

¥a~oJ'. Cou:t:).c.illors l\Lrs. Fahey, Eat.on, Clark, and 

13;p~z~d .• 

\ 

AUSTF,ALIA PLAYS FAIR 

TUE cableg,ram fro,m Melbourne, Australia, 

II stating that the Committee of the Senate 

h.as Pa.!'l'100 a Bill, givi'lg British IndIan 

residents full electoral rights of citizenship, is a 

piece'of very welcome information. If this means 

that. the Bill ha,s successfully pGtssed both Houses 

0:£ P~J~a.meI),t and ~ now law, British Indians, 

domiciJ.ed iIll AustJiaJ.i.a are to be congratulated. It 

would appear that the people of A ustralia are 

posses'led of a sense of fairness and justice, and 

that they al'e not afraid of lining up along~ide 

"$~Qj~t" :r~. At a time whell SQuth Africa is 

going :from bad to worse in its anti-colour leglslatit)ll, 

1ihis examI?le of straight forward recognition 

Q~ J;n.dif!,'s claim, as an ~qual partner in the great 

t\,ntish Empire, 1S most refreshing. Logically, 

there is nothing to be surprised at in thIS news. 

But~ unrortnnately, we are so accustomed to Wltl!essing 

H,agrant acts of injustic.e and spoliation, 

~b~1i Sa mea~ul1e of bare justice causes us to exclaim. 

Australi3!. l,t is. t);u_e, has not a large Indian populationi 

and It may, therefore, be said that its position 

~s not On all fours with that of the Union of 

South Africa;. Th.e grap,ting of the pol~tical fran 

Qhisj:t tf}l;J;J,d,ians ilJ .a us~alia, however SlI ·all the 

population, ia of the highest importance because 

ill establishes- a precedent The British self-governjng 

1)pmini0ns have hitherto refused such 

righ~j al!.

ights in the country. Mr. Kemp leprf'8I>ntf' 1 1 th~ 

,moat (Iang~l'ou

t74 INDIAN OPINION July loth. 1925 

African Government has not been slow in taking 

. advantage o~ it and they are working out in a most 

intensive and, vigorous manner. Up to now about 

35 000 Indians have been turned out of South Africa 

and-they are all the victims of those false statements 

that is India is prosperous, that labour is scarce, that 

prices are low and that all of them could be absorbed 

in the country and could easily seUle th~mselves. 

But as we all know the majority of them have been 

stranded here and their condition is simply deplorable. 

There is not one amongst them ~ho, if 

allowed, would not go back to South Afnca. At 

present, there is great unemplo~ment. thro~ghout 

the country, rice is se-lling at scarcIty prIces, dls~re~s 

is acute. Still the Government of South Africa s 

false allnrements have been left to pass unchallenged. 

The Government of India's share and Sir B. N. 

Sarmacs toq-in this sin of negligence an!l of eV~Il,-', 

tnal ilu1f-eri!llg~is very~great. 'Have th~y' no u~(?asy' 

conscience when even a few weeks back, 403 repatriates 

have been dumped on India and every quarter 

the steamer would bring about 500 of the-se unfortunate 

people? Unless they are a party to the 

deception or nnless they wink at the idea that Indians 

would all do well to come back to India, their 

silence is inexplicable. 

• SIR B. N. SARMA'S F AIr.URE 

The first step i~ for the Government to tell them 

that.conditions are not favourable in India for their 

settlement and that they should come to India at 

their own risk. It will be the sheerest humanity to 

do this and the Government of India should not be 

lax as they qad been- all these years. Of course, the 

greatest disappointment is Sir B. N. Sarma who, 

though he held the portfolio fOl JI. long pe-riod, had 

utterly failed to grasp the mi~chief aad suffering 

caused by the repatriation sche-me. It is to be hoped 

that the new member in charge of the portfolio will 

do something to see that the poor Indians are not 

turned out of South Africa on false hopes. Let them 

cume at their own risk by all means. But the Government 

of India's responsibility for these 35,000 

Indian/! ~nd for those .cOining: hereafter is very great. 

Nothing seems to have bepn done to provide suitable 

employment for them or their return "home" comfortable 

and happy. 

It is therefore,' essential that some non-official 

Indian' who knows two or three vernaculars is sent to 

South Africa either by the Government or by private 

philanthropic men and associations to tell the people 

there that they can come here at their own risk and 

that cpnditions of trade, industry and agriculture are 

not very bright and promising, especially in Southern 

India to Which, unfortunately, most of these repatriates 

belong. .. . . 

Even though like sItuations are developmg lD 

East Africa and there is a possibility of somebody 

bringing or making indiscreet admissions in East 

African affaIrs, the urgent 'question i$ now that of 

South, Africa. While the Class Areas Bill, Ordinances 

and Franchises are aimed at impoverishing 

the Indian well-to-do element, the repatriation 

scheme is aimed at driving out labourers and humble 

folk. Unless some strong steps are taken, we shall 

not be surprised if in course of time even these weIlto-do 

merchants and traders are slowly pulled down 

to the scale of repatriation. 

We have been asked' by the Secretary of the 

Young Men's Vedic Society to announce that the 

weekly meeting of the Society hitherto he-Id on 

Sundays will, as from the 15th instant, be held on 

Wednesdays. The first of these meetings will be 

held on Wednesday next at 7 p.m. at the Hindu 

Tamil1nstitute Oross Street, when a general discussion 

on how best to b~tter the condition of Indians 

in SQuth Africa will. take place. 

EUROPEANS IN INDIA 

Mr. Wentworth Stanly's speech at the European 

Association's meeting at Karachi shows elements of 

liberality not usually. conspicuoull at- -such gatlier-' 

ings. 

He stressed, of course, the words "gradual 

realisation of Self-Government," but recognised 

that t4e Indian aspiration was perfectly legitimate', 

that Britain was pledged to satisfy it. He (lil .. ted 

on the importance of ,British capital to India, but 

urged that the non-official European should show.. 

"that he is as keen as the nor.-official Indian for tb ' 

betterment of the masses amonlt whom he lives." 

The implication, we hope, is that the keenness is a 

quahty which has yet to be cultivated, and is not 

to be claimed as a mere adjnnct of the British 

"trusteeship." Briti&h capital is invested all ovei' 

the world, and because of that factj Britain does ~6t 

claim a ,share in the :direction of: aU ,tlUier coun'trl'elf' 

affairs. The British commnnity in India is certainly 1 , 

entitled to fair play, but being a small minority, it 

mllst be content to let India be governed by Indian~. 

The weather remains unchanged. For the moment 

one forgets that he is in England and well mly 

he believe he is in sunny South Africa. The high. 

est reaiing this summer is 85 in the shade. 

The death of the Maharajah Scindia of Gwalior is 

reported to have tabn place on the 5th inst., in 

Paris. The Maharanee and ber two children aged 

twelve and eight were with the Maharajah at the 

end. His heir is George Jivavi Rao, about 9 years 

old, for whom the King stood sponsor. The cremation 

ceremony was held at the cemetery of pere. 

La Chase. Among those, a~t~,n,di~g ,wrr~."W~1AP., 

Khan the Maharajan')'Gaekviar' of Bargda, ana the 

Maha~jah of Kolkapui. ' " , 

The Maharajah of Gwalior was one of the' fi ve 

Indian Princes entitled to a salute of 21 guns. In. 

recognition of his enlightened rule over his cpu,ntry, 

among other honours, the hon01:ary, degree!,! of L.~ ..nc 

of Cambridge and D.O.L. of Oxford were conferred 

on him. He was born on the 20th October 1876 

, and at the age of 10 I!ucceeded his father as a rnlel' 

of a country with an area of some 26,000 sqnare 

miles, a population of over 3,000,000 people, producing 

a revenne to the State of about £1,500,000. 

He was brought up as a soldier and in 1901 at the 

age of 25 !laW service in Ohina as orderly offi~I' to 

General Gaselee. On this occasion he fitted out at 

his own expense the hospital Ship Gwalior which 

was found to be very serviceable. He was one of 

the most loyal subjects of the King. To mark the 

Coronation of the King, he gave £8,000 for distri~ 

bution among the charitable institution's in England j 

which the King described as noble. He sent ~m ~ 

outbreak of the Great War, troops to the a8SIstan~e, 

of the British. He advanced to the Indian Govet;n. 

ment a' loan of 5,000,000 rupees, free of interest; ~!t/ 

would not accept the immediate p~~ent ,!>r. ,~AAt , 

Uovernmtmt of 3,800,000 rupE!es and' inves.te

_ ._~J~ul~Y_I_o_th~'~'9~2~S ________ ~JN~D~IA~N~O~P~I~N~I~O~N~ ______________ ~!_ 175 

< .' anll motOr-crcles• In short he placed the entire resources 

of h18 State at tRe disposal of the Viceroy 

T~e th~n Viceroy of India, Lord Hardinge said of 

hl.m: That !>ne can hardly epen the newspaper 

wIthout reading of some fresh instance of the 

,~~6i:1arajah's generosity"-and the papers are full 

of stories of his humanity. Whenever he came to 

London, he wonld, dreMed iu old clothes, slip out 

of his hotel ip the evening and board a 'bus and 

• pass the hours in riding round the city. London by 

night, seen froJll an omnibus top, fascinated him. 

A~ th~ pmt!, ~f a national rejoieing, he was in 

• LooQAJ,l,.y •. pnatt~4ed.he,mingled in the crowd at a 

firewor~.dlsplay"coming by chance upon a working 

l'DJ,ln and his wife with a child, which should 

ne~er have brought out on such a night. It had 

grown too tired to walk, it was carried by the man 

and sometimes by the woman. All three were tired 

ou~ The Maharajah offered help in carrying the 

cbdd. After a moment's hesitation the offer was 

accepted. The Maharajah stayed o';t the fireworks. 

with the child asleep in his arms. On the return 

journey, the Maharajah did his share of the work 

of carrying and on reaching the palotial house in 

Park Lane in which he was living, without thinking 

he stopped and said Goodnight to the pair adding 

that he had reached his home. The man e~ed him 

narrowly and indicated his disbelief. "Oh" said the 

1.1aharajah. "I'm only engaged in the stables" 

"Well" said the man, "you ain't our English sort, ~f 

C011rse, but you are a damn good fellow." 

In his own dominions he also loved to play 

Haronu-al-Raschid. Once after a night ramble in 

disguise he was returning to his place when he was 

challenged by a sentry. He explained who he was 

but his tail was not good enough for the soldier. 

The end of it.was that the Maharajah was kept in 

the'g1lllfdl'OOm till his ',private .secretary came.-land 

identified him. ' The sentry expected to be instan~ly 

beheaded. But the monarch pleased with his discipline, 

gave him a step un in rank! 

With the aid of an Irrigation Department, he enabled 

many thousands of barren acres of land being 

brought under cultivation. He was considered to 

be a benevolent ruler. He had a collection of 

jewels believed to be one of the finest in the world. 

He had a dozen ropes of pearls alone worth a million, 

But he preferred to go about unrecognised 

among his people in ordinary Indian dress. 

An error crept into a previous letter about the 

Maharajah of Jodpp.r. He is in England with his 

only Maharanee. 

The chief points in the Allied Note to Germany 

are: The Allied Governments consider it of capital 

importance to declare that the defaults in disarmament 

would if not promptly rectified, enable 

the German Government to reconstitute an army 

modelled on the principles of a nation of arms. The 

totality ot disarmament defaults is a serious menace 

to peace. It noW resta with the German Government 

to create the conditions in which evacuation 

of C1ologile can speedily be effected. It is they 

\~enlseJveft with 'profit by the readiness with which-- 

.~e1 'give effect to the rectifications demanded. The 

\Ilie~ Governm.ents again. appeal earnestly to the 

German Government to liquidate with the necessary 

'goodwill the outstanding matters, the settlement of 

which the gravity of the situation demands. 

TO' teach pupils of forty nationalities in one 

secondary school is a task to fascinate the most 

ardent pedagogist. The experiment is to be made 

in Geneva for the heneJit of the families of the 

Secretariats of the League of Nations and the International 

LabOllr Office. 

English and French will 

be the teaching languages employed, the headmaster 

will be an Englishman, and the system adopted will 

be a combination of the lateat edueational methods 

of ' Europe al:d A.mari. 

M",. tJsl .. ' ell. mil" mJaohl •• whb wldob &)a., Ill. I 

generally credited lurks in the brain of apes and in 

a new bo?k, The Mentality of Apes, Prof~r W. 

Kohler glVtlS some remarkable instances of their 

cleverness. One Chimpanzee would pile boxes-On 

one another in order to reach some fruit· one day 

the Keeper offered his bent. back as a s~l, taking 

care to stoop too low to bnng the fruit in reach 

"whereupon the disappointed ape came quickl;' 

do~n and tried very en~~eti~IlY to raise the keeper 

mto a more erect potIltlon. _ -Another s"""imen 

"SaIl " ed t'~ , 

y, ns to hand her teacher four straws when 

as~ed for that number. Clearly the expressio1l 

"brainless I!B Chimpanzee," used by the Cambridge. 

Poet, Calverley, was a gross slander. - 

MAHATMA GANDHI AND MR. FORD 

A STUDY IN CONTRAST 

1.1r. Arthur J. Penty writes in "G. K. Weekly" : 

Of all the prophets of our world to-day perhapa. 

the two most notable because the most extreme are 

Henry Ford and Mahatma Gandhi. Both of fuem 

are remarkable men, and yet they would lead the 

world in precisely opposite directions. Ford stand.s 

!or ~e externalisation, the mechanisation of life. It 

IS hIS boast that he has filled the streeta with motorcars. 

He is planning now, so I read, to fill the air 

w!th aeroplanes, and if he lives long enough he will 

WIthout a doubt fill the sea with submarines. At 

any rate, such would appear to be the logical outcome 

of his activities. To Gandhi all such attivities 

or developments are anathema. He does not talk 

about the D~ed of controlling machinery,-but is cont~nt 

~ sa~ represents a great sin." Machinery to 

hIm IS an mstrument of the devil essentially destructive. 

It is the wrecking force in society and 

_ ~erd~re. he ~eks to banish it from India precedent 

to llaDlshmg It from the world. There is to' be no 

compromise with it. 

Which of these two men is right. To answer this 

J question it is necessary to discuss other things in 

addition to machinery. It is necessary to come to 

conclusion about the final aims of life. But this is 

a big order about which it seems difficult for most 

people to reach any conclusion. Let us, therefore, 

seek to test by reference to some more proximate' 

idPal-say human eqnality. In his 'Autobiography' 

Henry Ford expresses himself very frankly on this 

point. He says:- 

"Repetitive labour-the doing of one thing over 

and over again and always in the same way-is a 

terrifying prospect to a certain kind of mind. It .is 

terrifying to me. I could not possibly do the same 

thing day in and day out, but to other mind.s, perhaps 

I might say to the majority of mind.s, repetitive 

operations hold no terrors. In fact some types of 

mind thought is absolutely appalling. To them the' 

ideal job is one where the creative instinct need not 

be exprePsed. The jobs where it is necessary to put 

in mind as well as muscle have few takers-we al- • 

ways need men who like a job because it is difficult. 

,The average worker,I am sorry_to ~y, wants a job 

in which ho does -not have to put forth much 

physical exertion above all, he wants a job in which 

he does not have to think. Those who have what 

may be called the creative type of mind and who 

thoroughly abhor monotony are apt to imagine that 

all other mind.s are similarly restless and therefore 

to extend quite unwarranted sympathy to the labouring 

man who day in and day out performs almost 

exactly the same kind of operation. 

REPETITIVE LABOUR 

Now is this true or is it false? I do not hesitate 

to say FortI's judgment is superficial. That there 

are great differences between men there is no denying. 

. One man's meat may be another man's poison, 

but there are sOme poil'(JQs that d~1 all men, and 

&Il. mtolwalgtloH 0& labout I. on. 0& thCMt, W.

lNDIAN OPINION July -loth,. 1925-- 

conclude thll-t this division of mankind into creative 

there !s any peril it will be,.because th.e East adopt~ 

an,pportunities 

there would be fot creative work, as'1\1:1'8: Bernard 

The South MagaliE'sburg Farmel'B' ASSO\)j,ltion has 

Shaw supposes, but practically it does not work out 

rooffirmed an hnpOi·tant resolution on the ABl~:': 

thil'! way: Repetitive'labour destroys the taste In a 

question. The memb(>rs J~ave again hound' themselves 

not to buy fyom Jndians in MlY cit~umstmnK'6. 

oomn;t'lmitY' for culture, and 'the reason for this IS 

that the attempt to discrIminate between melf as 

and they have IIntiertaken to advise oth!'" 'farmers 

creative'and repetitive.is nY are to !o-ve!' 

fIDiti?'Jtl£1..1l1H'el'eJl,~eS. "The greatest induatl'lahst in 

come what IS, after all, a genuine menace., It -)I! no 

goo~ 

tl}1I world tells uS ,tha~ induilklahsm is lUcoIUpatible 

making long speeches an,l waitin!! y-ear after 

with l!.~aJl equ-aJlty.an\l firm lU hIS belIef m the 

yrar for the Government to move. 'J:he Il()\.ntw-rt 

'\;;Ieneflc~nce of m.ac-hlUery comes to deny hnman 

of the problem, as we have said bEfore, lieB ~ocy 

eqnality, The greatest, saint m the world affirms 

, largely in their own hands. 

human equality and is the uneompromising ~ enemy 

of industrialism. That if$ the first difference between 

ford and Gandhi. 

News in Brief 

:BOTH :P ACJFIS'rS 

T~t tbis mass meeting of tl,1e Tr,ansvaal Indians 

We have seeu how fundainentall~ Ford: -and again strongly protests flgainst 'tne ..,Colonr Bar 

Gandhi differ in theIr outlook. They haye, how ~m " as ll: plege of legIslatIOn contrary to the 'P) inclple 

of rIght ancI justice aT)d as one placing great 

'~"V1:I1,', ilne thing in (,lommon. They are both paClfi.sts. 

lI~re ia something by which we may test;, them a.'l oconomic hardshIp Oil those affected under it. That 

practltlal IIl-en; which wIll bring out stIll mol'e ,fup- " this meetmg respectfully urges the Senate to reject 

~m~PJa.l 1i,1fferencefl. Gandhi's paCIfism il>' ,.of! his same. " 

~sen,ce. It is all oJ; a piece WIth his othe,r ldeals. Proposed, by Mr: R. M. Sodha. seconden by 

'fh,el'e if! J,l0 (lonfiict between, h~s paclfism ,and tJ:w Bhhp.'''i Natal, supported by'C Poonen, and unanimousl 

Y carri~d by the meetmg. 

'Qt}:).~r ~hip~s Ae believes in, for 1f ~.n, coulo, be per 

S'qa{l.ed to follow him entirely peace would entIrely ------ 

reign UPOll e~rth. But with Ford it iff. flijIerent. 'Speaking at it dinner of the Central Asian Societr, 

His paciqsm is not something that_aruu.s, ff(),In lIis Lord Birkenliead, in a brief reference to InQla', declared 

emphatically that Britain mUdt 'continue to 

b!!U~f in in

'~" + 

_______ ~ ndttttt ~pitl 1011 

• 

No. 29-Vo). XXIII. Friday, July lith, 19 2 5. Rq .. te ...... ttheG.p.o .... N ..... _ 

J _________________________________ ~~~ __ ~~ __ ~~ ____________ ~P~.:~~.~':oo:u:mK~.~ __ __ 

~,~ 


;r&~ 

~ URBAN readers are ~eminded that the Appeal have to give a casting vote. In the end there was • 

J..L.lI Court to hpar Objections to the Burgess Roll sits majority of 27. Bot Gladstone's pl'E'btige Bnlfered. 

. at the CoQrt I1onllt', Dnrban on 20tb, 21st and great deal. 

22Qd lOst. From a glance of the Borge88 Roll a good - 

nomber of Indian Votera who appeared last year are removed 

and it behoves every voter who is entitled to be 

on the Roll to make certain that his name appears on 

the new Roll and if left ont to sce that his name is put 

on. Any voter who wiphes to enrol or to know whether 

his name appears on tbe Roll, mlly call on Mr. SorabJee 

Itnatomjee at 110 Field Street or at Messrs. Pat her' &·Co. 

Fonndry Lane, who will render all assistance necessary. 

We understand that the subjects of Bbavnagar State 

are stliltiDg a Women's University after the model of 

Prof. K8rve's University. Three professors from the 

Surat Mahila Vidyalaya have promieed to offer their 

,erviccs to thill institntion. It i8 expected tbat the 

Bhavnagar State will come forward to help this movemenL 

by mnniflcent contribntion to its finances. 

In India political life bas been unnsually qniescent 

dnring t,be last month. Lord Reading has ~one on 

Igiilatores 

and of Dominion Parlillments. Mr. Ramaswamy 

Mudalier, member of the Madras Legislative Council. 

spoke on the position in the provinces.-Reuter. 

THE SAME _ OLD 1'ALE 

Tl:D EUTER has been very busy last week rell~ 

porting the speech gi,'en by Lord Birkenheael, 

the SeCletary of State for India, on 

the Indian qll. stion The speech was the most 

disappointing one tlver f.!iven by any responsible 

Minister of State. We must confess that we could 

fi'ld nothing in the speech that would suggest an 

improvement in the condition of Indhns in India. 

His L'lrdship di,;pl \yed a Jack of kllowledge of 

Indial' affairR His speech is a dirdCt insult to tlu~ 

conciliatory 110te sounded by tile late Mr. C. Rr 

Das at FariJpur last May. When the Jate Mr. 

C. R. DJS madA his memorable speech at Faridpur, 

India appeared to be with him in his condemnation 

of violence, so thnt the attainm~nt of Swaraj 

within the Empire may be accelerated. It is indeed 

regrettable that Lord Birkenhead should 

almost immediately after the lamented death of 

Mr. C. R. Das seize th-, occasion to use threatning 

language. For, we can import nothing further 

in his speech than a veilpd threat. 

LOld Bil kenhead's speech brings us back to the 

question as to thf' add·nbility of the Secretary of 

State for India making periodical visits to India. 

How T,ord Birkenhead could have gra~ped' the 

conditions as oh'aining in India by being thousands 

of miles away, we certain!y cannot understand. 

Surely the ViCE'roy is n1 authority on 

Indi.lD aff.urs, on whom the Secretary of State lor 

India C

__ I~7S~ ________________ t_N_D 

present mo-inent nor an intimate knowledge of 

:;if( i' /,0 '" \ 

J.g.~~!n ~~a~rs. 

As the napers very aptly described. the speech 

wa~:;'ery liis'appoiniiog a~d no student of Indian 

politics would have ventUled such a statement. 

Irrespon,sible statements suC'h as the one made by 

Dord Bitltenhead nuiICe it all the more necess;lry 

that the Secretary for InQ.ia to make periodiCal 

visits to India in order that a true picture of the 

position may be presented to him. 

Indian leader!; of all parties had hoped to hear 

.. 1111 , I' I I , 

from hi,; Lordship the Imperial Gover71ment's 

1 'I) 'I 

int~nt~o,n to ral~e t9.~ ~e£oqns Act of HlJ 9 befOle 

th~ statutc\:y date in 1929. Their hopes have 

evidently been "shattf'red to pieces" as it were. 

W!i $~~4t,4ave thought ~hat the recenj; evpnt!'! in 

lnpia }Youl4 h~YE! had an effect upon Lord Birkenhead 

as to suggest a revision of the ll,pforms Act. 

But it would 'aPpear that ~othing would deter the 

pn~~li~l G~ve~n.rpent fr?m pu~s~ing thel~ policy 

9J1~!).v;ffig the, IndIans where they are This is a 

d!l.rigerous policy for !l.ny government t0 pursue 

arid Lord Birkeuhead's veiled threat will not 

prevent the Indians from pursumg their fight for 

Swaraj. 

We do no~ 1esire ,to 'Y+vpess in, tndia Rimilar 

events as are obtaining in China, but we are 

afraia Lord Birke'nhead'~ speech is not' ~t all conbmkioty 

in ione but 'will tend to b~lllg back to 

play that bittei:n~ss w:Lich had of late been for 

~~tten: I 

THE EMPIRE AND INDIA 

BRfT~~~'S ~IG~ OBLI~A~IONS 

J\f)\l:E'nNG OF SECRETARY AND VICEROY 

GOVERNMENT No'T TO BE INTIMIDATED 

, OPEN TO EARNEST REPRESENTATIONS 

to~do'n.-Lord B~rkenhead made au important 

sl:ateiliell't in the House' 6f Lords thls ev~mn~ 

in Te'gard to his confererlces with the VlCpi'oy, 

L:OI;q. R~ding, on the Indian proble!ll. 

. all stat.eayS. "The Government 

of IndIa by anyone presents almost insuperable 

dIfficultIes. The Dmrchy offers a chan6e to those 

who claIm 'IndIJ. 11 natibn' for their watchword to 

learn somethIng of its limitations. Is thIS chance

, to, ~e completely neglected? 'We can hardly think 

80. .,. 

, 

I 

::Y.e~ it remain.s the fact t!'tat two-thirds of ,lhe , 

trial p.er~o4 pas pASsed witfiput reveal~ng any organ. 

iMtion ,capaLle of r\ll~ng, although it has shown a 

very vigorous organisat,ion for wrecking.', " " 

"1.01'(\ Birken~ead a44ed little, to our knQwledg~ 

1,ast ni"~t. btlt at ),east h,e show,ed some compr(jhe~. 

.. :!.J. o~ tIle ditficulties of toe Ql1etltklO: aT!d iliA 110~ 

at~empt to rf7m~v~'tp.e t:~pon!!ibilitr of 4s so~ution 

from ~he panels 9f the people of IndJa.-Reuter. 

¥ I .... .:-, 

THE,CHALLENGE Of SOUTH AFRICA 

The position' of India in the Drifis'h Empire is a 

pecnH'ar'¢ne. FOr Indllln's lite tb~ (lnly non-White 

race~aI1lobg'\l. gtotip 'bi white D6minions having a 

civilisation of their own and claiming equal civjc 

aria naVtmal tights with' felldw-citizens of the Em. 

pirl'.' Btit the' cb}dnr issue sharPly di~ides the tmpira 

rettder!yjg Indians not e!f/lal rp'etnbers but the 

underdogs nt parts; 

ahd't'h'e 'deal of a gloridus,imperiaf.federation seems 

a'brt1t'l mockel-Y to Indicln!! who have no place consiste"t 

with' s(>lf-respeCt in: atly quarter of the Empire 

wllfch turns theJii' Ollt after bU,ilding its prosperity'on 

their 'labour. South Africa is the crux of 

the hhpElr,ia:t prdblent so far'as the racidl question ~s 

cOl'wtJl'bed; I c01dur hatred, economIc hostility, and 

pblitical 'prejUibce have there debrived Indians, of 

their'~vic's~ttts, sociai'rights and economic l~bhty. 

RepelitedlY It fias' pronounced the verdict on. the 

sta,tus to which Indian cittzens are doomed in the 

EtHpire' whUe the Iqlperial Goverill~ent 

have te: 

mumed callously neutral and the Go'Vernment of 

Iridl'a 'criminally apathetic and inllctive. 

r Witbil\ the s}loi't "'space of a weeki news has come 

from Sont~ :Aftica'wbicli, wefe India ail autonom6us 

an'd sett-teliant' natiOn! would constitute enbh~~ 

prOvOc.'lti,bn'for ,her taking ,the stronRes~ mf~n~e8 

possiblE! to safeguard hel' natiqnals abroad. For a.ccetftuat'ing 

a~ the \'egishtti'Ve propbsals and action do 

the l \>oli~y Of ~iff~rent1ation' and humiliation, they 

r'edl'lcd fndiaus tQ the state of pu're helotry. yron. 

sid!>r the position:' Indian immigratIOn has been 

Stopped and :Vil;o~OWl efforts are' being made to hidl1'ce 

1ndillM to l'ep!ttrhite'the'Ulselves. The Inrlians 

residing in Airic.'\ are depriV'ett of parliamentary 

l'tl\nchis'e, sbut Ol)t from ptlblic life and t;ociai interco'Orr¢,1 

prohlbited' from phrch'asing land ~nd dellied 

dddC3tibn~t frl,cilitil>s 'amI c)rdlItary munlc1pal ament 

~'v(j: '~v{deiltly this is not enbugh for the Whites. 

"~t week Gandhlf~e~eivect a cab~e, ih~Ormi:hg ~fin 

t}iat a."mn Wli!! bewg 'll~troddced, in the Un,ion AS 7 

s'~Inb1f 'by'polone1:901lins ~rohibitin~ th'e grant or 

renhval" of "tra'dipg or 'bu"SineSs licences. J6 :':lnt 

AsIatics within six miles of thll Thinsva..ll Municipal 

Or 'T6wrlilhip' areas. On the '6th l\IJ.rch w'hi-n Colonel 

COl\U1S was to in:troduce this Transvaal fnrthd Ref! 

ftlc~io~s'~ASiatic) Bill; .he withdrew it oh th~ gr6un~ 

that 'the Government Itself 1ntendeil to Qrni,!! in a. 

comprehensive measure de~ling 'with the -subject; 

The retteat 6f'the"gtillant Colonel, ho~ever, was a 

f " ;., I 

reprieve~ Dot a final del~"\\'~rance, for the fndians" f01; 

he is again proposing to in~roduce the meaSure. lin. 

order to l'e~lisp the, manner in which th& ~m ,'Yill 

prove detrimental to the f'coJ;lomic interests. of Tndians. 

it ~s necebsary to under!jtan'd its implicationS 

,... hich have been, well pointed o!lt in. t,* -rf.fF.I(;(Jn" 

Cltro'mde. If the Bill is p,assed, nQ lndjall wID,,bi) 

entih~d to l'ivE' or trade hi l1rb~n, area OJ; bJ;lY land 

anY\\!'h.e~e; if, for example, an Indian, is dyiug !J,~ 

will have to ,walk sIx miles in cw;;e an In~ Auctor 

is noi available. ;t'he hip. /is GaAdhiji, emi>~si~ea, 

i is a manifes,t breacQ o~ the ,S/llntB-Ga~dh~ "gree~epj; 

in ~914, and i.s pmch, m9r6 in.\mical tq IQdial}. 

interests than, the C13.i!8 Areas ~~~l ~'hicp 'Iap~d. 

owing' to the fa!l o~ the Smuts. ~overJlJDent. p~~ 

what the Class Areas BiI~ faileq to do \)y ,means of 

"pro,claiming" areal!! has been accomplished,in 'Nat8.1 

through the Natal Township Franchise OrQ.inance to 

wlii~ck how 

the Bill spens e1conomlc ruin for the Jndian ,lI.n~ 

milita~e!,l'against ilis lJaHonal llonour. ,It,.throo.~ns 

to oust from employment ,bamero.lls Indian ,wage~ 

earners, voice~ess ltlJd voteless as th~y are, w,it;p. Ii 

stroke of the 'Minister's pen and, disallows .. the em. 

ployment of Indians save, perhaps, ,as' ~nn3l ,41>ourer. 

As tliough the coloul; bar were not sWficlentlr 

wide. haviJlg been extenonl',~' 

South J\,fl.'ican ~atio~aJity .J3ilJ. or t~e lIf!nim:uUL 

Wages BilJ or varlQus executiveregulabons prq:mpt~ 

tid anti~Asiahc LeagUe&: which, "in th", guise of' 

achieving /jome refprm,..are calqulat.ed to ;hit ~he IIh 

dIan. citizen or tlfloder: Wba~ is, the Governmen,~.of 

~ud,ia' retort to tb,is.~nerj,re}ie 'poUC~"9~ .p~r8.e.c~4 

anit insult of ,~ne,u: nat!QII~lo/. Genera,! ~erjrzOg 

, laconicdlly men,hoTle4 l~ a. speecn, that. lie hl..d l'e~ 

ceived a propos&l 1()J;' a Ronnd. 'raQle~_ Con&ereno/;l 

with'lIle reprE's\lr{t,ltlves o! the Inuia.n qovernment 

and then passed on to other 8U!?)ects. That is the

180 .ffblf1~ OPlNJON July 17th, 1925 

total result o~' ,t4e furtive negotia.tionlil and eaJ;IWst 

representations of Lor~ Reading. We are not Sl1rpHsed'at 

the General's snub because a lIubordin~te 

branch of His Majesty's Government can har(jly elJ: 

p,ect a more fruitfu,l reliPpnse. Lord Birkenheq.d 

apd T.ord Reading cannot ~eel the pumiliation which 

their IndiaJl fellow-subjects, f,eel: they can at best 

srmpathise with, and at worst, ignore the popular 

feeling of inuignati,ion' and exacerbation. It is not 

possible to appeal fO the sense of justice of General 

1¥rtzog who in his reply to General SllJuts pleaded 

for discarding'ethical principles. The subject having 

been lifted from what 'Nietzsche would ,call 

"'slave-moral~ty" into the higher and practical 

atmosphere of economic self-interest backed - by 

physical' f6rce aim~ng at the pr£'servation of the 

civilisation of superman, even intellectual virtlles 

like honesty are of little account since solemn 

-pledgeSjIl'e wantonly and repeatealy broken. There 

is 'oDly one thing South Africa can understandresolute 

action. Palmerston in a famous utterance 

said that "as the Roman in

July 17th, 1925 INI>fAN OPINION 18i 

use mast be given an opportunitl to exploit it. How 

does the qUestIOIl present itself wben viewed (rom tbil 

aspect? The answer is given bI tbe aut)lor' in t.he 

following words: "A people at preseot lewet in Dumber 

tllan the population of London JlOIlI!e!l8 A ustralia, a continent 

almost of the size of Enrope." The autbor at aoy 

rate bas a lively recognition of duties which tbe right, 

claimed by Australia, of self-realisation 88 a membPr or 

'_~e oations of the world, entails npou her. "The world 

oeeds tbe supplies that it would receive if the reJ!Oorces 

of Anstralia were folly developed. 00 Australia's williognees 

and ability to develop th('se resource. within a 

reasonable time seems to depend her r ght to relaiu her 

identity b, the f'xclusion of people who would be qnit4a 

lVi/IJng to enter her country and do this work." And 

-si~ thit coooition, of caurse. sbe cannot. pOI!sibly folfil, 

it is-c1ear that from tbe point of "jew of'flUllwuty 8S 

a whole the dilemma of either choosing to keep AUII~ralia 

purely British in colture, but undeveloped; or else riskiog 

a new and largely Asiatic cultore to develop tbere 

wllich however woold eusore the Continent making its 

fnll contribution to the needs of the world : can only be 

IIOlved b, boMly and nnflinchingly declaring for the 

latt(r alternative. 

COMMONWEALTH BILL 

INDIA. UNDER AN INDIAN CONS'l'lTUTION 

" The most striking featur. 01 the presf'nt constitution 

is the vast power wielded by the Secretary of 

St&te tof India. Seated six thousands of miles away, 

he has complete authority over the administration 

and the revenues of India. He is a member of the 

British Cabinet, responsible to Parliament alone for 

the manner in which he exertJises his powera of 

superintendence, direction and control over the 

affairs of India. All these powers are swept away 

by the Commonwealth of India Bill. The Secretary 

of State is l1arely mentioned, except for the pur.{>ose 

of trlllUi£

~ pa4 J.o!llJ?~ratiVely' -\itjJ~.)~a!'Qefgi;jd~~, betWE'Bn 

:: 1¥6 !.I?I;l~ ·If i~ lS tr~E'., ~hl}t, the, yo~mg, "Maha~m~" 

'ffo~ no,'mp.rfl t-RIW BOme ten thousand .rp.pees alii ,hiS 

¢}af~ i* IIp¥aklil, :W~U fOrJl~8 courage tLud con8.dence 

tP hi~e}.f. tp~~ he; !lhcmld. baYlJ shared \ the kalapani 

. ~4:iitl~~$~·tlir,~~ y~rs'dstuqy, in Ellgla)"ld, in order 

','to;ll!!1ca;t.lefJ, tQ ,~~ Ba:r 14~ ,80 small a, capit!l;l., Be 

''fP8f ali\~t'IJ1~lh he,~~s 9al}~Q, 'to tbe Bar. 1 and re 

~rueq. ffi Kathiaw~, int~nding to pr~otice 

. ~ INDIAN QPINION 

tj:J.? pro 

'~(H~~d m.~rcenll-rY· prO~eBSIOn. qf the law In, the 

" Agency, CmLrts. ; 4,.nd that is when ~ met bIm. 

. fnQei¢ he mu~~ ha"Vf;! mag€! hi~ (iebut in ;the ChIef 

:p~m;t .l?~ore., me, ,soIl!~where about 1893. As j:J.e 

¥..sleyolv~d:. ,t 18 ~ 1ittl~, di.ffioult to picture, him, a 

"f~t~nlilt)\lS cQDlIpetltor in. tbat mllndane and most 

'*Pi3Piritua\lu·ena. , But qis' qestiny' soon called, hIm 

elsewhere. Assuredly, he wou)q never have -peen 

I!> ~_uqc~!jSful hq.rrlster·" 

I >4- " .. ~ ., ,-.. >. .., ,.. j~ , J 

'j~S~"«;:(·:E~~(~(~~ ~~~~1i'~)~~, ~)~~)~~~)~~'~~~~ 

,'. OUR LONDON 1,ET'PER ' ~ 

. ,~, "E FROl\i OUR 'OWN CORRESPONDENT] . 

• • r 19th ;)"une; 1925:' ~ 

, c:«(e '!i'1l4news of tne' suddeYll de-atb' df :J\lr. 0:' R. Das , 

'ha'i1 COJD!~'l!.S l!'shl:>clir t(bJ Indians, particlllady ''Of 'the 

lM'iclentl(:lk/.ss, tb whom' hel was> 'r&pieseI1tative hi his 

l1eraoill ol,the aspinitiomi of India. I ~ , ,tI 

L'-W'Irer~et-tonetgoes, b'ne i is' strnck with the many 

anno\&#e'm\:lnt~ lof thl~ ~ti6us fdfms' of 'auiuse1ll,eht', 

IiIi'd :p1Sib~ tif iht&eat 'one'\nay 'visit. whether in the 

Brih'sh Isle's, bl- -on. 'tli~ . contim!nt. 'The' neople 'of 

$hgf;ind'krlbw not onit how 'to' w;orlt/'but' to tak~ 

th~1r"h01id~yJ:l. Life'M them j is not a question Of 

pt~t-'e 'ii16hdy inaIting...!.tl.t'represent!! to t.bem iii means 

_ -'s' {1' " ,IH £ t j '.I J ,1 ( • 

to the appreciation of the better' things of' this lif-f', 

and this no doubt to a grpat extent aCCOtlflta ~or the 

blQoyancy of the spirit, and the confidence of the 

British in themselves. 'i' 

"'Expectations in J~gard to the attendances at the 

Wembley ~xhibition. has not bpen ftllfilltld. tbMkh 

the claim :&as been made that the WerI'llil(>y 'of ' this 

year is better an.d brighter than last year's. ' The aJmission 

charged jnolul;live o{ the tram fare fl'o:':;;' 

places, within' a radius of 20 ',miles from Wem\-)le,V. 

has been reduced tb two shillings from two shillIngs 

and 'nine pence-in the nopE' 'of attracting 'larger 

crowds. " ""', ' 

" , 

, It is a matter of thankflllnes!I. that the Dawes 

Scheme for tIle. reparation ,payments by G€Il'lnanr, 

to the Allies, hl}S d\1ring the last eight WO)l\Us 

worked sahsfactorily, and thel'e 18 every' iDtlicat1~n 

that' this scheme will ac~ieve its hlgPly l~e8irable 

imKPoses. 

II 

The first a4journecJ annual general meeting 

of the above Association will take place 

place at the l 'Tamil tl1s'titute, ,Cross Street, 

on Sunday the .l6th day of July '19.5 comniencmg 

at 2-3 ,.p"~ when Lhe following 

business will be transacletl. I , 

, i.. I, I I) V ' 1 B'I' 

~. t~lf~Ule!? ~. nepqrt. 3. "a,anc~ 

$reet. ". Ah€ralrlon ana Revision of rules. 

s. Elections. . 6. General. 

Members onlr WIll be able to participate 

in the'dehberdtltms. ' ". I r I I 

" 

_, - I ,; • 

NOTICE 

r I( , r. 'J t 

. , ' 

TJlE REGENERHION OF INOIAN YOUTH. 

, ' 

1 

A l--

~ttdian 

®pinitltt 

No. 3Q-Vol. XXIII. Friday, July 24th, 1925. 

TRIBUTES TO DESHBANDHU DAS 

BRITISH LABOUR PARTY'S RENEWED PLEDGE TO CO-OPERATE 

\\i\YE give below SODle of the tril:>utes paid to 

\1~ the late Mr. C. R. Das by prominent people 

in I ndia and England :- 

Deshbandhu is gone. God's will be done. He 

alone is great. 

GANDHI. 

The National Conncil of the Indepl"ndent Labour 

Party has Bent a message to Pandtit MotHai Ne'hru 

expressing great regret at the death of Mr. Das and 

declaring that Mr. Das was one of the most sincere 

and able leaders the Indian people ever had and if 

the British Government had respon'.ied to his recent 

appcal it might have been the means for bridging 

the gulf between the two nations. "We express our 

warm sympathy with India in its loss and renew our 

pledge to co-operate in working for full political and 

economic liberty of the Indian people .... ~R~uter. 

Sir Hubert Carr, President of the European Assoeiation, 

in an interview with a representative of the 

,statesman says: Standing under the death shadow, 

opposing and critical thoughts ara silenceu and all 

well-wishers of the province and land of Mr. Das 

will gljitefully cherish his memory. Towards the 

end of a tragically shortened life he made clear signs 

of substituting for the policy of uncompromising 

hostility towards those with whom he diS.lgreed the 

policy of conciliation. I sincerely regret that Mr. 

Das was not spared to carry it into effect. One may 

express the hope that all parties may adhf're to and 

develop that policy of goodwill by which alone the 

dream of Mr. O. R D.ls's life will be realiileu." 

I am positively certain that the whole of Mushm 

India shnres with Mrs. O. R. Das the grpat national 

Borrow. We have lost the next best mln we hall 

after Mahatma Gandhi. But "God's will be done" 

88 the Mahatma says. Mahatma sent me the news 

from Khulna. His words of consolation would 

carry conTiction and courage to many of hiu coworkers. 

I am proud to think that like another soldier Hi 

Amma, Deshbandhu Das died in harm'ss. As a 

hum'-1e co-worker of his nothing would please me 

better than to pass away while working h,lrd for 

Islam and India. I appeal to both Muslims and 

Hindus that in view of Deshbandhu D,lS'S death, 

they ought to see that there be no quarrels during 

the coming Id. Deshbandhu Das was a staullch believpr 

in and worker for Hindu-Muslim heart to 

heart unity. Can we not in the loving memory of 

this dear departed brother of ours show this rE-lpect 

to his memory? Mere words and resolutions would 

do no good. In deeds antI srtions we mnst show to 

l the enemies and opponents of India that we mean 

business. 

By Deshbandhu D.l8's death Inaia has lost a great 

leader, and we a dear brother anli co-worker. Men 

like Deshbandhu Das never dIe. Thl"Y always live. 

Only I feel that at a time when the big struggle is 

r to begin soon Deshbandhu Das will not be with us 

to lead us to victory and triumph. "God is great." 

Bengal alone will produce many more men to take 

up his place. We must not accept defeat. One 

soldier is gone; God will give us many mOle. At 

least let us do our best. 

SHAUKAT ALI. 

The sudden and untimely death of Mr. C. R. Dail 

is a great loss to India. His death takes awaf a 

great personality and a most powerful influence 

from public life, espeCially in Bengal. Although-I 

did not share his views particularly since the Nagpur 

Congress-J have lost in him a personal friend and 

India a great patriot who was selflessly devoted to 

the cause which he tried to serve at a great sacrifice; 

which commanded the respect and admiration of 

even those who did not see eye to eye with him. 

This moment I can only say that all India must 

feel the shock and deeply mourn the terrible loss 

and offer their most heartfelt sympathy to his 

family in their bereavement. 

M. A. JIYNAH. 

The news of the death of De!lhband!J.u Das came 

to me ail a bolt from the blue. I knew that he was 

aIling for some time past but I never thought that 

the end was so near. HlS death at this juncture of 

our national struggle creates a void which it is very 

dlfficu It for a long long time to fill. Deshbandhu 

Dols was a dynamiC and organising force in our 

national actiVity. When the Non-co-operation movement 

was on its wane, the Deshbandhu gave a new 

turn to our national struggle. He was a terror and 

a nightinare to the bureaucracy. For the last two 

years he was really the uncrowned king of Benjlal. 

Lord Lytton was nominally the ruler of Bengal but 

the real ruler of Bengal was Deshbandhu Das. What 

Lokmanya Tllak was to Moharashtra Deshbandhu 

was to Bengal. What the Lokmanya was to all 

India the Deshbandhu was to India of his time. His 

sacrifice for the cause of freeaom was unparalleled. 

In fine he lived and died for his country. 

V. J. PATEL. 

The Deshbandhu is dead and with him has disappear.:d 

if not the greatest, undoubtedly the most 

aetive, inspiriug and outstanding political figure of 

modern India. The shock has come so suddenly 

and so terribly that we can hardly rll8lise, either the 

immensity of the loss or the gravity of its effect 

upou the future pohticalsituation in India. 

No other lealieI', ~xcept perhaps the Mahatma. 

had, of IdtE', instilIf'd so milch enthusiasm, spirit and 

hE'althy vigour in "Young India," as this depart.ell 

"ldE'al of Yonth." His glorious career, his undyjng 

tlE'votion, his tremt'ndous sacrifices and abovlfJ"t hie 

fearlf'ss independence and love of tru~"'lldd endeared 

him to hlS countrymen to su~h an extent 

that he was an ever-living and all insPiring example 

to whole political India. Without the least exaggeration 

hE' was 'h.diau Nationalism' personmed. When 

he liv

Freedom, and alas I to the very altar he has ultimately 

sacrifib,ed his life. His name will rank 

amongst the foremost of the great generals who 

have laid down their lIves in the field of battle is 

the very thing of the struggle and the only fittmg 

memorial that the country can raise to perpetuate 

his undying memory is not by crE'ating here and 

there a bronze or a marble statute, but by dlffusmg 

throughout the country the true Dassite spitit, so 

that though the hero is physically dead and gone 

still politically he may live as strong and inspiring 

as ever, till the goal, for which he fought so heroically 

and for which he died so valIantly, is finally 

reached. 

KHURSHED F. NARIMAN. 

The sudde'p death of Mr. C. R. Das is a staggering 

blow to the national cause. His outstanding quality 

was courage. When he realised that the boycott of 

Councils was a mIstake, he advocated its abandonment 

in his presidential address to the Gaya Congress, 

though he knew that it will expose him to 

misunderstanding and misr~pJesentatlOn. He threw 

himself heaI't and soul into the movement in favour 

of Counci11lntry and in a short six months, h1l had 

brought round the majority of the Congress to his 

view. His last pronouncement at Faridpur, is a 

stronger proof of his dauntless spirit. That address 

has now become his last messal,"9 to his people. And 

I for one, think that It is a message full of wise reflection 

and guidance to us in all the main issues of 

Indian politics. 

K. NATARAJAN. 

Interviewed by a representative of the H~ndu Mr. 

Yakub lIassan, promment Moslem Congress leader 

said the death of Deshbandhu C. R. Das at this 

particular moment when he had secured that 

amount of confidence of the entire country that was 

D0cessary to back him up m the next move that he 

was con.templating and espeCIally when the Government 

was evidently trying to find ways and means 

of negotiating wIth him without loss of prestlge, was 

a national calamity of a very great magnitude. 

Whatever might be the fate of the Swarajya Party 

and~hatever part it might play in the future in the 

winning of Swaraj, Mr. Das's own bl'lef, alas too 

brief career, had been of sufficiently galvamzmg 

force and character to ensure for hImself a place in 

the 'history of India as one of the foremost nation 

builders. 

-- 

BOMBAY CORPORATION'S TRIBUTE 

A meeting of the Municipal Corporation was held 

on Wednesday, 17th June, Mr. Joseph BaptIsta presldiug. 

The President said: 

Comradea.-The angel of death has once more 

stricken us with sorrow. This tIme he has snatched 

away from us one who bore the heat and purden of 

the day as Mayor of the Calcutta Corporation and 

leader of the Swaraj party. Inscrutable are the ways of 

Divine Providence. It IS impossible for the fimte 

mind of ULan to fathom the mfinite wIsdom of God. 

But one may be permitted to hope that our departed 

friend's famous gesture for peace wIth honour, and 

progress with goodwill will not be bUrled and 

cremated wlth his mortal remains. In tl.is moment 

gf mourning when the heart of India is bleedlllg a 

great opportunity affords Itself to the British people 

and the British statesmen to filoothe the sorrow of 

India by, some consoling act of high-minded states 

IDMlship and righteousoess. May England have the 

wisdom :to seize the 'Opportunity which Providence 

hal aiven ,her! 

INDIAN OPINION 1 uly 24th, 1925 

------------.:-------- 

It is superfluous for me to say that l3..tbu Chitta 

RanJan Das was one of the brightest stars in the Indian 

firmament, a mornmg star in the hour of darkness. 

He was endowed ,Vtth brreat talents, remforced 

and sharpened hy acquired knowledge, and I'efined 

by the culture of a scholar and a lawyer. Two 

ways lay before hIm, the way of wealth with honour 

and all the comforts and JOYS which wealth can purchase 

and the way of duty With honour atlll all the 

sacrifices which duty dE'mands. It is to his etern,\l 

credit that after havlDg tested the secrets of wealth 

with honour and comfort he forsook them for the 

vale of tears for he felt that the vale of tears was 

the only path of duty open to a true and devoted· 

sou of India in the state of her Bubjection. But he 

tried the vale of tears with courage and fortitude 

and he sought to clear the path of thorns and 

obstacles willi peacetul weapons as a true apolltle of 

Ahlmsa. He is gone With work half done, hut he 

will live in our memory as an example of an upright 

man acting according to the dIctates ot his 

conSCIence and convictlOn without foar or favour. 

He IS now before the bar of hiS CI'eator and there 

can be little doubt that he Will be welcompd in the 

words of St. Mathew the Apostle "Well uone. thon 

gooU and faithful servant; PosRess you the kingdom 

prepared far from the foundation of the world." 

GREATEST POLITICAL LEADER 

Mr. V. J. Patel said they had met there under the 

shadow of a great calamity. Deshbandhu DJ.S, the 

greatest political leader of IndIa, had gone. He was 

the Mayor of Calcutta under the new Municipal 

ConstitutlOn and he sacrificed his all in the caUf

Juty !4t~0:ZS iNbiAN OPltHON 18S 

----------------~_r~~_~_~_7_~__----~----------------~- 

A WELCOME APPOINTYENT 

. l\\yEWS has been received of tl.e appointment 

A ~ of Pundit Motilal Nehru to the Presidentship 

of Swaraj Party We can think of 

no moro popular appointment. Pundit Motilal 

Nelau is the U 06t poPlllal· pe11lOn in India a[fRr 

Mahatma Gandhi and the late Mr. C It Das, a8 

his selection to tlu' Presidentship must be acclaimed 

with ('very satisfa.ction. The destiny of the 

.nature of India lies with the Swaraj Party, and it 

is therefore all the more pleasing to hear that the 

reins of the Party are in the capable hands of tbe 

Pundit. 

The Pundit holds a Vt'ry prominent position in 

the Indian political world, and his action in sacri· 

fioing a huge legal practice for the sake of India is 

very 101gb1y commendable. His foresightedness is 

beyond reproach, and his matured advice to the 

ra.nk and file 01 the Swaraj Party will tend to bring 

harmony within the folds. 

Mahatma. Gandhi has advised the Pundit tha\ 

he intends approaching the All India Congress 

Committee with a view to placing the whol" or the 

machinelY of the Congrefls ai tbe disposal of the 

SVlarll1j Party. The step taken by Mahatma 

Gandlti is a commendable one, and this will tend 

to increase the authority of the Swaraj Party. 

.As Pundit Motilal Nehru 1as very rightly remarked 

that despite the late Mr. Das's offer of 

co-operation, there still appears to be many 

obstacles placed before us by iJl"esponsible authorities. 

Lord Birkenhead's speech has roused the susplclons 

'

186 INDIAN OPINION July 24th, 1925 

"NO NATI inimICal to Great Britain? There is 

none. 

Inter·dependence is a great ideal. But it can be 

truly realised only by independent natIOns and only 

so long as they are mdependent. 

INDIANS AND AMERICAN CITIZENSHIP 

We have referred on previous occasions to the 

ignoble decision of the Supreme Court of the United 

States, revoking the citizenship rights of Indians 

residing in that country. News now comes of pl'Oceedings 

pending before the United States District 

Court for the revocation of citIzenship rights in the 

case of Mr. Bisham Singh Mattu and thit,ty and odd 

other naturalIsed Hmdus (m AmerICa "Hmdu" 

means only "Indian") of Cahfornia. Accordmg to 

reports in American papers, .Mr. Mattu became a 

naturalised American citizen in 1921. He has 

acquired property. established a pl'ofitable ImpOl ting 

business and has married an American WOllllLn. He 

is the president of the Indian Company Inc, 149, 

California Street. It is reported that, when he 

talked of the prospect of expatriation that awaIts 

him, "Mattu who is a substantIal man of business, 

known throughout San Francisco's COmlllf'I'Clal dIStrict 

as a leading oriental imporLer, was on the verge 

of tears." Commenting on this the Htndu ot Madras 

writes in the course of its leadmg article 001 the 15th 

instant under the heading "Benevolent Dominion" ,- 

The pathetic stol'y ot the threatened expatrution 

of Bisham Singh Mattu, a prominent Hmdu natural. 

ised citizen of the United States, is evidently the 

1'esult of such propa&'Rnda as is referred in the above 

letter, (the letter received by Mr. C. Andrews whic'l 

was pubhshf'd In )'0111111 I,trila,) and the r.lcial virns 

thus lUJected lUtO the minds of the AmericlDS. We 

referred in t1ll'se columns, a tew days ago, to the 

movement started under olJiclal allspices to deprive 

IndmnB in U,S.A. of the nghts of citizenship by a 

smister interprl't,ltlOn of the laws under which the 

rights were orlglUallv acqllired, This weck's mail 

brings In l'vidence of the I'elentle~~ pursuit of the 

anti-Indian camp,lign, of which Maltl1'9 inst,mce is 

bnt one. Another episode IS the reported u

July 24th, 1

~88 ·rNOIAN OPINION July 24th, 1925 . 

subjeot tbereafter, but only wish them well. Sectional 

and oommonal aim. should not hamp8r India's onward 

m!l.l'Ch towards proQ'ress. 

Again thev a~keil frr certain irrigation facilities to be 

investigated and explored. Such facilitil's were essent.ial 

ID an agflcultural cOuntry as South India and It was the 

first and forem~t quty of t,he IItata to increase irrigation 

facilities. Tftis matter ha,d been sprung on him and be 

had not'thougllt over what they had suggested in the 

addreliil nor had he oonsnlted the Encntive Engineer 

awtlb it and its possibilities to lay anythinl!' deflnitely on 

the subject. In tho pl'ogreas of Irrigation lay the salvation 

of tbe QQuntry. There were &"1'10 directIons in which 

thoy oould~work. The first waa stata..aid and the otber 

wM the nee of chellp power by availing themllelvel of the 

nit watt'f power whioh existed in that part of the oountry 

f"l' industrial progress. Then he dealt with the 

qll{l6tion of tha lOORtion of Courts wbich he said was a 

(lonUlntious one and a matter fol' admmistrative sorutiny. 

The Hon'ble Member was then entertained at an 

"Evening party at the r(li1ldelloo of Mr. P. K. S. A. Mny:mgo,8wami 

Nadar, M.L.D. which Willi well att.ended. 

Later in the night he left Siv!lkasi for Sattul' en route to 

Madras. 

SIR B. N. 8ARMA'3 HUCCES80R 

SPECULATION IN SlMLA CIl\CLES 

'fbe question of Sir Narashnha Sarma.'s succesaor is 

~gain being made the subject of flpeoulation. Tbis time 

Sir ChuDllal Mehta's llame il'l bell~g mentiQned fr~ly. 

,Si.r CQunllal' was kni\{hted only a month a~o. and 

htl seems to be on good. terms with the bureaucracy and 

also not quite unpopular. It is probablt' that Governmept 

m!lY decide ~o have him because It is detennlDed if 

it can, ~o hltve a Bombayite to sa"\"e itself from the fury 

of the viefercu~ ~ombay Prt'es. 

At on~ tlme the name of Mr. S, R. Das Advocate 

General, Bengal, was menlioned 1111 the most hkely, bnt 

t~e presen~ of Ii Bengalee, SiI' B.N. Mitra, has hitherto 

stood in his way. If Sir Ohunilal is I\PPOillWd, there 

will \1gatu be ,a resbuflling I>f pOl'tfql ios. 

Sir ChunUal is 1)0W in Europe and this may help him 

to smoothen his way to the higber post. 

j -"= _; ;; 4 

BANANA PRODUCTION IN THE EMPIRE 

Tl~e A{lrwultural JOllrnal Q( Inlitre pnbliilhlll'3 t4e 

foliQwing:~ , , 

A.lthough many people in the United Kingdom. 

associate the banana pl\l'tlCularly with Jamaica 11I1Q 

the Canary lslands, not lllQre tnan two·fiftha ot th~ 

fruit impo.r;tlld into the country coml's from those 

cQunt.riell. the remamidg three-firths being stlPphed 

by Oolom.bia, Costa Rica anq the Eepllbhc of 

Honduras. 

ln 19~2, baniJ.nas were imported into the United 

Kingq.on;l to the value of OVer £5.300.0JO o( wllHlh 

aInQunt only about £6,000.000 1'IlPl'IlSelltlld prodnc~ 

of lkitillh PQsses§iQns, In view of tbe fact that the 

blloUlJ,U,il ca.n be grown 1)1 most trOPICal lands wher~ 

labcmr is available, it would therefore seem advisable 

to consider whether a greater share in the banana. 

indUfltry could lI0t be nndertal\:en within the 

Empit:e, lllore particularly in parts of Wt'lit 

Mrioa. which are within a comparatlvely short dir. 

tanC!} of tbe "l\OUlIl )Jlarl\:et. The present position of 

the jl)dJ;lstry in the varioUfl Gountries of thll Empire 

is \ndicated in an article on "The Banana and its 

C'lltivl).tion with Special Rllference to the Ernpirr." 

pu,blil3hed ill, the I';urrent issue of thll Bulletin ~f lite 

Impertal I118Ml~te. which al~a gives pil,f\iClllarli of 

me~bQd!l ()f growing the fruit and the prePI\l'ation of 

vaJ;'l()Uff products, J;lUcn as banana flour and 41'ietl 

ballaMS Of l~tiga." Of the British West lndl~ 

Islan

®pinitltt 

No.,31 Vol. XXIII. Friday, July 3Jst, 1925. 

Jlegutered.t tIoe o. P.o .... Ho .. ,."". 

PUGI: Fov ..... ,. 

UNION PARLIAMENT 

~DR. MALAN'S ASIATIC BILL. 

Capetown, July 23 (Heuter).-In the Honse of 

Assembly to-day, the Minister of the Interior (Dr. 

Malan) made an important statement in moving for 

leave to introduce a Bill, having for its object .. To 

make provision for the reservation of residential 

and trading areas in the urban areas for certain persons 

ha~ing racial characteristics in common· to 

amend the Immigrants' Regulation Act. 1913 'the 

Indians' Relief Act, 1914. and the Asiatic Registra. 

tion Amendment Act (TransvaaI). 190R. and to 

amend or repeal certain laws." , 

The Minister pointed out at the outset that the 

introduction of this Bill was the fulfilment of an 

Undertaking he made during the last session of Par. 

liament about a yellr ago. On that occasion a motion 

was introduced by Mr. Marwick, and in the debate 

he (Dr. Malan) undertook to go into the whole 

Asiatic question during the recess as thoronghly as 

he could. and to introduce in the following session 

legislation dealing with that problem. lIe was very 

sorry he could not have the Bill ready before the 

very end of the session. because he realised. 

especially after having gone into U. that the Asiatic 

question was a very pressing one in this country 

(hear, hear). and that the delay would not make the 

solution of the question any easier. On the other 

hand. he was not S(lrry that it was impossible to 

carry this Bill further at this late stage. because 

during the recess the country as a whole would 

have the fullest opportunity of knowing what the 

policy of the Government was with regard to the 

Alliatic problem. He personally and the Government 

would certainly value criticism which might 

be brought forward in connection with this Bill, 

and he would be glad to adopt any helpful suggl'Stions 

that might be'made during the recess (hellr, 

hear). In his opinion the Asiatic question. like the 

Native question, was a problem. not for one parti. 

cular Party, }Jut for the whole country (hear, hear). 

and a question which should be held as far as 

possible out of the arena of Party strife. (Hear, 

hear.) He did not propose to make a second read· 

ing speech, seEling that the Bill was not in the 

hands of the members. but wished to make a few 

remarks ,of a gl'neral character. 

In the first place, as members would see when 

they came to study the Bill. it certainly would not. 

satisfy the extreme sections of the country. In 

thia'Bill he had tried to steer a safe and sane middle 

couTse. The radical element in the counbly would 

certainly think that the Bill was too weak and 

moderate, and on the other hand the element which 

was half·hearted or weak would certainly regard 

the Bill as going too far. as to radical. also that to a 

certain extent it would be oppressive. The Bill 

frankly started from the general supposition that the 

Indians as a race in this country were an alien 

element in the population (hear. hE'ar), and that no 

solution of this question 'would be acceptable to the 

country unless it resulted in a very considerable reduction 

of the Indian population (hear, hear). but 

on the other hanS, the method of dealing with this 

question would not be employment of any forcihle 

means, but wouIa consist of the application of the 

SAFE AND SANE MIDDLE COURSE 

Indian to leave the country. The Bill to a certain 

extent followed well-known lines, as in the Bill 

introduced by the late Government. but it went a 

good deal further than that measure in the direction 

of carrying out the recommendations of the Asiatic 

Inquiry Commission. 

In this Bill, continued the Minister. they were 

dealing not only with the residential and commercial 

~egregation, but wlth the land ownership, especially 

]n Natal. (Hear, hear). In addition, the Bill pro· 

posed in certain respects to amend the Immigrants 

Regulation Act. They found that there was a eonsldera~le 

influx of Indians still going on, especially 

of Indlan women. and the Amendments which were 

proposed in this BIll would go very far to put an 

effective stop to that influx. There was one omission 

that would certainly be noted by all members who 

read the Bill, and that was that It did not deal with 

the issue of trailing licencE'S. By another Bill which 

was before Parliament, the principle of uniformity 

of licences had been introduced, but that uniformity 

o,nly consisted in fixing the amounts, and the issue 

of licences to particular persons remained as before. 

in the hands of the Provincial Administrations, and 

so also with regard to the issue of trading licences 

to Asiatics. Dr. Malan further remarked that in 

this Blll he had tried to respect- as far as possible the 

susceptibilities of the Indian population and following 

the example of other legislation, it did ;ot mention 

Asiatics as a class at all. except where this had 

to be done in cases where reference was made to 

existing laws which did specifically 'refer to them as 

a class. In conclusion. the Minister said he wished 

to make himself quite clear on two points. The 

first point was that the introduction of this Bill 

must not be taken as closing the door to any negotiations 

or communications which might pass between 

the Union Government and the Government of India 

in regard to the Indian question. The Union 

Government had been approached by the Govern· 

ment of India with a view to holding a round-table 

conference on the treatment of Indians in South 

Africa. These negotiations had not yet closed, and 

they had taken a very definite course. So far as 

taking the introduction of this Bill as closing the 

doors between the two Governments, he took it that 

on the contrary the 'Statement of the Government's 

Asiatic policy as embodied in this Bill would very 

materially hpl~any further negotiations between 

the two Governments. 

RE'plying to an interjection by General Smuts, the 

Minister said he did not think it would be in the 

public interest for him to make any statement at 

present in r('gard to the negotiations hitherto. 

• Proceedmg, Dr. Malan said the second point he 

wished to emphasise was that whenever the Bill he 

was no\" introducing was passed it would take effect 

from August of this year. His reason for this was 

t3at the Bill respected certain vested rights. and if 

this step were not taken he was afraid there would 

be a general scramble among tlie Indian population 

for the creation of vested rights. and in that way the 

problem which they were seeking to solve would be 

made infinitely more complicated. Therefore th~

~ I 

INblAN OPINION july 31st, 1925 

Bill would come into operation as from August 1 of 

this year. (Cheers), 

The introduction 1)f the Bill was agreed to and 'it 

was read a first time. When Mr. Speaker asked the 

Minister to assign a day for the second reading the 

Minister replied "Monday next," whereat there was 

laughter, because there is no likelihood of the House 

sitting on. "hat day. 

DR. MALAN'S ASIATtd BILt 

THE death knell of the Indians in South Africa 

II has been sounded by Dr. Malan. Geneml 

Smuts attempted to sound tIle death 'knell 

early in the year 1924, by introducing the Class 

Areas Bill, and as a huge ttee is felled by a wood.:.. 

man with th~ aid of his axe, so was the So~th 

.African Party Government shattered to pieces by 

Providence whilst the debate on the Bill was in 

pto~ress. We would not venture to suggest that 

the Nati6nalis~ Goverhment would meet its Waterloo 

II it attempts to introduce the Asiatic Bill. Nor 

will we prophesy such a calamity. We leave that 

to I'rovidence. And we h'tve no doubt that Providence 

will not anow the European community of 

South Africa to crush a law-abiding and peaceloving 

community as are the Indi9.ns. The pity 

of it is that the BIll lIhould be fathered by a 

Minister who in private life is a Minister of teligion-and 

a 'Christian religion at that. 

We have not the Blll in extenso before US f and 

we are therefore not in a pdsition 'to pass an opinion 

8U ths proposed Bill. But judging from the speech 

given by the 'Minister ill 'introducing the Bill, and 

the lirief resume given in our local contemporaries, 

we can only characterise the Bill, as the deadliest 

of all wellpons aimed at the Indian (l()mmunity. 

Tht'l 'Bill is 'the deadliest in na.ture in this respect 

tlrat its intention is to exterminate the Indians 

in South Africa. it is a Bill such as would only be 

attempted by a Government that is devoid of any 

sense of justice and laitplay. Every clause o'f the 

Bill, 80 £ar as We ha:ve been able to read, is deadly 

in character, and if the Bill ever goes through, we 

are doubtful whether it will ever go through, we 

a.re an-aid, it would have fat 'teaching effect on 

~he Indian community "of Sou'th Africa. 

The Europeans desire is, that the Indians 

should rise to their standard of living before a 

demand is made for equal rights. Although to 

bur mihd there is no necessity for the Indians to 

rise to t'hat st'f1ndard, but we cannot see how that 

desire could be fulfilled H Dr. Malan's Bill is to 

become law. The Indians form a~ integral part 

of the somewhat mixed· communities of South 

Mricli, t:tnd unless -equal opportunities are offered 

t'O th,e'm, helw they could rise to the European 

standard, we certainly cannot understand. Is it 

the intention of the Europeans that the Indians 

should be crushed to death? Have not the Indian~ 

aB much right on the globe as do the Europeans? 

wm. 'the British Govetnment sit tight and say 

nothing against tl.le grave injustice that is being 

meted to the Indias ? 

The Indians in South Africa have a very datk 

£utul'e before them; and it behoves the South African 

Indian Congress to leave no stone untm'ned 

in resisting the onslaughts that are heing directed 

against the Indians. tn thpir endea .ours we 

have every hope they will receive every help from 

the S .v-arajists in India. The fight will essentially 

be a life and death struggle, aM the Indians may 

rest assured that Providence will always be with 

them. 

We do not doubt the sincerity of the Dutch in 

meting out justice to their subjects, and our wish 

is that the Government will think ere it takes tl-.;:tl 

the wrong turning. 

INDiAN YOUTHS FOR THE ARMY 

SWARAJ LEADER JOINS SA.NDllURST COM!.UTTEE 

Simla, july 22 (Reuter).-Motilal :Nehru, leMer 

of the Swaraj Party, has accepted membership of 

the Indian Sandhurst Committee which, under the 

chairmanship of Lieut.-General Sir Andrew Skeen, 

has been appointed to inquire into m.ean£! of attracting 

qualified Indian youths to the army and giving 

thed.. a military education. 

This is news of considerable political intel'es~. as 

it is the first time that tI. member of the Swaraj 

Party has accepted a seat on a Govetnment Committee. 

A Bub-committee of the Sandhurst Oommittee 

will visit England in the autumn to study the 

tlonditions of training at Sandhutst and Woolwich, 

and it will also probably procee4 to Kingston in 

Canada. 

INDIANS AND '1'HE ARMY 

SW ARAJ LEADER'S EXPLANATION 

Allahabad, July 28 (Reuter)........ In II statement con· 

cerning his acceptance of membership of the Indian 

Sandhurst Committee to inqUire into the means ot 

attracting qualified Indian youths to the Army 

and giving them a Military Education, Motllal Nehru 

(leader of the Swaraj Party) cites the rnle (If the 

Swaraj Party, which now enables members to Serve 

on any particular committee which is approveil 

by the Party. The terms of reference of the committee 

in no way limit his desite to put the (lase on 

'behalf of his l>eopl(l without hindrance. • 

·"To my mind," he says, "the ad'dition of one Indian 

me'mbet to the nnmber of those capable of participating 

in the defence of the Mantry is Worth more 

than the appointment of ten Indian Governors of 

Province." 

LONG LIVE DESHBANDHU 

{B"f :M:AltA.TM.l GAlrDHI) 

Calcutta demonstrated yesterday t.he hold Deshbandhu 

had on Bengal, nay, India. Calcutta is like Bombay, 

Cosmopolitan. n has people from all the prOVmce8. 

And all these peOple were as hearty part.icipators iu the 

procession as the Bengalis. The wires that are ponring 

in from every part of India emphasise the fact of his 

all-India popularity. 

lb could iIot Well be otherwise among a people know 

for t.heir grabefulness. And he deserved i~ all. His 

sactifice was great. His generosity had no bounds. His 

loving hand was opened out. to aU. He was teCklesq ill 

his charities. And (mly the other day when I ~ntI1 

remarked that he might have been discriminate, prompt 

came the reply, «I do not think t have lost b, my 

IiIdiscriminations." His board was free to the prince aod 

t.he pauper. His heart went ont to ever160e in distress. 

Where is the young ttlen in all Bengal who does not Ol\'e 

a debt of gratitude to Deshbandhn fn some shaPe or 

dther? His unrivalled ~al talents were also at the

Juiy 3 1St, 1925 

iNDIAN OPiNION 

disposal of the PLor. I uDdcntand. that h~ defended 

,maDY, if noli all, political prisonocil without charging 

them a pie. fIe went to the Punjab for the Punjab (11- 

qairy and paid hi. owa expensc&. Ue carried a princely 

household tl1 those daYII. [tla1 it from bim tha~ he 

spent durmg that stay in Punjab fu. 1)0,000. This large 

heart.ednesa towaldnesl all who BOught. hil belp' made 

him the undilputed raler of thonsandd of young hearta. 

lIe wag III! fcarlt'SQ as he was generons. His stormy 

speecbf'1l at Amtit~ar took my breath away. lIe wanted 

immediate deliverance for his country. He would not 

bro)l>. the alteration or removal of an adJcctive-not 

bc(/Jose he waf! nnreasonable but because he loved hill 

country 80 well, only too well. lie gave his Me for it. 

He Controlled enormous forces 'fIe brought pOwer to 

bis party by his indomitable zeal and perserverance. But 

tblll tremendous outpouring of energy cost hIm hIS hfe. 

It was wJlling 81Critice. It W88 noble. ' 

Faridpur was bis crowning triumph. That utterance 

of his is a demonstration of his 8upreme reasonableness 

and statesmanship. It was a deliberate, unequivocal and 

for him (a q he sliid to me) final IIcceptanoe of noa-violence 

as tbe oaly policy and therefore polItical creed for India. 

In constructing' together With Pundit MotHal Nehru 

and the discipfined stalwarts from M"abarashtra the grea\ 

and gi'owing Swaraj Party out of nothing, he showed his 

determination, originality, resourcefnlileSll and contempt 

of consequences after he had OilOf' made tip hi. mind 

that the thing to be done was right. And to-dRY the 

Swaraj Party IS a compact well· disciplined organisation. 

My dlfferen~es about the Council-entry were and are 

fundamental, but I never donbt.ed the uSI'fulneS8 of 

Connoil-entry for the purpose of embarrassment and 

continuou.ly putl.ing the Government in. the wrong. No 

one can deny the greatness of the work done by the 

Party in the Councils. And the credit for it must predominantly 

belong to Deshbandhu. I ent.ered into the 

pact with him with my eyel open. I have since done 

my !tttle best to help the Party. His, death renders it; 

doubly my duty to stand by the Party now that the ' 

leader is gone. I shall do nothing to impede its pr.ogresS' 

where I may not he able t} help. 

But I must hark back to the Faridpur Ilpeech. The' 

natiOlil will appreciate the courtesy of the actmg Vioeroy 

in sending a message of condolence to 8hrimBti Besauti 

Devi Das. 1 note with gratefulness the warm tribute!! 

paid by the Anglo-Indian press, tQ the memory of the 

deoeased. The Faridpur speech seems to 'have impressed 

most Englishmen wiLh its transparent sincerity. I am 

anxious t.hat thlls death should not end with a mere display 

of courtesy. The Faridpur speeoh had II ~reat purpose 

behind it. It was a generous response to the Anglo"" 

Indiau friend Ii who were anxious for the great patriot to 

make his position clear and mllke the first approach. 

He made it.. The cruel hand of death has removed the 

author of the gesture from our midst. But 1 would lIke 

to assure Enrrlishmen who may be still doubtful about 

the sincerity" of Deshbandhu'. motive that throughout 

my stay in Darjeeiing, the one t.hing that struck me 

most forcibly .was his utter I\in~~rity about that utterance. 

Can this glorIOUS death be utilised to heal wounds and 

forget distrust i I make II simple suggestion. . Will ~he 

Government, in honour of the memory of ChlttaranJan 

Das, who is no longer with us to plead the ca~lle, release 

the politioal prisoners wbo he protested were mncocent ? 

I !.lIn now asking for their discharge on' the ground of 

innocence. The Government may have the beRt proof 

01 their guilt. I simply ask for their discharge as a 

tribute to the deceased and without. prejudice. If the 

Government mean to do anything to plaoate Indian 

"inion there can be no more opportune tIme and no 

t~ter i~augul"llti()n of a favourable atmOilphere thaI! the 

release of these prisoners. 1 ~ave travelled practlca!ly 

all liver Bengal. Pnblic feelmg, not. all necessanly 

Swarajist is sore on the point. May the fire that burnt 

yesterday'the pe~ishabie· pa~t. of beshbandhn also burn 

the periEhable dIstrust, Sllsplclon and fear. The Gowrnment 

may then call A cOIlferenoe if the, will, to cOIlSlder I 

.' 

"'~-"".1!"",~'J 

the best mean I of meeting Ib

INDIAN OPINION July 31st, 1925 

A... CHRISTMAS DAY LETTER 

the more vividly impreBBiV'e. We can picture that 

club, in which this young idealist is the only manual 

A letter, Written on Christmas Day last year, has labouring member; and we can understand what it 

been sent ,from A1,Jl.el'ica. It appears to have great must I{lean, when even the professors think in terms 

interest for those, who are at the present time eagerly of dollars. Yet we must not judge too harshly. The 

looking out on the world' future and wondering great. New World of AmeriCd has heen developed at 

what part India herself has got to play. -It comes a marvellous speed, bnt at a tremendous cost. 

from a manual labourer in the Far West who tells in It is the time of youthful energy, when the physical 

side is certain to be uppermost. The time for re 

it his own life story. The letter runs as follows:- 

"Somehow, or for some reason, on this Christmas flection will follow in due course; and then India 

Day, my mind keeps turning to India. How much will be truly appreciated, not by one or two, but by 

I would love to be near enough to commune with multitudes. More and morl:", as the generous JPasB, 

the wise men of the East, who seem to have the the people of the West will come to IndIa, not,1 in 

hold of the Eternal! 

the spirit of 'dominating benevolence', but in the 

"You will pardon me for giving a little sketch of spirit of humility. They will come for that spiritual 

healing and peace, which the West in its rush'! 

my life. I was born 38 years ago of very poor 

parents, and being th,e oldest of a family of nine for material power can never give. It is neooSBary' 

children, 't was compelled to go tQ work in ~ large that India on her side, without any delay should 

manufacturing plant, when I was about twelve years obtain Swaraj, so that she may welcome them with 

old. I was engaged there until I was sixteen years her own welcome when they come, and not through 

old, when I was apprenticed to learn the cabinet the obscuring medium of an alien administrntion. 

making trade, which I have been working at ever It is also necessary that she should remove from her 

since. Although I never had but four YI:",8,rs of own life the evil nightmare of untouchability. 

schooling, I have been a great reader: History, 

Philosopy, Science anq Religion have been the subjects 

I have been most interested in, but especially, 

,I. MR. JUSTICE RANADE ON THE HINDU 

Religion and Philosophy. Some ten years ago, I 

MUSLIM PROBLEl\I 

started to read of that country, which I so often Persons who have observed the fate of similar 

heard referred to, as 'heathen' India by so many movements in Europe and in India during the last 

Christians. I do not know very much about 'the one hundred years, will be extremely apprehensive 

ancient literature of India, but I do know this, that of the consequences of the Pan-Hindu movement 

India had a wonderful literature long before Christ which is shaping itself in Northern India. The 

was born. I do not say this to depreciate Christianity, 

but because I have found out that there are bolised by the "Concert of Europe," has proved a 

oldest of such movement, the Pan-European, sym· 

other religions beside onrs, and also that God may miserable fiasco. The next in years, the pan-Ger. 

be found in more than one way. But this is apart man movement, has collapsed irretrievably shaking 

from 'what I want most to say, providing that I can civilisation to its foundations. The Pan-Islamic 

find words to express it. I have reaa and re-read movement to-day has no votaries except a handful 

'Creative Unity' by Rabindranath Tagore and lave of men in India in whose hands it has lost whatever 

read all the literature I could get hold of about of constructive potentialities it possessed. Turkey 

Mahatma Gandhi. I have just finished a series of , has repudiated it along with the Khilafat. Egypt_ 

articles of Romain Rolland, on Mahatma Gandhi~ wlllhavanone of it. Persia has never shown any 

who I think interprets-him better than any Western concern in it. Arabia presents the spectacle of two 

writer that I know of. Rolland himself I believe, oposing Islamic sects fighting for the possession of 

inclines to the same beliefs as MI'. Gandhi,-I mean the sacred city, Mecca. Afghanistan, where it is 

in regard to war and international affairs. 

still an article of faith that the stoning of heretics to 

"The more I read of the things mentioned above, death is an act of homage to the Almighty, remains 

the more convinced am I that we are sadly lacking the sole prop of the Indian survivors from the Panin 

something to make our life here in the West more Islamic debacle. Persons with a very slight power 

complete. We have done wonders in science and of observation can see that all movements which had 

industry, but I am afraid that this wonderful a particularist basis in the shape either of special 

material progress has been purchased at a very economic, political or communal interests, have 

great cost. 

come hopelessly to grief. That it should be sought 

"To one in my position in life, it seems' that from at this late hour to start a movement of this exploded 

top to bottom we are only able to think in terms of type among the Hindus of all people, is a matter for 

things. I listened to a professor in a club I belong regret for all thoughtful students of Indian history. 

to. It was made up entirely of professional and We say "the Hindus of all people" because the 

bUSiness men,-I being the only manual worker in Hindu socio-religious system is fnndamentally 

it. They declared, that all our thinking had to be differentiated from all other systems by its lack of 

done in terms of the dollar. Wealth and power are a creed or dogma to serve as a rallying point for all 

the ever recurring phrases which they use. All Hindus in antagonism to any other system. Only a 

thonght of humanity is lost in the insane race for grave crisis imperilling their common right to 

wealth and power. Very few of our Western follow their own mode oLworship or the sanctity of 

writers are trying to bring to us the great world of family life, can force all Hindus into a Pan-Hindu, 

contemplation_and silence, where we may the still fold and even then they will not remain there a 

small voice of God speaking to our souls. 

moment longer than is absolutely needed to avert 

".blst now we are having a great deal of literature the danger. The only parallel to the Hindn System ' 

on the;snpremact of the White Race; and one of in this respect is the British Commonwealth. To 

the phrases used quite often is "Benevolent Domination 

of the World." I think we have had enough is as impossible as to recast the British Common 

weld all Hindus into an imitation of Pan·lslamism 

-of any kind of 'Domination of World.' When the wealth on the pattern of the old Roman Empire. 

White Race cannot subdue its own passions,-as has In formulating his great scheme for a League ot 

been shown only too tragically by the awful European 

War,-how can it be dom~nant~y benevolent to as well as a great statesman, laid his finier on the 

Nations, President Woodrow Wilson who was a see/. 

others? Such a patronising dominance of the West true cause of the failure of the movem.ents named 

is detestable to me, and my whole heart cries out above. 

against it." -. 

"Yon know," he told the citizens of Manchester, 

Such is the letter. When the life history of such (England), "that heretofore the world has boon 

a: 'Wdter is known to us,_ it makes the 19t.1er itself all I governed, or at any 1,'ate an attempt bas been made.

_J__ 

uJy~,~3_{S_t'_1~9_2S~ _________ I_N_D_I_A_N-.O_P_I_N_I_O_N __________________ ~19~3~ 

to b'Overn it, by partnerships of interest, and they 

!lave broken down. Interest rhes not bmd men "'!I,/her, 

~ it .eparates men. For the moment there is the slight 

('st departure from the nice f>

~.I~94~~ ________________ I_N_D_I_A_N-.O_P_I_N_I_O_N __________ ~JU~]Y __ 3~~_,_I9_25_ 

Things which are not held together organically by 

It cammon life eannot 'have a lasting connection. 

Th~fefare the British Empire is bound to disintegrate, 

eVE'n if it he called a commonwealth. 

1loreove~, the days of the dmosaur, the megalosa-urus 

1\.~d .other h\lge animalSoare gone. Man IS a 

mtlch smaHa],' creatut:(", no d01lht; hut hE' is finer and 

-af a bighef type, SimilaTly the ,daYfl of huge and 

uBwteldy empires are also numbered. StandardIsed 

a.nd u)liIQrm life is no hfe. The days -of small , 

.stat~s with theil' dIstinct achievements, cultures and 

outlo,oks are in sight. They may and ought to be 

friendly to and co-operate with one anothpr, but of 

free cho~ce aJ)d independently. , 

Of course, in being a part of the British ,Empire 

:we have' some advantages. For insL'lnce, in the 

.matter of defence and protection, India has n

1 ttdiatt fj pin illtt 

No. 32-Vol. XXIII. Friday, August 7th. 1925. 

Repstereclat the G. P.O ••• a Nowspaper 

1'11108 l'OU"'''MC.. 


--i 4"~ 

"'frlH~l "Areas Reservation and Immigration and There is no better or more effective way in which EllJ."Oo 

II Registration (}

INn, l\ N OPINION August 7th, i 5 

some means of teconcilJatlOn between South Africa and 

India. There IS'tlO mom lleDsltive pomt of bonour ~t 

which lnd\a could \>e attacked than ~hat of raCial dlSCflminatiQIl 

\>Y llama in a Parhamen~ary statute. H Will 

be remembered that General Smuts urged m a remarkable 

speech a short time ago that at least the injured 

feelings of the IndIans should be soothed, and a formula 

should be found whereby the w Jrd "AsIatic" might be 

omitood. The S/llU'ch for such a formula bas eVidently 

failed. NoLhmg IS left to mldgate the blow, which has 

fallen for, It has been studIed and deliberate." But It 

seems'the presen-t rulers of South Afnca have dehberatel.y 

jettIsoned all sense of honour, JustICe, oblJgatlOn and falL' 

play and chosen the path of war with a DatlOu I () wl ' 

olll 

m no ~mall a me&sure they owe their Pl'! ','nt high POSItIOn 

and prospElrity. It wa~ Asiatic l~bour, and IndJ.all 

labour In parttcuJar that helped to thrive their mdus~rles 

and it waS Illdia)l blQo~ PQured Unselfishly that WOII for 

the Britu!Q. an emplre and crushed for ever the Krq,gerlan 

Republic. But in il. sad $tory of raCial ar~o~anc(>, If 

India cannot expect much from the dommatmg Boers, 

sb,e could legi~lmat£ly expect muoh from the Bvitish for 

whom, jlS we, I:u~ve PIJ.U,J,ted out above, the Indians by their 

valour and blood won an empire. 

Indeed, throughout 

iUi!! sLrugg\e, we ~re firmly 9o]:lvinped, the BrItish ~ov. 

erD,me~~ J:iave t\tken up a qlghly pussilammous positIOn, 

They \l\1ve pelleq where they ouli to have commanded 

ap,d as for the llldl~!l ~overnl)1ent, wItb the brIght exc~ptioJil 

of ~he G-overnment of Lord Hardiuge, well to put 

It pJllinly ~t has ~mply played au abJectly subordmate 

par~. The SOllth AfrICan Government has &imply 

igJloreq t\l.e In~ial,l q-qvernment, and the latter had 

never ~ chance Ilf appearmg iu the pictute. If the British 

GoverQm(\J;l~ 4ad not forsaken lodm and left It to 

the ~eijder 'Pllrcieij of the evlolIr-proud and colour-blind 

BOElrs \l.nq if the Illdlan q-pvllrUILent had Dot been teo 

weak. kneed In the wNr~s of General Smuts there would 

nQ.~ Jititve peen £;reated a sltuatlQIl when th~re was "tha 

da,nger to a young na~lOn hke South Arnca of openly 

msultm,g the gre\lt and alICIent CIvilisatlQn of the Eait 

mev~tably cQmmg true." But thlS madness of Hisultmg 

the East IS not confined arp.pngst the Routh AfrlCatls. 

The present situa~lOn I!l South Afl'lC~j as ppmted out by 

Mr. Andrews, is no~ lIkely the studied m~ult whICh was 

offered by America to Japan a year ago when, m spite of 

the liIlost senous and empbat,lc warmngs, Japan was discrI.Ijl~uatjld 

agamst raclally ill the Amencan Immigration 

RestrictlOn Bill. Japan, of courae, not Without protest, 

pocteted tb.e insult, hlilt Ja[lan has a long memory and 

ihll wIll not forget the msult III a hlIrry. AmerICa thus 

m!lde, ,vlrta&lily by a stroke of the pen, a permanent 

en~my of Japan, as South Africa by coustant and longcop,tm_ued 

pUl-prioks ha~ made an equally pe manent 

enemy Qf India. Thus tw@ great ASiatic natlOns have 

b~ dehherately est:.vanged by two differently sItuated 

POWe,:il for no ot-h&' great fault of the A-siati1Js th,ln that 

of ,p,ossesiilAg a'llark or 8, yeU@,w &

August 7th, 1925 

INDIAN oriN ION 

'mOl'lI.l authority in India except with that seotion of 

lhillandlords and eapitalisti whose unjust privileges, 

" with no intention of pel·s. are made more 8Il0ure by 

her rule. It iii COUlmOn talk in India that the word 

of man)l of hel' present offic18ls is not hke the word 

of those who 'Werll there in earli)r dayll. 

It is time fol" England to realiile that thlll loss of 

mOJ'll.l prestige added to the increasing capacity for 

sabotage on the part of India meanil not slInply the 

dea.th of the Reform .. but the impossiWhty of the 

continuanoo of her control. Her Ilituation ill hke 

tl4t n( a man who had the bear by the tail and 

could naithel' hold on nor afford to let go. Unl688 

England wi\ll'lOou decide the time and manner of 

her leaving India, another Ireland is likely to 

develop in Bengal; and after Bengal there is the 

Punjab, with its mOl'O m~ti~l race, and that will be 

anoUler stofY. 

: ' i -r---- 4-...- 

lNDIA AND SHAKESPEARE 

"Shakespeare iii 9xtremely popular among Indians, 

although few poo~le think that his popularity iii 80 

great," writes Mr. R. J. MInney in the pages of thee 

Em/ur, l~teUi. Mr. Minney asserts that the Indian, 

abl .. to read and write English, is an al'lent admirer 

of 8hak\lilpeare just in the same way as the greatest 

Shakespaarean iIOholal' in England. He says the Indian 

ia peouharly qualified to admire Shakespeare. 

"The Indian mentality has a CurIOUS oraving for 

poeU'y. The magia of Shakespem-e's imagery that 

changed every garden and would into a wonderland 

of colour aud futries, StU8 the Indian in a strange 

war so that his Shakeilpeare is a book that is a!I 

inseparable from his bedside alJ the pions Christian 

Bihle. The Indian ilpendlJ little time oVt'r his own 

scriptures. If he is learned at all he is learned in 

English, and ELlglish. to him means little more than 

Shakespeare. That the Englishmen around him in 

the laEgell towns of Inllia do not set their wOl'ds 

after the order to be foun

part of the toWD.\ here or to hold freehold property, or 

admitance to the stalls of a theatre. All they get are 

the husks not the sunshine of hfe. To try and prove 

their just claIm would be called a felony. 

And· yet, Americans, French, German, Itahanll &c are 

allowed these emoluments whilst the Bnttsh Indian is 

barred his jnst rights. In fact, they take from him even 

that which he hath. 

There is a common saving that "The Sun never Bets 

on British Domains." I am not so sure that this wIll 

always read so. History has a way of repeatmg itself in 

its own good tIme. 

To those of your readers who lack ambition, I eay 

strwe for it, get it and then strive again and keep on 

strivin-g, alw,ays for something better, higher, and step 

by step you ,.,111 be strengthened and energised for your 

needs. You will cast a~ide the life of lethargy' and 

lotus eating indifference, and become a power m the 

world to be reckoned with, not mere puppets dancing to~ 

a tune you do not know, do not lIke and do not want. 

Stretch out JOUf bands higher, and grasp firmly your 

star of life, and in due course WIll follow, all you have 

stretched, striven and grasped for. 

AMBER MAYO. 

. 

S'ENVOY. 

"Awake! you sonlless irreligious wejltern world. 

See fate of India knocking at thy gate. 

Lest, like the foolish VIfl!'ins, lamps unlit 

Destruction waits you. Wake, ere it be too late. 

AMBER MAYO. 

30-7-25. Johannesburg. 

i~~EE~~:(~~~;::~~~~;>~~~ 

~ [ FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT ] ~ 

\lI 9th July, 1925. \If 

oE

Supplement to " Indian Opinion." 

7th Augusf,192S. 

UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA. 

Areas Reservation and Immigraton and Registration 

(Further Provision) Bill. 

(To be read a Second Time on Monday, 27th July, 1925.) 

BILL 

TO 

Make ProvisioIfs for the reservation of residential 

and trading areas in urban areas for certain 

persons having racial characteristics in common; 

to amend the Immigr!lnts Regulation Act, 1913 

(No. 22 of 19J.3) , the Indians Relief Act, 1914 

(No. 22 of 1914), and the Asiatic Registration 

Amendment Act (Transvaal) 1908 (No. 36 of 

1908); and to amend or repeal certain laws. 

(Introduced by the MINISTER OF THE INTERIOR.) 

UNIE VAN ZUID-AFRIKA. 

Terzijdezetting van wijken en verdere voorziening voor 

Immlgratle en registratle Wetsontwerp. 

(Ten Tweede Maal te worden gelezen op Maandag, 27 Julie, 

1925.) 

WETSON'TWERP 

OM 

Voorziening te maken voor deterzijdezetting van 

woon- en bezigheidswijken in stadsgebieden 

voor zekere personen, die gemeenschappelike 

raseigenschappen hebben; om de wet tot regeling 

van Immigraile, 1913 (No. 22 van 1913), de 

Indiers Verlichting Wet, 1914 (No. 22 van 1914), 

en de Aziaten Registratie Wijzigings Wet 

(Transvaal) 1908 (No. 36 van 1908) te wijzigen; 

en om zekere wetten te wijzigen of te herroepen 

(Introduced door de MINISTER VAN BINNEXLANDSE 

ZAKEN.)

3 

(To be read a Second Time on Monday, 27th -July, 1925.) 

BILL 

To make provision for the reservation of residential and 

trading -areas In urban areas for certain persons 

having racial characteristics in common; to amend 

the Immigrants Regulation Act, 1913 (No. 22 of 

1913), the Indians Relief Act, 1914 (No. 22 of 

1914), and the Asiatic Registration Amendment 

Act (Transvaal) 1908 (No. 36 of 1908); and to 

amend or repeal certain laws. 

(Introduced by the MINISTER OF THE INTERIOR.) 

BE IT ENACTED by the King's Most Excellent Majesty, 

the Senate and the.House of Assembly of the Union of 

South Africa, as follows:- 

5 

OHAPTER 1. 

RESERVATION OF AREAS. 

1. (1) Whenever an urban local authority shall intimate Reqlle.t by U1bao 

to the Minister- 

~~~ala::I~~~[:~~ 

rf Chapter I 

(a) that any area within its limits is wholly or for the 

greater part occupied for residential or trading pur- 

10 poses or both such purposes by a particular class 

of persons; 

(b) That it is desirable that the provisions of this 

Chapter should be applied in respect of such area, 

the Minister may appoint a commission consisting of not 

] 5 more than three persons (hereinafter called the Commis· 

sion) to investigate and report upon the desirability of 

applying lo such area and to the urban area within which 

it is situated the provisions of this Chapter. . 

(2) One of the members of the commission shall be desi~. 

20 nated by the Minister as the chairman thereof, and th~ 

Minister may make rules for the conduct of the business of 

the commission and governing the tenure of office of the 

members. In the event of the commission consisting of 

three members, two members shall form a quorum. 

25 2. (1) It shall be the duty of the commission to enquire ~;~r:D:r 

and report to the Minister upon the following matters:- commiSSIon 

(a) The extent and nature of the area which was the 

subject of intimation under section one; 

(b) the number, dimensions, situation and nature of sibs 

30 occupied in such area for residential or trading pu"- 

poses or both such purposes as the case may be; 

(c) whether there would be afforded by such are a proper 

and adequate facilities for residences or trading si~s 

or both as the case may be for the particular class 

35 of persons concerned; 

(d) whether due and proper provision exists or is a&9ured 

for water, lighting, sanitary and other necessary 

services within such area; 

(e) whether it is desirable that the provisions of this 

40 Chapter should be applied in respect of such area; 

(f) whether there is, within the limits of the urban local 

authority concerned, any other area which is wholly 

or for the greater part occupied for residentIal or 

trading purposes or both such purposes by the par- 

45 ticular class of persons concerned, and if there be 

lIuch other area, the extent and nature thereof, and 

the number, dimensions, situation and nature of sites 

occupIed in such other area for residential or trading 

purposes or for both: such purposes as the case may 

• 50 be j

ProclamatIOn 

t~n of cia •• 

a.reas 

AcqUISItIon of 

Immovable 

property lD 

class areas 

(g) whether any other area within the limits of the 

urban .local authority concerned is available for the 

exclusIve occupation for residential or tradin ... purposes 

or both such purposes by. the particula; class 

of persons concerned; and 5 

(h) any other matter which the Minister or the commission 

may deem necessary or deSIrable . 

. (2) The ~ommission shall have all such powers, jurisdictIOn 

and pnvileges as were conferred upon the commissIon 

referred to in Ordinance No. 30 of 1902 of the Transvaal, 10 

and all and several the provisions of that Ordinance shall 

mututis mutandis awly in respect of the commission and 

its proceedings. 

:f. (1) At any time within six months after the receipt 

of the report of the commIssion, the Governor-General may 15 

by proclamation in the Gazette declare that, on and after a 

date to be mentioned in the proclamation, the area defined 

in the proclamation shall be a class residential area, or a 

class trading area or a class residential and trading area 

within the urban area. 

(2) More than one area within the urban area may, by 20 

any such proclamation, be definedJls class residential areas, 

or as class trading areas, or as class residential and trading 

areas as the case may be. 

(3) Notwithstanding anything contained in the PreCIOUS 

and Base Mmerals Act of the Transvaal (Act No. 35 of 25 

1908) or any amendment thereof, or In any other law, a 

class trading area or a class residential and trading area 

may be established under this Chapter on land within an 

urban area which, in terms of the said Act No. 35 of 1908 

or any amendment thereof, is proclaimed land or land held 30 

under mining htle. 

4. F!l'9m and after the date mentioned in any proclamation 

issued under this Chapter establishing a class residential 

area or a class trading area, or a class residential and 

trading area, it shall not be lawful, save as provided in 35 

section ten- 

(a), for any person other than a pers.on of the class CQncerned 

toO acquire immovable property or a, lease or 

renewal of lease of immoOvable proOperty within any 

such area; or 40 

(b) foOr any person of the class concerned to acquire immovable 

property oOr a lease or renewal of lease oOf 

immovable property anywhere within the urban area 

save within the limits of the class residential area or 

of the class tradmg area or oOf the class residential 45 

and trading area, as the case may be : 

ProOvided that nothing in this Chapter contained shall apply 

to the renewal of a lease of immovable property where the 

right to renewal was hera under a written lease existing 

at the OOItlmencement of this Act. 50 

yadl~g ~n 5. (1) From and after the date mentioned in any procla-. 

::.,~. :r a ~~:.s mation issued under this Chapter establishing a class tradt:!~~~tl::e:nd 

ing area oOr a class :residential and trading area within any 

urban area, it shall not be lawful for any licensing court, 

b9ard or authority, or foOr any person authorized to gra~t 55 

or issue licences or permits to carry .on any trade .or busIneBS 

within that urban area- 

(a) to grant or i€8Ue to any person oOther than a person 

of the class concerned any licence, permit .or .other 

authorlty to carryon any trade or business within 60 

the class trading area .or class residential and trading 

area as the case may be; or 

(b) to gTant or issue to any person of the cIass cQncerned 

any licence or permit to carry on any trade or business 

within the urban area elsewhere than in the 65 

class tradmg area or class residential and trading 

area as the cae may be: 

Provided however that if the Governor-General is satisfied 

that it is in iilie ge~eral interests of the public that it should 

be permitted to persons of the class concerned or any re- 70

5 

/ 

stncted number of such persons to carry on any particular 

trade or business within the urban area elsewhere than in 

the class trading area or class residential and trading area, 

as the case may be, he may, by proclamation in the Gazette 

5 for such period as- he may therein fix, exempt persons of 

the class concerned or a restricted number of such persons 

from the operation of paragraph (b) of this sub-section in 

respect of that particular trade or business. 

(2) NothlDg in this section contained shall be deemed to 

lU prohibit the grant to any person holding, at the date mentioned 

in any proclamatIon issued under thiS Chapter establishing 

a class trading a,r.ea or a class reSIdential and trading 

area within any urban area any bcence, permit, or 

other authority to carry on any trade or buslDess, which is 

15 actually belDg earned on, or a renewal of such licence, 

permit or other authority. 

6. (1) Whenever, m the opinion of the urban local ~e~~:~~: ~; 

authonty concerned, any area established under this Chap- class areas 

ter as a class reSIdential area or a class tradlDg area or u 

20 class residential and trading area, proves inadequate or 

more than adequate for,· or unSUItable either wholly or in 

part to, the requirements of the population of that class in 

the urban area, and the urban local authority aeems it de- 

25 sirab1e to extend or reduce any such area or to alter the 

boundaries thereof, or to create a new class residential area 

or class trading area or class residential and trading area, 

the urban local authority may communicate its opinion to 

the Minister, who thereupon may take all s~ch ste:ps as he 

30 may take upon receipt of an intImation under seQilon one. 

(2) All and feveral the powers exercisable under thIS 

Chapter in respect of the establishment of a class residential 

area or a class tradlDg area or a class residential and 

trading area shall be exercisable in respect of the creation 

35 of a new area or the extension or reductIon of any eXIsting 

area of a like character or tho alteration of the boundaries 

thereof. 

(3) Nothing in this section contained shall be deemed to 

affect in any manner whatever any right to the renewal of 

40 a lease of immovable property where such right was held 

under a written lease existing at the commencement of thIS 

Act or any right to the grant to any person holding at the 

date mentioned in any proclamation issued in pursuance of 

this section any licence, pennit, or other authority to carry 

45 on any trade or business which is actually being earned on, 

of a renewal of such licence, permit or other authotity. 

h 7. (1)1 If at .adn y .time the Govlernor-Gd~neral is satislfied ~~~I~~~~~norf 

t at a c ass resl entIa l area or a c ass tra mg area or a c ass Act.. 

residential and trading area established under this Chapter 

50 is inadequate for or wholly or partly unsuitable to the requirements 

of the population of that class in the urban area 

concerned, and that, by reason of the delay which would 

necessanly take place in removing the causes of the inadequacy 

or unsuitability, serious prejudice would be suffered 

55 by that population unless the provisions of this Chapter in 

respect of such inadequate or unsuitable area be suspended, 

he may, by proclamation in the Gazette declare that, from 

and after a date to be therein mentioned, the provisions of 

this Chapter shall be susp~nded in respect of t~e ela~s resi- 

60 dential area o~ class tradmg area or, class reSIdentIal and 

trading area concerned. 

(2) :From and after such tlate the provisions ot this.,._ 

Chapter shall in all respects cease- to -apply to the- area 

deemed to be inadequate or unsuitable, and, in respect of 

65 ~uclI inadequate or unsuitable area, to the other parts of 

the urban area within which it is situated. 

(3) The Governor-Genera! mal:, whenever he maw d~em 

fit reproclaim as a class reSIdentIal area or a class tradmg 

ar~a or a «lass residential and trading ~rea, as the case ~ay 

i6 be, any area which has bee!! the subJec~ of a .suspendmg 

proclamation under sub-sectIon (1) of thIS sectIon, or pro-

6 

claim as a class residentIal area or a class trading area or a 

class residentIal and tradmg area under this Chapter any 

area which wholly or partly includes allY area which has 

been the subject of a suspending proclamation under subsection 

(1) of this section. 5 

Class area tor 8 Any class residential area or class trading area or 

ASlatICs to be' . .' . ' 

deemed to be class resIdentIal and tradmg area establIshed under thIS 

~~~~rw£~~ 3, Chapter tor any ASIatic race shall, for the purposes of sec- 

18B~) (1'i ans i hon two (b) of Law No. 3 of 1885 of the Transvaal, be 

;::y 'ownSI~x~J deemed to be an area within which, in terma of that law, 10 

property fixed property may be acquIred and owned by Asiatics. 

Clas} adVIsory 9. (1) For every class residential area or class tradinoo 

board area, or ' c 1 ass reSI 'd en t' Ia I an d tra d' mg area 'bl' esta IS h e d un d er ., 

thIS Chapter there shall be an adVISOry board consisting of 

not less than thie'e persons of the class concerned resident 15 

WIthin the urban area, in addition to a chaIrman who in the 

case of a non-European class area may be a European. The 

mode of election or selection of members of any such board, 

the period and conditions of office of members, and the procedure 

of the board shall be defined tJy regulatIons made by 20 

the urban lo~al authonty and approved by the Minister. 

(2) It shall be the function of an advisory board established 

under thIS section to adVIse the urban local authority 

in respect of any matter referred to It by such authority for 

advice, and no by-laws or regulatIOns partIcularly affectmg 25 

the mterests of the class of persons concerned shall be 

made or WIthdrawn by an urban local authol'lty unless the 

advice of such adVISOry board shall first have been obtained 

m respect of the makmg or withdrawal, as the case may 

be, of such by-law or regulation. 30 

AcqUIsitIOn of 10, (1) The Governor-General may by proclamation in 

~~~~;::lty the Gazette declare that froll'! and after a date to be specicertam 

person. fred therem n'b member of any race indIcated therein shall 

Natal except 

m class areas, acqUIre Immova bIll e property or t 1e ease or renewa I 

0 

f I ease 

prohIbIted of Immovable piI'operty m the Provmce of Natal save in the 35 

coast .belt as provided in sub-sectIOn (2) of this section: 

Provided that nothing lD thIS sectwn contained shall be 

deemed to prohIbIt a renewal of a lease of immovable property 

held under written lease at the commencement of 

thIS Act. 40 

(2) A.IJerson who is a member of the race indicated in 

any proClamatIOn issued under sub-sectIon (1) of this sectIOn 

may acqUIre immovable property or the lease or renewal 

of lease of immovable property m the coast belt, 

from a person who is a member of the same race, but from 45 

no other person, except where the Immovable property or 

the lease or renewal of lease of the lIDmovable property 

acquired IS withm the hmIts of a class area establIshed 

under this Chapter within the coast belt. 

(3) From and after the date specified in any proclama- 50 

han Issued under sub-section (1) of this sectIon, no member 

of any race indicated in such proclamation shall by 

testamentary dispo~ition acquire any land or interest in 

land or the lease or occupation of any immovable P!9P€I-ty 

in the co~st belt, except from a member of th.e..8lime race. 55 

(4) For the purpose of this sf-lciion the coast belt means 

--SO--11r~1!:_?_Ul!&,l'].'Q.YiI!f~,9t?~atal as lies between the coast 

hne and a hne to be defined by the Governor-General by 

proclamation in the Gazette corresponding as far as ,practICable 

with the coast line and drawn at an apprOXImate 60 

dU'ltance of thIrty miles therefrom. 

(5) Nothing m this section contained shall be deemed to 

effect the operation WIthin the coast belt of any other 

provision of this Chapter,

5 

10 

15 

20 

25 

11. (1) Subject to the provisiolls of suo-section (3) of Sa Yin, •• 

&ection three, section eight and ~ub-bedion (3). of sectIon 

ten of this Chapter, nothing in this Chapwr contained 

&ha11 be deemed- 

(a) 

(11) 

(c) 

(d) 

to affed the operation of Law No.3 of 1885 of the 

Transvaal or any amendment thereof; of section 

two of Act No. 18 of 1913; of Act No. 37 of 1919; Df 

Cllapter CXIII of the Ol",mge Free State Law Book 

or any amendment thereof; or in any other law prohibitmg, 

restricting, regulating, or in any way. 

affecting, the ownership or occupation of immovable 

property or tradIng by persons of non-European 

descent; or 

to prohIbit the acquisItion by the Government or any 

urban local authorIty for educational, municipal 01' 

any other public purpose of the ownership or occupation 

of any immovable property; or 

to prohibit the acquisition at any time of land or 

interests in land or the lea~e or occupation of any 

immovable preperty by devolution or succession on 

death whether under will or on intestacy from a 

person of the same race; or - 

to prohibit any executor of a deceased eslate or any 

trustee in insolvency from holding any Immovable 

property or trading under any licence where power 

to do any such thing is conferred upon him by any 

law; or 

30 

(e) 

to invalidate or affect in any manner whatever any 

agreement or other transaction for the sale or purchase 

of land law~ul1y entered into prlOr to the date 

mentioned in any proclamation under this Chapter 

establishIng a class residential area or a class trading 

area or a class residentIal and trading area or 

extending or reducing any existing area of like 

character, or altering the boundaries thereof. 

12. (1) The Governor-General may grant to any person Exeml,t,oa •• 

a certificate exemptIng him wholly or for such penod as 

he may thereIn specify from all or any of the provisions ot 

this Chapter; and such person shall either wholly or for 

40 such period, as the case may he, be so exempted. 

45 

(2) NothIng in this Chapter contained shall he deemed- 

(a) to affect any person who is duly accredited to the 

UnIon by or under the authorIty of His Majesty or 

the Government of any foreign state, or the wife, 

family, staff or servants of any such person. 

(b) to refer to natives as that term is defined in section 

twenty-nine of the Native (Urban Areas) Act, 1923 

(Act No. 21 of 1923); 

(c) to refer to- 

50 (i) persons born in the Union and ordinarily resident 

in the Province of.the Cape of Good Hope 

who are members of the class or race known as 

" Cape Coloured" or of the class or race 

known as "Cape Malays"; 

55 (ii) persons born in the UDlon and ordinarily resident 

in the Union elsewhere than in the Province 

of the Cape of Good Hope who would if 

resident in that Province, be regarded as members 

of either of the classes or races known as 

60 "Cape Coloured" or .. Cape Malays" and 

(iii) the people known as Mauritius Creoles or 

St. Helena persons OJ: their descendants born 

in the Union.

f:..'f!.~natlon of 13. In this Cbapter unless inconsistent with the con. text 

"class or class of persons" includes any person having 

In the oplllIOn of the MlllIster, comnion raCIal char: 

acteristICs, and all whIte persons shall be regarded as 

ha ving common raClal characterIstIcs; :) 

"person of a class" or "member of a race" Illcludes 

any oompany or association of persons whether registered 

under any law or not in which one 01' more 

persons of the class or members of the race referred 

to have a controllIng Illterest; 10 

" Minister" means the Minister of the Intenor or any 

other MIlllster to whom the Governor-General may 

assign the admillIstration of this Act; 

"urban area" means any area under the jurisdictIon of 

an urban local authonty; 

1') 

"urban local authorIty" means any municipal council, 

borough oounCII, town councIl or VIllage oouncil, or 

any town board, VIllage management board, local 

board or health board. 

OHAPTER II. 

2() 

IMMIGRANTS REGULATION. 

Amendment of 14 Section two of the Immigrants Regulation Act, 1913 

~;:lNO t~~ ~: (hereinafter III this Chapter called the PrinCIpal Act) IS 

1913 hereby amended by the deletIOn from sub-sectIOn (7) of the 

w{)rds' "sufficient m the opinion of the MInister" and the % 

substitution therefor of the followmg words: "fixed by the 

Immigration officer not exceeding one hundred pounds". 

15 SectIOn three of the prmcipal Act IS hereby amended 

(a) by the addItIOn to sub-sectIon (2) of the words: 

.. From any such opinion there shall be l/-n appeal to 30 

the Appellate DIvIsion of the Supreme Court"; 

(b) by the deletIOn from sub-section (3) thereof of the 

following words: 

"and 'a superior court havmg JUrIsdiction' shall 

mean the Provincial DivISIon of the Supreme 35 

Court whICh has jurisdIction where the board was 

SittIllg or any Judge of such division or the 

Eastern DistrICts Local DiviSIOn having jurisdiction 

or any Judge thereof". 

Amendment of 16. SectIOn four of the principal Act is hereby amended: 40 

sectIOn four of 

Act No 22 of 

1913 

(a) by thf additIOn to paragraph (a) of sub-sectIon (1) 

of the following words: "ProvIded that for the 

purpose of thIs sectIon the N orlhern Districts of 

Natal, as descrIbed in sectIOn three of "The Northern 

DIstrICts AnnexatIOn Act, 1902" (Act No.1, 45 

1903, Natal) shall be deemed to be included in the 

Province of the Transvaal"; and 

(b) by the addition to paragraph (f) of sub-section (1) 

after the words " have been stolen" of the following 

words: 50 

"incest, sodomy, bestiality, any offence involving 

fraudulent conduct in connectIOn with any insolvency"; 

and 

(c) by the deletion of paragraph (a) of sub-section (2). 

Amendment of 17. SectIOn five of the prIncipal Act as amended by sec- 55 

Amendment of 

sectIOn three 

of Act No 22 

of 1913 

~;:lNo.fi;~ ~~ tion three of the IndIans Rehef Act, )191d4,< is) Jtedreby 

1913 amended by the deletIon of paragraphs (e an g an t h e 

substitutIOn therefor of the followlllg new paragraphs- 

(e) Any person, other than an alien, who was born in any 

part of South Africa included III the Uni

9 

5 

10. 

(g) 

within any class of persons which~ has, in terms of 

paragraph (a) of sub-section (1) of section four, been 

deemed by the Minister to be unsuiled to the requirements 

of the Union or any Province thereof 

shall lose the protection accorded by this paragraph 

if he has acquired or shall acquire a domicIle in a 

Province of the Union other than that in which he 

was born; 

any person who is proved to the satisfaction of au 

immIgration officer or in the case of an appeal to the 

satisfaction of the board, to be the wIfe or child 

under the age of sixteen years of any person exempted 

by paragraph (f) of this section: 

15 

20 

25 

Provided: 

(i) that the wife or child (as the case may be) is 

not such a person as is described in paragraphs 

(d), (e), (f), (g) or (h) of sub-section (1) of 

sectIOn four; and 

(iI) that where exempted person belongs to one 1f 

the clasDes described in paragraph (a) of subsection 

(1) of section four the WIfe or child (as 

the case may be) enters the Union within five 

years after the first day of August, 1925, or 

WIthin ten years after the date of the first entry 

into the Union, whichever perIOd may be the 

longer, of the person so exempted. 

In the interpretation of this paragraph" the wife" shall 

iIlclude anyone woman between whom and the exempted 

person mentioned there exists a union recognised as a mar- 

30 riage under the tenets of an Indian religion notwithstanding 

that by those tenets the union of that exempted person 

with other women at the same time would also be recognised 

as a marriage: Provided that no woman shall be 

deem~d to be the wife of such exempted person- 

35 (i) if such a union exists between him and any other 

woman who has under any law relating to immigration 

or to Asiatic registration been recognised within 

the Union as the wife of such person and has resided 

or resides or is domiciled in any ProvlDce; or 

40 (ii) if such exempted person has offspring resident or 

domiciled in any Province by any woman who is 

still living; 

and a union shall not, for the purposes of this section, De 

deemed to have ceased to exist by reason only of the fact 

45 that aooording to the tenets of an Indian religion it has 

been dissolved. 

" Tlie child under the age of sixteen" shall mean a child 

who is the offspring of the exempted person and the wife as 

herein defined or the child of the exempted person and a 

50 deceased woman who if she had been alive could have been 

recognised at the time of the birth of the child as the wife 

(as herein defined) or whose union with the exempted 

person could have been registered at the time of the birth 

of the child as a marriage under section two ot the Indians 

55 Relief Act, 1914. 

18. Sect~o;n ten of the pri~cipal Act is hereby amended !.~t~~~mt':,':.t :1 

by the addItIon of the followmg words :- 

let No 22 of 

1913. 

An:y such person, may be qeclared to be a prohibited 

Immigrant and dealt with in terms of section nineteen 

60 of this Act and if such person is in possession of a 

Registration Certificate or a Certificate of Domicile 

or any other document authorising him to remain in 

the Union or any Province it shall be competent fOE 

any board to which he may appeal, if it be proved to 

65 the satisfaction of the board that such certificate or 

other document was obtained by fraudulent representations 

by or on behalf oi the holder, to order thlt 

such certificate or other document be cancelled anj

10 

the holder thereof be dealt with as a prohIbited ImmigTant 

Provided that If such person falls to appeal 

to a board the Prmcipal Immigration Officer concerned 

may exercise all such powers as to the cancellatIOn 

of any certificate or other document as are 5 

hy tlus sectIon confen-ed upon a board, 

.!~ti~:"i::nt~~ 19, Section twenty-two of the principal Act is hereby 

two of Act amended by the addition of the followmg paral!raph '- 

h~~~ ~ , 

(d) £01' any offence under section twenty of this Act foc 

which imprisonment is imposed without the option 10 

of a fin~, 

Amendment sectJOo\ t'lIrty 01 20 ,ec S t' lOn th' 11' t y 0 f t h e prmClpa "l A' ct IS here b y amen d e d 

01 Act No 22 by the deletion of the definition of the term "domicile" and 

of 1913 

t 

h 

e su 

b' 

stitutlOn 

, 

t 

h 

erefor of the followmg definition;- 

" domicile" shall mean the place in which a person has 15 

his present permanent home, or present permanent 

residence or, to whIch he returns as his present permanent 

abode and not for. a mere special or temporary 

purpose; and a person shall not be deemed to have 

a domicile within the Union or any Province (as the 20 

case may be) for the purposes t>f this Act unless he 

has lawfully resided therein for a continuous period 

of three years, otherwise than under terms of conditional 

or temporary residence permitted by this Act 

or any other law or as a person under detention in 25 

prison, gaol, reformatory or mental hospital. and II. 

person shall be deemed for the purposes of this Act 

to have lost his domicile within the Union or anv 

Province (as the case may be) if he absents himself 

from the Union or that Province (as the rase may be) 30 

and does not return to the Union or that Province (as 

the case may be) within three years from the date of 

departure therefrom or in the case of a person who 

absented himself from the Union or any Province (as 

the case may be) prior to the 1st Aug-tIst, 1925, does 35 

not return to the Union or that Province (as the case 

JUay be) before the lst August, 1928; Provided that 

in cases where a, person proceE'ds overseas for a 

special or temporary purpo~e the Minister may 

authrize the issue of a certificate of identity under 40 

the provisions of sub-section (2) of section twentyfive 

of this Act allowinl! the ueuon concerned to return 

to, and resume hls reslilence in the Province 

named within the neriod specIfied in "uch certificate 

or any extension thereof not exceeding ten years in 45 

all, 

~'::::i~~m~~: ~~ 21. Section six of the Indians Relief Act, 1914, is hereby 

Act No ~ of amended by the addition after the words "any port in 

1914. India" of the words" or elsewhere", 

CHAPTER III, 

50 

REGISTRATION OF ASIATICS, 

Surrender of 2'" " 'fi ' d d h ' . 

ASiatiC legis- ;;:; A regIstratIon cerh cate Issue un er t e urovIsions 

tlon certlfi(ate of the Asiatic Law Amendment Act, 1907, of the Transvaal 

(Act No 2 of 1907),. or the Asiatics Regoistration 

Amendment Act, 1908, of the Transvaal (Act No, 36 of 55 

1908) may be surrendered by the holder to the Reg'istrar 

of Asiatics and such surrender shall be conclusive evidencE' 

that such Indian has abandoned any rigoht of or incidental 

to entry, residence. or domicile in the Transvaal Province, 

CIrcumstances ID " 

whIch apphcatlon 23, If an ASIatIc w h 

0 

h as f al 'I e d t 

0 ma k e app I' Ica t' IOn f or 60 

~~~I.~:~t~~~ cor- registration in accordance WIth the provisions of para,!p'aph 

tillcate may be (2) of section five of the Asiatics Registration Amendment 

made Act, 1908. of the Transvaal, shall satisfy the Registrar of 

Asiatic~ that such failure was due to some good and suffi- 

_ cient cause, the Minister' of the Interior may, in his dis- 65 

cretion, authorize the Registrar to receive an application

5 

11 

for registration from sm.h ASiatic and the apphcahon shall 

be dealt with in all respects as if it had been made in 

accordance with the provisions of the said section and all 

the provisions of Act 36 of 1908 of the Transvaal 3S 

amended by this Act whkh would have applied if the 

application had been fO made shall apply accordingly. 

24. Section seven of the Asiatics Registration Amend- ~~t~~~~~~!.:'fo' 

ment Act, 1908, of the Transvaal, is hereby amended by ~ ~oTse of I 

the deletion of the words" save as in the next succeeding 0 raDav .... 

10 section i'l provided". 

25. Section nine of the Asiatics Registration Amend- !'~t~~:m:,!~ O!f 

ment Ac~, 1908, of the Transvaal, is hereby amended by t::'OTr':n:: .... 1 

the deletion of the words: 

" Any Asiatic who fails upon lawful demand to produce 

15 such certificate shall, unless he is the lawful holder 

of a certificate of registration, be liable to be dealt 

with in manner mentioned in !'ection eight". 

CHAPTER IV. 

SUPPLEMENTARY . 

• 

20 26. The laws mentioned m the Schedule to this Act shall ~:~~al of 

be and are hereby repealed to the extent set out in the . 

fourth column of that Schedule. 

27. This Act may be cited as the Areas Reservation and Short title aDd 

Immigration and Registration (Further Provision) Act, ~~mA~~ncemeDt 

25 1925, and shall come mto force on the first day of August, 

1925. 

SCHEDULE. 

Pl'ovinoo No. and year TIUe or Subject Extent of 

of Law. of Law. Repeal. 

Natal .. Act No 28 of '1'0 protect uncove- The whole. 

1897. nanted Indl8llls 

from arrest m 

mistake for abscondmg 

mdentured 

Indian serva.nts 

Cape ...... Act No 370t The Clunese Ex- The whole. 

1904. elU610n Act, 1904. 

Transvaal. Act No. 36 of The ASiatics RegIS- Sections three, four, 

1908. tratlOn Amend- fIve (paragraph 

ment Act, 1908. one), SIX, eight, 

SIxteen, seventeen, 

(paragraphe five 

and SIX). 

Printed and Pubh8hed by International Prmtmg P!'e66, Phoemx, Natal.

~n'lian 

~piuitttt 

JlqUtered at the O. 

No. 33-Vo1. XXIII. Friday, August 14th, 1925. P.o. a. a N_aper 

PUliS I'OU ••""'8 

.-------------------------- ------------------------------- 

THE ASIATIC BILL 

fROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO THE IMMIGRANTS' REGULATION ACT 

~OR the convenience of our readers we give below, in parallel columns, the various 

ll~ c:lau8es as at present existing in the Immigrants Regulation Act, 1913. together with the 

alterations, additions and deletions propo8ed in the " Areas Reservation and Immigration 

and Regi8tration ( Further Provision) Bill :- 

THE ACT AS IT EXISTS 

2. (7) No appeal shall be heard by a board unless 

notice thereof in the prescribed form has been given 

to the Immigration Officer by or on behalf of the 

person concerned within seventy-two hours after the 

refusal, detention. restriction. or arrest aforesaid., or, 

in case the appellant arrived by sea and the ship 

whereon he arrived is about to depart. unless such 

notice is given forthwith. In every case a deposit 

shall be made of an amount" Bltjficwnt, sn flu optnion 

0/ tlUJ Mimster .. to cover the detention expenses of 

the said person, the costs of bringing him before a 

board and of returning him to the place at which he 

was restricted if he desire to appear personally, and 

if he arrived by sea, the cost of his return passage 

by another ship to the place from which he came. 

3. (2) A board may, of its own motion, and shall. 

at the request of the appellant or of an immigration 

officer, reserve for the decision of a superior CQurt 

baving jurisdiction, any question of law which 

arises upon an appeal heard before such board nnder 

the last preceding section, and shall state such question 

in the form of a spedal case for the opinion of 

such court by transmitting such special case to the 

registrar thereof. The qnestion so stated may be 

argue? befor£> such court which may call for further 

information to be supplied by the board if the court 

!lhall deem sllch information necessary and may 

give sllch answer on such case, supplemented by 

such information, if any. and may make such order 

as to the costs of the proceedings, as it may think 

right. 

3. (3) For the purpose of this section "a qnestion 

of law" shall, among other questions include 

a question of domicile. and" a superior 

court having JllrisdlCtwn " shall mean IlUJ prot.inciaZ 

dwision oj the Supreme Court wltteh has 

jurisdICtion fl'ltere the board was Blttmg, or any 

jUdfl(J 0/ such dwiltion, itT tlte Easfern Dis/riels 

Local Dit.iswn having such jurisdiction or allY 

judge t/1.4!T'o/. and .. appellant It shall not include 

an alien. 

4. (1) (a) Any person or class of persons deemed 

by the Minister on economic gronnds or 

on account of standard or habits of life to 

be unsuited to the requirements of the 

Union or any particular Province thereof; 

... 

(continued from the bottom oC the second column) 

to the headwaters of the'rongolo River, and thence along lh.t 

nver to the border of the Utrecht District. 

The aforesaid Terntolles are 10 thIS Act shonly refened to as 

\.be NQrtbern Distncts. " • _ _ 

... - 

THE ACT AS PRQPOSED '1'0 BE AMENDED 

2. (7) The same, excepting the ..deletion of the 

words italicised and the substition of the following: 

.. fixed by the immigration officer not exceeding 

Qne hundred pounds. " 

3. (2) The same, with the addition of the following 

words: .. From any such opinion there shall be 

an appeal to the Appellate Division of the Supreme 

Court. " 

(3) For the purposes of this section- 

.. a question of law" shall, among other 

questions, include a question of domicile ~ 

and .. appellant" sball not include an 

alien. 

(NOTE.-Portion italicised in the opposite section 

is to be deleted.) 

4. (1) a. The same, with the addition of the 

following words :- 

.. Provided that for the purpose of. this sec. 

tion the Northern Districts of Natal, as 

described in section t/tre6 of ~ The Northern 

Districts Annexation Act. 1903" (Act No. 

1, 19~3, Natal) shall be deemed to be included 

in the Province of the Transvaal." 

[NOTB :-Act No. I, 1903. provides for the annexation to the 

Colony of Natal of certaIn Tenitones formlOg a part of the 

lransvaal Colony. Section '''"e refened to above is as follows: 

.. From and after the taklDg effect of this Act the nndermen. 

tioned Tenitories, situaltd Northwards of the Colony of Natal 

now frtmlDg a part of the Transvaal Colony. shall be annex£d to 

and shall thenceforth form a part of II e Colony of Natal, that is 

is to say :-The DIstrict of Vryheid, the Distnct of Utrecht. a 

portIon of the DIstrict of WakkelStroom lytng south of a line 

drawn from the North-eastern comer of Natal. East of Volksru!t 

(continucQ. at the bottom of the 6rst colWI\D 1

200 l~-bIAN OPINION August 14th, 19~5 

4. (1) (f) A~y per-aon who hit!! been convicted in 

any country of ~ny of the following offences 

(unless he has received a free pardon 

therefor) namely, murder, rape, arson, 

theft, receiving stolen goods knowing the 

!!3.lJle tp hl\-ve been iltolen; fraud, fQrgerf or 

uttering forged documents knowing the 

same to have been forged, counterfeiting 

coin or uttering coiq knowing; the sarqe to 

be counterfeIt, hpn\'lebl'elllqng with intent 

to commit an offence, burglary, robbery 

with vIolence, threats by letter or otherwise 

witl} ill tent; to Il~tort or of any at~;mpt to 

commIt any such offence. and by reason o~ 

the circumstances oonnpcted with the 

ofi'epoe, is deemed by the Minister to-be an 

nnd\lsirable inhabItant of or visitor to ,the 

Union. 

4. (~) NClth,ng in 8ub-section (1) contained shall 

he construe\!- 

'(a) as enabling a pe1'llon to be deemed a prohibited 

immigrant jn the Cape of Good Hope br Natal, 

if, bemg l">t the commenoement of this Aot 

• lawfully entitled to reside in any Province, he 

shows or has shown that he is able to comply 

with the requirements described in section 

three (a) of Act No. 30 of 1906 of the Cape of 

Good Houe, or of sectlOnjiv8 (a) of Act No. 30 

of 1903 of Natal. 

[NOTE -Section three (a) of Act No. 30 of 1906 of the Cape 

of Good Hope, referred to above reads as fol1o\'ls .- 

(a) Any person who, when asked to do so by any duly 

authorIsed officer, shall be unable through deficient educatIon to 

himself wnte out and sIgn 10 the characters of any European 

language an apphcatlon to the satIsfactIon of the MInIster; 

prOVIded that for the purposes of thIS sub.sectlon ¥Idqish $hall 

be accepted as an Euwpeab langUage. 

SeclI~~ jiw (l!J qf Act No. 30 of 1903 !)f Natl\l referreq to 

\11 tb,\$ ~eCtlo..\l reads as, folloVl!~ :"""7 

(a) any person who when aSKed to do so by any duly !1~t~or. 

Ized officer, shall be unable through deficIent educatIon to hImself 

to wflte out and sIgn, 10 the characters of some European 

language, an applIcatIon to the satIsfaction of the MInIster. " 

5. The following persons or classes of persons 

shall not be prohibited Immigrants for the purposes 

of this .Act namely ;- 

(e) any person born before the commenoement 

of the Act lU any part of South Africa inoluded 

in the Union whose parents were lawfully 

resident therein and were not at that 

time restrICted to temporary or conditional 

residenoe by any law then in force, and any 

person born in any place after the commencement 

of thIS Aot whose parents were at the 

time of hi'! bIrth domICiled in a.ny part of 

South Africa itlcludetl in the Union. 

(g) any person wha is proved to the satisfaction 

of an ImmI~,'Tation Officer or in case of an 

appeal to the satisfaction of the board, to be 

the wife, or the ohild under the age 'of 16 

years, of any person exempted by paragraph 

(f) of thIS section, provided that the wife or 

the child, (as the case may be), is not such a 

perSQIil all is descpbed in s~b-seetion (1) (d), 

(e), (f), (g) or (h) of the last preceding section. 

4. (1) (j) The ~me, with the Jl41l1tion ,.fter ~he 

words" bave been Jltolen" of the follow 

ing;- 

•• incest, sodomy, bestiality, any offence 

involving fraudulent conduot in connection 

'With any insolvency. " 

4. (2) (a) deleted. 

5. The following persons or c~es of persono 

sqall not be prohibited immigrants for the purposes 

of this Act :t\ainely :- 

.. (e) any person, other than an l\1ien, who \VaS 

born in any pal't of South Africa illclude4 

in the Union and whose paren~ were at tile 

time of his birth lawfull~ res~dent therein 

and were not at that time fCIItricted to ~ 

porary 01' conditional residenoe therein h-l' 

any law then in force; Provided that any 

pevSon who, if he ~ a ptel ellters 

the Union witmu five "~Ri aftel' Ute fill'St 

day of August, 1925, or withi~ 

~ ,eart


20t 

10. No prohiMted immigrant shall be exempt 

from the provisiQns· of this Ac~ or be allowed to 

rtlmain in the Union, or in allY PrQvince wherein 

his residence is unlawful, Or be deemed to have 

acquired a domicile therein, by reason only that he 

had not been informed that he could not enter or 

remain in the Union or (as the case may be) in that 

Province or that he had been allowed to enter or 

remain through oversight. misrepresentatIOn or 

owing to the fact having been undiscovered that he 

was such a prohibited immigrant. 

22. Any person (not being a person born in any 

JlW't of SOllili Africa which has been included in the 

Umon) who, whether befQl'e or after the commenee 

:ment of this A\Jt has been sentenced kI impri8Oll 

ment- 

(a) for a contravev.tion. of provision mentionN in 

the first schedule to this Act or any provision 

hereafter amending that provision or sllbsti 

"'ted therefor or far any offence mentioned in 

sub-eect.iOQ (1) (f) o( sectioa/ImT; 

(b) for seHing. partering, giving or othefwiae 

~. supp1ying intoxicating liquor to any ~o1onred 

person in comra'vention of any 4w; or 

(c) f9r dealing in or being in possess.iOQ of 

nnwron~~t precious m$l or rOQgh or uucat 

precious stones in contraventioll of any ldw, 

t 

afttn' the date of the liMIt entry Into the 

Union, -whiche'\'er period may be the longer, 

of the pel'lOlllO exempted. 

[NOTE.-l'aragrapU Cti). (t), tI,; en aD e"r of auh-seetloD el) 

or section iour refe"ed to 10 (I) deal Wllb criminal. .Dd dqseued 

persona and paragrapb (a) of lub-sectlnn (I) 01 sectIOn (our 

r.fcorred to lD 'Ii) .. lIS Collows 1- 

Cal any person o. class of persons deemed by the Mwhlet' on 

economic grounds or on account o( standard or b.bils or life to 

be unsuited to the fequllementl of tbe Union or .ny particular 

P r0910Clt tbereof.} 

In the interpretation of this paragraph " the wife .. 

shall inclgde anyone woman between whom and 

the exempted person mentioned there exists a union 

recognised as a marriage under the tenet8 of an 

Indian religion notwithstanding that by those tenets 

the uniou of that exempted person with other 

women at the !arne time would also be recognised 

as a marriage. Provided that DO woman shall be 

deemed to be the wife of such E'xempted peI'8Qn- 

(i) if such a union exists between him and any 

other woman who bas under any law relating 

to immigration Or to Asiatic registration been 

recognised within the Un!on as the wife of 

Buch person and bas resided or resides or'is 

domiciled in any province ; or 

(ii) if such exempted person has offspring resident 

or domiciled in any province by any woman 

who is still living. 

and a union shall not be for the purposes of this 

section be deemed to have ceased to exist by reason 

only of the fact that according to the tenets of an 

Indian religion it has been dissolved • 

.. The child under the age of sixteen" shall mean 

a child who is the offspring of the exempted person 

and the wife as herein defined or the child of the 

exempted person and a deceased woman who if she 

had been alive could have been recognised at the 

time of the birth of the child a. the wife (as herein 

defined) or whose union with the exempted person 

could have been registered at the time of the birth 

of the child as a marriage under spction two of the 

Indians Relief Act, 1914. 

10. The same, with the following addition : 

Any such perBan may be declared to be a prohibited 

immi~ant and dealt with ill termS of 

section. nme/lln of this Act and if 8Ueh P6n1On 

is in possession of a registration oertifieate 01' a 

certificate of domicile or any other aoedmellt 

anthorizmg him to remain in th1J Union or amy 

province it iihall be oompt'tent for any board kI 

which he may appeal, if it be pl'o1'eci to tile 

satisfaction of the board that soch tlel'tifieate or 

other document waH obtained by fraudulent 

representations by or on behalf of the hQlder, 

to order that such certificate or other document 

be cancelled and the holder thereof be dealt 

with as a prohibited immigrant: Provided that 

if!l1lch pet'BOD fails to appml to' a; board the 

Principal Immigration Officer, concerned I!l1ly 

exercille aU such powers as to the cancellation 

of any certificate or other doeu.ment 88 ate by 

this section conferred upon a board. 

22. The mme, with the addition of the following 

new paragraph :- 

(d) for any offence undel' section lwenJII of thiB 

Act for which imprisonment baa been imposed 

without the option of a fine. 

l No'nt :-Section 20 above referred to reads as fonows l 

Any 'person who- 

(..) auis or abets any person in entering or remlllniog within 

the Ullbn Of any Pr

202 INDIAN OPINION August 14th, 1925 

\ 

and who by teason of the circumstances connected 

with the offerlce, is del'lmed by the Minister to be an 

undesirable mhabitant of the Union, may be removed 

from the Union by warrant, and pending 

removal, may be detained in such custody as may 

be prescribed by regulation. 

30. In this Act, and in the regulations made 

thereunder, unless inconsistent with the context,- 

.. domicile" shall mean the place in which a 

person has his present home or in which he 

resides or to which he returns as his place Qr 

present permanent abode and not for a mere 

special or temporary purpose; aud a person 

shall not be deemed to have a domicile within 

the Union or any Province (as the case may be) 

fOi' tl-..:~ purposes of this Act unless he has resided 

therein for at least three years, otherwise 

than under terms of conditional or temporary 

residence permitted by this Act or any other 

law Qr as a person under detention in a prison, 

gaol, reformatory or lunatic asylum; and a person 

shall be deemed for the purposes of this 

Act to have lost his domicile within the Union 

or any Province (as the case may be) if he 

voluntarily go and reside outside the Union or 

the Province (except for a special or temporary 

'purpose) with the intention of making his 

home outside the Union or ~at Province (as the 

case may be.) 

Section si.c of the Indians Relief Act, 1914: 

The Mimster may m his discretion cause to be 

provided out of moneys appropriated b¥ Parliament 

for the purpose of a free passage from any port in 

the Union to any port in India (with or without free 

conveyance by rail to such first mentioned port) for 

any IndIan (ot,her than an Indian who is or may 

become entItled under Law No. 25 of 1861-Natal- 

01' any amendment thereof 10 such free passage), 

who makes a written request for such free passage 

etc. 

The Executive Committee had felt-that very careful 

steps had to be taken. It was hoped t.hat the 

question of Asiatic trading would have been tackled 

by the Union Government. The Government had, 

however, decided that this aspect of the Asiatic problem 

must be left to the provinces. In framing the 

Ordinance they had taken. mto consideration the recontravention 

of the Act, commits any fraudulent act or 

make~ any false representation by conduct, statement, or 

othuwlse, 

shall be gUIlty of an offence and hable on conViction to a fiDe not 

exceedmg one hundred pounds or, In default of payment to 1m. 

pnsonmeDt With or Without hard labour for a pertod not 

exceedtng SI'< months, or to such Imprtsonment Without the 

optton of a fine.] 

30. In this Act and in the regulations made thereunder, 

unless inconsistent will the context: 

.. domicile" shall mean the place in which a 

person has his present permanent home. or 

present permanent residence or, to which he 

returns as his present permanent abode and not 

for a mere special or temporary purpose; and a 

person shall not be deemed to have a domicile 

within the Union or any Province (as the case 

may be) for the purposes of this Act unless he 

has lawfully resided therein for a continuous 

period of three years, otherwise than under 

terms of conditior.al or temporary residence 

permitted by this Act or any other law or as a 

person under detention in prison, gaol, reformatory 

or mental hospital, and a person shall be 

deemed for the purposes of this Act to have lost 

his domicile within the Union or any Province 

(as the case may be) if he absents himself from 

the Union or that Province (as the case may be) 

and does not return to the Union or that Province 

(as the case may be) within three years 

from the date of departure then'from or in the 

case of a person who absented himself fl'om the 

Union or any Province (as the case may be) 

prior to the 1st August, 192.'), does not return 

to the Union or that Province (as the case may 

be) before the 1st Angust, 192~: Provided that 

in cases where a person proceeds overseas for a 

special or temporary purpose the :Minister may 

authorize the issue of a cm'tificate of identity 

under the provisions of sub.section (2) of section 

tweflf!l-jiv6 of this Act allowing the pm'son concerned 

to return to, and resnme his residence in 

the Province named within the period specified 

in such certificate or any extenSIOn thereof not 

exceeding tell years in all. 

Section .~IX of the Indians Relief Act, 1914. remains, 

with the addition after the words .. any 

port in India" of the words" or elllcwhere." 

ASIATIC -TRADERS IN THE TRANSVAAL 

In the Transvaal Provincial CounCIl in moving 

the second reading of the "General Dealer's (ControI) 

Draft Ordinance," the Administrator is reported 

to have said, the measure was put forward mainly to 

control the Asiatic tra1.e in difference to representations 

made to restrict the issue of general 

dealers' licences. These requests were made by 

representatives of various municipalities. 

quest of the Municipal Congress from lallt year and 

also the report of the Asiatic Commission. 

Mr. Geo. Hills (Lab., Benoni) said it should be 

stated frankly that the Draft Ordinance was intended 

to apply to Asiatics, if that was the intention. 

Mr. H. J. Lamb (S.A.P. Yeoville) was of the same 

opinion, and moved the adjournment of the debate, 

because members had not had time to consider the 

measure. 

The motion was defeated by 25 votes to 15. 

Mr. R. H. A. Rabbie (Nat., WakkerBtrooru) said 

.that through the competition of the Asiatics many 

white dealers had to close their business. The 

danger did not exist only in the large centres, ~llt 

also in the up-country villages. He strongly supported 

the second reading. 

The draft was read a second time and the eommitte 

stage fixecl for 'fue8daK tI:.e 11th instan:.

August 14th, J925 INDIAN OPINION 203 


T is difficult to foresee what fate awaits India. 

IT 

At a time when proper guidance is most essential 

to the youth of India in her struggle 

for freedom veterans, one after another, are speedily 

passing away. Within the short space of ten years 

we have recorded the deaths of not less than five 

great leaders, namely, Gokhale, Tilak, Sir Subramania 

Aiyar, Ashutosh Mukherjee and Das, and now 

we receive the sad news of the death of Sir 

Surendranath Dannerjea. It is an nndoubted fact 

that the present awakening of National spirit 

in India is the fmit of tt e labonrs of tht'se 

leaders who have not had the good fortune of seeing 

with their own eyes the accomplishment of their 

self-imposed task but have departed leaving the task 

to be accomplished by others. Let us hope that they 

will be guided by the same spirit that has guided 

the palt leaders. It is an irony of fate that 

Bengal should lose within a very short period three 

of her great men, for, the last three mentioned all 

belonged to Bengal. Bengal has evt'r stood first anti. 

even to-day stands first in her patriotism and this 

loss to her will be nnbearable. Sir Surt'ndranath 

leaves behind him one son and five danghters to 

whom and to Bengal we extend our heartfelt 

sympathy. 

With this issue we present our readers with a 

photo supplement of the late Sir Surendranath 

Baunerjea whose life sketch appears in another 

colnmn. 

Mr. Jogodish Chandra Mnkherjee the managing 

partner of the well-known firm of Calcutta-Messrs. 

Kamalalaya, (Wholesale and Export Clothiers, Hatters 

and Outfitters), who has recently come on a business 

trip to, the Union has arrived at Durban last Wednesday 

from Johannesburg and is the guest of Mr. 

Sorabjee Rustomjee. The firm represented by Mr. 

Mukherjee is perhaps the ouly Indian firm which 

is doing business on a large scale with many of the 

South African Europl'an firms. Mr. Mukherjee is. to 

our knowledge, the first Bengalee gentleman that has 

ever visited th~se shores. Although his mission is 

purely a business one he will, no doubt, incidentally 

have the opportunity of gaining a first-hand knowledge 

of the Indian question, of which, from the little 

chat we were able to have with him, Mr. Mukherjee 

seems to have already had some bitter experience. 

Mr. Mnkherjee sails for India by the 

8.8. Kar(lgola on the 17th instant. 

A petition with about a thou-aud .,ignatures has heen submitted 

to His Exalted HighneilS the Nizam, Hydrabad, for 

J!'ranting political reforms as embodied in a Memorandum 

prepared by the State Reforms Association sometime ago. 

The vreVIOUS memorandum from the State Reforms 

AlSOCiatlon prayed tho Nizam to gran~ representation in 

the Legislative Conncil in proportion to the percentage 

cf classes in the State with protection of minorities. The 

Nizam had previously announced in a declaration that the 

Legisilltive CounCIl should be coustituted aud enlarged 

on modern lines and it was in pursuance aud conformity 

with the principles of this declaration that the Htate 

Reforms Association put in their memorandnm. 

Mr. R. Srinivasau, M.L.C., reprel!enting the interests 

of the submerged classefl in the Legislature, has made his 

mark as a Social Worker. He was made Rao Sahab in 

tim last Honours' List, on the birthd8Y of H. I. M. the 

King. Mr. Srinivasan, it will be remembered, returned 

to India after completing a foIl term in civil service 

in South Africa and his many local friends will be 

pleued to learn of t.be \Ietvi~1!I he is tendering "- ~he 

lIotherl,udj 

Que;tions have been p~1; in connection with Mabatma 

Gandbl as to who pays h18 expenses and whether he is 

expensive? Mahatma Gandhi him\lelf answers these 

qUE'BtioDs in Young India :- 

"I do make the claim, that I attempt to act 

as I preach. Bot I must confess that I am not as inexpensive 

in my wants, 8S I would like to be. My food 

since my illneBB costs more than it should. By no means 

can I caU it a poor man's food. My travels too cost 

more than they did before my illness. I am no longer 

Ilble to travel long distance third class. Nor do I travel. 

all I did before. withou~ a companion. All this means 

not simplicity and povt'rty, bot the reverse of it. I draw 

nothlDg from the A.I.C.C. or the Gojarat Committee. 

But friends find Illy travelling expenses including food 

and clothing. Often during my tours railway tickets are 

purchased by those .who invite me and my host everywhere 

covers me with kind attention. 

THE ASIATIC BILL 

~ HE Areas Reservation and Immigration and 

II Registration (Further Provision) Bill, introduced 

hy the Minister of the Interior in 

the Union House of Assemhly at the close of the 

session reveals the Asiatic policy of the Government. 

There are two important chapters, the first 

dealing with the reservation of class areas and the 

second with amendments to the Immigrants Regulation 

Act. Chapters III. and IV. deal with 

amendm('nts to the Asiatics Rf'gistration Amendment 

Act of the Transvaal and the repeal wholly 

or in part of certain laws affecting Asiatics in 

Natal, Transvaal and the Cape Provincf.'. 

Fortunately the Government have launc]led this 

Bill at the close of Parliament. the object being, 

as stated by the Minister, to enable all concerned 

to study the measure. 'Ve are of opinion 

that the Government anticipate strClng opposition 

on the part of the British and Indian Governments. 

and thought it the best policy to allow the storm 

to gather and hurst before the Bill is proceeded 

with. Be that as it may, the time that must eJapqe 

before the Bill can be brought before Parliament. 

can be made use of by the Indian commllDity, 

both in India and South Africa, to enliRhten the 

mass of the people to its provisions. That is the 

first step. This complicated Bill must be examined 

thoroughly, and in order to assist our readers 

we publish in this issue the amendments to the 

Immigrants Regulation Act side by side with the 

original dauses. Later on we intend to examine 

each clause as amended and endeavour to show 

what effect such amendments will have npon the 

rights of Asiatic residents and their descendants. 

The first chapter, dealing with the reservation 

of class areas. affects adversely Asiatics only, although 

they are scarcely mentioned by name 

Cape Malays anti half-caste races such as the 

.. Cape Coloured," .. Mauritius Creole" and .. St. 

Helena persons" are exempt from the provisioM 

of this Bill. There is, of course, a political reason 

for exempting thec;e people. They have the Parliamentary 

franchise and can make their voice 

heard. Moreover there is a growing tendency to 

absorb certain Europeanised coloured people into 

the Buropean community, as the trend of recent 

legtalation dealin4 with wa~ and conditions in

204 INDIAN OPINION August 14th, 1925 

~----------------------------~------~------~------------~~ ~----~'--~~-- 

the industrie~ makes it impossible to place white is intended by this iniquitous measure. If this 

aij.d coloUJecJ -Workers on a di{'l'erent basiq. 

nil! ever b£'comes law, the ~ndimt cmntnnnity's 

~ The proce.dure adQiPt~d jn the EiH £Or bringjng p 'sition In thi~ country will be unbearable. 

about the reservation of ,class areas, which wiU 

really ibe Asiatio locations, is (,r a municipal 

c?ti~cll, village .or local board or health committee 

to it1til'Iiate,to the Ui1).1stel' that a certain a"f'U Is 

wholly pr 1.o;r the greater part occupied for traning 

Of residential purposes by a particular elass of 

persons (Asiatics for instanoe). A commjs"Iion 

ap!>olntfld by the Minister win then investigate and 

rep,Qrj :u.pOl;l. th.e .d~ir~bill.ty of $etting apart such 

ar,e,a for th~ use of a particular ci.lss of persons. 

Bya proclahlatiOil in the Gov£1'nment Gazett~ the 

Governor-General may declare a certain area t'l be 

either a class residential, ttading 01' combined 

residential and trading area within six months of 

the receipt of the cRf11missi,QQ,'s report 

Supposing an area is set apart for Asill-tjcs, no 

other prxsons may /tCquire or lel).se property therein 

uij'Jt)as ~ hOlds the right .of r~,Dew,al 01 a lease in 

w],"jtins at the PQmmeIlc,ement of the Act (which 

is Il-l:r~,!j..Qy d,efi.nit~ly {i~~ as August 1, 1925, whenever 

the Bill11).fl,Y J1appen to (>a.ss). Likewise no 

A§iatic wo»ld pe auJ.e to ncquin~ or lease property 

in :J. hOWn or vHm.ge cl.~e!l)hc1'c than in thfJ area act 

apfJ/l't unlElss If,~ t~ comrnen('ement of thl1 Act lJe 

is i.p. p9!?Sel'lllioJ). of ~ written l~se. 

Np EUfPp,ean rp.ay pe grallted a licence in an 

A,siatic ~reJl., an,Q. no Allia.tJp may obtain II> licence 

elsewhere t1-Ill~s in ~ith,er Cfl,S,e they receive a 

sp,ecial 'Permit granr.eeJ py the Gov~rn,or-Gf;'~eral; 

pr$?yi4~d, h?wever, that t~ose who at fhe time of 

tM proclam1!-tioll ar~ carrying on bl1siness yl).p.~ot 

be refused a renewal of a licence. 

'These special areas may 4e extende-l or reduced, 

after i~vpstigati()ll, or the Gove,mqr-General JI:lay 

by ;ptocla~\:Lt!on deeide to suspend for a perj q all 

thtl provisinns regardin~ a special area if found to 

be inadequate or ~ns~itab1e ~~ the pupulation. 

SpeCial areas ptoclahned in t1;1e Transvaal will be 

pl~ced o~, the 'sa~e J )?ting as loc~tioJS ;;tlready 

established ~ndet Law 3 of 1885, 

'T.he at11 proVid~s for !in aiivisory hoard copsisting 

b£ n~t le~s tl:lll'n three persons of the class 

con~tie!hed resident in t.he same town or vilhtge, In 

adaitlb~ to a ~~n ch"!i ai'e\i, may I;>e a European It is 

pro\Tided tb~t no by-l~ws or reguilltions part! 

c~1~i~y. affeCting the class of persons concerned 

shall be made ot tyithdrawn unless the advice of 

the adVi,so~ bo~rd haf'l first be~n obt~IPed ' 

By procl,amation in the tJfLZette\ the Governor 

Gei}er~l may d.E:1~lare phat po Asiatic, for instance, 

m~y ~c

August 14th, 1925 INDIAN OPINION 205 

High Court, who had in a case orderd the prodoction 

of an idol in evidence. Sir Surendranath was JrosE-cuted 

fOl' contempt of Court jlod was sentence by 

a majority of JuJietl to two lDonthlii t IDlprillOnment, 

though an apology was offered b, Sir Surendranath. 

During the exciting days of Lord Lytton, during 

the eventful days of Lord Ripon, during the memorable 

Viceroyalty of I..ord CarzoD, during tho ?tItnto 

Viceroralty with its reforms. repressiona ani the 

bomb, during all these days, the Bengll/ee has been 

second to none in educating, organi,iog aod moulding 

public opinion. Sir SureJldraoatb Bannerjea 

was invited to represent India on the "Imperial 

Pres8 Conference." A colonial delegate to the Conference 

was so impressed with Sir Sureqdranath'lJ 

abmUel that he told him that, if there were other 

mel) in In4ia like Sir Surendranath, self-Government 

ought at once to pe granted to lndia. 

Hm PottTlCAL OA.ltEti:R 

On the 26th Jul" 1876, the "Indian AMOelatioo" 

of Cakutta Wall usbered into being, by tbtl Q:J).ited 

efforts ot Messrs. Snren

a. ,.. ij ~ ,~ Itt ifil"f ~it.i itftJ rit1fl~ I ~il8f' Itlffiiff" flStf~. Mf* .~ ~ .. 

1l-~~ 'If': tl~~ ~lttl"Jft: !PeA ~ 1~~llte1:~ }a ~~ t~ .~ lll-~' '~1~~ ntlo!~ !1t.~ ., ~~Wl!! 

~'" ~I"~ 1Il):'{ Cieli~ 0l}t t ~ 'hl~ ~ll~ t~P ,,?~~ l-l~~'flt~ It?''lf\ltA " ~ I~Rlll l>~l&l}t.f\ 

PI'I~~ \}-l-nU''fl 'fs1lt~ t 0 lcl"'lt~ 

t~th ~ wc-iit l}t !lt31h If'k~ '0 (Ii clh~ tll~ 13hl~f\ fi!lWt ~~h '~ !"~lc~ fill~'l{ le 

eh€) lMh I?I~ ~1~ 'l!:l1'~ l-"'Th.l(t \}-lt~ I," ~ { ~ l1'~ ! !l>!lt~ ~ lhol~ lltlM'lh fi!lc~l\ el'h: ll>l;l}fI ~ t ~, 

~'l!: U'l-1P lek ~lh '? .. ~ 

-l~lh hl\ l}1' ~ t lf1fulc: t'~ ~!jlJ ~ tl,eh '0 

Flt hlilJ ~ ~l~ lltlbelf 17111.13 }ltl}1f\UAI \}'? .. ~ 

-1]:31h t\ ~'" lell\l:. 1C1lo!~ !It?~~ 7 .. ~'l"~l!: 

~ 

elh:llt~ 'tlta ~1t 

o~~ ~lPlclt 

Cil~~~ Thfi!lcl(:p.," ~'" "lie'\) Pl1\ 1Il11e,ln J!'" ~cP 

If'~~ "0 lhlc lfitt ~l~~li1} It!h ~~ 1:::'elil} li~ 

lnG\lh, \}'Illl~ ~Il-~ .. ~ft. t~ lt~clt '0 rlb~ l>~I't\-Ila: 

~tt ~l't\-bJ eh€) ~U-~ lPli ~",a-le\}> @.)hlla: Gik~ k\! 

~ 1~~e ~fi \11~li elP~ ~ full. \}'~ ~ 'ftic \1>1V£h: 

Pf~ \}'RI~ ~lkt (! l-lP.(3t' t~ 0 ~li 111~fi J1~~~ lY".ln 

1l-1P'~ nff\ '\fth.f\~ It)l1," ~~ 1{?1i I'" ltPe~~ lk1c:,lt1\ 

lb~ '~ ~c \1>IPltIl}irc~ ~1lo!b Th~lt P!l{ ~~ fcIh ~l~ 

~'" ~ file ~la- ~lhPl" lIl11r,ltI tp?(~ lY'~~ '0 Ilt~ 

~17 ~p.la: l::P~tt Si~ ""U~h ,~ V1h li~ ~e~~ t'~~ 

tla: IP' ~1l-Pll{ 1Ill1e,ln PSi"li felI\G 1130 ll>lh 

-l~'PJ! lla: 1~~lc ~1~~lc:b< { 0 ~ li"',at.,hltll,,: 

'\felf ~~ 1:::.lblli !~~c !c~1a: ~lA: \£li P l}lS faih 1~'P1! 

'''''hllc~ fl~~ lhll-~llei~~ /4)~ lP' 

lhli P~~ l~IP1! ''''lIl)liP~ lfuhlla: Thll'bl~3~ (! (, 

~Unn ~~~ @.)hlla: .~ l'hle lPhl~ 1:::'~lnl}fl 1tllt~ 

lYlPl~ t'" 0 lhlc 1P~1'h: ll!;~ hlb~ lh-:>l," clil 

3~~ ~ lP' Mn.lc 3~~ \}'lbelf ,.~ e~ ~ 

1~lP't h\}',..,lt ~ ~tl~ltli 'Q'lh hf~1i ~fQfi ~~~ 

~ 0 1Il\ ~fl~,..~lt \}>1~lP1! ll-lIl1liP~ ~ ~~ n~e 

(1~ tp1c~ ~ @.)hl~ ~l," lk~l{ &"'P~ll' 0 U~~ 

'1:11;", "klil~ \}'Rl~J(b< !l>(;iel-~ ~ll-~ .. t~ e~ ~hl1A: 

la' t1A: !~" t 1ct Cieli"ft 1I1l:!fi1ct 'e'h~ \}'klio~ e~ 'li~lP 

• ~11I.l~ '~1'" '~A~ ?1~ &l~IPt l>1~1t h:}h lG\l~ 

!kl6'.l~ J!lt~ e~.lA: lYP~tt Sir \}'~c~ ~~ '0 l'hcl~ 

lble lP~Ih: Sj~ ~h li~ 1~IPt 1~~1~l

ndiatt ~piltilln 

No. 34~Vol. XXIII. Friday, August 21st, 1925. 

lleciotered auhe G. p.o .•• a N.wspape 

PalOS I'ouaPER(.8 

~----------------------------~~------------------------------------ 


~l~ 

?\t DDRESSING the Mayor of Durbau aud the Town which its importance demands. Your C )mmittee aecor- 

LC1l Councillori ou their dnty at St. Cyprian's Church dingl, recommends to the Provincial Council that the 

last Sunday after the recent Council election, enquI~y should '>e resumed in Its next ensuing Se~sion; 

tbe VeD. Archdeacon Hodson referring to the race pro- tbat toe Select Committee should be then reconstituted 

blem ill reported to h'lve .aill :- 

with the same membership." 

j, Then in this city there wa. the problem of the 

varions races Jivin~ witbin its borders, and unles~ the 

CorporatioQ acted wiRely and with perfect justice there 

woqld be no peace witbin tbose borders; would, in fact, 

be constaut strife. " 1 

'l'he following copy of a resolution adopted at a meeting 

of the Sonth African-born Indian Afsociation held 

in Capetown on Aug. 9, hal! been communicated to 

Beuter's Agt'ncy : .. That this meeting of South AfrICanborn, 

Indians protests most empbatically against tbe remarks 

of the Assistant Magistrate for C':Ipetown, Mr. 

Chenowe~b, in a certain case where a colon red man was 

charged with contraveninfl certain railny regulatIOns, 

reported in the Cape Argus of Aug. 7, 1925, wherein 

the Magistrllte is reported to have said : "I have every 

r~Bpect for a colQu.red Jllan like the accused, wbo has got 

on and, wpo knowB how to behave himself. I admire 

soch ',People tremendously, but if after getting on they 

'wish to place themselves on the level of the European, 

tben I tbink tbey are going to bit too far. Everybody 

lVilI admit tba~ it would be a very bad thing if tbe. South 

AfLican Railway Department allowed coloured people, 

howeveJ' respectable they might be, to travel with Europeanjl, 

and there should be some distinction made," 8S 

J>eing uDcalled for ..and. insulting, and calls upon the 

said magistrate to publicly withdraw the said remarks. 

Further, that copies of the above resolution be forwarded 

~ the said magistrate, the Hon. the Minister of Justice, 

and the Press. 

We tbink the !.ssistant Ma~istrate in the case referred 

to above mijst have, completely forgotten himself. It. 

had probably escaped his memory that he was at the 

moment sittiug on the Bench dealing out jnstice and, in 

his absent mindedness, IDUSt have thought he was on a 

p~bHc platfo!'m delivering a political speech. Notwithstanding, 

however,'it leaves a very bad impression on tha 

publi~ mind about a Britisu Court of justice. 

The freedom of the Borough of Durban was conferred 

on CounCillor Thomas Burman, M.B.E., au ex-Mayor 

and 8 mtlmber of the Council for 14 years last Saturday 

by the unanimous vote of the Town Council. 

-- 

The Select Committee app~inted to consider pnd report 

upon the subject of Indian and Native Medium of hstrnotion, 

in the schools of Natal has reported inler alia 

8S follows:- 

,_ ·~An application from the Natal ~ndian Congress 

(Pletermaritzbnrg Branch) has been receIved to be .beard 

before your Committee, which ill de&kOlllt.~l~"'pt: ~'of>taining 

further information upon the matt.ar referred to it 

from other angles than ~hose t~!J..s far presented. 

The time at the dispOllal of your Comm!ttee during 

thill !;Iession apjJeal'll to be insufficient for according that 

careful collsiiIeration to the qu~tion under ref~ence 

The Draft Ordinance to amend The Rnral Dealera 

IJicensing Law Amendment Ordinance 1923 as read a 

third time and passed by the Natal ProvinCial Connoil 

reads as follows'- 

1. The words oecurrlDg in SectIOn set'en, Sub-section 

1, th,ee yean, are hereby deleted, and "one year" snbstitutpd, 

and fRrm vf office of members of aI' existing Boards 

shall expIre at 31st October, 1925. 

2. This Orllinance may be cited as "The Roral Dealers" 

Licensing Law Amentiment OrdlDance, 1925." 

Thus the 8warajya (Madras) on the late Colour Bar 

Bill :- 

Quite in accordance with" the forecast made In these 

columns a few days back, the South African Senate has 

turned down the MlDes and Works Act-'!eneraUy 

known as the Colour Bar Bill. The news will be received 

with great relief throughouL Iudia. It is doubtfnl, 

however, if the Hertzog Government WIll not try 

other means available to them, to get the Act placed on 

the Statute Book. The MlDister of limes gave unequivocal 

expressIOn to the intentions of the Government on 

this point. He wanted the Senate to believe that white 

ciV1h~ahon would be wiped out Simultaneously with the 

abondonment of the Act. He also made it plain tbat 

there was nei ch'mce of the Gove'nlLent altpring theit 

decision It looks from this that even Lord Birk"nhead's 

appeal to the Colonies to avoid dIscriminatory legislation, 

10 the interests of the Empirp, will only fall on deaf ears. 

The Hindu (Madras) writes as follows on India's 

attituile on the Sonth Afrlcau Indian question :- 

Tae immediate point we in India have to considpr is 

as to the attitude whICh we should assume towards Soutb. 

Africa. The Government of India have proved themselves 

to be a broken reed, and statesmanship has 80 far 

deteriorated that even the bold gestures of former Viceroys 

in favour of India'! nationals have disappeared. This 

is due to many causes: our own disunion is one; the 

growin!!' racial bias of the bureaucracy is a most p1tent 

reason, and it is a fact which cannot be got over that 

nnle811 the Government of the country IS our own, we can 

do nothing effective to protect OOf conntrymen abroad. 

In the meantime, the Government should be constantly 

nsked to be up and doing; our repre~entatives cannot be 

tco vigorous and alert in bringing the ntmost poi!sible 

pressore to bear on the autboritles to stand manfully by 

the despised and persecuted {ndians in the Colonies and 

the DomlDions aod retaliate when persuation fads, as it 

has now so clearly failed. 

K. S. Roy has been elected President of the Bengal 

Legislative CounCIl, in snccession to Evan Cotton. The 

Election was noteworthy, says Reuter, in that Roy defeated 

the Swarajist candidate bJ1l~ v.~to 61.

enough, a,Dd it is as diffieult for an lndian to get out 

of the clutches o~ the Immlgration DeMrtme,nt .. 

once l!aving {lQt ill itt a[:l it iJ {Qr ~ fly tq ~M. sqt w \to 

spider's web; and the doors of justice are opened to 

him very sparingly. In the circumstances! alt,hou~h 

IeI.'II than a qua .. ter the maximum amount provided, 

would suffic~ for the eXpenlltlj (>f a detaiQ.~4 ~~r~QP' 

as melltitihe,d abov~, it i§ fe~r.ed t4~t lR e~-e:rcil!i~~ 

th~ l\qthority ~ive~ to. ~i~ tp.e t.JD.W,igr-lttlQl1 ()ffi~r 

wiU nQ~ telI\pel' j\\st!~ wi~h mercy and the maxi. 

mum \l:qlount for deposit will be mad& iH mosll cases 

the mmimum; thus maldng it very diftlc;ult for ma~r 

and pl'8Otically impQs.!lible fur ~oor tndi~Q.1!I- tq h~~e 

their casllS hearq: be~Qr(l !.I, QQ\l,.r(,'t !\Jt)l.Cll!~h, ~!;ley ml\Y 

hav~ Q~eJ;!. wro~gJqlIi c1e~ll!ed. qr r~tflc~@~. 

~ectil)J). fift~ 9t 1ilie lliH amends the nld Aet by 

grl!.Q~ing the right of appeal Hom the decision of a 

SuPreme Ceur4 on any question of law ~ril;lil\g upon 

an ap~eal heaPd br !\ boar\! to the {\:p!i'~U!\t~ l)\vjil~QU 

of the Supreme Q()\'F~. w.\lkb i~ Q ~~n to th~ 

community. - 

There is venom again in Section sixteen of the 

Bill. J,~ aq~s \!') pa.ntgFaph (a) o:tl sub-section m of 

Section (4) of the pld Act the words: .. Provjde~ 

that £01' the purpose of thlf~ sectW!!: th~ NQrthe,u 

Districts oj Nal:.al ..... sh~ll De Q.e~ed t~ be l~cluf (In\fY may 

IT U!e 4ffi\s ttesm'v~\ioq and Iwmlgratiol) and be forbtllueft b, the ~iq\§t@l"s Bpe!Q131 PQwtr from 

Registra~ion ( Further Provisiqn) Bill and explained 

lengthily how the first chapter of the Bill, be restricted by the existing law which forbids hi~ 

exercising that right and a Transvaal Indian would 

deaU!lg w~tb th~ r~s~rvi!.tiQn of class areas, would to enter Nat~!. Till!! i!i M it a.ffects tho.se that are 

aff~~ 4!Uatl{!j!. 1n this issue we will eI\fje\l-vour ttl Q1!t~iqe t40f;1t\ :Pijltricts. Now eJ-a{Tliniqi; tbOBo tAut 

show to our readers what ruinous effect the amendments 

to the Immigrants Regulation Act, 1913, as' be precarious. Unless they hold the right to resiue 

are within those Districts, their position seems also to 

proposed in chapter II of the Bill wQqld h~ve 011 if) bo$ the ff()vinces- and many of them do 

Indians domiciled and otherwise in the Union or not-will also, very likely, be knocked from pillar 

any Province thereof. 

t6 post. Thus, It is indeed a very clever device on 

T.t!~ Qlq \~c,t provides ~ar tl\e (lsMsit qf lID th~ P~ft of thQ~~ reapoQ!lible for d",f\in~ tbi~ Bill 

axpOllI\t s.u@t!i,en,t ~1f t4_ 6piZlWP- oj t4f ~b.m~t", to (l~termiQatt\ "any llel'Son 0. olaas of persota at 

by a Nl'sqa restricted as a prohibited immigranl, ile.emed by the Minister to be unsuited from th~se 

should he wish to appea! to a board, to cove,r' Pistl'icts whieh are oomprise~ of to thE) District or 

his detention expenses, the costs of bringing him Vr¥p'ei(i, the 1)istrict of Utr~c\l.t, 1,\ portioq Qt the 

before a board and of returning him to the plac~, l>i!l\:rict of Walrke:rstrooIl\ lyillg I!ou\ll of 1\ lille 

fram whicB he came. The neW Bill would amend dra.Wll fr~ tpe ~Ql'~}l-e!\~~epn corllel' nf Natal, EaiIt 

this provisiop. br a~tqorililJng ~h~ iIlllA!ro-ation 9.fti.~r .f VolkBl'uet ttl the headwatel'i of the Pongolo Rive. 

to fix the amollnt to be deposited by !iiicp. ~ Ilpo.seq ~qqitiQ~ 

would be that a persQ:p. tP.ol!~b dQl,ll\c\leq \n :Na.ta1 and 

by virtue of that right may be en1iitle-ther purposes but 

for the purpose of this 8echon, still belon_g to :N~~l in 

term~ Qf .. The ~ ortb,er!J. pif;1tricts AnJ;W~\l.tion .l\ct, 

1903," :m~Y' J}.P. el}\er t~eEe Distri~s if ~e is "deemed 

by t1Le Mini!!1ie~ t9 ~ ~"sm.teq W the r.equir.ements u 

qf the NotiQ~ ill ~ foU(lws:- 

"tJuder tlle puwera cOl\f~\'r¢ o~ {Il~ by pan graph 

(ll) of s\lb-~iioQ (1) Qf .e0tion fou, of the Immi. 

~rl\l\tIl RegulaU6,ft Aet, llna (Act N0 22 of 191.3), I 

4e~by deem ev6PY Asiatic person to be unsuit,ed on 

economic ground!! 

1. to $e rl¥ltlir~w.{lu\~ of th.1l Upion llI\d 

2. to tlw TeQui,r~:r;qeJ\t.6f of CO~lq~ree ha.v.e protested against 

the action of th~ COUIl,l!il iQ introduciI\g t~e I;!.b~ve 

Draft Ordin~nce w~thoqt giving tQ tho~ wbol\\ it is 

going to affect \l:n opportupity ~f stUdying t~~ 

measure.

AugU~~.:'2Ist. 1925 INOIAN OP1N10~ ~o9 

------------------,------------~--------------~~ 

EMPIRE TRADE AND. JAPANESE 

COMPETITION 

hmu's RIGHT TO FIgCAL AUTOXOMY 

In an address before the Manchester Chamber of 

Commerce recently, Sir Maneckji Dadabhoy expressed 

the opinion that England was slowly moving 

towarcis a protectionist policy and asked why 

India ehould not be allowed to select· a pohcy in 

wtich she believed with the same freedom. He dId 

not mean that India's commercial policy should be 

directed against Britain'. intereBts, It was rather a 

tnatter of muttlal effort fo". mntual benefits. Britain 

certamly had rights, which he thought IndIa ought 

and would recognise, but, India ehould be in a position 

also to protect her right. 

The maintenance of- the cotton excise duty was 

not of the slightest advantage to Manchester. The 

removal would not harm Manchester. There was 

no real competitiol) between India and Manchester. 

The real competition was between India and Japan, 

and possibly AQ1erica. The menace of the Japanese 

competition, not only in India but in the world, 

was very serious. 

Referring to Imperial Preference. he sugge!lted 

abolition of the 3 per cent. excise duty' and increase 

of Customil import duty on all foreign cotton goods 

to 20 per cent. and reduction of duty on British 

goods to 7 1-2 per cent. 

Sir Maneckji Dadabhoy suggested that Britain 

must redoce the cost of production in order to meet 

Japanese cotton trade compptition, 

Mr. J. H. Rodier, Chairman, Indian Section of the 

Chamber, declared if in order to cheapen production, 

the standard of living of worker~ in England must 

be reduced to the standard of Japan. England would 

prefer to lose its preponderance of cotton trade. 

LORD BIRKENHEAD'S INDIAN POLICY 

• 

We do not think that Lord Birkenhead is a teetotaller 

and the proper thing to do is perhaps to dismiss 

his latest post-prandial effusion on Indian 

affairs as the outcome of a man who had dined not 

wisely bnt too well. No edncated Enghshman in 

his sober senses would claim, as the Secretary of 

State is reported to have done, that "we went to 

India centuties ago for cQmposing with the s1 arp 

edge of the sword differences which would have 

submerged and destroyed Indian civilization." This, 

as a piece of history, is such a palpable fiction that 

It is impossible to believe that Lord Birkenhead was 

responsible for his words when he spoke them, if 

he did Ilpeak them. 'rhe English. as every schoolboy 

knows, came as tradt'rs to India and not as 

champions of Indian civili.lation. The Ilword whose 

sharp edge helped them to found an Empire was not 

theirs but that of Indians. It is the same sword 

which helps them to retain Inqia, and when India 

elects to wield it herself, Lord Blrkenbead cannot 

and dare not refuse to snrrender to her what is hers. 

We can, therefore, interpret his lordship'S words 

only as intended as a snub to those in this country 

who have made non-violence the basic principle of 

their mode of acquiring Swaraj. There are worse 

things than anarchy. and if India is to be ruled by a 

succession of political adventurers from London, the 

limit most soon be overtaken. Whether Lord Birkenhead 

was quite responsible or not when he made 

this insulting, insolent and mendacious speech. he 

h.\S forfeited every claim to the rpspect of Indians, 

and ~Ir. Baldwin will be ill-serving the interests of 

Britain and India if he does not find some sphere 

for him where his peculiar talents may be less mischievously 

employed.' Lord Birkenhead evidently 

wants to start a camp.tign against students who, he 

declared, were the principal enemies of the Empire 

whether in China, in Egypt or in IndIa •. " Something 

must be wrong with an Empire which has incurred 

the hostility of the flower of the youth of these 

three ancient and civihsed countrielil.-Tha IndllJn 

&ci4l Re/ormer. 

===~= 

THE PRICE OF FREEDml 

[By MR. C. F. ANDREWS IN .. YOUNG INDU."] 

There are certain things that are ofwn said ·in India, 

which are most distressing to hear. One of the 

saddest of these is to hear. from the lip!! of youn~ 

men. words, spoken in despair, in some such aocents 

as these. 

" We are a subject people; and the subjectIon 

of centuries, un

.. # • ../' 

210 INDIAN OPINION August 2 ItS, 1925 

, 

There is Ii -story thnt reveals to us something of ers with all my' heart before I went away, givinl-( 

the secret of t'he inner greatness of these two races, them God's blessmg. 

which came all the way from Asia centurIes ago, No price can ever be too lllgh for Ruth a tl'easure ' 

and are now among the most enlightened and progressive 

people in the world. In the time of the unablp to rise again! The greatest and noblest part 

No man, or peopl(;', can ever be so f.tIlen ail to be 

C~ars of Russia, a stranger was once talking with a of the price, which we all have to pay is this,-to 

school master about Russia's latest attempt, under keep our faith in God pure and bright. even when 

the Czar, to crush the spirit of Finland. 

we are in the depths of humihation .- 

The school master smiled, and said, qUIetly, that " He raiseth the f,lllen out of tbe UUtlt. 

it could not possibly succeed. He seemed absolutely To set him among Princes." I , 

confident about it, as though it needed no argument 

to prove this point. 

i~~EC!E~'~~~N=:~E~;~»'»»>! 

" Why not ?" asked the friendly stranger, "RUSSia 

is all powerful." 


"But we are more powerful sbll," said the schoolmaster. 

\We make guns, and very big guns, here, o~(~E~«(~~~)~)~)~)~~~~~o 

\Ii 2:3rd July, 192.3. ~ 

in this neighbourhood. We have an important 

arsenal and foundry. Haven't you seen it ? Come 

DR. GYE AND RESEARCH WORK 

with me and I 'will show it to you. 

The discoveries of Dr. Gye and Mr. Barol.trJ in 

The stranger was greatly surprised and went With the field of Cancer research are athacting worlJ-wide 

him. It was noon-day and the little children were attention. Dr. Gye startej life as a railway porter 

coming happily out of school. 

and worked his way to Edinburgh Ulllversity where 

"There !" said the Finn, pointing to the National he did well m his mediCal studies-taklll/.( his 

school. "That is our foundry, The great guns of degrees in due cOUl'se finiohmg up with the ~L D. 

bur country are 'progress and humanity.' We teach 

these to our children in their own mother-tongue, 

in these schools, which we support with our own 

money. No tyranny of any Emperor can ever stand 

against such wpapons as these." 

In the winter season, 1\'here there is little work to 

be done in the fields, classes of older people are 

liegree which he took in a year lI1steau of two years 

as is usual wlth most students after the completion 

of their M. B. course. HIs struggles to keep himself 

Oll ten shillings a week, sounds like a fairy story. 

This was, of course, in the days before the wflr. 

No less romantiC is the hfe stury of his co-worker 

Mr. J. E. Barnard. Mr. Hamard is head of the wellknown 

fil'm of hatters who bear his name, It is 

held in Finland and Esthonia. Handicrafts are 

taught. Reading and wrItmg are imparted to any the leisure from his work, every mmute of it, which 

of those who had not been able to learn m their he devotes to scientific research. He is a hatter 

youth. At this time, also, works of mutual service because it gives him the means of livehhood. And 

and kindness are rendered. The young' help the that from hiS youth upwards he has been interested 

old. 

in science and is regarded as one of the greatest 

"You should stay over to-morrow," said a Finnish authorities on microscope work. He is a Fellow of 

host to a guest. "For to-morrow we have a strange the Royal Society. 

custom to show you." 

The particular experiments from which the diScovery 

has resulted have been carried out during 

The guest stayed to see this strange thing. Early 

in the morning, from every house in the village, the past two years at the 1\f11l Hill Labor.ltories 

neighbours came to help. All day long, they worked 

under the supervision of the Medical Resnarch 

together happily and joyfully, repairing the Fmish Council. Dr. Gye read a paper on "The Aetiology 

host's house, thatching the roof afresh, cleaning up 

of Malignant ,New Growths" before the British 

his whole courtyard, willIe the good wife prepared 

Medical AssoClation. There is- no present que;;tion 

the evening meal. By the evening, every possible 

of a cure for cancer, what has been done is to provide 

experimental eVidence which appears to justify 

neighbourly help had been rendered, and a festival 

was held in honour of the host and his good Wife. 

certain important conclusions as to the causatiOn of 

That was the strange custom. At another time, the 

Cancer, and these conclusions should be of immense 

same help would be rendered to some other peasant 

help in fighting the disease. 

in turn. The poorest man would receive the same 

Dr. Gye's experiments are strictly in harmony 

assistance as the richest. They did these acts of 

With the opmion which T!t~ Lflluet says represervice 

in the name of God, who loves rich and 

£ents the view of almost all the pathologists of 

poor alike. 

repnte. And it can still be said in the light of hlB 

investigations that the pretlence of an orgaUlsm by 

The Finnish host told hiS friend that they had itself cannot account for cancer. 

brought this beautiful custom all the way from What Dr. Gye appears to have established-that 

Asia with them, when they wert. pllgrims and there is 'I. virus so small as to evade the ordinary 

wanderers on their long journey. In those days to microscope WhiCh can be cultivated. ThIS virus 

render service in this way often saved whole families 

from destruction. All through the centuries of But a second specific factor obtained from tumour 

alone does not produce a tumour when injected. 

their persl:"cutlOn in Russia, they had kept this tradition 

sacred. They had faith in God. 

enables the virus to attack them transforming them 

extracts-ruptures the defences of the cells and 

When I was at Karimganj, in Assam, I saw 

different building: but the one that interested me 

most deeply was a long narrow hut made of mud 

and thatch with some adJoimng huts attached. 

into cancer cells. Further it is apparently established 

that the Virus mdY be obtainecl from any animal. 

The specific factor denved from the tumour extracts 

does not operate uLless applied to an animal of the 

There, a National School had been kept gGing with same species al'l that from which it is t.tken. Thus 

great difficulty and trouble year after year. In the to produce a malignant new gr'owth in a mouge it is 

afternoon I watched Ii f'pinning demonstration. It necessary to use the specific factor fr'oUl a mouse 

was evident to me that the teachers and children tumour in connectlOn with a virus whit h may co~ 

knew their handicraft. There was a mutual bond from any animal. The speCific f.tctor taken from anything, 

but a mouse will be meffectlve. Tlte 

of affection between the teachers and pupils. Some' 

of the teachers had taken their degree at a University. 

but they were sharing a life of poverty way for a rapid advance in the lDveshgation of 

Lflllr,ef says that these disloveries have deared the 

together with their children. As I watched this cancer along entirely new but clearly defined lines, 

noble struggle, the words came to my mind, "Surely that the attack on the cancer problem which has 

this is the price of freedom." I blessed those teach- 

hitht'r to hafflell medical Sllence Will IJe brought to

August 21!>l, 1925 INDJAN OPINION 211 

a successful conclusion, that the new telhnical 

Jl1t~thods available will be applicable to research 

• alol1g' a whole enorWQUIi front, and that dllileasetl 

like meaRles, small pox, and EUcephalitis foot and 

mouth disease, and dog's distemper may yielrl their 

seC'rets to workers armed with these new methods. 

LoRD HEADIXG 

Lord Reading, the Governor-General of India 

with'Lady Reading left London this afternoon on 

their return journey to India. 

Mr. Baldwin and Lord Blrkenhead and other 

members of the Cabinet were at Victoria Station 

to see them off. Lord Heading interviewed told a 

local press representative, all that he could say was 

thnt he was to be going back to his work. He had 

had a nice holiday but beyond that he could say 

nothing. 

OWEN N ARE~ ON RANJI 

Owen Nares one of England's leading actors, in 

his autobiography speaks thus of the great Indian 

cricketter. That the 1:,'1'eat "Ranji" was always one 

of his idols in the cricket world. Recently he took 

his son David then aged nine to the Gentlemens 

versus Playel's match at Lords. They were standing 

talking to a friend when he beheld the portly figure 

of the Jam Sahib of Nawanagar, himself bearing 

down on them he said to his son with much excitement 

"look D,\vid that's "Ranji." His sou replied 

politely, "Oh is it!" not really appreciating the 

joyful moment, then to Nares surprise and pleasure, 

"Ranji" actnally came np to speak to his friend, 

thus he was pI'esenterl to "Ranji" and so was David. 

Of the two he says, David was far more calm than 

he was for it was a really great moment to him; 

lat(lr on he acMs D.lvid will remember it with pride. 

INDUSTRIAL CLOUD 

There is an industrial cloud h

Augu!>t 21St, 1925 


• J...... 't ) ~ 

( t I r 

South African. Directory 

OF INDIAN MERCJiANTS AND OTHERS 

BALFOUR. Tvai'll ~4: 

Vasthahl Hlra & Co., 

Genenal Merchants & Produce Buyers, 

Box 56. StaW~n Street. 

Gam Adall,l/ 

Bo'K 46. 'Phone 28. 

Also Branch at: 

Station Street. & Leeuwlaagte 

A. C. Moola, 

·Box 36 Tel" Mdola " 

Branch,: Reltfontesn via Grootvlel. 

Gam Omar & Co.j 

~ox 39 'Phone 54. Tel." Oroar." 

Abdool Canm, 

Box 27. Tel." Canm." 

GEDARMONT T'vaal 

M: Leonat, 

General Mefchant, 

ERMELO, T'vaal 

A. S. Dangor, 

General.Merchant, 

P O. Sheepinbor StatIOn. 

M. A. Jassaf, • 

'General Merchant, 

P. 0 Aitlstetdani 

r • .-,.,..~ 8 .-.,,, 

pR~YLINGSTAAD T'vaal 

0., L Janoo & Co., 

Wholesale & RetaIl Merchant, 

SII ver liank, Box 12 

Ayab Suleman, 

An Kmds of Produce Buyer, 

Box 14 

HE'IDELB"QRG, 'Pvaal 

Kalyan Hlra, 

, 'FrUIt M~rchant, Box 9 

Dayal Kara, 

Gfeen Grocer & FrUIterer, 

Box 9. 

A. M. Bhayat, 

Box 9 

M A. Badat, 

Box 59. Tel "Bad at " 

ROLMDENE T'vaal 

I. M. Karoha, 

General Merchant 

PARDEKOP, T'vaal 

K. Desai, 

Box 18. 

prET RBTIEF, T'vaal 

F'i B'Jee, 

it. General M erchaot. 

M. th·."uoovaa, 

General Merchant, 

~O" 78. 'phone 18. Tel. "thoovan." 

A. M. Badat & Co., 

Box 49 Tel. "Badat." 

'Essa Ayob, 

Box 67. 'Phone 66 Tel" Ayah." 

Ragha Bawa, 

Fruit Merchant, 

2duj Buger Street 

Datal Naratl & Co., 

FrUit Merchant, 

Box 44 u6, Market Sheet. 

E. Osman & Co., 

239, Buger Street. 

A E Pochee, 

Box 123 Tel. "Pochee" 

Latib Ostnan, 

199, Buget Street. 

M. D. Chaya, 

Box 95. Tel. II Chhaya" 

F. ¥amoojee, 

Box 27 Tel. "FMamoo)ee" 

V. Bhagwan, 

TaIlor, 

Box 8 I. 115, Market Street. 

Sodma,r Motl, 

Wholesale & RetaIl Merchant, 

II 5, Market Street 

Essop Ebrahim Omarjee, 

Box 200 

Tel. "Omar)ee" 

T. H Omar, 

Box 124, Tel." OlIlar." 

E. H. Abdoola, 

Box 53 Tel" Abdoola." 

Dayarafn Bhagwatl, 

Tailor, 

Box 44. Market Street. 

ValIebh Bhagwan, 

Tailor, 

Box 44. i 15, Market Street 

Devchand Dullebh, 

Tailor, 

Box 81. Market Street. 

- VOL1

~u'djant' ~piniolt 

No. 3S-VoI. XXIII. Friday, August 28th, 1925. 

-"'" 

1le,i."",ed at the G. P.O. as a Ncwspape. 

PaleR I'ou •••• ,. 

NATAL INDIAN CONGRESS 

A Meeting of Natal Indians to protest against the ASIATIC BILL will be 

held under the auspices of THE NATAL INDIAN CONGRESS at the Durban 

TOWN HALL on MONDAY, 31st August 1925, at 8 p.m. 

Indians from all parts of Natal will attend. Prominent Europeans will also 

.address the meeting. 

, . 

ROLL UP in your thousands and record your protest against the obnoxious BILL. 

AMOD BAYAT, 

President. 

v. s. C. PATHER & SORABJEE RUSTOMJEE. Joint hon. Secretaries 

tiU.I~ ~r..~~rt '!i1t~rtl ~l~~ ~~tll rll!larl\ Ql{l~l..fi ~h ~lhl 

~Ul~I1.b tJOa..fi ~l~ ~UH (3~l

INDIAN OPiNiON August 28th, 1925 

ASIATIC BILL AND IMMIGRATION 

N our last issue we examined a few of the secn 

- tions under chapter II of the Asiatic Bill deal 

~ ing with the Immigrants Regulation Act and 

pointed out how its effect would be if amended as 

proposed by the present Bill. We shall now examine 

the remaining sections. 

The Ne,w Bm pJ.'oposes to amend the old Immigrants 

Regulation Act by providIng that: Any 

person who has been convicted in any country of, 

inter aha, "any offence involving traudulent conduct 

in connection with any insolvency shall be a prohibited 

immigr¥-t. " While appreciating the anXIety of 

the legislators to prevent fraudulent insolvencies we 

must remark that the punishment for tlIe crime is 

entirely out of proportion. . Besides, puuishmet).t ~or 

such a crime ba~, already been provided for in tlIe 

existing insolvency laws Vl(hel'eby a pellson may not 

only be impri~ned but refused for ever the right to 

trade. We therefQre fail to see the necessity for this 

new ·provision, but for only one reason, and that IS to 

prOVIde means for some little pretext whereby an Indian 

could be got :t;~d of from this country. Any 

bdian found guilty of fraudulent insolvency, or of 

being conuected iJ;l auy way with such Insolvency 

will he hable to punishmel).t under the insolvency 

law, and also, by the proposed amendment, he will 

lose his domicile in this country and be deported. 

It is provided, further, in the o).d A.ct, that a pers.on 

max not he deemed to be a pr~hibiteQ. immigrant 

in the C~pe of G~od HQpe o.r Natal If, " b.elllg at the. 

commencement of this Act lawfully entitled to 

reside in any Province, " he shows or has shown that 

he is able to I?ass the edu.cation t~t a;I provided fQr. 

The new Bill would delete this clause, and the effect 

will 00 that no Indian ooing lawfully entitled to reside 

in any Province wIll be able to enter the Cape 

or Natal by the edp.patlOn t~st, and those who h

August 28th, 1925 INDIAN OPINION 215 

~ection to be declare

INDiAN OPINION August 28th, 19~5 

assod~itiollS (lId not receIve the tlUPPOl't of the co Ill 

Illllnity. 

,:\11'. H. J\1. HOtls, presltlcnt of the ASH()(~I,\tlOtl \1,18 

m the chall' 

'Dll£ BURGER' ApPEALR FOH UNITI£D FRO~'l' 

An appeal for the bnrYlllg of the pohtJcai hatchet 

and for uniteu support of the Govel nment In the 

tace of the Asiatic menace IS made by Dw nUn!PI 

says the Johannesburg Shu, 'l'hls IS apI'op0t! of 

Dr. Malan's proposed AtllatIC legn.:latlOn whICh. 

says the NatIOnalist paper, should go far not on I y 

towards makmg" an end to [nrhamsmg of the 

Transvaal and Natal especial1 y, but also to lesRemng 

the AsiatIC danger To this end it IS sugge~tell that 

reform of the ,}'r,msvaal system of handing ont 

licences wholesale would be oj' great asSIstance. 

"That the Indmns, espeClally 111 the two pro 

V1Ol'e8 mentwned, arE' VIOlently opposmg the 

measure is readlly understood," says D,P BUff/el 

" We feel. however, that WIth tew exceptIOns the 

whole of the European populdtion is determmed to 

prevent that we should have a large ASIatIc popnlation 

along WIth a greclt l1c1trve populatIon OJ tlMt 

ASIatIC trade methodR and 80clal ~taJl(lanls hhonld 

permanently ll1fiUtnce onr country, ThIS 113 not a 

political matter. Further .lU(l closer study of Uw 

Bill milY pOSSlbl) snggest Improvements, ,mrl no 

matter from \\ hich party theIr origin, snggestlOIH; 

will surely reCeive SerIOUS consHleratIOl1. BIlt above 

~~o 

* OUR LONDON LETTER ~ 

~ l ]

Augll"t 2Rth, 1925 


to the champlOn~hlp of the world. dud yet refu'"e lo 

ngh(othel's un the gr oun,1 ot colonr. Ii they do 

refuse, It w"luld bll [l tarce to c,Ill tbemspl ve~ worhleh,lmplOllS, 

EVIH,A ,I) A LA.'

218 INDIAN OPINION . August 28th, 1925. 

-COURA.GE 

[ By AMBER MAYO] 

He lived in a little Bengal village, this boy I am 

gomg, to tell you about and who was destmed to become 

such a power in the land of hiS birth through courage 

and determinatIOn. 

His Southern home was very dea~ to him with .its 

coral painted thatched cottages, Its fore8~8 whICh 

sheltered rare song bird~, Its mountams and fivers and 

lIttle cascades._ 'l'hey were his birthflght, hand~d down 

through the ages to him and all true sons of India. Had 

he not been so very clear-sighted and level-headed he 

might have been a poet. As it was his head. was too 

concermld WIth the welfare of his country and hIS race to 

let day dreams which alw~ys eminate from the heart, take 

precedence c'JI'er down right hard facts which had ~o be 

faced and fought out to the bitter end. 

I ndla had hiS heart, and so hiS head should be u~ed to 

the very best with whICh the Gods had blessed him for 

his country's welfare. He was wont to cry out Impatiently, 

when taxed with stubbornness. 

"How can you say you love a thmg ~nd .yet you 

neglect it and seek not its good. Such affectIon IS worthlass." 

You say we are a patriotic race, I say we ca~not 

be. Does patriotism mean casting aSide our ?~hgatlons 

to our own allowing the u~urper the prIVIleges we 

should glory ~n perpetrating ourselves. Is it patriotIsm 

to offer big money to foreigners to represent us, because 

we are so mdolent, or lack the courage of our Just convictious. 

" 

Of course he was very young when he spoke thus, 

and angur ~ould shine from his fine dark eyes, and scorn 

made the corners of his firm mouth droop unpleasantly. 

HIS fatber-a hard-headed businessman, With a large 

foreign connection, never troubled hImself beyond his 

bank sheets-all else could go to rot. "Every-day contentment" 

was his motto after business bours. Not an 

hbur's sleep did he miss on accouut of his country's 

credit or future. His father had been the same. "Why 

worry, we can pay some one to worry for us" had bee!I 

his cry. But there he proved hImself wrong. HIS 

grandson recogDlsed the error and deplored this state 

had come to pass. 

"No one can worry over ones own like orwself" replIed 

the hoy to his father one day. These people pr? 

mise because your money looks good to them. TheIr 

flattery IS a poor asset. They would promIse you the 

Rulershlps of the whole Solar System, knowing full ~ell 

how empty and impossible such promIses are. I beheve 

in deeds, proof, fatber, not mere words. The man who 

promised me something, would have to fulfil or get out." 

This boy had now reached manbood and natura]Jy~ 

his father wished him to enter the firm. 

"When I ' cross the great dIvide' my son" be saId 

one day" the business will be yours, so I want you to 

enter the Counting House first. From the bankmg department 

you will go into the buymg and foreIgn trade 

but of course that will take time." 

" I should like to please you father very milch, and I 

Will do my utmost to do so, but my heart IS not mit. " 

He bad been denied nothmg, study and affection, 

sports and pleasure, of whi?h he had .had hIS share. A 

little pang shbt throu~h hIm. ConSCIence told him to 

hold firni but he had a deep affectIOn for his pareut and 

hated to dIsplease him. 

Let the" Just for to-day" policy was wrong of that 

he was certam. He believed in to-dalj, to-morrow and 

for ever. Only the weak cry out" Just for to-day" and 

Bit down and wait and grow lean in so doing. Each unit 

of us each alloted life has Its work to do, else why the 

prIvliegE' of hfe, of human affectIon, of God-fearmg 

which is denied to aDlmals and soulless thmgs. Should we 

not have been created just a stone, a stick, an inaUlmate 

thmg, had not a purpose heralded our birth. Life meant 

so much to this boy, It was truth and love and POSSIbilities, 

It was worlh1Vhtle. 

The fathe\ the - man of commerce, looked at hfe 

through different eyes. Selfish eyes they were but he did 

not realise it. The father was annoyed and troubled at 

his son's words. 

" And why pray is your heart estranged from honourable 

buslDess my son ?" he asked. 

" Forgive me father, but plea~e beheve every word I 

say "-he ranted and thpn,- 

" My English tutor taught me to write in my copvbook, 

over anil over agam the wods "Live and Jet Live," 

and said" that was the SpIrlt whICh made Bnghnd'~ 

standard so honoured the world over" I beheved him 

then, but amce, I have proved them t!) be mere blnff 

words of conCiliation and deceit. lYe in India and the 

East Let lwe at the cost of all we shonld hold dear. We 

are losing honour, the right of race, caste; we shall be 

a people without a countrv, scattered. Our l

~ ttllinn cepininu 

No . .;6-Vol. XXIII. Friday, September 4th, 1925. 

Re,istered at the G. P.O •••• News,."", 

Paloa ro" .... '. 

--4~-------------------------------------- 

MONSTER MASS MEETING 

DURBAN TOWN HALL FOUND TOO SMALL 

1ll MONSTER Mass Meeting of Natal Indians 

&-U was helJ in the Durban Town Hall last 

Monday night the 31st August, under the 

auspicE's of the Natal Indian Congress to protest 

againilt thE' Asiatic Bill. There was a very large 

attendance and the meeting was representative of 

all sections of the, community including delegates 

from the different parts of the Province. The 

Hall was packed from top to bottom whilst an overflow 

meeting of 2000 Indians was held outside 

under the managemE'nt of Messrs. A. I. Kajee, G. M. 

Patel, and Satyadev, and other speakers from the Hall 

also addressed the gathering from the portico facing 

Church Street. 

Mr. Amod Bayat, Prellident of the Natal Indian 

Congress, was in the chair. and he was supported 

by a number of representative Indians and several 

prominent Europeans, including Mr. F. A. Laughton 

K. 0., Councillor the Rev. A. Lamont, Councillor 

Dr. Sage, the Rev. Father Mangot, the Rev. Father 

Tangnayt, Mr. Bell, Mr. and Mrs. Linder, Miss S. 

M. Warner, Miss E. Knudsen, Mr. Daltdn, Mrs. 

Hewett, Mr. Frank Acutt, Mr. S. S. Brisker, 

M.P.C., Mr. W. V. Webb, Capt. Elliot. Mr. H. R. 

Rudder, Mr. M. Levine, and Mr. Barnett. Among 

the native friends were present the Rev. J. L. Dube, 

and Mr. C. L. Dube. 

The Yen. Archdeacon Hodson M.A., who was to 

have addressed the meeting was unfortunately· laid 

up with an attack of influenza and was unable 

to attend the meeting. 

DELEGATES 

The following delegates were present at the meet 

ing:- 

PIETERMARITZBURG.-Messrs. R. B. Maharaj, 

8. R. Naidoo, M. I. Kajee, R. N. MoodlE'Y, 

Rosenkhan, I. A. Haffejee. Guljar- khan, F. H. 

Hallim, Noormahomed, S. P. Vather, J'arbhoo 

Makanjee, Madhev Kanjee, Kushal Hansjee, D. 

K. Soni, Amod Mahomed, Sacoor Mahomed, A. 

K. Osman. Ally Hassan, ~M. E. 'fajoodeen, Shaik 

Dawood, D. Fakira, Hoosen AIlybhai, 8. Madrai. 

M. Runga Nathan, Mabomed Ebrahim. Mabomed 

Ismail, M. Abdoolla. 

UMZIMKULU.-MeSSrs. ~I. D. Barmania, Shaikji. 

FRAsER.-Mr. M. N. Desai. 

VERULAM.-Mt'ssrs. Amod Kathrada, Maiter. R. 

Talwantsingb. Dhanji Ramji, C. E. Vawda, Parsee 

Hormusjee, Doober. 

-~RYHEID.-Mr. p, V. Henry, 

NEWC.olSTLE.-Mr. I. M. Maiter. 

LADYSMI'l'H.-Mr. R. Singb. 

COI.ENsO.-Mr. R. M. Mangal. 

HOWICK.-Mr. Ismail Kader Mia. 

RWHMOND.-ME'ssrs. Maglisingh, Mahomed 

Majam. 

THORN)'ILLE JUNC'l'IOr.-.-Mr. Vanker. 

STANG~R.-Mtcssrs. 1. M. Amin, Advocate B. 

Gabrie]'lfagan]al Pate], E. M. MoalIa. 

Natal Indians Protest Against Asiatic Bill 

TONGAAT.-Messrs. Ram Fakir, M. G. Naidoo, 

E. J. Choonoo. 

After the President had led the meeting in prayer, 

the 8ecretary Mr. S. Rustomjee, read a few of the 

many mE'ssages received from friends and sympathisers 

throughout the Union. (The messages appear 

in another column) 

THE PRESIDENT'S SPEECH 

The President's speech which was contained in 

seven type-written full-scap pages. explaining the 

terms and evils of the Bill, was then read by the 

Secretary MI'. Sorabjee Rustomjet'. (The full text of 

the speech appears elsewhere in this issue). 

The President's speech was translated by the 

Joint Secretary Mr. V. S. C. Pather in Tamil and 

by Pandlt Bhawani Dayal in Hmdustani. 

The President's speech was followed by 

MR. F. A. LAUGHTON'S SPEECH 

" I want to say to you in the fir15t place, .. said Mr. 

Laughton, " that when asked to address you here tonight 

I was greatly troubled in my mind. I have taken 

no part in publi..: affairs for a very considerable time. 

I am living in peace and quietness on the banks of 

the Umgem, and I felt that anything I might say 

would be open to misconstructlOn, and perhaps hurt 

the feelings of my fellow-countrymen. I therefore 

strenuously opposed coming here to-night and I can 

assure you it is only an absolute sense of duty to 

you and also to my fellow-countrymen which has 

overcome my disinclination. First let me say that 

I deplore as much as anyone that any Indians were 

bronght into this country. It has led to never-ending 

troubles in the past. There is a great cloud of 

trouble looming in the future which only wise 

statesmanship will overcome. 

" Years ago before almost anyone of you in this 

hall was born, the Government in their wisdom, or 

want of it, adopted the counsel of introducing your 

fathers and mothers into this country to meet a want 

in the labour market and Its ever increasing demand. 

011 applIcations from almost every section of the 

community thousands upon thousands of Indians 

were brought here. 

"Indian traders with the full dpproval of the 

Government followed and established themselves 

here. The result is that there are now upwards of 

140,000 Indians in Natal. three-fourths of whom, 

I am told, were born here. Here is 

A SERIOUS POSITION 

A serious position for this multitude of Indians and 

a st'dous position for the Europeans who find 

themselves in competition with Indians in most 

branches of industrial life. The position is rendered 

more complicated by the fact that the great majority 

of tht'Ele Indians have no other country but this. They 

"ere born here, and. look at the matter as we may, 

they al e British subjects and entitled to protection 

the same us we Europeans. It must also be borne 

\

220 INDIAN OPINION September 4th, 1925 

------------------------------------~--- --------------- 

in mind that the Indians have acqum'd much landed 

property in Natal, have established extensive bnflinesses, 

and many of them have contribute!1 largely 

to the rates ap.d taxes without having any voice 

whatever in legislation 

" Here is a soriou~ problem before us, a problem 

which gets more serions as the years go by. But 

there is a maxim in law that there is no wrong 

without a remedy, a fair aud Just remedy. so there 

is no political problem withont a fait· and just 

remedy if with all our hearts we truly seek it. 

A MONSTROUS REMEDY 

" To get rid of a man who IS a nUIsance, a very 

quick remedy would be to shoot hIm, but few would 

be found to say It was falr amI just. So to get rid 

of Indians $O~e have been found to advocate putting 

them on board of ShIPS, by the pollee I presume, 

and deport\ng them to J ndla. Apart from everything 

else, 'they would be strangers in a strange 

land. This would be almost as monstrous a remedy 

a..'l the remedy of shooting a man who IS a nmsance. 

Yet this is the remedy In effect advocated by the 

Minister who introduced the Bill befOl e 11S, because 

he frankly admIts that he expects the effect of thc 

Bill to be a large reduction of the IndIan populatIOn 

by making thIDgS so hot for them that they would 

be-compelled to go without the assistance of a policeman. 

FREEDOM THE GUIDING STAR 

Freedom has ever been the gmding star of English 

and Dlltchmen alike. It was for freedomfll agaInst 

the alleged delinquenCIes of the Cape Government 

that started the great trek into the wIlds of Africa 

WhICh fills us WIth admiration It was for freedom 

against the alleged oppressive acts of the late Transvaal 

Government WhICh led to the Boer War. And 

are we, the staunch advocates of freedom. about to 

become the oppressed? Are we going to allow 

history to repeat itself WIth ourselves as top dogs? 

OPPRESSIVE LEGISLATION NEVER SUCCEEDS 

"Mr. ChaIrman, are you surprIsed when I say 

that a sense of duty and nothing but a sense of duty 

to myself, to mv fellow-country men-both Enghsh 

and Dutch-calls me here to hold np It hand of 

warmng to the advance of oppressive legislatIon? 

A study of hIstory shows that oppressive legislation 

IDay take its course for a time, accompanied always 

by the groans of the oppressed, but III the end it 

never has, and never WIll be, successful. Let me 

remmd you that in the comparatively mmor matter 

of money we cherIsh the pnnclple. "No taxatIon 

WIthout representatIOn." AI'S we, after deprlvmg 

the Indians of any representation whatever, going 

to take away from thlOm all opportumty (If advancement 

and happmess in hfe? The IndIans have not 

even been brol; ght into frlendly dISCUSSIOn as to 

the prOVISIons of thll=l Bill. Here they are forcel! 

by an overwhelmmg tide into what they consluer 

the culminatmg calamIty of theIr lIves. It 19 true 

that the mimster, after saying that the Bill will 

certainly pass, and after saying m effect that he 

antIcipates that the provisions of the BIll will make 

it so hot for the Indians that their numbers WIll be 

considerably decreased, said that he was ready to 

receive the remarks of IndIans on the BIll. Is he 

likely to have any? After a murderer is found guilty 

the Judge goes through the formalIty of asking him 

if he has any remarks to make as to sentence bemg 

passed against him. 

SUGGESTION OF A BOARD 

" Sir, I wish you to understand that I have not 

expressed an opinion as to any portion of the Bill. 

Anything I have said III reference to the BIll has 

merely gIVen the view of the Indians concerning It. 

You may ask me what course in my opmion the 

Government should adopt, and I say to you that the 

Government should come mto conference with the 

Indians over this BIll, and l1('ar thf'ir objf'ctlOns so 

th.lt amendments may be HlMle. To tlo thIS a board 

say of three Europe.\n~, 811OUI!1 be appointed. One 

to repreRE'llt the VI('WS of Europeans. anotlH'r th'lt of 

the IndIans, and a third for an impartial chairuled, I kuo'w what It IS to

September 4th, 1925 INDiAN OPINION 22! 

opprNIHeol. My people have been oppn""eol an

222 INDIAN OPINION September 4th, l!l"S 

we" make of that gentleman? He al~o said he was prepared 

to meet., us, yet what IS the earthly use of meetmg 

us If he says definitely that this BJiI will go through? 

Can we honestly approach him to dlSCUS3 such a measure 

when he has made up his mind in adv,mce. I for one 

would refuse to discuss It wit h a gentleman hk~ Dr. 

Malan. I am not prepared to' make a fool of myself." 

In the end the speal(er s,ud they must interest themselves 

in this with double force and they must send this 

resolution through the Indian Congress. 

In secondmg the resolutions proposed by Mr. 

Godfrey, Mr. M. Beethasee, who spoke first in Hmdi 

and then in English said in the courde of his remarks 

that we (many of us) were born m this country, but 

had no political rights. We were restricted even 

to trade and our ProvlUcial ConncIl has even deCided 

not to spepd any more money on Indian education. 

The speak\lr favoured the suggestion of a round table 

Conference and said he was told by many Enghsh 

people: "We are sons of England. We are watching." 

That at least, said the speaker, was some consolation. 

Mr. M. D. Barmauia (Amzimkulu) spoke in 

support of the resolution in Gu)arati and Mr. S. R. 

Naidoo (Maritzburg) m Tamil and before the resolut~on 

could be put to the meeting. 

THE FIRST DISCORDENT NOTE 

was sounded in that peaceful and enthusiastlc meeting 

by Mr. J. L. Roberts who proposed the following 

amendment to the resolution already tabled :-- 

"That it is the considered opimon of this mass 

meeting of the Natal Indians assembled that an 

emphatic protest must be made agamst the obnoxious 

iniquitious, unjust and un-British new ASiatic Bill 

introduced by the Hon. The Minister of the InterlOr 

in the last session of Parliament by the four Indian 

political bodies, viz: The Natal Indian AssociatlOn, 

The Natal Indian League, The Colonial Born Indian 

Association, and the Natal Indian Congress, after a 

round table congress between them to weIgh the pros 

and cons in the matter and to take the necessary 

steps to bring about sobd unity amongst the Indian 

community as a. harmonious whole, and to fight the 

common opponent in the coming life and death 

struggle for our very existence in thiS, the land of 

our birth and adoption and to demand our rights as 

Briti'lh citizens unitedly." 

Mr. Roberts made a dramatic appeal to his 

audlence when speakmg on his motion, He said. 

he had come there that night as a Natal Indian 

and as a South African, and he asked them to gIve 

him a fair hearing. The second resolution spoke 

about a round table conference. They wanted a 

round table conference' amongst themselves before 

they had a round table conference wlth the Europeans. 

He had not come to antagonise the 

commumty. He had not come there to obstruct, 

but to assist if necessary. He dId not want to take 

up their tlme, and he would add this as a rider 

provided the seconder and proposer of the resolution 

agreed. 

Mr. Roberts had made a very lengthy appeal 

but he was so moved with emotion and indignation 

that most of what he spoke could not be 

understood. 

No assent was given and MI.'. Roberts then put 

his proposition as a formal amendment. 

It was seconded by Mr. Casim Anglia who made 

an eloquent-appeal in Hindustani. 

Mr. J. W. Godfrey as the mover of the motion 

in the course of a lengthy explanation denied most 

emphatically the suggestion that there was disumon 

in the community and warned the audlence agdmst 

approving of the proposed amendment for If they 

did, !!aid the speaker. they would be sowing the 

firil~ ,Seeds ,of d1i~gord hi tli~ Indiari cOf'1mlltlity. 

J!,tttl~1 ',Ilt i i \l!lAt~1 til ,Jdl\"I,' WI/'j d T J ,~'\Ib 'ttl f 11.1 I 

f~$~It:;a ~ ~U:.i:* ~w~ ~.tit't ~~~" itffMI ~Nrf,1tf 

to interfere with the legitlln:l.te work of the Ndtal 

Indmu Con~ress. 

Mr. D S, Chetty, Secl'etary of the Colonial-born 

Indian Assocl

_~ep~e_mber 

4th, 1925 ____ I_N_D_l_A_N--,-O_P_IN_IO_N _____--::.'____ 

2_2=.3_ 

~ther like one man and make, Congres:i a snCC8d8. 

I have Dlllch hope and pray the great Allah will 

help us. " 

TRAN8V AA L URITI'"lH ISDIAY A '"I'IOCIATIOY 

t. At a mas:J meeting of Transvaal Indians held 

resterJay the follOWing r~olntJon WMf nnanimoll'lly 

pasiled: t That this ma~ meeting of Transvaal Indians 

hereby strongly support the Natal Indian Congref18 

in its protest agalUllt the Asiatic Bill which is 

outrageous, iniquitous, degrading and most inhuman. 

Transvaal Indlalls strongly proteilt ag.linst Slme ... 

THe UHITl~R IYDIAY COUSCIL (CAPETOWN) 

.. WIshing Congress every snccess. CounCil behind 

you wholeheartedly. " 

PnOFE3soR THAELE (PRE'IIDEN'f AFRICA!II 

NATIONAL CONGRES") 

.. The African National Congress 1U the Western 

r.-ovince standt! in realline8s to support you ... 

THE INDIAN STUDENTS (FORT HARE) 

"Birthright negatived by pro po 'led leglslatlon. 

A~ept no second place amongst other commuUlties. 

Strongly support protest and opposition to ensure 

its rejection. " 

THE PATlDAR SOCIETY (TRANSVAAL) 

"Heartily supporting prote'lt against Asiatic ,BIll. 

In :lians must be ready for a big sacrifice to oppose 

the 13ill. " 

Messages were also l"eceived from the following 

Transvaal Hindu ASSOCIation, the Transvaal Colonial 

Born Indian ASBociation,CasslID Adam, Pretoria, 

Transvaal Mamom Association, Transvaal Anavil 

Mandai, Middelburg Indian AssoClalion" Transvaal 

Tamil Benefit Society, Vereenigmg British Indian 

ASSOCIation. Potchefstroom Association. Northern 

TI-ansv'lal Indian Association; Pretoria British Indian 

Association, Kanamla Muslim ASSOCIation, 

Pretoria; Pretoria Islamic Society, Transvaal IslamIC 

Congress, Young Muslim Association, Johannesburg, 

Zeerust Indian Committee, Koster Indian comumunity, 

Ermelo Indian community, Blremhof IndIan 

community, TransvJal Darjee MandaI, B.llfonr 

Committee, Transvaal Indian Football Asso~1dtion; 

Breyten community, Carolina community. Springs 

Association, Witbank Tamil Benefit Society, SoLlha, 

Johannesburg; Piet Retief community, Bethal Association, 

Ventersdor(ycommumty, Lichtenburg community, 

Grey town community, Brits Moslem Society, 

Por~ Shepstone, Frere, New Hved a tremend ... us 

triumph of organisation, and the Sp'lUSOI"S are to be congratulated 

0'] the splendid fa~hlOu in wluch it was orj{anilled. 

Despite the huge cro.vdl! who clAmonred for 

admlssj('n there was no overcrowdl'1~ whatiloever, a'ld the 

few Europeans whoa'tended weri! tr~ated With the utmos~ 

c'lurtesy and consl ieration. All speakers were Itstencd 

to qUIetly alld attentlvelv. EVidently the most unlettered 

of tho3El pre,ent realised I he nece3sIty ror upholdin 17 the 

status of bis ra~, an I responded accordingly. " 

• 


AST Monday mght's protest meeting, held 

under the auspICes of the Natal Indian Congress, 

which had caused a t!reat deal of 

IL 

anxiety to the organism's who had to work against 

many odds vwing to the fact that there is an ehment 

at present m Durban which dehghts 10 smashmg up 

the good work done in the mterest of the commulllty, 

has proved to the hilt the very representative character 

of the Congress aud it has also proved that 

when the hour of trail comes the Indian community 

is clpable of rising to the occasion These are 

bmes when thiS spirit Will have to be kept ever 

awake. As Dr. Malan has said. the Bill will go 

through. so must the community reply mostemphatically 

that they will fight it through. While we are 

hopeful that wiser counsel will prevJ.II and the 

LegIslators Will not take the drastIC step proposed it 

Will. nevertheless. be wise for us to be preparell for 

the worst. 

The work of org.lnismg the abo-ve meeting was 

in the hands of a Bub-committee consisting of Messr3 

V. Lawrence, A. I. Kaje(', Satyadev and Messrs V. 

S C. Pather aud SorabJee Rustomjee (Jt. hon. 

Secretaries of the Natal Indian Congress) together 

With the able assistance of Advocate ?lfr. J. W. Godfrey 

who hds recently opened offices 10 Du~ban .. nd 

has proved an asset to the local IndIan commnnity. 

The Committee was at work during the whole of 

last week daily until late

k ['he ,fourth Qlllliv.ersary of the o.pening of the M. 

lK.r ,,000dJh,h ,i.ib.ral"\V > andl FarseeliRdatomjee- Hall is to 

~ke~,'J,l~e, ,.()npWedilIesdq8,next rthe,: 9th· mstant. 

-!J(b.~rJl~· i~ Ir.)O (dQUlllll- ,that, rUm young as well as old in 

-J)UtbanrulQ .olfu1ide; Durban:.BaNenvery greatly benefitted 

by this most useful:institutitm which is the 

:iWQrk:;Of :.tihe{i late 1l3ai,iJ eJ!bai~ ,Rustomjee I Trust •. Mr. 

IR3Ilsee ,B.uet9DJjee"'\Yaf!l~he ,hea,tt and'sou}of this 

i~nstituti'lli :whew he , W.aB living and each anniversary 

d\'IlMJJJ1f1le"brated:,1Withl'greit Jenthilsiasm;, : .This "year 

71lhjJ-...ilWinrsarly.~ln.Or..donbt be: tlre,gIoomiell for,the 

'absence of the late Mr. Rustomjee. It is ne~ertheless 

. the' ,jacr.ed, ~utst oft evky, Jnaiarr in Durbati to 

linteres.li. hims.elf in this institl1tion,i 1.f not for 81nytbing 

else, to perpetuate the memory of the .late M~. , 

,Rlilloo,mJeef'ilM. ,.P~9:d W'lt.l :only_, done . -great ser-, 

J{iotl9rio:cJthe 'OOIDIl\unity' during J.lis..-jife ,time .but 

lit fttiU ser'Vi~g, the con:tJn,urlityr in. spirit through t.Jn3 : 

~nstilt]jlti(}n.f,\We hope, the-·;..aIlniversary, will.oo'.a 

"I'IWleJi!$£u~ l.one anQ' ilfhaJi1 it ,wi1l bave man~ more 

lInM .anniversaries. J - I . : .: ... " : 

I I '-I I 1 I.. Ii f t ~~ \ 

I,' THl!J PRdT~ST 'MEETING ! 

1\1 'tL thQ(i;lfi;,o -~I1(~E! :"'~tn~~~4 ~~e~ lIJ.eeting oj. 

Lf'll Natal Indians held last Monday night in the 

Durbari-TownHalCundeTf"@ auspices of the 

Natal India~9,P~ss ~8.l'ote!jj~f~¥f the Asiatic 

13ill will ha';e to adID.it wltiloutilie ieast bit of hesihlm0n 

,!;thlitl 'the Id01:liisiOn? .'30 'lltriE(m; 1lM, TIle 

iik1l!may lliavel;oo ~a"-y ~'al'i tJ6~sioft1lbl:len: '()ro~ 

11 A~ ~tm~,~~-c~r~~~~ .~~ If c i~s~' 9~)~,~V ~~g~t, ilw 

jW·~~~\le" Pl-'~, ,Mv,~ r9Jt P11t~y~~: Phlp,a~~ql;l lhl1l!R 

~? ~~~~~:t? ~~~m ,a' 4~,,,-~;W~9~'-!lr"J ~g!'l' ,aI', Ith~ 

:rQw'~ ~UctQ J)E!) inJC';\ap!).bl~".I)f r3(Xlomnitldating:. il;· JaB 

itrwaa,:Gni ltha-t?nigh:t, -bn1r neVer ;&ave lW'~ at' any tim.e 

~ ~i~~,8~~dl~, (f~rlJ~,~~, iI!i~~i~? . ~~¥p€!~,~~ i~f9~i!~~ 

JrfoiS!~y.~~ so PY,~t;:§!8Wli~.ti ~~ 1\1'~ ~p~g1l-Y'1I mer~l.~, 

'~9\" ~~~e~!!~4" S!l$l},1-' I' llWflIMy;w, rn¥e,r r'S~!~:pf 

,c!rc,lL~s~Jl.~' )CQp.\tucte4 1\0 r, p.ea,e~ull}1, ~m1y 

-andr~ith ~bose sYtnpa~hy we 

;:v.erfl~lll~,tQ ~mllllt(, ~b,e .R~v. ~mo.D.t.though ,btiug 

I lu.ta.unch,su.pportel' of the present ,Government- on 

almost every question except the Indian. queatiol'l," 

hoped that,' tlie ]Jill :Woo'Id not be- 'pass\.>d, for it 

-\VtiV Id fjarpetnte :aldnjuSlliae.' , 1. ' ,; , 

,. 'fha Rev."'\1dhIf L; Dube sympathised ~tr tpe 

cause of the Indians on behalf of the Natives. ,The 

.~a,~r~s, B.l!id ':ip.e' ,$p~~:Jt!3tJ '~~~f' ~ ',s~~~r W~pr. in 

~!l~tl,C~~ fI"1?1fl t):t~ R~~sep~rqO-S;Elr,l).lgeq~'f'P~r~'Y h~ 

f/jl9. frj~nfi~ -W IWP.k t.

t~~ pref~.~ ~~'W'f;S8, ~,c It

226 INDIAN OPINION September 4th, 1925 

was very indistinctly heard, was understood to say 

that as an appeal by the Indian gaoler was pending 

It would be undesirable to enter mto any dl8cussion 

• of the details of the evidence produced in the case 

or of the inferences whlCh might be drawr. from 

them. It was ObVIOUS that the findmgs of tb.e Court 

were disquieting, and, whether or nol they were 

materially modified as a result of the appeal, it was 

clear that the matter reqUIred, and would certainly 

have, thelcJosest conslderatior. by the local Government, 

the Government of India, and the Secretary of 

State in Council. . 

The motion was by leave Withdrawn. 

CONGRESS PRESIDENT'S SPEECH 

The fol\owing is the full text of the Pre:mlent's 

speech read at the Town I-hll meeting last Mond,LY 

lllght,- 

Friends antI FeUow-Conntrymen,-We are assembled 

here to-night in our thousands as a first 

step to protest against the Areas Reserva.tion and 

Immigration and Registration (Further Provision) 

Bill popularly known as the AsiatIc Bill which is 

now before the Union Pa.rliament of South Africa. 

• It is a matter for great concern to us that a 

responsIble Minister of the Government has deemed 

it proper to refer to us as aliens and he said so 

becau~1'l there were many characteristics in which we 

differ from members of hiS race. For this reason 

he stateI'; that the Bill under conSideration IS necessa.ry 

His argument is both illogical and contrcl.uictory 

because he exempts the Mauritiau Creole8, St. 

Helenas, the Cape Coloureds, the Ca.pe M

Septem':>er 4th. 1925 INDIAN ()PINIO:-': 227 

the hE'rding 'Of human bE'ings with nndesirabl~ 

conseqnencE'S of gr('3ter impoverishmt"nt. insanitation. 

ill-health and over-population. 

The Bill interferes \vitb private prQPE'rty. Indians 

are being deprived and are restricted directly or indirectly 

of their existing inherent rights as British 

sl1~jectll, and also in breacb of 88811ran

"S!'2'S 

Sefitember., 4th, 1925'.

~vinion 

Regl.tel'ed at .be G. 

No. 37-Vo1. XXIII. Friday, September I,th. 1925. p.o. u aM.,.... .. 

Puc. roo.pOl(.. 

NATAL INDIAN CONGRESS 

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 

Committee's Report and Statement 

THE fol1owing is the full text of the report 

11 submitted by the Secretaries of the Natal 

Indian Congress at its general meeting h('ld 

in Rawat's Bio Hall, Durban, last Sunday the Gth 

instant :- 

We beg to submit herewith our report of the 

working of your Conyress since the last Annual 

General 1tfef'tinu which was held on the 2nd ~f 

March 1924. The periml undel' review is a very 

interesting one as many important matters were 

dealt with by your Congress. Among others we 

may mention the following whi.Jh are of special 

interest to you and the general Indian public :- 

MRS. SAROJINI N AIDU'S VISIT 

Our illustrious visitor, Mrs. Sarojini Naidu was 

invited by the Traosvaal British Indian Association 

to come to Bouth Africa while she waR in British 

East Africa attending the East African Indian Congress 

in Conference. This invitatiol! was accepted 

by her. The arrangements for her tour in the diStricts 

of Natal were in the hands of your Congress. 

Mrs. Naidu first entered the Province of Natal on 

the 9th day of March 1924 and from that day onwards, 

your Committee were incessantly organising 

meetings throughout Natal all of which were well 

attended. There were 7 meetings held in the Durban 

Town Hall at which Mrs. Naidu delivered lecilu('s 

011 Buch subjects as .. Ideals of Indian Life," 

.. The Brotherhood of Islam" etc. She also spoke 

on the Class Areas Bill, the ultimate fate of which, 

you all know. During her stay in Natal, your Congress 

organised an Indian Agricultural and Industrial 

Show which was opened by Mrs. Naidu. This 

matter will be fully dealt with at. a later stage. A 

farewell blLnquet in her honour was held in the 

DrilllIall on the 24th day of May lU2-1 where 

eloq1lent speeches were made by prominent Indians 

expressing heartfelt thanks and appreciation for all 

that this good lady had done in the interest _of the 

Indian community. She sailed by the 8.S Kamgola 

on the following day amid scenes of enthusiasm 

which will ever remain fresh in the memory of 

those who witnessed it. 

We also beg to record that Mr. Jivanjee of Mombassa 

and Nairobi accompanied Mrg. Naidu to 

South Africa. This gentleman returnod to East 

Africa before Mrs. Naidu and yOUl" Uommittee 

accorded him a fitting reception in the M. K. Gandhi 

Hall before he left. 

SOUTH AFRICAN INDIAN CONGRESS 

An emergency Conference of the South African 

Indian Congress (fourth session) was held on the 

21st of April Ul2! and the three following days. 

Mrs. Sarojini Naidu was elected President. Your 

Congr('ss ac~eu as Reception Committee, and we are 

pleas('d to say that the Conferpnce was a huge suo 

CPIIS. Dclegat('s from all parts of South Africa 

attenueu the Conferenee and were well cared for by 

your Committee. Many matters vitally affecting 

the Indians in Natal came under the review of the 

Conference such as railway disabilities, educational 

disabilities, immigration disabilities, scale of salaries 

fixed for Indian Interpreters by the Government. 

witness fees payable to Indians and such other 

matters affecting the Indian community. The members 

of your Congress who were del('gates to tile 

Conference took a very active interest in all the 

deliberations aud added largely to its undoubted 

success. A very pronounced brotherly feeling was 

evinced by all the delegates who were present from 

various parts of South Africa. The Conference 

decided that the headquarters for the South African 

Indian Congress for the then ensuing year should be 

in Cape Town. 

INDIAN AGRICULTURAL AND INDUSTRIAL SHOW 

As already referrel to, the South African Indian 

Congress resolved that an Indian Agricultural and 

Indllstrial Show be held in Durban and be opened 

by its President, Mrs. Naidu, and that the Natal Indian 

Congress act as the local committee for the pnrpose 

of making all the necessary arrangements for 

the holding of the said Show. In terms of the 

Resolution, -your Congress organised the first Indian 

Show held in South Africa. The Mitchell Crescent 

School grounds were kindly lent for the purpose. 

The Show was something novel and attractive to the 

Indian community and as it was held on Empire 

Day and also the following day (21th and 25th May 

1924), a record crowd was registered. The admission 

was free and Indians from all parts of the 

country assembled. By fal the most successfull 

section of the Show was that devoted to home industries. 

The lo1dies entered some beautiful specimens 

of handiwork for competition, and local manufacturers 

supported this section very loyally. There 

were stalls for essentially Indian sweets, e.g., halwa, 

cakes of every description, a large array of pickles, a 

marvellous bride's cake of three tiel'fl, oil paintings 

and water colours, a sample of bricks made at Sydpnham, 

locally made tooth powder, wonderfully 

pretty handwork shawls and bed-spreadia and a 

variety of other articles all of which were of excel-, 

lent workmanship. Another room was devoted to 

school industries where it was evident that Indian 

children are taught to use their fingers deftly 

as an aid to mental learning particularly in regard 

to GdOgraphy there being many examples of 

maps and relief. In fact, modelling in many forms 

was to be seen from schools as far afield as Chaka's 

Kraal, Malvt'rn, Estcourt and Verulam. Among 

the produce and vegetables, ripe m~ngoes, p:lwpaws 

and betel-leaves of a size difficult to obtain, Natal 

grown tobacco and flowers. Some of the vegetables 

were grown in the vario1ls schnol gardens and were 

a credit to the children. The display of dogs, 

poultry and live stock was also promising. On the 

whol(', the Show was a creUit to the. Indian community. 

Some of the judges were Europeans

INDIAN OPINION September lIth. 1925_ 

accustomed to such work expressed the opiniou that 

the exhibits equalled those usually exhibited at the 

1063.1 :Europ~an Shows. The prizes purchased and 

subscribed for this Show were not enough for all 

the winners and it has become a difficult matter to 

allocate. Bllt, however, a sub-Committee is appointed 

to do the best under the circumstances, and no 

doubt, the priZes now on hand will be distributed 

very soon. 

REVISION OF RULES 

A Special General Meeting was held on the 18th 

day of May 1924 for the revision of the Rules 

of the Congress which included the reduction 

of the subscription to two shillmgs and six pence 

per annum an i the provision for women auxiliaries 

to your Congress. 

CLASS AREAS BILL 

In con~mction with the South Afl'lcan ~ndlan 

Congress, your Committee took a very active part in 

the agitation against this BIll. Delegates from your 

Congress were included m the Deputation of the 

Smith African Indian Congress which met the 

Minister of the Interior at Oapetown. Your C.ongress 

subsequently assisted Mrs. Naidu in carrying 

Qn a vigorous campaign in Natal and further contri. 

buted a /lum of £100 sterling to the Cape BrItish 

lndian Council as Its share of the expenses mcurred 

by that body for propaganda work carried on by 

Mrs. Naidu against this Bill m the Cape Province. 

The Bill, as you know, fell through on the resignation 

of the Smuts Government. 

MR. CHRISTOPHER'S DEPARTURE FOR ENGLAND 

The Committee regrets indeed to record the community's 

loss, though for a time,.of the invaluable and 

able services of Mr. Albert ChrIstopher, D.C.M., who 

so uobly worked iu the mterest of our community 

for a good many years and as your honorary secretary 

since the resuscitation of the Congress. Your 

Committee however feels consoled in the thought 

that Mr. Christopher's departure for England was 

for the purpose of bettering himself in life and 

hopes that he will return withm the next year or so 

as a full fledged barrister and resume his public 

duties for the betterment of our commuDlty. 

NATAL CENTENARY CELEBRATIONS 

The Durban Town Council offered a sum of 

£200 to your Congress to enable the Indian community 

to celebrate the Centenary and. your Committe 

iuformed the Durban Corporation in no unmistakable 

terms that in all matters of a public 

natnre lI:s were the proposed celebrations. the Indian 

community could only participate, if at all, 0\1 equal 

terms with all other sections of the !community and 

where such recognition is in any manner denied, 

your CommIttee would absolutely refrain from 

identifying itself with all such functions. The 

Durban Corporation not agreeing to treat the ludian 

community with reasonable faIrness, your Committee 

felt it proper to adopt the only honourable 

course by strictly adhering to its deciSIOn of nonparticipation. 

BOROUGHS ORDINANCE 

Immediately the Municipal Consolidation Ordinance 

was published in the Provme~al G zsette, your 

Cp~mittee forwarded its protest against certain 

pl,'ovisions of the Bill which aimed at the deprivation 

of the 'Municipal Franchise, restriction of 

licences etc. and evidence was tendered by members 

of your Committee before the Select Committee of 

the Provincial Council. Notwithstanding our protest, 

the Bill was rushed thr:ough post-haste In all 

its stages at one sitting of the Provincial Council. 

Your Committee immediately wired its protest against 

this arbitrary action of the Provincial CounCIl to 

the Governor-General, the Prime Mmister and the 

Minister of the InterIOr and a request that a de-eptation 

of your Congress be recei ved before assenting 

to this measure. Your Committee In answer to the 

request of the Minister of the Interior submitted a 

statement on the 16th of August 1924 pointing out 

the sections of the Ordinance that would adversely 

affect the Indian community. Upon receipt of this 

statement, the Minister intimated that the whole 

Cabinet was prepared to meet a Deputation of your 

Congress to discuss the Indian question. An influential 

Deputation consisting of prominent members 

of your Congress waiterl upon the Prime 

Minister, MlOister of the Interior, Minister of De ... . 

fence and Labour, Minister of FlOance, Minister~' 

of Mines, Minister of Rd.ilways and the Minister of 

Lands, in the Union BUildings, Pretoria, on the 9th 

of December 1924. A very able and exhaustive 

statement was presented to the Government at this 

interview. Mr. Joseph Royeppen, B.A., acted as 

the spokesman and was assisted by Messrs. V. L'lwrence, 

Beethasee Maharaj and R loknoodeen. The 

Ministers gave the Deputation a sympathetic hearmg 

but it would appear that they had evidently 

made up their minds beforehand to advise the 

Governor-General to assent to the Bill because only 

two days after the interview, a notification Wd.S received 

from the Private Secretary to the Minister 

of the Interior that the Cd.binet had decided to recommend 

to the Governor-General-in-Council to assent 

to the Ordmance. Your CommIttee immediately on 

hearmg this despatched a number of cables to 

India urging upon the Government and the- leaders 

to strenuously protest and take action. Further, 

a copy of the statement submitted to the 

Cabinet Ministers was posted to each and every prominent 

leader in India. Your Committee took 

legal opiDlon as to the validity of this law with a 

VIew to testing the same in the South African 

Courts and if necessary to carry the matter to the 

PrIVY CounCIl. Mr. AdvoJate Janion was retained 

for this purpose and his opinion was in our favour. 

The Ordmance came into force on the 1st day of 

Augnst this year and your CommIttee approached 

the Electoral Officer for the Borough of Durban 

with a VIew to bringing about a Test Cd.se but as 

new names were admItted to the Burgess Roll, a 

case could not be brought this year. Mr. Janion 

was instructed to interview Mr. Mackeurtan, the 

Counsel for the Durban Corpol"ttion and arranged 

for a Test Case to be brought by consent but Mr. 

Mackeurtan having had to leave for England on a 

prolonged holiday, the matter of the Test C.lSe had 

to be left over for next year when most probably 

the three hundred new names added to the Roll this 

year wIll automatically drop off and will then give 

us grounds for a Test Case. 

BOROUGHS EXTENDED POWERS ORDI~ANCE 

This Ordinance was simply an extension of the 

Durban Land Alienation Ordinance to the other 

boroughs of the P~ovince of N 1ta1. Notwithstanding 

protests from your Congress by way of petition 

to the Provincial Council and to the Minister of the 

Interior, the Ordinance has received the assent of 

the Governor-General. 

TOWNSHIPS FRANCHISE ORDINANCE 

This Ordinance which seeks to disfranchise Indians 

in Towns1lips was also passed by the Provincial 

Council and received the assent of the Governor 

General notwithstandIng protests f.·om your congress. 

Bnt as the principle involved is exactly as 

that contained in the Boroughs Ordinance, this 

Ordinance would be subject to the same decision of 

the Courts as wiII apply to the Boroughs Ordinance. 

PUBLIC HEALTH ORDINANCE 

Your committee although welcoming the ohjects 

of this Ordinance protested (lgainst certain provisions 

thereof which gave the Indians no representa-

September I lth, 1925 


tion on the Health Committees nor were they entitled 

to vote for the election of members on the 

• Health Boards. :Members of your committee appeared 

before a Select Committee and gave evidence 

but as is customary no notice whatever was taken 

of our protest. The Bill has now become law and 

Indians have been called upon by the various 

Health Boards constituted under the Ordinance to 

pay assessment rates which are based not on the 

valuation of the properties but in some cases on the 

"Mmber of rooms and in other cases on the number 

t ~of buildings erected on the properties. Your committee 

obtained the opinion of :Mr. Advocate Van 

Hoytema (now deceased) of Johannesburg which 

opinion stated the Ordinance to be i'Ltra vires. Before 

further action could be taken on the regulations 

framed by these Health Boards, the Indians in 

the districts affected have taken over the matter in 

their own hands and are now testing the legality of 

same. 

OBITUARY 

THE LATE MR. PARSEE RUSTOMJEE 

It is indeed painful to record the death of :Mr. 

Parsee Rustomjee, our "Kakaji" who was a pillar of 

strength to our CongrESS. From the time of the rei 

suscitation of your congress he had taken a very 

great interest in its working anti was very generous 

with his purse when the need came for it. The 

irrepara~le loss to our congress by his death will be 

greatly felt by all for a long time to come. 

THE LATE MR. P. K. NAIDOO 

Another stalwart patriot and passive resister has 

gone never to return. Mr. "P. K. " as we all knew 

him, was the one who brought about the resuscitation 

of your Congrestl some five years ago and from 

that time up to his death htl was a keen supporter 

of your congress. It was indeed through his 

initiative as secretary of the Transvaal BrItish Indian 

Association that Mrs. Sarojini Naidu was invited 

to South Africa. He'took a very active part 

in the delibt'rations of the Conference held last 

year. The South African Indlan community in 

general, and the Transvaal Indians in particular, 

have lost a true friend and an energetic aud fearless 

worker in their cause. 

CONDOLENCES 

Messages of condolence to the relatives of the 

late Deshbandhu Das and the late Sir Surendranalh 

Bannerjee were sent through Mahatma Gandhi. 

Both these leaders were a source of great strength 

to our Motherland. 

MR. ~HOMAS' VISIT 

Your committee took the opportunity of the visit 

to South Africa of the Rt. Hon. J. H. Thomas, P.C., 

Secretary of State for the Colonies under the Ramsay 

Macdonald Government of seeking an interview 

with him while he was in Durban, in the hope of 

laying the grievances of the Indian community before 

him. Unfortunately, owing to the very little 

time that he had at his disposal, he was notable to 

meet us. Your committee therefore submitted a 

written statement iu which, inter alia, the Boroughs 

Ordinance was fully dealt with. NQ reply was received 

but Mr. Thomas expre&sed the opinion before 

he left that a Round Table Conference of those concerned 

would be the only meaus of solving the Indian 

problem in South Africa. 

SEPARATE COUNTER: TOWN TREASURER'S 

DEPARTMENT, DURBAN 

Your committee lodged its objection against the 

diserimiMtion shown by the Durban Corporation in 

the set,ting aside of a separate counter at the Town 

Treasurer's Department for Indians and Natives. 

Correspondence with the Municipalitr has failed to 

,;feo,' tb. elimination of Ulilf noial legregttion and 

your committee h8II decided to obtain legal opinion 

on the matter. 

IMMIGRATIOS 

We were approached by Mr. Amod Abdurahim of 

Grey town to obtain temporary permission for his 

sister Karimabibi to land which was already refused 

by the Immigration officer. Representations were 

made to the Minister through the Secretary of the 

South African Indian Congress but owing to the 

misunderstanding on the part of the Secretary to 

the Interior, the instructions to the ImmilU'8tion 

Officer were not correctly given and the lady had to 

return. Other minor matters were dealt with from 

time to time with the Immigration Offlcer, at the 

!,oint, who extended to us his nsual courtesy on all 

matters brought to his notice. 

VIsr.r OF H.R.H. PRISCE OF WALES 

As in the case of the centenary celebrations, the 

Municipality of the Borough of Durban offered your 

congress, a sum of .£200 for the Indian community's 

celebration of the visit of the Prince of Wales to 

Durban. Your committee refused to acquiesce in 

the principle of the Durban Corporation in requesting 

the Indian community to organise a seperate 

celebrations quite apart from the general celebrationa 

of the burgesses. A mass meeting·was held and a 

Deputation wdited upon the :Mayor of Durban with 

the result that he agreed to consider the proposal 

of your congress to include the Indian community 

in the general celebrations with the exception of the 

participation in the Clvic Bdnql1et aud the Ball. 

Your committee on a matter of principle refused to 

have a seperate celebration as offered by the Corporation 

and insisted that Indians should be invited 

to the Banquet as it was not a social function. The 

Town Council not agreeing to your request your 

committee decided to refrain from the official cele. 

brations of the Durban Corporation but arranged for 

the Prince of Wales to be received and welcomed at 

110, Field Street. Durban, the head-quarters of 

the congress. The celebrations of your congress on 

this occassion were very grand as apart from the 

fitting reception given at congress head-quarters, 

large streamers were hung up in Field and West 

Streets with the words .. welcome to our Prince 

from the Natal Indian Congress." A silk turban 

and a jeri shawl were presented in the name Of the 

congress to His Royal Highness who expressed 

pleasure at the loyalty shewn. Your congress also 

obtained the loyal co-operation of its members, in 

Maritzburg, Estcourt, Ladysmith and Newcastle who 

turned out and paid their respects to the royalvi~itor. 

Our decorations surpassed expectations. No 

expense was spared to prove that although we were 

not treated with equality yet our loyalty and enthuslasm 

could not be questioned. 

ASIATIC BILL 

As notified by the Minister of the Interior in reply 

to questions in the House of Assembly the Areas 

Reservation and Immigration Restriction (fuJ;ther) 

proviSions Bill was introduced by him. in the last 

session of the Union Parliament. The mn not having 

been gazf?tted in the usual way, youI' committee 

immediately got in touch with Cape Town but td itS 

surprise was informed that it would be about a month. 

or so before copies of the Bill could be obtained. 

There was a great demand locally for copies of the 

Bill and your committee were supplied by the International 

Printing Press with some two hundred 

copies out of the two thousand that they printed for 

their own llse. These were sent to~." and England 

to tbe prominent leaders with a hat full comment 

on the Blll would follow. the. following 

mail your committee despatch~ each pf,those to 

whom a copy of the Blll was se a fair comment 

thereon together with such ma ), 1 information 'and 

• Preal cllttings that anay be \l .ut to ·the" teade ....

Your committee hall further printed three thousand 

copies of th~ said comment and it is proposed to 

broadcast same throughout the world 

A Mass Meeting of protest of Natal Indians 

against the BIll was orgamsed by your committee 

and was held in the Durban Town Hall on the 31st 

of Au~ust 1925. The attendance was a record one 

the Hall itself containing something like 4000 

people and an overflow meeting of some two thousand 

was simultaneously held at the Church Street 

entrance of the Town Hall. Great enthusiasm prevailed 

.~"\lroughout the proceedings of the meeting. 

Cables/describing fully the nature of the Bill and how 

it adversely IIffects the Indian Community of South 

Africa were despatched to the prominent leaders in 

India and to the Government of India and it is' 

expected ~hat a very strong support will be forthcoming 

frbm our Motherland. Mr. Motilal ~ehru, 

the President of the Swaraj Party has already replied 

stating that necessary action would be taken 

to protect the !:'ights of Indians here and with a request 

to carryon the agitation relying on India's 

full'support. It rests with the incoming commi~tee 

to organise protest meetings throughout the PI'Ovince 

and thereby show the Government and the 

eructors of South Africa that the Indians are prepared 

to fight this Bill to the fullest extent. 

MASS MEETINGS 

Mass meetings of the Indian community were 

held on the following matters :- 

Protest against the Boroughs Ordmance, To expre1lS 

sympathy at the deaths of "Kakaji" (Mr. 

Parsee Rustomjee) and C. R. Das, Visit of the 

Prince of Wales and Protest against the ASIatic Rill. 

MISCELLANEOUS 

RETRENCHMENT OF CORPORATION EMPLOYEES 

During last year, the heads of various departments 

recommended to the Town Council the retrenchment 

of'the majority of Indian employees in 

their :departments. Your committee took up the 

matter by correspondence and as a resnlt no further 

action was taken by the Corporation. 

SMALL POX CONTACT 

As a result of complaints made by your committee 

to the Minister of Health in regard to the quarantine 

of Indian passengers who arrived at the Port of 

Natal from time to time, the Jhief Magistrate of 

Dnrban desired a Deputation of your congress to 

wait upon him and discuss matters. Accoriingly 

a Deputation met the Chief MagIstrate who was 

assisted by Dr. Fernandez, the Port Health Officer. 

It was suggested to the Deputation that guarantee 

should be given by your congress III respect of persons' 

who, wished to land immedIately, for their 

attendance each day at the office of the Medical 

Health Department but this assurance your congress 

was not in 'a position'to give owing to impracticable 

and uureaS'Onable conditions imposed and the matter 

remained ,as it were. 

DR.UtA IN AID OF CONGRESS 

'rhe Arfa Woonathee Natak MandaI staged a play 

in aid of the fllnds of your congress. A record 

crowd attended and' a sum of £71 19s. 10d. after 

deducting expenses was realised. Your committee 

appreoiated the gen~rous spirit of the .members of 

this MandaI for ,tbe timely assistance. 

PRESENTATION 

Presentations of attache cases were made to 

Mahatma Gandhi and the Ali Brothers at the farewell 

meeting at. the 'Durban Town Hall to Mrs. 

Naidu who was indly a~ked to hand the presents 

to the presents 00 d6rned. 

MAtU.'l'MA G.&::;td ' 

-.... X#dt' Gdri.Jre~~ ,sen b, dab1e llirtltda; greetiIi.gfl td 

lfi£Sa tJi11WHJ 

INDIAN OPINION September, lIth, 1925. 

ANTI-AsIATIC MEETING 

A meeting of European burgesses organised by 

the al1ti-Asiatics was held in the Durban Town Hall 

under the cha.irma.nship of the Mayor, the object of 

the meeting being to request the Government to 

bring torth an AsiatIC BIll. Mr. Kemp, Gen. Wylie 

and Dr. Campbell were thl! prominent speakers. A 

few of the members of your congress attended this 

meeting and spoke placing the Indian SIde of the 

question before the audience. There was a very 

poor gathering and the result was that it had very'. 

little effect. 

BURGESS ROLL 

It is a pleasure to record that your committee enrolled 

three hundred and six Indian voters on the 

Burgess Roll for the year 1925-26 which is very- encouraging. 

INDIAN EDUCATION 

The Provincial Council nominated a commISSIOn 

to inquire as to whether Indian children should be 

taught the EnglIsh language through the medium of 

the Indian vernaculars. Your congress desired to 

tender evidence and show to the commitlsion that it 

w{)uld be detrimental to the Indian community to 

introduce such a system but owing to want of time, 

the commission adjourned its deliberati,)ns to hear 

the views of your congress du.ring the next session 

of the Provincial Council. 

CONGRESS PROPERTIES 

Your committee wishes to bring to the notice of 

the meeting the desirability of taking immediate 

steps to vest in the name of the Trustees to be 

appointed in terms of the Rules, the immovable 

property and other assets of the congress now in thE' 

hands of the official receiver and that the incoming 

committee will, as its first work, move in this 

direction. 

FINANCE 

At the last Annual General Meeting, your commitee 

took over a debt balance of £115. 125. 4d. and 

owing to the lack of support by the Indian community, 

funds have not been f017thcoming to efficiently 

carry out the work of the congress and to wipe off 

its debt. You will see from the Financial Statement 

by the Treasurers that a debit balance of £715. Us. 

2d. stands against the congress. Tb.is amount was 

advanced by your Secretaries and had It not been 

for their assistance in coming forward and financing 

the congress, It would have been well nigh impossible 

to carry .out the enoromous amount of 

work above enumerated. 

THANK~ 

The thanks of the committee are due to the 

Indian Press and to those who loyally assisted it 

to carry out the objects of the congl·ess. With 

greater help and greater ser~ice much can be done 

to strengthen the congress and to better its position 

among our community. Thanks are also due to the 

Maritzburg Branch of the congress for the energetic 

work within its area and keeping an eye on the 

doing of the Provincial Council in regard to Indian 

matters. Our thanks are due to the members of the 

Arya Yuvuk Sa.bha wno acted as volunteers at Mass 

Meetings, the Superintendent of Education for 

kindly lending the MItchell Crescent School grounds 

for the show, the judges. the members of the Indian 

community more eSPtlcially the ladies and those 

who contributed the prizes in connection with the 

show and to Mr. A. Dookan who so kindly placed 

his motor car at the disposal of Mrs. Naidu during, 

her stay in Durban. 

To friends and societies whereever 

they may have been helpful to the Qougrel!S; 

its thankli arll due. , . 

A T4e committee desli~4 f1~p~l1-de tJd.idoord {bEt 

lWIJ.l+llltM ,'~~18e1 II! tHM~mtHlll ~f1H11l1l iHlt_

September 1 !th, 1925 INDIAN OPINION 233 

energetically rendered by your Honorary Secretariell, 

Messrs. Sorabjee Rustomjee and V. S. C. Pather. 

The:period under review was a very trying oue and 

• it is pleasing to record that both the Secretaries rendered 

their secretarial duties efficiently. Your committee 

always found them willing and obliging and 

it feels that it will be failing in its duty if it did not 

express its sincerest thanks for their services. 


p " 

UT should hardly. be necessary for ns to impress 

upon our countrymen the evergrowing seriousness 

of our position in South Africa. With the 

introduction of the Asiatic Bill a crisis has been reached. 

We shall have to consider seriously whether we are 

prepared to suffer this compnlsory rnination that is 

facing us in the near futnre as a result of this Bill 

or whether we should not be prepared to suffer 

voluntary ruination by fighting for a right and just 

cause. By doing the latter there are possibilities of 

avoiding our compulsory ruination as contemplated 

by the Government and thus also of avoiding 

our moral degradation.. But if on the other hand 

we are not prepared to suffer voluntary ruination 

our compulsory ruination both moral andmaterial 

is inevitable. Let us therefore make up our 

mind anrl be up and doing for the coming struggle. 

We note the following from ~hhatma Glndhi's 

note on .. The Pariahs of the Empire" appearing in 

Young IndUl. am.ed by last mail:- 

" Our countrymen in South Africa must 

do the very be8t they can without flinching. 

If they have the old 8pirit of re8i8- 

tance and cohe8ion in them, and if they 

think that the moment has arrived, they 

must take up the cr088 of 8uffering. They 

mU8t be sole judges of their fitne88 and of 

the p8ychological moment for taking their 

plunge. They mU8t know that public 

opinion of India i8 with them. But they 

will al80 realize that it i8 an opinion which 

is powerle8s to help them. They must 

therefore rely upon their own 8trength and 

capacity for enduring hard8hips and in the 

innate jU8tice of their cause. 

The following new officials were elected for the 

ensuing year at last Sunday's Annual General 

Meeting of the Natal Indian Congress held in 

Rawat's Bio Hall :-PRllBIDENT-Ma. A. M. BlY 1t, 

VWE-PRIBCDENra-Mes3ril. A. H. K~zi, 

Advo.::ate 

J. W. Godfrey, V. wwrence, Bhawani D.lyal, S. 

Emammally, M. H. Desai, S. Dorasamy. I. M. 

Haffejea, A. Dookhan, Charlie Nulliah; JOINT HON. 

SECRETARIES-V. S. C. Pdother and Sorabjee Rustomjee; 

JOINT HON. TRE.\SURER~.-Messrs. P. R. 

Pather and O. H. A. Jhaveri; COMMITTEE-A. I. 

Kajtle, D. S. Chetty, R. K. Naidoo, J. M. Francis, 

M. B. Maharaj, R. K. Kapitan, B. M. Patel, M. M 

Lokhat, G. M. C. Patel, M. B. Naik, E. M. Ally (of 

Messrs. E. A. Tayob & Co.), T. M. Naiker, S. L. 

Singh, B. A. Maghraj, I. A. Essack, S. A. Pillay. 

A. Sookhdoo, A. M. Omar, M. M. Gandhi, M. D. 

Barmania, L. Panday, V. D. Mehta, S. L. Richards, 

J. Royeppen, M. Sooboo Naidoo, '0. B. Chetty, M. 

B. L,.zarlls, Advocate B. Gabriel. 

, We are glad to note that the new election is satis 

, factory. The members have been wise in re-electing 

Mr. Amod Bayat as President. During the throe 

years of his office Mr. Rayat has proved ,without 

doubt his fitness for the honourable .'POSition. Asfor 

t~e Joint hon. Secretaries to ~tb.em would 

have practically meant the .sounding of the deathknell 

of the Oongr.ea.'lo 'They are the life of the 

Congres~ ,00 tht!1r servi~es are indispensable. The 

.~urets iia.~ gained the C()nfiden~ ~ the Coni 

gress-was also amply proved by their re-election. 

There are some changes in the list of vicp-presideuts 

a'ld we think it is a very welcome change and the 

Committee practiQlI.lly remains the same. The 

workers are representative of every section of the 

community and it is satisfactory to note that the 

nllmber of influential merchants ha9 also increased. 

,If the past year was strennous it is hardly n6CeBBary 

to say that the ensuing year will be far more 

strenuous, perhaps more than it has ever been. 

While congratulating the new officials we hope and 

pray that Heaven may rightly guide them in the 

performance of their duty to the community. 

BISHOP FISHER 

\\ 1\ VE w~lcoDe the arrival in S()u~h !frica of Bishop 

\1\1 an I Mra. Fish ~r of Calcnt.t~. Their object ill 

visiting this conntry is to ga:n first-halld 

knowledge of the Indl'An qnestinn. They have jnst 

completed a tonr of \uitralia where they have investigated 

the mach-talked of "Whir.e·AlutraIia policy." 

Bis40p Fisher bel()ng~ to the Metho:list Episcopal Chureh 

of America and hu spent s~veral yeara ai a MissioD!u1" 

and in scholatic work in the United Province and latterly 

in Calcutta. Bishop I

234 

INDIAN opINION September lith. !925 

"'l'r tm repo~t ()f ,th~ 

A GLOOMY PICTURE 

work of the Natal Indian 

II Congress sllPmitted by the hop. Sooretaries 

at the Anr.ual General MeetlOg last Sunday 

should serve 9.S an eye-opener to the Indian community. 

The Congrllss Committee has shown a very 

good record of its aqtivities, p.o Q.o\lbt, aud for that the 

members pf the ComJUittee in 8en~r~1 and 1;4e l1pn. 

SIl(,lr{ltari/:3$ (A{essr~. V. S. C. Plltbel' and 80rabjee 

Rustomjf'.e) m particular are to be congratulated, the 

latter having had to bear the brunt practically 

wholly of financip...g the CgngreSil. 

The disappointing thing. hpweve\", is that most of 

the activi~es recorded have been fruitless. While 

there is not much gai.n to be shown the loss appe/l.rs 

to be,e~ces8ively heavy. 

Let Ull first ~xamine the gains. 

Mrs. Barojini Naidu's visit was undoubtedly a 

blessmg to the community and the undoubted success 

of 'her visit was due very greatly to the strenuous 

work of the Oongress Committee and that certainly 

stands to its credit. The succesS of the Emergency 

Conference of the South African Indtan Congress 

held under the presidentship of Mrs. SarQjipi ;Naidu 

is well-known and also stands to the credit of the 

Congress who wa!! in charge of orgal;llsing it. The' 

I udian AgrlCultural and Industrial Show held \n 

Durban dUring the period under review was the 

first of its kind known in the history of Indians in 

Sl)uth Africa and was un!1oubtedJy fl. grand succel:lS. 

The work of organising the Show WIU'I in the hands 

of the Congr~ss and t}:tat too stands to its cr~dIt. It 

is a matter of regret that ,this Show 1;Ias not bE;len 

continued. If an Agriculturlll and Industria.l Committee 

were to be formeq. under tp.e ~u~dallce of the 

Congress and a Show of that det;lcription were to be 

ope:t1ed annually it would no dOllb~ be great;ly 4elp~ 

ful to the moral and .tn~terial uphftment pf the 

community. 

While these are !lome of the outstalj.ding successe!l 

of the Congress lmd hence stand to its credit we will 

now examme what the Cougress qas actu(l.lly lost, 

Notwithstandiqg the very strong prpt!l!lt of. the 

Congress the Boroughs aq.d ~he r:rown~lllPs Ordinances 

have b,een passed ,aIl4 Ina.n;mg thpse 

that are alrea.!ly on the Roll ,p.ave IOllt tQ.tl J\!llnicpal 

and Township .Franchise. This is a very ~r~at Ip~s. 

The passing of the Durban Lao,4 Alienation apq. 

the Boroughs Extelj.ded Powel,"~ Ordinances have 

deprived Indians of the right to purchase and own 

land-ed property wherever they may choose to 

and they stand as a loss to the comIPunity, The 

passing of the Public Health Ord,inance 1s also a di.$tinet 

loss to the community. It aut;b.orises the 

formation of Boards and the administration of the 

dIstricts to which the Health Ordinance is applicable 

is in the hands of these Boards, members of wl).ich 

are eleeted by the Europeans in the districts J·ovlnC\~l Council 

has deCIded not to incur on Indian education any ~'.( 

~urther expense to that already inonrre,l and whic4 

is insufficient in cO)D.parison with the mOlley derived 

~ro\ll Indians through ratail ~nd taxell. 'J'b,at WI) ~j 

therefore a lps~ to the comlllqnity. .4.nd now to 

Il-d.d to all tb.~ae I06Jl1lll we hllve th. Asmtlo Bill 

wh.ich depriv(lS us of p~ti~lly all the rights and 

privileges we are entitled to Dot only as British sub 

,jeets but as human beings. 

The reader will be able to see from the Ilbove th~t 

the Committee has /!Ihown cOlJlparaUve!y very little 

to the credIt while ~he 4ebit b,al;mce 18 very heavy 

Ilnd r~ndere4 all the heavier by its fin~ncial statep'ent 

which shows a debit b~lanee of £776 19s. 2d. 

The above is indeed a gloomy picture ot t~e pre 

!'lent position; and who is blame for It? Undoubtlldly 

p.ot the OpUgreSii workers. TheT have 

¢lone what wa.s pOtiIIJible for them to do with considerable 

sacrifice to thePlselves'not only in time but 

in money as weH. It is the la.c}{ c;>f entb1lflW3m on 

the v~t ot tile COIJlll:u:mity that ia to blAme for this 

~tate of affa.irs. Th, most hnPQft.'tnt thing the 

COmIPllllity bas lacked is in its finanolal support to 

the Congrelli. If it is roollsed, itS it shonld be even 

by a blind man, frDm the an\lllal report, that the 

Oouil"ess Committee h!lS \)E;len /loins very \UIe!ql and 

iIn.portant wor~ iu tbe interests of the community, 

it is tb.e dtIty of illl thotl6 of our countrynren who 

qan ~fJ'or

September 11th, 1925 INDIAN oPJNloN 235 

- -- ---- - -------~- --------------...;:.:- 

I wonder whether the true significance of Mr. 

Gandhi's meSHaga is appreciated. It rea']s .. If people 

prepareJ 8uffer they mnst win." Do those who real! 

the wordl! .. prepared to Buffer" realise what is 

involved therein? What measure of stature? What 

nobility of chal'acter? What Belfie3snes~, dispa.ssion 

amI detachment are implied in thollc words t Mr. 

Gandhi's meflaage simple lUI it reads, is one upon 

which every claimant for .. liherty and justice" 

woul

236 INnlAN OPINION September lith. 1925 

--~----------------------------.---------------- 

India through Mahatma Gandhi and the world 

is prepared ,to' hear and, the speaker trusted, 

to receive. CQqtinmng the BishQP said he had 

the inestimable \ pleasure Qf persQnally meeting 

Mahatma Gandhi after his lQng fast and fQund him 

to' be full Qf JQYQUS spirit with a brilliant intellect 

and a mQst hQpeful dIsPQsitiQn. The SQul fQrce 

which characterises his principles can be said to' be 

almQst visibly' emenating frQm his persQnality. 

Every sectiQn Qf the Empire shQuld be grateful to' 

the silent and peaceful revQlutiQn which is in QperatiQn 

in India. 

WithQut sO' great a leader PQwerful in his SQul 

fQrce there WQuid have been great blQQdshed in 

India. The BishQP had addressed Qver 53,000 

Indian University students in English and these 

men today believe that success and victQry was 

O'btainable, bQ~h eCQnQmic and mQral, by SQul fQrce 

rather than bMte fQrce. India is ready to' deliv~r 

its message to the wQrld and the wQrld is ready to' 

receive it. 

The BishQP exclaimed that he was an Indian 

except by birth and cQIQur. He was an IndIan in 

mind thQught and ambitiQn. He had a message to' 

give to the Ic.dians here and after Qffering them 

greetings as frQm himself a bleached Indian he 

recite'd the fQllQwmg whlCh ie frQm the Whittier's 

English setting Qf qUQtatiQns frQm Institutes Qf 

Manu :- 

" Heed hQW thQU livest. DO' nO' act by day 

Which in the night will drive thy peace away. 

In mQnths Qf sun sO' live that mQnths Qf rain 

Shall still be happy. 

EvermQre resb.;ain evil, and cherish gQQd 

SO' shall there be anQther 

And a hapPIer life fQr thei." 

.. Say nQt, in evil dQing, nO' Qne sees, 

And sO' Qffend the cQnsciQus Qne within, 

WhQse eyes can see,the secret mQtives Qf miquity. 

Nor ~n ,t4Y,-follY,say., I am: aldoe', 

FQr seated in thy heart, as Qn a thrQne, 

,The Ancient Judge and WItness liveth still, 

'TO' nQte thy thQught and act, 

And as thy gOQd Qr ill flQWS frQm thee 

Far beyQnd thy reach 

The sQlemn dQQms-man's seal ieeet Qn each." 

MRS. FISHER 

Mrs. Fisher whO' was received with lQud applause 

said that the salvatiQn Qf mankind depended UPQn 

the activ~ties Qf WQmen. The Indian ladies present 

would, have to', arQuse themselves frQm their 

lathargy and take an active interest in the welfare 

O'f their children. She beheved that the mind Qf 

WQmen was PQtent and capable Qf great thmgs mQre 

especially when it was remembered that it was Qnly 

80 years agO' that WQmen came intO' university hfe 

and what did th~y find tQ-day ? WQmen were QCCupying 

mQst impQrtant positiQn in every branch Qf life. 

NQr was this peculiar to' EurQpean CQuntries Qnly 

but in India WQmen had excelled themselves. 'fQ-day 

in Calcutta the leading barrister was a lady and in 

Delhi the directQr Qf educatiQn department~as a 

lady. The speaker exhorted the Indian ladies 

present to' endeavQur to' see that their chIldren came 

to the library and imbibed the tremendQus law Qf 

Indian hIstory cQntaineJ in the bQQks Qn the 

shelves. She was Qf the QpiniQn that all racial 

trQuble and misunderstanding WQuld cease if Qnly 

mQthers WQuld try and learn sQmething Qf the 

mQthers and children O'f Qther races. They would 

becQme acquainted with the gQod that existed in 

O'thers and thus learn to' respect and appreciate 

them. IgnQrance was 'at the bQttQm of mQst Qften 

present day misunderstanding. 

Speeches -were> alSO' made by lIessrs V. S. C. 

Pather, ,RQQknQodeen and Pandit Bhawani Dayal. 

The Chairman presE'nteJ the Bishop and MIS. 

Fisher WIth bQquets and thanked them fQr gracing 

the meeting with their presence and theIr sympathetic 

remarks. 

A PQrtrait Qf the late Mr. Parsee Rnstomjee was 

unveiled by Mrs. Fisher and the enthusiastic meeting 

terminated at 9.30 p.m. 

~~CECECE

September I Ith, J9~5 II-- DIAN OPINioN 237 

The Maharajah of Patiala with his Maharanee an.l 

retinue is at the Savoy Hotel, occupying the suit's 

which were uiled t'arlier thill ye-ar, by the Maharajah 

of Rajpipla, and the MahaJajah of Kapurthala •. 

But, the snites have bt'en since converted into j 

a vt'rilable lit/Ie palace, lor the l\1aharajah of Paliala. 

The prest'nt Maharajah of Patiala succeeded his 

late father in 1900, wht'n he was only t'ight years 

old. He has a maRsive figure and a fine black bear.l. 

lIe wears European dress of very smart cut, bnt 

with a magnificent jewt'lled apricot yellow tUl'iJall 

with purple edges, and his pt'arl earings are sC't ill 

a cluster of diamonds, nef'dles 00 say the resourc('s 

of his estate, was at the diRposal of the British Juring 

the War. lIe has the reputation of a great gdDW 

huntt'r. much of which he does from his mooor CaJ·. 

He will in a few weeks time be at Geneva, as In~lia'b 

representative on the League of Nations. In th~ 

interval he is said to be fully occupied in the study 

of qUt'stions conct'rnir.g the League and its objects. 

A miracle did happpn, the evil day, in the coal 

world has been put off at the last moment by thr 

intprvenlion of the Govt'rnment. But the truce is 

for a fortnight, and to-day the momenOOU8 discussion 

on the qnestion takes place in the Houst' of 

Commons. A White Paper was issned yesterflay, 

in regard to the subsidy promised by the Government 

to the mine owners which made the truc( 

pOllsiblt, ten millions is the sum referred to in the 

White Paper, but more may be asked of Parliamt'nt 

if this sum be insuffiCIent to meet the losses of the 

mine owners in keeping the mines working and 

paying the miners the wages hitheroo paid to them. 

It is admitted on all hands, that, the mines al'e not 

being worked at a profit and that the men too, are 

not receiving the wages they ought to get. Mr. 

Ramsay Macdonald claims that the only solution of 

the mining trouble is the nationalisation of all 

mines. Others have other remedies, which will no 

doubt find,f'xpression m the discussions on the question 

in the House of Commons. This industry is a 

matter of vital importance to the BritIsh Isles. 

In charing cross amidst its book shops, the 

writer met the Bev. H. D. Mullet, who at one time, 

was in charge of Christ at urch, Sydenham, outside 

Durb~n. He is now in London. 

BOOKS FOR SALE 

To be obtamed from the Indian Ol""on p,.ess, Ph~nlx. 

Natal. Postal Orders to be made payable at Durban. 

The Hon. Mr. G,)kh .. le aud Lhe Indenture System:l 0 

Indian lIome Rule, by M. K. Gandhi 1 6 

ABook-and its Mlsaomer 1 0 

Bigavad Glta. Mrs. B~saOl's Tr.1nslatlol1 :I 6 

ASIatics Registration Amcni.nent Act (1908) 

In Eoghsb and Gujaratl 

Hindu Social Ideals, ' y P. J. Mehta 

Rise aad Growtb 01 Bo..nbjy MUDlcipal GJvt. 

Agricultural IndusLries in India 

:I 6 

4 6 

:I 6 

The Story 9( the Ramayana, Ih Epic 01 Rama :I 6 

A Study in Indian Economics, by P. B1DDerjl 4 6 

The Indians o( South Alrica, by H. S. L. Pulak :I 0 

Life of M. K. Gandhi (Ill TamIl) :I 6 

The Golden Number of" ludlan OplDlon II 

Paper covers :I 6 

Bound in Cloth 3 6 

Speech.:s on India 1 Arralls, by John Morley j 6 

The 110...\. ~Ir, G.)"hll..'~ T"u IU ;it-u.h Alncll: 

SpeCial INDIAN O~INION Souvenirr. I 6 

Tb. Klbici of P~I.i •• MCli.iaac.l i 0 

Essay on Indian Economics. by Mahadev 

Gonnd Raoadt! 

Hindu Psalms ~nd Hymos 

V.usbavite Reformers of Ir;dl& 

M. K. Gandhi and the South African 

Indian Problem 

Aspeci o( the Vedantl 

Essays 00 Indian Art, lodustry and Education 

Sri Madbwacbarya 

Hioduism. by Dr. B.unett 

P"sition of the Women in the Vedas 

V. raaculars II Media of I nstruction in 

Inrliao Schools and Colleges 

Essentials of Hinduism 

D .. dabhai Naorojl" Speeches aDd Writingi 

Indian National Congress 

The Madras Congress and Conferences 

Allahabad .iDd Nagpur CO'lgressfs 

_ Tbe Surat Congress and Confc:rences 

The Improvemf.:nt of Indian AgrIcu'ture 

The Congress Conferences and Conventions 

India's Untouchable Saints 

The Governance of India. hy Govind nas 

For India's Uplift. by Anne Besant 

Sn RamanuJacharya 

Sri Sankaracharya 

Mr. Gandhi's Speeches and WfltlDgs-1896 to 1917 

The Indian Demancb, by G. A. Natesan 

In'han Industrial and Economic Problems by Prof. Kale 3 

Essays on National Idealism. by Dr. Coomaraswamy 2 

Natal Indian Congress. 

3 

I 

3 

6 

:I 6 

1 0 

I 6 

• 6 

I 6 

:I 6 

6 

4- 

I 9' 

6 0 

8 0 

I 6 

2 6 

:I 0 

:I 0 

2 0 

7 6 

3 6 

2 6 

2 6 

An interesting lecture on A10DE~N ~ACIAL 

P~OBLEM will be delivered by Bishop Fisher 

of Calcutta who is now louring South Africa, 

at the Parsee Ru!:>tomjee Hall, Queen Street, 

Durban, on Saturd..1Y, 12th, September 

1925, at 3 p.m. 

All are kindly invited to attend. 

AMOD BAYAT, 

President: 

SORABJEE RUSTOMJEE, 

V. S. c. PATHER, 

Joint Hon, Secretaries. 

Natal Indian Congress. 

MAHATMA GANDHI'S BIRTHDAY. 

A meeting of the Indian Community will 

be held at the Parsee Rustomjee Hall, 

Durban, on Monday, 14th. September 19Z5. 

at 7 p.m. to celebrate Mahatma Gandhi's fifty. 

sixth birthday, 

All are kindly invited to attend. 

AMOD BAYAT, 

President. 

SORABJEE RUSTOMJEE, 

V.IS. c. PATHER, 

Joint Hon. Secretaries. 

Note :-The Kathiawar Arya MandaI will 

also join in the above eelebtationsl

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llidinu ®piniott 

No. 38-Vo1. XXIII. Friday, September 18th, 1925. 

Reglltered at the G. P.O. as a Newspaper 

Pale_ 'OV.PI!II(.B 

--------------------------------- 

llURTHER PROTEST AGAINST ASIATIC BILL 

'1ll N enthusiastic Mass Meeting of Pretoria and 

S'1l District Indians was held at the Star 

llioscope, Boom Street, Pretoria, 011 Sunday 

the 13th September 192,), at 3 p.m. The meetmg was 

very largely attended. Mr. HaJee C.1SSlm Adam, 

the chairman of the PretOl'ia British Indian Af-Bociation, 

presided. 

The chairman in opening the meeting explained 

that thE'Y had met that afternoon to protest against 

the Asiatic Bill introduced by the Interior at the 

close of the last Session as well as the General Dealers 

(control) Ordinance recently pasfled by the Tr[lt)svaal 

Provincial Council. He also drew the attention 

of the meetmg to the debate on the Asiatic Bill that 

took place in the Council of 8tatE's at Simla and 

urged that it was highly essential that a deputatlon 

should be sent to India from the Transvaal. 

Among the speakers WE're Messrs. Govindjee 

Bhanabhai, (hon. Secretarr of thl' Pretoria British 

Indian Association), A. A. Mirza, N. A. Camar, 

Vally ?fahomed, Mahomed Ismail, R~ l\fooloo, 

Suliman Ebrahim, Nana Lal, Osman Alli and others. 

Resolutions 

The following resolutions were nnanimously 

passed :- 

1. That this mass meeting of Pretoria and District 

Indians enters its emphatic protest against the 

Areas Reservations, Immigration and Registration 

Bill as being humiliating, degrading and detrimental 

to the vested and potential righs of the Indian communitr 

apart from the fact that it violates the 

Gandhi-Smuts settlement of 1914. 

2. That a deputation consisting of three delegates 

be sent to India under the aeigis of the Transvaal 

British Indian Association to make strong representations 

to the Government of India and the Indian 

nation with a view to urging the Imperial Government 

to bring about an honourable and final settlement 

of the Indian question in South Africa to the 

satisfaction of the Imperial, Indian and the Union 

Govel'nments aud the Indian Nation by means of a 

Hound Table Conference. 

3. That this mE.'E.'ting rpspectfully requests His 

Excellency the GovE.'rnor-Genl'ral to Withhold hIS 

aSSE.'nt to the General DealE.'rs (control) Ordmance 

192.') and to receive an Indian Deputation. 

4. That this Mass ME.'eting hereby fully supports 

thi! Transvaal British Indian Association. 

The meeting then terminated with a vote of thanks 

to the chair. 

British Indian Association Cables 

India and England 

The Transvaal British Indian Association (Johannesburg) 

has sent the following cable to India and 

England:- 

.. Asiatic Bill outrageous :Making Indian life 

impossible. Violating Smnts-Gandhi settlement. 

Allocating segrE.'gated areas. Necessitating abandonlllent 

of present businesses amI propertIes. Creatlllg 

atmosphere such that Indians must leave ~outh 

Africa ruined. immi!;,"Tatil)n Law so amended as 

to make Indians bona fide domiciled prohibited. 

~ , .. ~ 

MASS MEETING AT PRETORIA 

Indians' wives and chlldren cannot enter Union 

after 1930. No secnrity even for South Africanborn 

Indians. Dual domicile forfeited. Three 

yeal'E absence forfeits domicile. Transvaal General 

Dealers' (Control) Draft Ordinance 1925 will 

exterminate all In.iian businesses. We respectfully 

bE.'g Impel"ial and Indian Governments to intercede 

and nE.'gotlate for Round Table Conference among 

the lJnion, Imperial, and Indian Government." 

Mr. Polak on the ASiatic Bilt 

., A M eas ure to Levy Blackmail" 

There Can be No Compromise 

Mr. Henry S. L. Polak has wired to India from 

London that the new Asiatic Blll introduced in the 

South African ASbembly is entirely unacceptable. 

The origmal Blll was nnacceptable in principle but 

the new Blil goes much further depriving Natal 

Indians of the right to own lands save for a restricted 

nght 10 the coastal belt. This Bill apparently 

further commits a breach of the GandhI-Smuts 

agreement t y further restrlCtmg the emigration of 

wives of Indlans and by extending the dlsabilities 

to Cape Indi.1ns. The Bill seems to be a measure 

to levy blackmall on the Government and the Indian 

people .. 1 am of 0plDlOn" writes Mr. Polak "that 

there can be no compromise thereon." 

Pariahs of the Empire 

Mahatma Gandhi writes as follows in Young 

Indue.- 

Lest we forget our status and proper place in the 

imperial economy, we reCeIve a constant reminder 

now from Englan

INDIAN Uf~lNION September 18th, 1925 

Lokamanya said much the same thing. • Seek ye 

first Swaraj and el'erything will be added unto you' 

was his refl·ain~ But Swaraj is a result of the snmtotal 

of India's' energy. The order of the day is 

work from without and work from within. It is a 

longdrawnout agony, but there is no new birth 

without the necessary pains of labour. We must 

pass through this inevitable life-giving, life-sustaining 

discipline, fiery though it is. Our countrymen 

in South Africa must do the very best without 

flinching. If they have the old spirit of resIstance 

and cohesion in them, and if they think that the 

moment has arrived, they must take up the cross of 

suffering. They must be sole judges of their fitness 

and of the psychological moment for taking the 

plunge. They must know that public opinion of 

India is with them. But they WIll also realize that 

it is an opinion which is powerless to help them. 

They must therefore rely upon their own strength 

and capacity for enduring hardships and in 'the 

innate justice of their cause. 

I ndian Government Still 

Negotiating 

A. Reuter's message from Simla dated Sept. 14, 

states ;- 

In the Assembly to-day, numerous Indian members 

bombarded the Govel·nment with questiong regarding 

the South African situation. Mr. Bhore, 

replying OIl behalf of the Government, said they 

were still negotiating with the Union Government 

for a round,table conference, and they were still 

hopeful of a settlement. The were fully alIve to 

the grave issues involved, and were trying to 

ascertain the wishes of the Indiau reSIdents In 

South Africa. The speaker added that the time for 

reciprocity measures had not yet arrIved. 

Some Interesting Statistics 

The following are some iuteresting statistics of 

migration to and from the Union for the perIOd 1!)20 

to March 1925 which we have extracted from the 

report of the Director of Census and StatIstics :- 

During the five years 1920-19240, the European 

arrivals were in excess of the departures by 31,287. 

On the other hand, the Union lost on the balance 

13,767 non-Europeans, mostly Indians returning to 

India. 

The excess of EUI·opean arrivals over departures 

fOI· the last two years has been as follows :- 

Year. 

No. of persons 

1923 1,220 

1924 1,816 

Influx of Lithuanians 

The most striking feature of the immigration 

figures is the steady and incrE'asing influx of poverty 

stricken Lithuanians. The majority of these return 

their occupation as "Uommercial" and their finances 

as .. below £40" or .. unspecified." 

During 1924 they formed 31.9 per cent. of the 

total non-British immigration and 9.a per cent. of 

the grand total. They exceeded the number of the 

next highest foreign nationahty by nearly 51 

pen...cent. 

' 

The foregoing figures are for _ the twelve months 

of 1924, but it was not until about the middle of the 

year that the restrict,IOns on certain classes of immgrants 

were removed. The full effects of the raising 

of the embargo would therefore, not be felt until the 

first quarter of the current year, when the percentage 

rose to 38.4. 

The proportion of Lithuanian immigrants not only 

1!!20 

1921 

1922 

192:3 

H)24o 

Europ'ns. 

37,IH!1 

32.2!!:3 

27,2lX 

2:3.\'151 

2X,6~10 

increased considerably during the perioli, but exceeded 

the next higbest nationality by 119 per c~nt. 

during the quarter. 

The following is a summary of all arrivals into 

the Union for the period 1920 to March, 1!l25: 

Non- 

Europ'ns. 

2AiO 

2,l'\16 

2,5~)] 

2,4o~l;\ 

:1,2H 

Tota.l. 

40.31!) 

39,1)79 

28,R09 

2ti,4H 

:n,!l;a 

Total 15:3,07L !:J,Gl.! Hi7,.')S.; 

To this total must be added (i,50!! Europeans and 

non-Europeans for the first quarter of the present 

year. 

The departUres were:- 

Non- 

Europ'ns. ElIrop'ns. Tobl. 

1920 2!,GX2 -l,X:t! 2~l,5.u 

1921 2!,07X li,-l:3X :\0,51;0 

1~)22 2!,:1I!! 5,li.; :30,094 

1!.l23 22,7:U fi,047 2l'\,7iX 

19240 2li.174 4,2SH 31,Oli:J 

Totals 122,684 27,:381 150,06:; 

to ~hich must be added 7,527 for the fir&t quarter of 

the current year. 

The arrivals aS9uming domicile and the departures 

relinquishing domicile were: 

1920 

1921 

1!.l22 

192:3 

1!)2.J: •... 

Arrivals. 

22,09.) 

20,!!3:3 

13,2:3.) 

ll,li41 

5,fiOli 


Departures. 

!!,IH6 

1:1,4 71i 

12,67;; 

17,lili(; 

5,648 

\\ 1:\ VE reproduce elsewhere in this issue an 

\l\l important judgment delivered in the 

Pmetown Magistrate Court in the case 

of the local Health Committee who sued Mr. 

H. M. Wahed for the non-payment of rates 

levied by the Committee. This is a Health 

Committee formed under the Public Health CommIttees 

Ordinance, 1923 against which the Indian 

community protested on the grounJs that IndIans 

concerned were given no representation on 

the Committees and while the election of these 

CommIttee!! was to be made from and by the 

residents of the DIstrICts concerned Indians in 

the Districts were debarred from having any voice 

whatsoever. Indians concerned are now testing the 

legality of the regulations made under the Ordinance. 

It was contended on behalf of the defendant in the 

case in qnestion that the rating regulatious were 

ultra vires of the powers conferred on the Committee 

by the Ordinauce, in that, whereas the Committee 

were empowered under Section 17 of the Ordinance 

to levy· a rate 011 immovable property ouly, they 

levied rates on the purposes to which the buildings 

were bemg put. It was fnrther contended that 

Section 17 did not give the Committee the right to 

select by regulation the type of immovable property 

it desired to rate but it gave power to rate genercllly 

all immovable properties in its area of jurisdiction. 

Judgment was, however, given againet Indllllls the 

magistrate holding that Section 17 of the Ordinance 

did not limit the powers of the Committee but gave 

them authority of a general nature to impoSt' rates; 

that ratmg regulations were framed in accordance 

with the legislati ve power granted to the Committee 

and were tberefore int,a t'tre8. e

September 18th, 19z5 INDIAN OPINION 

--~~------~~~-------------- 

Section 17 of the Public Health Committee's 

Ordinance referred to in the above case reads as 

follows :- 

.. The Committee shall within its area exercise aU 

or any of the powers and carry out the duties conferred 

or imposed on local authorities onder the 

Public Health Act incluliing the levying of rates an,l 

imposition of fees and charges for services rendered 

• 0, and recovery of such rates, fees and charges from 

[ 

he owners or occupiers of, immovable property 

within such arPa." 

The case is now on appeal and the Judgment of 

the Supreme Court will be awaited with interest. 

At a meeting of the Public Health Committee of 

the Durban Town Council two interesting matters 

relating to the district surrounding the Indian 

Market were discussed. In the first instance it was 

rPSOlved to rE'commend the Council to arraDl~e for 

adequate police supervision at both ends of Victoria 

Street for the deviation of vehicular traffic in the 

early hours of the morning up to 9 a. m. The 

second recommendation was that the Market Master 

and the Borough Engineer be asked to report joifItly 

on the utilisation of the site of the old Native 

Women's Hostel in Victoria StrE'et as an Indian 

Bazaar for the saJe of soft goods and merchandise, 

together with full estimate of costs. 

Our attention has been drawn to the omiBBion in 

the list of the newly E'lected officials of the Natal 

Indian Congress for the ensuing year published in 

onr last weeks iB8ue of the name of the hon. auditor 

Mr. Sapurjee Jivanjee who was also re-elected. 

It is with deep regret that we have to record the 

sad and sudden death which took place in Durban last 

Wednesday of Mr. Hajee Ismail AboohakE'l' tJle son of 

the late Mr. Abooliaker IIajee Amod Jhaveri the 

first Indian merchant to come to South Africa. The 

funeral of the late Mr. Hajee Ismail which took 

place at 5 o'clock in the afternoon was attended by 

a huge crowd of Indians among whom were many 

prominent merchants. The late Mr. Hajee Ismail 

leaves behind him a sorrowing widow and three 

children of whom the eldest is only about fifteen 

years of age. We extend our dE'epest sympathy to the 

bereaved family and other relatives including the 

diceased's uncle Mr. Omar Hajee Aml)d Jhaveri. 

THE FATE OF THE INDIAN IN THE UNION 

~ UR contemporary the rWlnd Daily Alail is 

~ startlell at the movement of the Indian 

community against the Asiatic Bill and evi. 

dently deplores the fact that no effort is being made 

by the white people of South Africa to counteract 

the movement. Speaking on the Bill itself the 

paper says, .. there is little doubt that it represents 

• • • • what may be called the moderate 

South African view in regard to the Indian 

question." This, it goes on to say, is a fact 

which should be made known to the world and 

} supported by the resolution!! of as many public 

bodies as possible. .. Otherwise the very great activity 

of the propagandists will seriously increase the 

difficulties of the SItuation by inflaming Indian 

opinion against us and possibly also by creating an 

unfavourable impression in other lands. " 

We must confess that our experience is quite 

different to that of our contemporary. The majority 

of the British people in the Union, we feE'1 sure, are 

thoroughly ashamed of the measure introduced by 

PI', lIal)fl, We "l't1tt>~ IU\re \hal .~"'''I) J) ... ~11l1an • 

tNt t~ •• 1I~"bn.lbul ,Ii; tlnh''!. thtj fiIIt _tl"~ hDt 

aware that they were ,;oIating every principle of 

British jnstice.~ Although they may be reluctant to 

IIpeak out we know that there is a large majority of 

Europeans in this country who will be proud to see 

Intlians fighting against the Bill than meekly 

surrE'ndering, which if they do they will have proved 

by th\'ir own actiou that they deservetl such a 

m\'a'lUre and they will have none but themselves 

to bLlme. Since the watchword of our contemporary 

is .. self-preservation" it is but natnral that 

jnstice and fairplay cannot be found in its vocabulary 

and, in the circumstances, it is not at all surpl'ismg 

to see it preaching counteraction to establish 

an injustice. Be that as it may. We have now to 

consider what future action we have to take. The 

ways of thE' Indian Govornment seem to be very 

mistE'rious indeed. In reply to questions put to the 

Government in connection with the Indian question 

,in South Africa the Government are reported to 

have said that they were still negotiating with. the 

Union Government for a Round Table Conference; 

that they were fully alIve to the grave issues involved 

and WE're trying to ascertain the wishes of 

the Inthans in South Africa. The Indian Government 

are lU negotiation with the Union Government 

now for at least a year, if not more, and not a word is 

known as to the result of the negotiations. While 

these negotiations are going on the position of Indians 

is growing from bad to worse. This fact bas 

been declared over and over again and a Round 

Table Conference has been asked for over and over 

again by the Indian community iu South Africa. 

The much respected President of the South African 

Ir.dian Congress Mrs. Sarojini Naidu has also 

strongly pressed for such a Conference and yet the 

Indian Government who profess to be alive to the 

grave situation do not know the wishes of Indians 

iu South Africa! Is this not a reply merely to 

evade the issue, we wonder? 

India has become the un favourite child of the 

Imperilll Government as she is asking for her rightful 

place in the family, and the Indian Government 

represents the Imperial Government in India. If, 

therefore, we receive a cold shoulder from both these 

quarters it is not at all to be wondered at. We have 

then, only to look to the Indian people. and they are 

already suffering and our cause in this country only 

adds to their suffering. They can only suffer for 

us and do no more. 

We, however, should not leave a single stone 

nntumed to get redress by constitutional means. 

We should approach the Indian and Imperial Governments 

until they are thoroughly conversant with 

our wishes--and what other wish could we have 

than to be treated as British citizens with respect 

due to us ? Nothing more do we ask of the Imperial., 

Indian or the Union Governments. If in that we 

receive a cold shoulder and even in our very 

moderate' demand for a Round Table Conference 

then our last resort is to suffer relying, as Mahatma 

Gandhi says, upon our own strength and capacity 

for enduring hardships and in the innate justice of 

our cause. 

The Natal Indians have bad their protest meetinll, - 

the Transvaal Indians have had theirs. The CaP" In. 

ollllns b"u 1'0$ fet t'ai@ed .,,1Johed voj,,~, 1. ~ time 

i118' ,hit Cape Hrht ... ln41aft 0"."9" .'ftti1~ «~ iJltl

INOl \N OPINION September 18th. 1925 

matter. And then the South African IndIan Congress 

should hold its session wIthout delay ,md 

make joint representahons m the name of the 

Indians of the Union as a whole to the Union, 

IndIan and the Imperial Governments for a Hound 

Table Conference. 

Health Committees Ordinance 

Judgment Against Indians 

\ Notice of Appeal Given 

At the Magistrate's Court, Pinetown, on Tuesd,lY 

the 8th instant, Mr. J. T. Braatvedt, Assistant IvLtglstrate, 

delivered judgment m the case in whIch the> 

Pmetown Health CommIttee sued an Indian H M. 

Wahed, agent, for the non-payment of £9 alleged 

to be due in respect of rates levIed by plamtIffs 

Mr. E. F. Wilcocks appeared for the plamtIff:;, 

and Mr. H. F. V. Dymes for the defendant. 

In giving judgment the MagIstrate saId· The 

Pinetown Pubhc Health CommIttee, as plamtIffs, 

claim a sum of £9 for rates levIed by them npon 

defendant as the owner of certain dwellmg" and 

stores wlthm the area of the jurIsdictIOn of then' 

committeE'. The defence of the claIm IS based upon 

the following grounds - 

(1) That the plaintiff commIttee was not lawfully 

constituted at the time the rates were passed or 

adopted, by reasou of the (act that cert",in two 

vacancies whICh had occurred after the cOJlJmittee 

had been constituted had not been filled by one or 

other of the two methods of oblIgatory procedure 

prescribed by Ordmance No.7 of 1923; and that lU 

any event the two'casual vacancies have never been 

lawfully filled, in that ProclamatIOn No. 22, 1924, 

purporting to appomt Messrs. Trotter and HIrst, was 

not promulgated as required by SectIOn 5 of the 

Ordinance, and is therefore of no valid effect. 

(2) AlternatIvely, and in the event of It, bemg 

held that the plaintiff commIttee was lawfully constituted, 

defendant demes hablhty, and contends 

that the ratmg regulatIOns are ultra Vlres of the 

powers conferred on the plaintlff commIttee by 

the Ordinance, as amended by Ordinance No 6. 

1924, 111 that, whereas the pblntiff commIttee were 

empowered under SectIOn 17 of the Ordmance to 

levy a rate on lmmovable property only, yet they 

have levied rates on d wellmg" and bmldmgs used 

for store, shop, or business purposes, thereby levymg 

rates not on the lmmovable property, but on the 

purposes to which the buildings are bemg put. And, 

further, contends that the regulations are unreasonable 

and bad in law, in that the pow.er to rate immovable 

property glven by SectIOn 17 does not gIve 

the plaintiffs the right to select by regulatIOn the 

type of immovable property it desires to rate, but IS 

It power to rate generally all immovable propertIes 

in its area of jurisdiction. Defendant further cont.ends 

that the ratmg regulatIOns are partial and unequal 

in their operation as between classes in the 

area, and are manifestly unjust by rating only 

dwelling houses and busmess premises, and by 

rating these in/an unequal and

September J~hb, 1925 INDIAN OPINION 

merely thieves and robbers, was one of the bitter 

taunts uttered against the Government whose administration 

practically all the Indian speakers 

condemned, when the TJegislative AB8embly re!!umed 

the debate on Sir AleLlnder l\fuddiman's resolution, 

proposing acceptance of the Majority Report 

of the R~fonns InqOlry Committee. 

Eventually an amendment by Pundit Motilal Nehru 

advocating that total responsibility should be invested 

in the legislature with the traditional reservatons 

in respect of the army and foreign affairs, WJ.8 

(asfled bs 72 votes to 4.'). Sir Alexauder Muddiman 

Uescribed the amendment as a virtual repeal of the 

Government of India Act, and admitted that, 8S it 

delloted for first time that the Swarajists and Indepedents 

were in agreement, it deserved the utmost 

attention. 

Simla, Sept. l3.-The Council of State by 2a 

votes to 7 carried the Government resolution endorsing 

the conclusions of the Majority Report of 

the Mllddiman Committee. 

Proposed Indianisation of High 

Commissioner's Office 

Simla. Sept. S.-The Council of State has animatedly 

debated a resolution put forward by .the 

unofficial member, Sethna, in favour of the Indianisation 

of the staff of the High Commissioner in London. 

The mover complained that at prescnt only G 

per cent. of the staff were Indians, despite the fact 

that the Department was maintained by the Indian 

Exchequer. 

Mr. Chadwick (Secretary for Commerce) pointed 

out that it was not a business proposition to send 

Indians at a huge expense to England, when better 

qualified Englishmen were available there. 

The High CommiB8ionel'. Sir chatterjee, had informed 

the Government that he was appointmg Indians 

wherevf>r possible. 

An amendment moved by Sir Maneckjee Dadabhoy, 

to the effect that Indianisation, compatible 

with efficiency and economy. should occur in the 

higher staff establishment, was carried by 26 votes 

to eight. 

The Iodiao in the U olon 

The RanlZ Dail!l Mail has the following leading 

article in its issue of the 12th instant ;- 

The report, published elsewhere in this issue, of 

the debate in the Indian Council of State on the 

position of Indians in South· Africa touches on a 

matter of really grave importance to the Union. The 

tone of the speeches makes plain the intensity of 

public feeling in India with regard to this matter. 

It is a feeling which may easily be fanned into a 

pession of resentment. In South Africa a strong 

Indian movement is vigorously a foot to provoke 

counter-action in India, and also, if possible. in Great 

13ritain. The question is one which. even under 

the very best conditions, involves serious and farreaching 

reactions, and it is in every sense desirable 

that it should rEceive the most thoughtful and 

'earn est consideration by the white peoples of South 

Africa. 

The problem is pie-eminently one which we must 

settle for ourselves. In the final resort we must decide 

the issue upon the basis of self-preservation. But in 

the meantime every possible endeavour should be 

made to negotiate a settlement along lines which will 

not unduly offend Indian susceptibilities or aggravate 

the difficulties of Great Britain so far as her Indian 

Empire is concerned. The speeches in the Indian 

CQ~l indicate _ that an attitude favour'd.ble to 

negotiation exists, and it would be a blunder of the 

first magnitude on our p:lrt to close the door 

against it. 

But we do not think this will be done. In introducing. 

at the end of last session. the areas Reservation 

and Immigration Bill. Dr. Malan. in a very 

reasonable and tactful speech, said he was not sorry 

f.)r its introduction at that late stage, because it 

would afford the country as a whole an opportunity 

of learning the policy 01 the Government, and aliilO 

of offering constructive criticism. which he personlIy 

would gladly welcome. We do not know what 

helpful suggestions, if any. may have reached the 

:\Iinister since he issued his invitation, bnt recent 

developments. both in South Africa and India, make 

It very plain that it is high time an earnest effort 

was made definitely to mObilise public opinion on 

this subject. Indian propaganda is being actively 

c')nducted over a very wide area, and. so far as we 

can see. no effort at all is being made by the white 

peoples of South Africa to counteract it. Failnre to 

t.lke any action along these lines may quite easily 

plunge us into a nasty mess of far-reaching pohtical 

complications before we know where we are. And 

-we cannot afford to blunder into a crisis of this 

nature with our eyes shut. 

• 

The BIll is available to the public and it shonld 

have the closest scrutiny in all its details, As Dr. 

~[alan says. it will not satIsfy the extreme section 

of either school of thought III South AfrIca, for very 

wisely, he has tried to steel' the sdfe and the sane 

middle course. But, broadly speaking, there is 

httle doubt that it represents with substantial accurdCY 

what may be called the moderate South Africln 

view with rpgard to the Indian question as it affects 

ns in the Union. ThiS IS a fact which should be 

kuown to the world and supported by the resolutIOns 

of as many public bodies as possible. Otherwise the 

very great aetivity of the propagandists will seriously 

increase the difficulties of the situation by inflaming 

Indian opinion against us, and possibly also by 

creating an unfavourable impression in other lands. 

A RepJy 

Mr. L. W. Ritch has sent the following reply to 

the Rand DiIIl y M {Itt ;- 

The Editor, "Rand Daily Mail" Johannesburg. 

SIr. - May I be allowed to expreBl! concurrence 

iu your opinion" that this question is one which it 

is desirable ...... should receive the most thoughtful 

and earnest consideration of the white peoples 

of South Africa." Also with the implIcation that 

so far it has not. To the avel'age South African the 

question app£:ars to be just a matter of putting the 

.. coolies" into locations. getting rid of their competition 

in bus' ness and gpuerally putting them 

.. into their place" among the colourl'd and native 

sections, unless better still, they can be "persuaded" 

to clear out of the country altogether. Now it mu~t 

be confessed that this is a very free and easy. and 

rather parochial, way of regarding a Ricia! question 

that is by no means {'urely a local one. but on the 

other hand, one which touches to the quick the 

amoul propre of three hundred millions of British 

subjects just across the Indian Ocean, not to mention 

several hnndreds of mIllions of Non-British Orientals 

represented here by only a small sprinkling of their 

peoples. It takes but a very tiny flame to start a 

most destructive conflagration. and when the elements 

of combustion are already well advanced bnt 

little additional heat for the fire to bnrst into flamE's. 

Racial and National pride are dangerous explosives 

to fool with, as Russia~learn_e$ W her cost in her 

collision with Japan and only' a fool could oontem.- 

- _ • If"

plate with il.ldiffetence the prospeot of an armed cla!lh 

between East and 'West. The last War ( 1914-1918) 

would be a more game of toy soldiers compared with 

such a cataclysm! It 1,\ fairly obvious, t4erefore, 

that consict~rat1ons of e:wed~enc¥ alone demand that 

this questioPr be ~ndled ,witp Athe utmpst tl\ct, and 

restraint and that sq fa,r ;from i~ J;)eing solely a 

domestiC? ma~ter touchiJ?g South Afn,caI.! ipterests. 

our share in it is that of a cO!p.p. 

and So we joined is-sue altd fought .a'l1d laid the dead 

bodies of our dear ohes on the altllr of Ptinciples 

that the enemy sneer~u at as ronialitic and unpractical. 

1£ 'prmciple W~l'e 'tnyn so Illucli in:~re pre"Clqus 

BiShop Fisher 

- ~~t I 

After spending a very busy wee\c during which 

they visited m~ny places in and outside Durban in 

connection with the Indiljon question and iu~erviewed 

'proinintlnt members of both European and Iqdian 

~ 

mmUnities Bishop and Mrs risher sailed last Monay 

by the s, s. }VW,lldalla for Dem Goa &y. The 

( istinguished visitors were seen off by a l,u'ge crowd. 

icell of the Natal 

rdian Congress at thl) Parsee Rustq~ee Hall. Mr. 

dvocate J. -W. Godfrey was in the chair. After 

ealing at length with the nUII1erical condition of 

tbe dlffe!:ent races and thed' progreaa tl1e Bishod 

rlictur.ed the problem l!.B. a very grave one and 

~ound up by saying thllt he feared otllj one thine 

and that was 3nimolJs-it,y and mIsunderstandingS. He 

lIelievM that if in South Africa, IMia and Europe 

the~ were to see that every , man woman and child of 

all the races had equal opportunities. they would /la.ve 

fbor ,less diffi culty tha'l1 if they attempted td rel3trict 

$6 another iu every ",ay. Tbe onl) solution. sa.id 

the speaker, was to make the standard of life absol~tely 

universal so that one would not be higher. or 

one lower. , 

[We hope to publish the full text of the lecture 

in a later issue. Ed.] 

SermohS 

dn Sonday Bishop gnd Mrs. Fisher Were in "ited bt 

Mr. R. K; NiUdtlo to the wedding of hil! -doughter 

ahd alsti to amner by the Majh1ulll Ahbab Club-an 

i~stitution where prominent Indian merchants 1Ulsemble. 

Bishop Fisher also gave very interesting 

ahd instructive surl110ns in the morning at the Greyville 

Wesleyan methodist Church, in the afternoon 

at the Indian We~leY!l!n Church in Grey Stroot and 

in the ev~rtlng a.t the West 8t\-eet WeSl'eyan Chllrch. 

Speaking emotionally the Bishop said that though 

they professed Christianity they had nothing to 

p~ove that they were true Christians. The image 

of Chirst was no longer within their hearts. Non 

Clllist13ns had gained, a bet.ter knowledge. of 

Christ and His Principles than Christians theIWlel vea 

a~' d they were in_ a ,position now to rebllke, the 

C ristians for violating the principles for which 

t ey professed to ,stand. If they wished to 

C ristaia.nize the world they would themselves have 

to live like trne Christians. 

I Indians as a rule are hot allowed in European 

Chuwhes but an exception was made on this 

occasioh and it was rendered possible. therefore, 

fQr a few who were anxious to hear the Bishop to 

attend the services. 

1 He' '? 1 • .. !. 

to us th~~ ~~p~~ienci, whf s~ould i~ be otber,W1i!e 

now? Or can it 1;>e that the brute ill 'Us reasserts Tqe Natal tndian 'Congr~s have puhlished the 

itself when we feel we aI'e safe and the Angel in Us 

Asiatic BIll in a book form with a fair comment on 

the Bill showing how adver~ely it affects t4e BritiJIh 

only when we feel 'the knife at Our throat!! ? 

Iddijln c~Innl-~nity _ in th{" Vniop. ,of South ~f,lca: 

Let lis pot lightly igrla~eJli'e lesson of history qut These hookle'ts are beIng sent out to Indian leaders/ 

rather CQ~~e~iP~r'i~1s\l w~~t~~r. we ,IUaY not by and sympathisers in india. ~gland and oth,er ~rtB ..... 

our conducf'pe ~lling on-.J4\ F~e~,' that, !,~_e ,~urr of the worJd., 1~ order to cover, the cost o~.prlntiTli 

destiJ.ties to "flet us yet one mote, lI.nd,\,>'iWcllt)Jice': 

the nogk is"pnc~d la.

September 18th, 1925 

Il"OlAN OPiNION 

i~~E(~~:(~~~)~~;t~;~~~t»;"'»>~ 

~ [ FROM OUR OWY CORRESPOYDEXT ] 

~ 13th August, 1925. ~ 

o E« 0 

Parliament has now voted the nece88.lry authority 

for the payment of the coal subsidy for the next 

nine monthK. during which time, it is hoped. the 

Hltions involvetl in the coal tlispute wIll be 

~ netl. The Royal Commission on the subject is 

not yet appointetl nor the terms of reference publitlhetl. 

But the subject still occupies consitlerable 

space in the press of the country. 

M. Briand, the French l\Unister, left Lontlon to-day 

for Paris, aftE'r having consultations with Mr. 

Austen Chamberlain. and other Ministers of the 

Crown. The object of the consultations was in regard 

to the proposeu Pact Treaty between Germany 

and the Allied Powers in connection with Western 

Europe. Both Ministers appear to be highly satisfied 

with the result of their conservations. Details, 

however, are not yet made public. 

A Hundred have passed since the birth of R. D. 

Blackmore, the author of several novels, the m08t 

famous being, Lorna Doone, A DevonshIre Ro- 

• mance, The Wild Men of the Wild Valleys of Exmoor, 

published in 1869 it was slow in attractmg 

attention, but it eventually gained in popularIty, 

which has yet to decline. The authol" was, however, 

prouder of his success at hIS choHen calling, that of 

market gardener, than of the fact that hundreds of 

thousands wantetl to read, what he considered the 

best of his novels. 

The great trial arising out of a breach of the State 

Law of Tennessee, which forbids the teaching of 

any matter, which questions the Bible in any way, 

which took place at Dayton, otherwise known as 

Monkeyville, presents some remarkable features. 

There was Dothing of tl:ie formality associated 

with the conduct of a Court. Counsel sat 

without coat or waist coat, the Judge stood 

up and posed in a commanding attitude at the 

request of press photographers, and he permitted 

the final session of the Court to be held in the open 

air. The Counsel for the defence, Mr. Darron, 

apologised for having "sassed" the writ Cw previous 

day, and the judge in ~accepting apology solemnly 

forgave him, on behalf of the I'C'ople of Tennessee 

as a Christian duty. 

While spectators che\\, 1 gum, S11loked and 

patronised the vendors of soft drInk::! Connsel for 

the defence called Connsel for the prosecution to 

the witness box and ploceeded to cross examine him 

on his religious beliefs, WIth the purpose of making 

him appear as fooh"h as pOSSIble. The judge, notwithst..'1.ndin::, 

being appealed to, allowed this extraordlDary 

procooure, but after Mr. Bryan the prosecuting 

Counsel had glven his views on the literal 

acceptance of tho book of Genesis, the farce was 

carrle,l a stage fllrth.::r by expunging the whole of 

his eviJence from the record. Such a trial in a 

Bl'iti"h country would have only brought those who 

were concerned with it into contempt. Dayton, 

however, seems to hJ.ve acceptt'ti them quite seriously 

and the idea of trying the BIble as a work of scienti 

.-l,refel'ence, by a Court of Law, does not appear 

to have had any aspect of absurdity for judge, jury, 

counselor spectator's, , 

Mustafa Kemal Pasha, the Turkish Presi,dent, has 

informed his Government that he divorced his wife 

Latifa Hanon on August 5th, but the reason for 

the divorce does not appeal' in the reports publisl ed 

here. Madame Kemal is the daughter of one of the 

principal merchants of Smyrn,ll. she is a leader of 

the Western EmancilMtion Movement among Turkish 

women, educated for a time at Tudor Hall 

lSchOQl Qhisl~p-'urst.in England. she was brol1l,:lIt- 'Up 

by an English governess, and later spent some years 

in France. She is now only 22. When she became 

engagt'ti to Kemal, she ordered her brIdal robes in 

Paris, thus bidding goodbye to the Yashmak, and 

the eastern cnstom of veiling the face. She accompar.ied 

her husband everywhere, and frequently discarded 

skirts, for riding breeches and top boo~ 

About IS months ago Madame Kemal was instrumental 

in saving her husband's life. A visitor 

called at their villa and asked to see the President. 

Madame became suspicious and ordered the VIsitor 

to wait. A moment later a bomb was thrown, and 

she was BOunded. 

DUling King Feisul's absence from Bagdad, for 

health reasons, in Europe, his brother. the Eniir 

Said, who is an undergraduate at Oxford, wIll act as 

Regent, and for this purpose he is now on his way 

to Baghdad from Oxford. 

• 

The Maharajah Singh, deputed by the Govert'. 

ment of India to report on the Ind18ns in Manritius, 

recommends the stoppage of unskilled Indian immigration 

to the Island. According to the census of 

1921, out of a total population of 37G,935 persons in 

MauritIUS, 248,468 were returned as Indo-Mauritus, 

that is. persons of Indian descent born in Mauritius 

and 17.506 as other Indians. 

' 

The passing away of Sir t::lurendranath Bannerjea 

at Barrackpore, in Calcutta, removes one of the 

pioneers of Indian National Movement. Though he 

was not of the Swarajist Party, he nevertheless was 

the patriot who will go down in Indian history, as 

one of the great sons of India. HIS autobiography, 

.. A Nation in the making" bemg the reminiscenoes 

of fifty years of publio hfe in Bengal, published by 

the Oxford Universlty Press, desei'ves to be read by 

every Indian. 

The projected visit of the Secretary for War, to 

IndIa iI! cancelled owing to pressure of offiCIal business 

in London. Sir S. L. Evans the Secretary, had 

planned to lecl.ve for Ind18 in 8eptember and to be 

present at the Northern Manoevres in India; returning 

to England early next year. It is considered that 

four months is too long a perIOd for the War Secretary 

to be absent. 

Mahatma Gandhi's Birthday 

Celebrations 

Mahatma Gcl.ndhl's flfty sixth birthday was cele. 

bra ted last monday evening at the Parjee Rustomjee 

Hall, Queen Street, Durban, under the joiqt auspices 

of Natal Indian Congress and the Kathiawad Arta 

MandaI. 'l'here was a large gathering of Indians 

and some European ladies including Mrs. Andrew, 

Mrs. Fernandez, Miss E. Kundsen, and Miss Warner. 

Mahatma Gandhi's photo decorated with flowers 

was placed on the plJ.tform. The procE'edings commenced 

with the singing of national songs by school 

children under the guid,mce of Mr. A. 'N. Gosalia. 

Pundit Bhawani Dayal who \vas in the chair then 

described, in the course of an eloquent sp~ech in 

Hindustani. the exceptional qualities of Mahatma 

Gandhi and the services he was rendering the Motherland. 

Speeches were also made by Messrs O. H. A. 

Jhaveri. V. Lawrence, A. H. Kazi, M. 1. Kajee .. Raghavjee 

Rughnath, V. D. Mehta, B. l\I. Patel," Mrs. 

Andrew and 

Miss Kundsen praising Mahatma 

Gandhi's work and wishing him long hfe. 

The meeting terminated with the singing of National 

songs by the children and three hearty cheers 

for Mahatma Gandhi. 

Message of Congratulations 

, The following cable was ssnt to Mahatma Gund4


September 18th I Q ! S 

on his hirlhday, by Mr. Amou Bayat, presluent N,ttal 

IndIan Congress.:- 

" Natal Indians sends gl'eetinf,'il on yonr fiUY-Slxth 

birthday. Pray Almighty grant yon long life anll 

ha~piness." 

Anniversary of Gandhi Library 

and Rustomjee Hall 

A European L~dy's 

Appreciation 

Mrs. Helen Calland Andrew wrItes to us from 

Durban :-\ 

It was a real pleasure to me to be prl?seqt at 

the above annivarsary, and to hear of the work 

done by the Indian community for the upliftmen~ 

of their people. The beautiful collection of books, 

the many periodicals, dallies, which are placed at 

the disposal of the people, just shows how Indians 

who, instead of being the ignorant pariahs as so 

many Europeans think are most intelligent farseemg 

people, an(i are kept well posted up as to what IS 

hatlpening everywhere. But, what to me was the 

most refreshing part of that meeting, were the manly 

utterances made by Bishop Fisher, he boldly says, he 

is a blallChed Iudian f He 1

~pjllilllt 

ll.ecioterei at 1M G .... O' u a ...... per 

' .. ea ,.O .... ~UI 

CAMfA.lG.N AG.AINST ASlATIC BIL~ 

~~~~~~~:~~~ .~NGAAT ~NDIANS SQJ~~~O~T ~ONGRESS 

N aooor&nee wiffi a reso!ntlon p8Slled by the; the Bill and in doing so said, that copies of the Bill 

IT 

Committee of -the-Natal Indian Congress the to~etlle~ wjth an explanation were sent to all the 

, latter has QOmmenced a vigorous campaign memberS or the rmperial Parliament and to the 

agaiIUlt the Asiatic, BUL 

l,eac)ers and sympatbisers in llidia, 'England and 

, IMet.tingB were organised nnder the auspices' of the elsewhere and Cables were also sent td 'the cost of 

,CongreB81ast Sunday lJt Stanger and l'o~t to ex- over £50., ·The speaKer exhorted 'the people to rise 

pla!n the. terIWt of ~he.obnoxlou.e Bjll to tbe IDdian~ l'~P fA? the ~c~ion and support the 'CongreB8 in upl'e8ldeQ,t 

In, those d~tnC)ts. 

holding the .honour of India. 

Stanger Meeting • . Mr. I!- ~ ~aidoo explained the terms of th.e Bill 

- , 10 'l'anul. 

AllLrge and fully representaijve mooting of Mr. S. N. Amin then moved the following 1'esolu- 

,Stanger lnwans was held'at 1: p.m. on the football tion :- . 

grounds. ' Among those present \vera 1t!essr8. W. R. "This Mass Meeting of Lower Tugela and Dis~ct 

BodasinJ' Rajdev Bodasingh, 8adal Shah, llampartal, Indians beld nnder the anspices of the Natal Indian 

~ishanslDgli-all well-known farmers and land - Congress nereby approves of all that the Natal Inowntrs, 

'and Messrs. EBBOP Ebrahim Gangat, M: E. d,ian CongreB8 has hitherto done with regard to the 

Gangat, IIiIln3U E. Gangali, A. I. Jinnah, Jil. ¥. ~O()lla, protest against the Areas Reservation' and Immi 

E.l\{. Ma,itller, S. N. Anrln and' other representative gration and Registration (Further Provision) Bill 

merchants' Q! the pistrict. There wer~ present also and .further records its confidence in the Natal In 

,tJie following representatives of 'the CongreBB:- dian CongreB8" 

.Messrs. Pandit Bhawani Dayal, Advocate J. W. Mr. Satyadev explained the resolution in Hindu- 

Godfre~, (Vice-Presidents), Sorabjee Rustomjee stani. 

(Secretary), A. t. 1\ajee, M. '13eethasee MaMraj, Mr. P.1;.uke seconded -the resolutiou and being 

M. Y. Gandhi, R. K. Naidoo and Satyadev. 'randit put before the meeting it was paBSed unanimously 

Bhawani Dayal was ~ the chair. ' amidst loud applause. 

'~f~i the 'chairman h3.d explaine4. the 'Qpject Of :rJi-. A. I. Kajee condemned the action of the 

~e meeting A4vocate J. vy. Godfrey gave a' resume, Government and the attitude of the white man 

of the Bill in ~ngIish and explained how detri- / fpwards the Indian. As long as' the Indian rementally 

it would affect the Indian communltt if p13iqed in' 'ihis country as "hewer of wood and 

ever it ~ere allowed to pass. He urged the people ,drawer of water" he was not objectionable, 'said the 

'to iptefe~~'~}lems~lv~~' in the B.ill and 'supp

'jng which was most enthusiastic throughout the 

~proceedings and filled with indignation against the 

action of the Government came to a termination 

with three cheers for Mahatma Gandhi. 

At the close of the meeting copies of the Asiatic 

'Bill were sold and within a few minutes the stock 

in hand at the moment was found to be too small 

for the great demand. 

Members of -the Congress Committee were then 

generously entertained by Mr. A. I. Jheena at his 

residence to dinner after which they motored to 

Tongaat to address another meeting called at the 

Gokhale Me'f0rial Hall at 3 p.m. 

Tongaat Meeting 

On arrival at the Hall it was found packed 

to overflowing by every section of the community. 

Pandit Bhawani Dayal took the chair and among 

the prominent merchants were present Messrs. 

Ayob Say a, Ayob Sacoor, Habib Hassan. A. A. 

Gandhi, M. G. _ Naidoo and others. Mr. qodfrey 

explained the Bill in English and the chairman 

spoke lengthily on the Bill in Hindustani. 

The chairman's speech was followed by the description 

by Mr. Sorabjee Rustomjee. of the work already 

done in connection with the Bill. 

Mr. R. K. Naidoo spoke in Tamil and Mr. M. M. 

Gandhi in Hindustani. 

Mr. E. J. Choonoo then moved the following 

resolution :- 

" That this Mass Meeting of Tongaat and Diatrict 

Indians held under the auspices of the Natal Indian 

Congress at the Gokhale Memorial Hall. Tongaat, 

hereby hpartily records its absolute confidence in all 

the Congress work as regards the Areas Reservation 

and Immigration and Registration (Further Provision) 

Bill. " 

In the conrse of his speech Mr. Ohoonoo said, he 

had been a Congressman since 1910. He took part 

in fighting against the three guineas membership 

fee and he was glad to find that that fee had now 

been reduced to 213. 6d. Speaking on the Asiatic 

Bill the speaker said, Bills of this kind, however 

bad, they were a blessing in disguise, as they united 

the community, and concluded with the words I "I 

have faith in the Oongress, in all that it has done 

and is going to do." The Oongress officials were 

not paid servants but they were voluntary w~rkers 

said the speaker. 

Mr. A. A. Gandhi seconded the resolution and 

Mr. M. G. Naidoo supported it speaking in Tamil. 

Messrs. Devchand Harakhchand, A. R. Singh, 

Appanna Naidoo and Molvi Essop also spoke in 

lupport of the resolution. 

Mr. Molvi Essop in the course of his remarks 

said it was the duty of every Indian to become a 

member of- the Oongress and to support it heartily 

in fighting against the Bill. 

The resolution was then'put to the meeting and 

was passea unanimously amidst lIce~es of great enthusiasm. 

Mr. A. I. Kajee in the course of his remarks said 

Dr. Malan was Minister of religion and the religion 

he 'represented said: "Thou shall not steal," but the 

Minister was going to steal their land through this' 

Bill. This country owed its present prosperous 

eondition to Indians. Speaking alone, said the 

speaker, 'Wonld not do but something else was r~quired 

and it was to be hoped that when the hour 

-came, the people would be prepared for that. 

Mr. M. B. Maharaj said it was time to wake up 

.from onr slumber or else the time would com~· for 

",us to leave the country bag and baggage. 

wa ,Mr. Satyauev exhorted ~he people to wake up and 

help ~rt the Oongress without flinching. ' 

" meeting terminated with hearty votes of 

'l,the Tongaat ,Indians who had responded 

'gress and ro. the Oongress officials for the 

were doing. Three hearty cheers were 1 

~- INDIAN OPINION September 25th, 1925_ 

give!! for Mahatma Gandhi and Shrimati Sarojini 

Naida. 

At the end of the meeting Indians were very 

keen on becoming members of the Oongress and 

arrangements were made to enrol them. 

Other meetings of a similar nature will be held 

by the Natal Indian Oongress throughout the Province 

of Natal to educate the Indian public and stir 

them to a realisation of what this Bill means and 

further to make united protest agaiust the Bill 

through the South African Indian Congress. 

Nates and News 

~ S advertised elsewhere in this issue a mass... 

En meeting of the Indian CQmmunity of Olairwood 

and Districts will be held at the Clairwood 

Indian School grounds on Sunday the 27th 

September, 1925 at 2-30 p.m. when members of the 

Natal Indian Congress will explain the provisions 

of the Asiatic Bill now before Parliament. 

The Natal Indian Congress officials have taken up 

its propaganda work in connection with the Asiatic 

Bill in right earnest and it is to be hoped that their 

efforts will be crowned with success. The SUCCeBil 

of their work lies solely in the hands of the community. 

It is the duty of every Indian to do everything 

in their power to prevent the Bill from 

passing; for prevention is better than cure. The only 

way to prevent the Bill from passing is to loyally 

support and stand by the Oongress and to respond 

to their call at any and every time. The protest 

meetings at Stanger and Tongaat last Sunday were 

very successful and next Sunday's meeting of the 

residents of Olairwood and Districts, it is expected, 

wilLalso be a success. Next week-end the 3rd and 

4th October Oongress meetings will be held in the 

Northern Districts of Natal and we sincerely hope 

that Indians in those Districts will, by their presence 

in large numbers, prove in no uncertain terms 

their strong protest against the obnoxious Bill 

introduced against them and show to the Government 

also that they are prepared to support the 

Oongress wholeheartedly in fighting against the Bill. 

We thank the Bodasingh Brothers Messrs. Woodraj, 

Lntchmansingh, Basdev, Rajdev. and Nariansingh 

each of whom have generously donated two guineas 

to INDIAN OPINION. While appreciating the interest 

taken by Messrs. Bodasingh Brothers we wish to 

assure them that at the present time when propaganlla 

work is greatly needed in the interests of the 

community and many copies have to be sent free of 

charge their gift will be very useful. 

On the subject of segregation. the following interesting 

resolutions were passed at a meeting of the 

executive of the Transvaal African Oongress, held 

on the 12th and 13th inst. at Pretoria: 

c'That this executive meeting of the Transvaal 

African Oongress in session in the Cape location, , 

Pretoria, these 12th and 13th days of September/,' 

1925, views with alarm the spread by the Union 

Government of this country of the propaganda of the 

so-called segregation, a segregation which we consider 

as an indirect resuscitation of the old slavery. 

"That as it appears the white people do not like to 

live peacefully side by side with the native in their 

Motherland, this meeting urges that the Government 

should first show the native the c country in which 

to accOmmodate the 7,000,000 blacks of the country 

but not small and arid patches, as suggested iii the 

Native Land Act of 1913, and that in that demarcated 

country no white missionaries,. storekeepers nor' anT

~ptember 25th, 1925 INDIAN OPINION !49 

-----------,--------~----------~~ 

European I)e allowed to settle. trade or carry on any 

business tranRaction. 

"Young Indian Improvement Society" has been 

formed in Pretoria MI. II. N. Keshavjee being the 

Chairman and Mr. R. C. Naidoo Hon. Secretary. 

It is our painful duty to record the death, at the 

age of Ra, of Latchmiamah, mother of Mr. R. 

Govindoo who was for fourteen years a settler and 

• worker at Phrenix Hettlement. The old lady, who 

had heen 47 years in Natal, passed away at her son's 

residence at Mayville, near Dorban, on Saturday the 

19th instant. Numerous children, grand-children 

and grand-grand-cbildren remain to mourn their 

lollS. We offer our sympathy in their JJereavement. 

A meeting of Indians under the auspices of the 

Transvaal Rritish Indian Association was held last 

Sunday the 20th instant at the Goldberg Bio Hall, 

JohannesbuJ'g to weclome Bishop and Mrs. Fisher. 

In addition to a large gathering of Indians there 

were European sympathisers present among whom 

were the Hev. Mr. Lucas, Messrs L, W. Ritch .. H. 

Kallenback, Capt. F. Trotter and others. All the 

European speakers disapproved of Dr. Malan's Asiatic 

Bill and Bishop Fisher adviced Indians as well 

as Europeans to strongly protest against the BIll 

which was unju'it and immoral. The Asiatic 

question, the Bishop is reported to have said was 

an imp(lrial: one and should be settled by means of a 

joint conference of all concerned. 

.. "W,e strongly urge," it was further reported, 

that lb clause 5 of the Bill a farther section should 

be added to prevent Asiatic traders or other persons 

on their behalf from evading the law by securing 

fresh licences to trade in European claBS area in the 

name of Europans or of persons exempted from the 

operation of the Btll. Otherwise we are of opinion 

that the main purpose of the Bill will be defeated." 

Mr. H. M. Ross, the chairmau, said that the committee 

bad been very moderate in the alterations it 

had suggested, but jf the Hill was to become the law 

of the land it must contain no loopholes . 

Councillor Hoatson said that he could see no 

reason why the local authority should be given the 

option of enforcing the provisions of the new Bill. 

I~,enforcement should be made compulsory. 

Do you think the Johannesburg Town Council 

has this movement at heart" he inquired. Do you 

thin k it will enforce those provisions? I do not 

think it will. You should ascertain from every 

candidate at the coming elections whether he will 

pledge himself to enforce the provisions of the Bill." 

It was agre~d that a sub-committee should present 

the report to the Minister of the Interior.-Rand 

lJa.l!J Al atl. 

Associated Chambers 

Of Commerce 

Discuss Asiatic Question 

• 

Bishop Fisher and Mrs. Fisher left Johannesburg 

for Capetown on Monday night. 

Anti-Asiatic Opinion On Asiatic 

Bill 

European Association Suggests Amendments 

The sub-committee of the Southern Suburbs 

European Association, Johannesburg, presented its 

report on the Areas Reservation and Immigration 

Registration (Further Provision) Bill, which is to 

come before Parliament during next session, at the 

monthly meeting of the As~ociation at Turifontein, 

Johannesburg. on the 16th Instant. 

The report noted with concern that no provision 

had been made in the Bill for the issue of trading 

licences to be entrusted to the urban local authority. 

.. We are strongly of opinion, " it was stated. "that 

this omission should be rectified, either in tbis Bill 

or in complimentary legislation such as the Licences 

( Consolidation) Bill. " 

In regard to clause 4. it was urged that in the case 

of Enropean residential and trading class areas the 

lease should in no case be renewed more than once 

nor for a longer period than laid down in the originallease; 

also that the Asiatic trader should not be 

, eutitled to transfer or snb-Iet bis lease in favour of 

any other Asiatic tradel' or in respect of any other 

premises within such areas. 

Evading The Law 

Regarding clause 5, the sub-committee considered 

its provisions should include ha"wkers and pedlars, 

otherwise future European residential class areas 

might be inl1ndate.t with Asiatics. who, being unable 

to secure shop pl'emisE's, will take elaborate 

JDeasures for trading on foot and wheel. 

At the annual Congress of the Associated Chambers 

of Commerce held last week at Durban in the 

Beach Pavileion the following resolution is reported 

to have been discuEsed :- 

Mr. Webster (Potchefstroom) moved :-" That 

this Chamber views with satisfaction the Government'ft 

efforts at solving the Asiatic question, as set 

fortb m the new Asiatic Bill to come before Parliament 

next session. " 

Mr. Webster said that at Potchefstroom and other 

towns in the Transvaal they felt very grateful for 

the practical measure which the Government were 

introducing during the next session to relieve the 

anti-Asiatic feeling in the Transvaal. 

Mr. Cooper (Kl'ug~rsdorp) seconded. 

Mr. Gundelfinger (Durban) spoke in opposition and 

hoped Mr. Webster would withdraw his motion until 

he had a full opportunity of studying the Bill. 

Mr. Paine (Grey town) expressed agreement with 

Mr. Gudelfinger's remarks. 

Mr. Mushet (Capetown) thought the Bill should 

be referred to the General Executive and that a 

special committee be formed to consider the measure. 

He did not think the Congress should vote at this 

stage on such an important tlubject with the little 

information they possessed at present. 

Mr. Taylor 8:lid he was rather surprised and 

thought it a pity that the Malay population d£ the 

(Jape were to b~ eliminated from the operation of 

the Bill. 

Mr. Dunkerton oppoiled the motion, and said that 

what was required by the Government was a COllstructive 

suggestion, there was nothing constructive 

in the resolution, which indeed was of little value 

he considered, either to the Congress or to th~ 

Government. 

Mr. Pocock (Pretoria) thought the matter should 

be referred to the Executive Committee, and would 

move accordingly as an amendment, that "no 

decision be- taken on this resolution, but that it be 

referred to the Executive Committee to take such 

action thereon as they ma~ consider advisable." 

Mr. Webster in replying said that although he

was not a supporter of. the present Govermnent. !1e 

must sas he a.PJlr,eciat~ what they hal'Igh't l!IOme scheme tlPuid be devised 

to repatriate the Asiatie who '\'VaS 'faSt becominfl a 

menace to the "White popula'tiojl. If we were not 

careful this would hecome a second India. It waa 

not a f3Ct that an Indian born in 'this oonntry couh'!. 

not be seRt 'back to India. They eOllM not 'be sent 

to any other eountTY or Dominion, 'but they could 

alw.ays go back to their own country. lIe did not 

wislh to treat them hardly. Time &hould be given 

them to make adequate arrangements, and .compensation 

as wen, 'but at the expiration of the given time 

t4ey must go. 

~~««««««~ 9!»""'J>'>~~'>;;»»> 0 

I OUR LONDON LETTER i 

" [ b.Q1\l -DUJt. OWN COB1UISIPOJtDli:NI' ] • 

'f 20th AuguB4 1925. ~ 

Ii) f(~«««««««~ »»l>~»~:)»>)»> 0 

At a meeting of the Delegate Conference of 

M.inel'fl hellll. yeBtooday i'B Kling8way HaJI, the terms 

v. Virgo. lI.nd 'by the decision in this c,onrt of 'Bbika of. reference for the Royal Commission into the 

Hira v. Boksburg 'Municipality. It was pontended epal industry were announced. They are to inquire 

that the power to m~e Drdina,nces for the plll'pose into and Teport upon 'the ecunomic position of the 

of direct taxa.tlOn in order to 1-'a1S0 r,evenne 0jd n01: .coal imluBtry lind 'l:b.e -condi:tjons a1fecting it and to 

auth.orise'the prohibiti.on in ,questj.on. It kll been make any Teoonmrend,ati.ons for fhe 'imprDvement 

held that the statute whiCh gave t4.e l>1jowinciaJ tihereof. These terms are wide enough to allow of. 

Legislatures of Canada tne 1-'ight to make .~ws in all 3Jlpeets, mc1ud;i.ng the nafion~Tisation of the coal 

respect of a "Snop, saloon, tavern, ,a1;lctioneer alild lndusbry 'being inquired iItto. 'The Conference has 

other ncences ~n order to ;rallie revenue ,did no/; ,apPIloved these terms oi reference, .and has given the 

authorise the passing of a "remT!lerance 40t, 

llLiner!l 'executive the necessary anthority to ,take all 

Nor did the 'FinancW Rela:ti.ons Aut mcr.ease the. sit\P$ to opresent 'the cJU!e ctf. the miner$ to the Royal 

powers o'f the Provi.ncial -Councn ,in t1tat r~pect.' C\ommislliar;I. ''The mine-owners 'have alsQ accepted 

Section 11 of the ,Adt.. read with the schedule, dea1t the \erms .of reference. The Commission, therefor.e, 

only Wi't'h the method of raising revenue, whlle w,Q.en frPPointed win hlfVe ti).e help of an parties 

Section 12 and the second sc'hedule refer to IQ.atiers .conCi8rned, hrelud'mg the prrblic in its in:vestigatioQs 

dealt Wltfu by 'Sub·sections 1}.n.. ,and ntt. of SectJ-on into Ithe coal industry and in the finding of a solu- 

85 of the 'So'nth Africa ,Act. A considena,tion o~ ,the tiOOllof the prob'lems "arising Q1lt .of it. 

schedules 'Strengthens the view t'hat 'Section 11 is ll'-"-e 'attnooncement by 'ehe Irish Free State Govfiscal 

In its object and nothing else. Section. 1 9f' .ern~ent, 1lhttt it prupos~ in the next SesSion of its 

the second S'ched'u'e ampowered the registration and Pa;rliamen't'to intro


quaUfledio the Co~onies. The veople in the Iril.lh Free 

State are collcerned with the consequences likely to 

follow, for, apart from the restriction referred to, 

the UnivenJities in the Free State will sutIer, it is 

fe'dred, fn refutation and otherwise. 

London is notable for many thinb'll, and not the 

least among them are its slums, not that it does not 

endMvour frow time to time to improve the condit10M 

W its sluma. or their demolioo, in order to 

erect better buildings ill slJch an area. At the! preflCDt 

mOml-lut tile !;tepney Council has a plan for the 

re-building of fiats in the Limehouse Fields. 8 

n9torio~ ,lum area, where, the conditions of the 

buildings, and of the life, are such that it would do 

a good deal of good, to anti-Asiatics in South Africa 

to visit, and with knowledge of such slum places, 

they would then look at, in the right perspective, the 

conditions under which non-Europeans by stresE of 

~conomic, and other eaules are living in South 

Africa. The su-ange thing about the residents in the 

Limehouse Fields is that they are vigorously objecting 

to their houses being rebuilt, and the Fields 

being improved, in other words, to make it no 

}oIlBet" a slw:t. \and. They prefer exiitiug slum 

conditions, for varioUI! reasons, mostly sentimental 

and personal. The Indians in South Africa, as 8 

community, have alw~ys sUPIWrted the introduction 

of means for the improvement for sanitary and 

other oonditions. 

Colonel Gidney at the head of an Anglo-Indian 

Deputation. hu heeD. making representation. to the 

Secretary of S~~ fo.r India, on their behalf. They 

ask, among other things, for admisaion into the British 

Units of the Indian Army or aa an auxiliary to 

such units and to the Indian Marine Service, including 

tb,e IJ;ldian Navy when it is formed. They 

also ask for special consideration on the Indian railways, 

in which they claim to have played a very 

large part, .and from which they say they are being 

ousted as Indiru;lisation of lhe Services increases. 

And in particular they claim that, beiug also of Indian 

deilcfjln~ t~1V should ,1)e coDBidered ail Indians 

in any scl.wQUl of IndianiBation. As it 1s they are 

classed for some purposes t&S Indians. 

In the Cl.'icketiug world, J. B. Hobbs of Surrey, 

is the oJ;l.e overwhelrnlng topic. His achievements 

in passing fth,e record. set by Dr. W. G. G.race of 

126 centuries, a.nd in also passing the record of 

Fry, Hendren and Hayward of 13 centuries in a 

season, have set the followers of cricket speculating, 

as to the future doings of Hobbs. 

Few English Poets are so well known as Byron, 

and the appeal which has just leen launched for 

subscriptions to the Lord Byron lntern.a.tional !femorial 

Fund, will doubtless meet with a response ' 

lNDJA.t4 OPINION 

from many GOWltries. It iii ,Proposed &0 erect a permanent 

memorial. where tlte poet is bn.ried at 

Hucknall, Torkard in Nottinghamshire. Any sur- . 

plus there may be Is to be devoted to the establishment 

of Byron Travelling scholarships for the pursuit 

of humaner stuuies. 

King Feisul of Iraq, is now in London, staying at 

the Hyde park Hotel. But since his arrival, he has 

been confined to his bed. His visit is said to be 

for hel\lth NaBOl).$, to conlult the specialists in this 

coun~y. The l'renc,h n.ewllPapers however, think 

tbat his visit is not free t:rom politcal purposes. 

... ,To-day iIt Simila, the autumn session of the All 

Indian Legislature was opened by Lord Reading. In 

his IlPooc:h amoog otD&r matters, he referred to the 

setting up of a cur.rency commission, and this afternoon 

India Office announced the terms of reference 

which will be: To examine and report on the Inilian 

exchapge and'oDven£Y system and pl'actaae; to Gonsider 

whether \lny modifications are desirable in the 

interests of India .auti to make recommendations. 

The chairman of the Oommission is Lieut commandl;lr . 

Hilton young, Liberal M. P. considered to be, one of 

~e best known financial experts of the day. 

Public Lecture 

IN PARSEE RUSTOMJEE HALt 

"The Brothet'hood of Religions" 

A lecture on the above ~ubjec.t will be 

delivered by Miss Marguerite Warner, 

L.R.AM., F.T.S., at the PARSEll: Rus 

TOM]EE HALL, 140, Queen Street, Durban, 

on Wfdnesday the 30th September, 1925 

at 7 p.m. sharp. 

All are requested to attend. 

O. H. A • .JHAVEtU, Cb~irmaD. 

B. AI. PATEL, Uoo. Se~~. 

The M. K. Gandhi Library and Pa.rsee 

Rustomjee HaU Committee. 


----"~ 

To be obtamed from the lIUi"", Opi ....,. Press, l'hreni1, 

Na.tal. l'o&tal Orders to be made parable at Ollrban. 

The Rltn. Mr. Gokhale aDd the Indenture System 2 0 

Indian Home Rule, by M. K. Gandhi I 6 

A Book-a,t1d its Misnolller I 0 

Bagavad Gita. Mrs. lleaa~'s Tr~tiQ.t1 

Asiatics Registration A,J;DeUdOlent ACqI!)-OS) 

~ 6 

in English and Gujarati 

Hindu Sociallde~s, bJ P. J. M~hta 

Rille .and Growth of Bombay Municipal Go.n. 

Agricultural Industries in India 

~ 

4 

z 

6 

6 

6 

The Story of the Ramayana, the Epic of Rama :I 6 

. , 

A Study in Indian· EcotlOmics, by P. B~anerji 4 6 

The In,dia,ns oC SOllt)l Alric~. by H, S. L. Pplak _ 0 

Life 01 M. K. Gandhi (Ill Tamil) 

The GaMet) Number of" ludian Opinion" 

Paper covers 

BouDd in Cloth 

Speeches on Indian AtTairs, by John Morley 

l'~e aon. Mt. Gokhale's Tour in South Africa: 

Special INDIAN OPINION Souvenirr. 

The Ethics at Passive Resistance 

ES.1ay on Indian Econa)ics, by Maha,dev 

Govind RapJlde 

Hindu Psalms and Hymns 

Vaishavite IleforlllHs of IndIa 

M, K. Gandni and the South African 


Aspecs of the VedaDta 

Essays 00 Indian Art, Industry and Education 

Sri Madhwacharya 

Hin


~:--~------------ 

Allahabad a.~d N agpur Congresses 

l! 6 

The Surat Congress and Conferences 

:2 0 

The Improvement of Indian Agriculture 

2 6 

The Cobgress Conferences 'and Conventions 2 0 

India's Untouchable SaIDts 

2 0 

The Governance of Iodla, by Govind Das 7 6 

For IndIa's Uplift, by Anne Besant 3 6 

Sri RamanuJacharya :2 

Sri Sankaracharya 2 

.Mr. Gandhi's Speeches and Wntmgs-I896 to 1977 3 6 

The IndIan D~mands, by G. A. Natesan :2 

Indian Industrial and,Economlc Problems by Prof. Kale 3 6 

Essays on National Ideahsm, by Dr Coomaraswamy 2 6 

FRIENDS\ OF INDIA SERIES: Lord Morley, Sir Wm 

Wedderburn, Rev. Dr. MIller, Sir Edwm Arnold, 

Edmund Burke, Lord Mmto, Henry Fawcett, 

John Bright A. O. Hume, SIr Henry Cotton, Lord 

Macaulay, Lord RIpon, Lord Hardmge. 

BIOGRAPHIES OF EMIN~NT INDIANS - 

Dadabhal Naorol', Gopal KrIshna Gokhale, Rabmdranath 

Tagore, M. K. GandhI, Budruddtn TyabJI 

Pundit Madan Mohan Malavlya, The Right Hon 

,Sayed AmlC Ali, H. H. SrI Sayajl Rao Gaekwar, 

Sir Sayed Ahmed Khan, H H. the Aga Khan, 

Swami Rama Ttrath, V. Krrshnaswaml Aiyar, Krlslo 

Das Pal, Dewan C. Rangacharlu, 'vV. C. BonnerJea, 

A. M Bose, RavI Varma, Kashtnath Trimbak Telang, 

Swami Vlvekanada, Toru Dutt, Ishwar Chandra 

Vldyasagar, SirSalar Jung, V. P Madhava Rao, D. E. 

Wacha, Sri Ramaknshna Paramahamsa, Sir Pherozesha 

Mehta, Rahimtulla Mohamed Sayani, Dr Rash 

Beharl Ghose, Nawab Mohsm-ul-Mulk, Sir C. Sankaran 

Nair, Lal Mohun Ghose, Raja Ram Mohan 

Roy, BehramJI M. Malaban, Mrs. Anne Besant, 

Babu Surendranath Banel'jea, Rao Bahadur R N 

Mudholker. 

each I 

"lndJan Opinion Supplemel'tts" 


J 0 

We have the following supplements on art paper for uh at Olle 

.bilhng per dozeD. post free 1- 

The Hon. Dadabhai Naoroji, Soutb Afrlan Incdlln S~retcher. 

Bearer Com pin)" HOD. Mr. Gokhale's visit, tak:n at HeBelburg 

station, Mr: L. ITon. R'\; R.A. (Han. Princip,1 D. A f 

V. College, I'rerident Labore Arya Samaj). Oma, Jh}i Amo",!} 

Johari, Indian Volqnteer Strdcher.Bear" Corpl, Three Tran.; n 

vnl ladies a8 passive reshten (Mh. Sivprasad, Mill Minn.tj~,~ 

8!,d Mrs. Somar). Mrs. S',eikh Mehtab, India'. Grut Loyal~."1' 

Cartoon), The Late Sir PberoleshalJ Mebta, Mr. Ratan J. Tata"lll 

Sir William Wedderbnrn, Lt., Pioneer Settlefl of Tolstoy Fanrtr t , 

The Late Rev. To!eph J. Doke, The Late Mr. S. N.gappa11f'I~ 

The Right Hon. Lord Ampthill, G.C.I.E., The TriqmphJr'" 

Arch outside Park Station (Mr. Gokhale's Vilit), Mr. Sorahi''II: 

Shspurji of Adajan, PicllIc Party at Tolstoy Farm, Shri GITi.J ti9iilJtFlii.uu(i)u,. 

&T iIl(l ~IT (!5 ID fG 6lI(!!I f91 &lr. (J $L..(i) iiQ 801T aTr ~fj)(J (!!Ill-. 

~Ul P; mUUJ,T P; 

aJl€RGc-_":' 

6lJ. aT. . UP;tblT. 

Q(f[J!J1Uffi' !TGfutDptD~. 

8ii...L..(i)ii G.WIT6lI .rtFItLJllf/€R5';': 

~ 

fiJ)Ai1 U9.il/tD (!jl8;(SfUUIT61JT 8ii...L.c-lDrQl8OtLJIt6o> &T6.J(J6\ll'®tD p&l(!!lAi1 6lJ1T1i (J.~(j)" G5rwe5Q1 (!!Ju,. 

uaiml!J-fGi U6l1l1eJlfGtLJlI6.l eS66rlFU Al!J-.,w atMJf1j"~ €R.., 

.~tLJ"siufJJlI·.lTfGrL.. 19. ITITUI#r6fGti 'lieU ufillrefl 

jMDflf1 L.9lw~ (l •. &TID. GITL..I!J- I!J-. 6T'~. vi,,, P 

-f}l· I!J-. ui..!FITp; &TID. fll1,UITsa til -8; tR"';' 

6!JlLI>ii806.l €R 5' lNllllfR 1ifT~. Ii. (J 1-"* L... '~MJLI>u9 60> (1 fG' 

uvWlf-~i .ifi1(!58O l.lJ8OrJrlT~ Ii (1.i~.

No.' 4o-Vo1. XXIII. , ',Friday. Octob~r 2nd. 1925. 

Reli ........ ttbeG.p.o. ... H ....... " 

PlUCa FOD ..... a 

CLAIRWOOD INDIANS, ~UprORT 

- / 

PROTEST AGAINST AS,ATIC BILl; 

n 

against the 'Asiatic Bill by thlt Natal Indian 

CONGRESS 

, - - 

N furtherance - ~i the proPaganda carried on -COngress and aaid be I bad always stood and woula 

,eontinue to staud by the Congress at all times. 

Congress a' thorongbli representative ,Jl1eeting I Messrs. L Ganesh, and Ismail Tootla spoke in 

-of tlt.e Indians of Clairwood and Districts _ was held ,support of the above resolution and asked evel'f Inunder 

Its auspices at the ClairwOQd Indian School dian to enrol himself as' a memoor of the CongreSS 

grounds last Sunday at 2·30 p.m. ' ' and to fight against the iniquitoll8 Bill. 

There were about a thousand people present and Mr. V. S. C. Pather explained the Bill folly in 

among the officials of the Congresa were Messrs. Tamil after which the resolution being put to the 

Pandit Bhawani, Dayal, Advocate J. W. Godfrey, meeting was passed unanimously • 

.A. ,Dookan. M. Beetbasee, A. I. Kajee, B. A. Magh. Mr. Shabally then rose to move the following 

rajh, G. M. C. Patel, S, N. Richards, P. R. Pather, , ~esolution:- 

R. K. Naidoo, S. L Singh, D. S. Chetty, M. M. •• This mass meeting -of Indians at Clairwood hElre. 

Gandhi,' .A.' Sookdeo, S~ Emammally, S. A. Pinay by resolves to form a District Committee of the 

and the Sec)Jietariea Me8i!11l. V. S. C. Father and Natal Indian Congress at Clairwood and appoints 'a 

Sorabjee Rustomjee.' There were also present a Committee of the following persons with power to 

number of 'ladies prominent among whom was- Mrs. add to make the necessary arrangements viz : 

J. W. Godfrey. 'Messrs. L Ganesh, M. Shabally, Michael E. Siga. 

Pandit Bhawani Dayal who took the chair in his 'IW>n~y. K. M. Reddy, - B. Ramcbander, Bisnath 

()pe~iDg remarks expressed, hill delight at .the pre- Singh, Anoon Goordeen', Pandit Bhawani Dayal, 

sence of such a large gathering that day .• It ,was . ~ b B 

Slll'Prising to see sach a large gathering owing to f G. R. John, Harry Pillay, Rugh eer howani, 

the fact that there was IUl element at ,I work )i~ 'that Ismail TootJa, Kalianjee Katbad, S. Sunderjee, Daya. 

District that was striving bard to frustrate the 'work ram, S. C: Katbad, S. Ramoutar ... 

of the Congress bat the eni intentions of that ele. ;Mr. K. M.:Reddy seconded the aDove resolution 

men' had apparently not beeq fqlfiUed. The chair. ~king in. T~ and Mr. Sy(lney supported it 

man thell anDQanced that Mr. J. W. Godfrey would ~Plj3.kiDg fu-Telugq and being put to the meeting 

laY a few words. ' " was passe,d,unanimol18ly, , 

. Mrs. Godfrey who spoke in fluent Tamil' urgeCl ' Mr . .M. ¥. Gandhl advised the people to place their 

the necessity of shOwing a united front against the fnD..confidence in the Congress and to stand by it 

A.l!Iia~o Bill which she described as a piece of .bumi- r unitedly in opposing the ·Asiatic Bill. 

liating legi.latio~ and with simple ,an,:! yet very 'Mr. M. B. Mabaraj addressing the gathering in 

BO~d ;.pstanc,s explained the Jte~ a~d benefits, of Hindustani said he would ask the people to remember 

nOlty. , four things. Firstly 'that It was tIme for them to 

I MrS'. Godfrey's speech was received with a; wake up, secondly they should put up a strong 

'Pleasant surprise as it was unusual- to find 'Indian figM against the Govemmen,t. thirdly they shqald 

-women in South Africa especially in present years stand firm against the misguidance of misguided 

coming to the forefront together with men, I men, and if they failed in these three things the fourth 

Mr. dodfrey explained in Hindustani what was I thing for them to do was to pack up and leave the 

said by Mrs. Godfrey in Tamil and dwelt upon the counl1'f. 

Bill in detail and the many clauses which woul!! Mr. A. I. Kajee in the course of his speech severely 

.adversely affect the Indian community. 

, condemned the formation of mushroom bodies and 

The Chairman then explained the BilUn detail in I -the action'of those,who indulged in misleading the 

, Hindustani and impressed apon the people present' people and antagopising them.. against the Congress 

that the only body that represented tJJ.e Indians'lo by making false statements an.d yet not having the 

Natal to.daY abd recognised, by the leaders in India courage to face them on the public platform. Jt will 

such as Mahatma Gandhi. Mrs. Sal'ojini Naidu, not do ,for the people to become m~mbers of the 

Pandit Motilal Nehru and others was the N~tal. 10. 1 Congree& alone. said the speaker, they should 

,dian: Congress and exhorted every Indian in the dis.; _ VOice their protest against the existence 9! mush. 

,trict of Clairwood to become ,. membe~ .of that body. t . room bodies for if they did not they too were I'ElS 

Mr. Sorabjee RustomJee being unwell- we Obairinan, ponsible for the exittenee of such bodies by their 

, himself gave 1m account of the work done' by the I silence. There could be one .PQliti .. • ..}

, .... 

• 254 ____________ ~ ______ I_N_D_I_A_N_.O--P-IN--IO--N---------O-c-t-ob-e-r_~2_n_d~,_I~92~5~ 

N ote~ and News 

We welcome Mr. C. R. Naidoo who has returned 

last week from India. Mr. C R Naidoo ift a Colonial 

born Indian and during his long stay in India he 

WlU! carrying on an active propaganda in connection 

~ T a public meeting .held in Newcastle jn regard with th~ Asiatic question and especiaily in conneciion 

~'n 'to the' Lic~E!~ng Revenues whichl.~ve !h!~~n, ,'Yith(the Union ~overnment's ,R,epatriation ~cheme. 

_taken'away oy the Union Govertiment hom Latferly Mr~C. R. Naidoo wasc6Jiductiolfthtrjournal 

the Natal Municipalities, Mr. J. W. Whyte, a promi- "Indians Abroad" of which he-was the editor. We 

mnt-. looal--bu&ineBS man and ~\lRcUlor.-in. F,,mg .nll(lerstand ~ Mr. C. ~ ~aidoo...haa lost.po time i.n 

(1:e!!o\t!'tigli tPJt~u~~tte N ~4a!tie 'iliiIltbet,J>{!he \beeo!D-!ng}l e!e~ber of.~~ l(atal ~Juamn Courlr~ 

Natal Provincial CouncIl to secure'1cgIslation pro- and we nave no llt>dbt thlR Wl"tfl1J.is Ind\dn"e:tp'eMedp~ 

viding that the Natal Local Authorities Shaltretain -Mr.·-Naidoo will become a very useful and aa 

all Licence Revenues at ~f~~ ~PJ mfJe}yeit,:> .1-y.~~nsayl.!:nreljPj the CongreBS 

together with the full contrOl of. the Issue o( such - .. ===J====== 

llicenceihadSOIiIe'i'"cll18ilkit,tofmake,that.Bet'Ahe ,I:roo r"ff~'r:f'''''1 r I, \,. 6' ~ 

dian mind :thinking. '

October' 2nd, 1925 INDIAN OPINION 255 

was so criminal for a J~urr)pean lady t'l t.lke note

the press of Durban and Mariuburg had ~~ne for 

him, Mid h" hupllil it 'WliS not thO ~ b~oo.use be 

would be straying very far from tile pathway he 

had elected to follow if b~ ~t , IDtlMure of commendation 

from the Maritzburg and Durban Press. 

(Applause). When that happened he might as well 

give up UwJ large n1~t)rit7 C)f ~tI! hill t>a~tf held in 

the Transvaal and giv~ up the ~hQwmanship of the 

Nationalist Party, whlch to-day was the largest party 

in the Tra!lsvaal. In -spite m wjections the policy 

he had laid down in making allPointments would bo 

cartitld ont. 

Ultimatum To Solicitors 

1\1"1". R~ m\\de further retl'ltmlee to the complaints 

abollt ~tlm1fioI\9tl8 bein~ tAken O\1t trobl the Same 

ofll~ b,. 'E\1~~11 girl!, tndian13 -and ~atlves. Ite 

had given th~ i~t '5Olicl.tort:l l1iong pel'iod in 'Which 

to rtmtify thl!! vomtfOll, he te1llarke'\l, but it they 

pemeted it!. ~d1ng lndians to the b.w courts 'to 

taIte but t!U1lllfit)nl!!~ lre wonld 'S'ee if it '\VaS hot 

pM!il.b\~ ttl ~tld:r the ~ltioti tihde\' the ensting 

law. U it Was 11{)\;, htl '\Votlld itrtr'Oltuc1! legislation 

which would force the solicitors to go themselves 'to 

the cl~l'k «)f the oolirt. {Ltmd appllln13e). 

Only by enl1ghtoo~d po.bU-c ~l)inttln could. they 

deal With thi'A qll~i{)ll. Not tm.1y the solicitors 

we~ tb bll!.tt1'6, 'fbI' he tlllderBtood that in certain 

bus\rt~s ~ctl'S ttld.t~:ns dtclated l~ttm UI lll{tropean 

girls. II~ did 1'I.ut want to mention tllhlleEi, but any 

matt 'Who allowed thfit w happen W'dS Il. regenade 'to 

his OOfihtrjr. TQ allow afi Indian 'tt> d1ctate 00 a 

EUt'btlea,l1 girt WM lIli itlmllt to th~ white face. 

"r Ml11it It\; {)fiC0 that Dr. M:alatl'~ BtU Is hot the 

lasb word, but it i8 a -great ~ fot'Wll.fd, and t expect 

th~ Wl1PtlrttJt ~\1m'r 

NMn.l mem.ber 6f Par1ilJ. 

ment~ ~V'Im wimbfti th@il" snppurt the tml will be 

put th'l'b\'lgh, " fImla.tlttld Ml". noos. 

s 

BiShop Fisher's Address 

....".. .5f¥.· .. ~ 

In Parsee RU'$t()mlee Hl11 

PIe. For Universal Stlndtrd OF Living 

TJ1M'e WIl!! !\ 't"el'1 lltttre '.tt~fiaaI1tle of ihdians in 

the ~ Ru~ HaR 1}fl the afie1'boon ot 

Sept. 1~ 'Whtm. Blsb.t;f1 Fret1@ri.ck FieMr of Ca).cfina 

delivered an interesJ.iftg-ads. 

Pttrcmltliflg- tht! "'Msifur "Slild ~-lfi the last two 

centurlal 'We fut~ lnJ.d. grim migratory movements 

thrtmghOttt tht! world, lt1(}\Y'elfleblS ln which for the 

. most pltrt \;h~ ~tlrop'ell.n n1rt.lons ha.d. been concerned. 

NoWth~e1tro~mtm.ts hl1ve tfitlt"easea. tne pOInts .of 

con~ct 'littltrfig all the rn.ees ahd in some instances 

have 'bro"l'1g-ht !1tl.t Ute WfirSt ~leInents in all the rac~ 

showed. tt> dlsadwtnta@, sl:)IDetiIMs the African and 

som'U'ttnHlS the 'Whlte llliln. Somehow tt has tle6B.led 

that the bringing down of the old sooial customs haft 

meaftt \,httt 'the WOM ~1mneh\;S are let loOse when 

we itnd 1)~lv~'$ 'n-1l. !i1;t'alige plaoe. t ha.ve found 

in 80nth AMM that the soclal restraiBts that.' are ' 

endured 1~ t~~/;~l !lot silifered -here; '!l'.he"y do 

~ J'~-~!bl:e~ ~ellli' J!~r~ m. the same walt. ~u.~ 

66'pl"", 

ot Europe do not biml 

" '\e way as they do in • 

INDIAN OPINION O~tober Ind, 19'5 

Europe. The very fAct that we have come into ()Qntact 

with each other has caused a recrudescence of 

the social consdence. When all your fotefathera 

lived in Indta they were just men, and Were not 

cOWlGioUII of being lhditme, and cared wry Uttlt! 

what was· thl! col

October, 2nd, 1925 


.unerica again there .were 4R republics an(l to all were emptied of popul.t.tion and had to be repopl1. 

Jlt.ents and pUl'poaea tao popuWion of Sonth Ame- laW. First leI; WI put the population of Australia in 

·i~ is European and the institutions are European. and the Phillippines and the United States. Would 

~.IJa whole country is based on the European mode that be enongh? No. Canada. theD and all Alaaka 

)f culture. In Canada also the population is only and all 1tIexico and the whole of the U republica of 

II milhons from the Atlantic to the PacIfic. and in South America. Put them all into India. would that 

.he United Sates as well there are huge territories do? Not enough yet. Go across the A.tlantic and 

where the population is less than a million. Yet get all the isIancI. to the east of America. Not 

~vet'y inch of the ground could be used, and much enough. Across then to Europe and take in all the 

)f it is.l!uitable {or the eastern peoples. population of the British fales. No not yet enough. 

Now, look at the trltnation between America and Cr088 the English Channel to Europe and take all 

Japan to-day. The State of California has a wonder. Belgium and France. Still it is not enough and you 

Eul climate with sunshine more than :350 days in the must go down to South Africa and take in all the 

Vtar, and Where every grain of sand will grow white, black and brown population and take them 

mmething. All this land is marvellously rich, yet all into India before the toll is paid. I should say 

what Is the trltnatlon? The Japanese have a little that iii something of a problem if population and aU 

island In which there are 5~ million 'people and yet of them are crowded into Ii territory half the size of 

;he one state of CalifOl"nia which is only one-forty- the island continent of Austraha. It is my honest 

~jghth of the United States, has exactly the same judgment that tlu!re is only one way out of the 

lmOtlnt of territory. Japan has its 5R milhons but present racial problem U1 the world, and that is a 

in Oaliiomia there are only 4 millions and yet the world-wide will, on the part of all the peoples, to 

roup mUllons say : .. We cannot have any of the 5~ come to some mutual understanding as to the .re. 

millions coming into our territory ... So immediately sel've places of the world where people may go and 

you raise a barrier and create d frictioll, because the have an opportunity of developing. How it is to 

lape.nel!e know that the land of California would come about I realise is an extremely illfficult prowake 

a wonderful country in ,vhich his gardening ~lem, but we see we have come to a tima when 

~km could be used to the greatest advantage. It is 

)nly necessary to go to Japan to see what wonderful 

there are great restrictions. In the early days none 

were consciollB oi race. but now the wlute has bef'ardenera 

they are. They have even made mounds come more white, the black more black, and we 

in some places to incl'e'.;Lse their square feet of ground have become more intensely loyal to our special 

~nd haTe planted both sides of the raised ground group than ever before in all history. We have alwith 

-vegetables. They have even adopted a scientific ways exaggerated the disunity of India. When I 

method of fertilising their soil, whereas we western- went to India 21 years ago l found that there Went 

era mmply pollute the soil. 

many divisioWl-divislOns that staggered me, but 

I do Dot see how the problem is to be finally to-day there is more unity in India than there has 

seWed. but in all fairness the American must some- ever been before, and it mWlt be remembered that 

now meet the Japanese around Q peaceful table and India has been a unity for 3500 years. (Hear, hear.) 

find out whether there is some method by which the Sometimes I think the divisions in India have been 

overflow Clan be accommodated. Then there is also over-emphasised and as a matter of fact those who 

the problem of the teeming millions of Chms and have been in India during recent years will say that 

eitiulr Manchuria or Russia. will have to find a way during the years since 1914 there has grown up a 

ou\ fur the surplus population, otherwise the. white· dynamic unity such as India had never known in 

man is going to have a. difficulty which will be some all her history. As a matter of fact the unity of 

diffioulty indeed. 

India is so tremendous to-day that I can think of no 

I do not believe in war or force of any kind, and other word for it than dynamic, and the Mahatma 

vet when I look at Japan and see how she has a.rmed has been the great moving spirit in this connection, 

herself, I have to admit that she acted wisely. By and after all, the time must come when spirit and 

buUdlDg a strong naTY and maintaining an army nothing else will bind the world together. Consider 

she made a power of herself and consequently the your position as Indians to-d:lY compared WIth 100 

nations were obliged to listen to her. It may be years ago. Here is the Mahatma of whom 48 bio· 

wicked for Japan to develop a ,/lreat u.wy and a great graphies have been translated in the different lana.rmy, 

but it is DO more wickecl for ,J~pan than any guages of the world. When has India had a man like 

European country, and it was wise for Japan to that, speaking to the whole world in spiritual tonea. 

adopt western methods jlnd demand jt18tice from Thenlet us look at Tagore, a giant figure. Ail a matter 

the European nations. StIll it is t\ great pity that of fact his plays are being read everywhere, and he 

justice could not be given WIthout a display of force. stands head and shoulders above many of the great 

It was only by force that they got a place round the writers and authors, and he is listened to by all the 

peace 'table after the war, whel'eas India had only a world. India, too, has leaped iuto the position of a 

silent voice. She was represented by someone else, State in which half the leaders are Indians and for 

and so here is this vast population with no voice this we must compliment BrItain, but the trouble is 

simply because it has been wicked enough to remain that the white men have the feeling we were made 

peaceful and refuse to develop the power of the to rule. We were made to always be on top. It is 

western nations. I know this, that as a Christian., a strange thing and sometime!! I have felt it myself 

and a humanitarian and as a man living among men, ill my ecclesiastical work. I havp bef'n tempted to 

I can s~e no other way out for the world than that think "h~ is an Indian" and it has taken me years 

these nll.tions should sit down together and Bay II we to ~ rid of tha temptation. The white man thinks 

are going to find somEi solution that will give these M has the right to be on top, but unfortunately it. 

populations the outlet that they require. .. is not really trne. For the present he is in the 

I have orten wondered if the Indian in Natal ascendancy. and perhaps when w~ aualyse all the 

understands the burden of population under which difficulties and all the exploitatiolls we still find that 

India reets. If all the India.~s wished to go to India the total has been more for good than ill. What we 

it would be l\ wonderful thing for them all to live in have to do is to make an analysis and endea vour to 

their DWD eountt·y, but they must bear in mind that nndtll'stand one another in a wa.y that will not bring 

the,. 'W6'llld have to compete with the vast popnla- about war. If I do not believe in war, I fear it. 

tiOD already thel"l', and it is almost stifling in some WhXQ~o I ~ear the developing uni~y in ~ina? 1 

parts ~'f the -eGllnttr. 8Q that a man !!honld not think: kfnqy.:;1:lia£ man for man the ChlDaman 18 better 

of going to India unless ht) has the means of Jlv~~ . physically than the Westerner. lIe is as good a 

hood before hand. We westemers do not appreciate fighter ,and as good -Q worker, and well-I do not 

the V1L8t population of India. Let us suppose India - w~.to·fiiti\-"'-tit~ 400 ~i1lion Ohinese. (Laughter.) 

-~ .;, _ ...... H""~-,.,.

I have this peculiar theory, that the English-Rpeaking 

race is ~n the ascendancy to-day for the good of 

the world.' I have come to believe that if the 

United States and the British Empire and the various 

English-speaking sectionR of the world were to 

unite in one common ethical ideal, they could do 

much for the world to-day. We ought to realise 

th&.t in each race there are systems and customs and 

ideals that are good and each one should be Willing 

to sit down and confer with the other-"confer", 

yes, that is the word, "confer" and suggest a solution 

of the problem. We do not understand one 

another because we do not confer with one another. 

We hold our own conferences but we ought to confer 

together. We should confer in every local 

situation hke that of Durban, and in every national 

and inte;national situation. That, I believe, is the 

first fouftdation-stone that I should lay. 

The second thing would be modern education, 

and there I think your commumty in South A(rica 

will have to look to its lands. I have been impre'lsecl 

this week with the lack of an adequate edllcational 

system for the Indians in South Africa. 

Somehow, I think it there IS no possibIlity. of 

developing It throu~h the Governmellt. the Indians 

«must d~velop it for themselves. I think you have 

to carry your education right through to the B A , 

degree and straight through to M.A. and have It 

not on a religious or race basis, but on the modern 

scientific baSIS, leading to the modern degrees, and 

every boy and every girl ought to be com~elled. to 

have an education at least up to the matrICulatlOn 

standard, and favourable pupils should be pushed 

forward into the sciences. Then If that were done, 

we. should not hear so much about the inferiority 

of the Indian. 

My conviction is this that Indians may say their 

system is the best, but It is not the most smtable for 

the present time. The Mahatma, speaking of the 

western civilisation said It had brought one good 

thing and that wa\1 the scientific method. I beheve 

that is a bl" contribution. No matter what we say, 

we cannot'" put the world back where it was 400 

years ago and for good or ill the modern sClen~ific 

system of education must become, to my mmd, 

universal and uniform, and that is the only mpans 

by which we shall all meet on a common platform. 

In other words, we have to have a culture that all 

the rest of tile people wilI recognise. I believe that 

the Orient will have to adopt the modern system of 

scientific education and modes of hfe. I believe 

that if the Indian in South Africa had the Eurqpean 

mode of life (I dislike the word 'standard' because 

in some respects your ways are better than ours) 

there would be no more talk o~ inequality. We 

ilhould remove many of our disabilities. 

My third aim is to raise every race. to. the hi.ghest 

possible position. Let Europeans, ASIatIcs, AfrIcans, 

all lift themselves to the highest possible positlOn, 

but IE't it be a uniform positIOn. Do not let India 

develop a system which is not in agreement With 

the rest of the world, but ,all work on the same 

lines and then there will be an end to these difficulties 

and animosities. There is plentv" of territory 

not yet occupied, and plenty of pnrsuits not ye'l 

opened to mankmd, and science will yet find be~ter 

mt-ans of providing food and water and clothmg 

for the people. 

I am fearful of only one thing,-animosities and 

misunderstandings. I believe that if, right here in 

South Africa, in bldia and in Europe, we were to 

see that every man, woman and chIld of all the races, 

bas equal opportunity, we would have far less difficulty 

tban if we attempt to restrict one another in 

every way. ThE! one solutio~ is to make the standard 

of life absolutely universal, so that one would not 

be hisher, or one lower. 

INDIAN OPINION October 2nd, (925 

o~~~~~~ ~~~»)''''>r.>~o 

~ OUR LONDON LETTER ! 


\If 27th August, 1!l2.5. ~ 

o ~~«(E«(~~~~~ »»'>):;>0 

M. Caillaux left for Paris to-day. He has done 

well on his mission in London. As the rflpresenta_ 

tive of France, he came to nt-gotlate With the nritish 

Ministprs as to the terms of the r~payment 01 

France's war debt to Eogl,md amounting to 

£G23,OOO,OOO. 1Ifr. Winston Churchill expected 

payment at the rate of £20,OOO.()110 a year. M. 

Calliaux offered £10,000,000 a year and neither 

appeared to be prepared to eOllcede to the other. 

The French made the question of payment to be 

dependent on the receipts from the Germanfl, uoder 

the Dawes Reparation Scheme, and further advanced 

as a ground for consideration that from snch receipts 

the restoration of tbe devastated areas in France. 

The British on the other hand. had in view the payment 

of their war debt to the Umted States, as a result 

of what they did for the French during the war. 

After much negotiation, which at times looked difficult, 

and as If it would break down, M. C,ullalllC, 

.to-mght, will be laying before hiS Government the 

arrangement come to With the HI'itiah for the payment 

of the debt by amenities of £12,5000,000 in 

gold, spread over a period of 1)2 years, with the 

marotorlUm for easy terms of payment until Hl:IO. 

The amount now agreeJ on is, however, not to be 

dependent on the receipts from the Germans under 

the Dawes Scheme. 

The historic Hyde Pdrk IS to be improved in its 

lighting arrangements. It is to be ht by hUle clocks, 

inside the lamp standards automatically, and at midnight 

will also be turned out automatically. The 

men who lit the cold lamps have done so for long 

periods, varying from ~8 to 3:3 years, and they have 

many tales to tell of their experIences in Hydo 

Park during those many years. They and their old 

lamps have had to give way to new men and new 

lamps' the inevitable law of existence. 

This year is the centenary of the birth of R. M. 

Bd.llantyne, whose 80 books of adventure. written 

over a space of 40 years have held, and no doubt 

still hold spell-bound many thoulIl\nds of boys. 

"The Young Fur Traders" and "Ungava" were 

written after hiS lonelv and auventarOllS ilervice of 

seven years with the Hudson B1Y Company in the 

frozen WIlds. B1l1antyne then sett1ed down to 

storywriting in earnest, though set.~led down is 

hardly the phrase for a career that took him to 

Algiers, Norway, South Africa, to sea on a trawler, 

and into TID Mines In search of local colour. 

Early Ireland is a sphere of legend and poetry, 

and to most it speaks only in faint echoes of" The 

Harp that once thro' Tara's Halls, the soul of music 

shed. " In her History of the Irish State to 1014, 

Mrs. A. S. Green, the widow of J. R. Green whose 

short history of English people made thousands 

cease to regard history as a dull subject, tells a sober 

story of Ireland in the days when 'fara was a real 

capital of the Kmgdom of Meath, one of many Irish 

subordinate Kmgdoms. English people too ~~ften 

forget that the conversion of their ancestors owes 

much to Irish missionaries and Irish schools, whither 

the eager scholars of the newly converted 

English, flocked in thousands thi! teen centuries ago. 

By the death of Sir Ramkrishna Gopal Bhandar~ 

kar, the world loses one of the foremost Indian 

Orientalists. His contributions to OrIental Research 

were many and varied, he founded and edited the 

"Indian Antiquary." He was the author of "Early 

History of the Deccan," the Oriental Research Institute 

at Poona, estal,lished in .1915 owed not a little 

to him. He served as a professor in several colleges,

October 2nd, 1925 INDIAN OPINION 259 

and was a member of the Lpgislature of &>mbay and 

also of the Viceregal Council. He was honoured for 

bis learning by the Universities, not only of India, 

but of Europe. 

The Maharajah of Patiala has been visiting places 

of educational interE'st, 8uch as the Institntion for 

the Blind, the Salvation Army and varioDs hospitals 

and now he bas gone with his Maharanee to Geneva. 

There with Lord Willingdon and Sir A. C. Chatterjee 

High Commissioner. he will rE-present India at 

the AI!Rembly of the League of Nations which is 

abo\lt to he held. He will specially represent the 

Huling Princes of India. 

'fhe election of Mr. V. J. Patel, the staunch 

Swarajist, to the Presidentship of the Indian Legislatin> 

Assembly, his speech of acceptance of office, 

and the expressions of goodwill i,n the A8Bembly, on 

the occasion have bl'en well received in England. 

Pundit Motilal Nehru, the leader of the Swarajists 

in the Assembly has also accepted a seat on the Indian 

Sandhurst Commission, and Mr. Gandhi himself 

is agreeable to tbe machinery of the All India 

Congress Committee being used in the support of 

the t;warajlsts in the Assembly. All this appears to 

indicate a new era in the life of India. 

News in Brief 

The Second Vedic Conference under the auspices 

of the Arya Pratinidhi Sabha will be held, we are 

informed, on Sunday tbe 4th October 1925 at 10 a.m. 

at (;;1 Illinll Street, Ladysmith. Pandit Bhawani 

Dayal will preside. 

-o- 

We are informed by the Hon. Secretaries ( Messrs. 

M. R. Naidoo and K. S. Moodley ) that the Twentieth 

Anuiversary Cclebratior. of the Hindu Young Men's 

Association will take place in the Association Hall. 

Maritzburg on Sunday the 11th October commencing 

at 10 a.m. 

-0- 

Referring to the white man's burtlen, The New 

Rl!'pub/w says that" this burden generally consists of 

loot stolen from men of some other colour ... 

-o- 

We read in 7'/M World Tomorrow :- 

The National system of education in Japan begins 

at the kindergarden. taking children from three ypars 

of age to six. At the age of six the children are 

required to go to elemmtary schools and stay there 

till twelve. 'I'here are today about 30,000 such schools 

with 9,000.000 children. It is reported that 99 per 

cent of the boys and over ~)~ per cent of the girls of 

school age are now actually going to school. Very 

few Japan('se are found unable either to read newspapers 

or to write simple lettel·s. 

THANKS 

Mrs. Hajee Ismail and family and Mr. O. H. A 

Jha\"eri tender their heartfelt thanks to all friends 

for their kindly sympathy and condolence in their 

Mil bfIJ·Pllvpmpnt. 


To be obtained from the Ind,a.. 01""0" Press, PhreDlx, 

Natal. Postal Orders to be made payable at Durban. 

The Hon. Mr. Gokhale and the Indenture System:l 0 

Indian Home Rule. b, M. K. Gandhi ~ 6 

A Book-aDd h' Miloomer 

• 

a"lJa.'4 Ollil Nt •• DOIa'cn'i TraD.lad~D I a 

Asiatics Registration Amendment Act (1908) 


Hindu Social Ideals, hy P. J. Mehta 

Rise and Growth ot Bombay Municipal Govt. 


Tbe Story of the Ramayana, the Epic of Rama 

A Study in Indian ECQDomics, by P. Bannerji 

The Indians or South Africa, by H. S. L. Polak 

Life of M. K. Gandhi (in Tamil) 

The Golden Number of ,. Judian Opinion" 

Paper covers 

Bound in Cloth 

Speeches on Indian Affairs, by John Morley 

The'HoD. Mr. Gokhale'. Tour in South Alrica: 

Special INDIAN OPINION Souvenirr. 

The Ethics of Passive Resistance 

Essay on Indian Economics, by Mahadev 

Govind Ranade 


Valshavite Reformers 01 India 

• M. K. Gandhi and the South African 


Aspecs of the Vedanta 

Essays on Indian Art, Industry and Education 

Sri Madhwacharya 

Hinduism, by Dr. Barnett 

Position 01 the Women in the Vedas 

Vernaculars as Media of Instruction in 

Inrliao Schools and Colleges 

Essentials of Hiuduism 

Dadabhai N aorojl's Speeches and Writings 

India!] National Congress 


Allahabad and Nagpur Congresses 

The Surat Congress and Conferences 

The Improvement of Indian Agriculture 

The Congress Conferences and Conventions 

India'. Untouchable Saints 

The Governance of India, by Govind Das 

For India's Uphft, by Anne Besant 

Sri RamanuJacharya 

:I 6 

.. 6 

:I 6 

:I 6 

4 6 

:I 0 

:I 6 

:I 6 

3 6 

3 6 

2 6 

3 0 

3 

r 

3 

6 

:I 6 

I 

e 

I 6 

II 6 

1 ti 

2 6 

6 

I " 6 

6 0 

8 0 

I 6 

2 6 

II 0 

:I 6 

II 0 

II 0 

7 6 

3 

2 

6 

6 

Sri Sankaracharya 2 ,6 

Mr. Gandhi's Speeches and Writings-lSg6 to 1917 3 6 

The Indian Demancill, by G. A. Natesan 2 6 

Indian Industrial and Economic ProbleD15 by Prof. Kale 3 6 

Essays on National Idealism, by Dr. Coomaraswamy z 6 

BIOGRAPHIES OF EMINENT INDIANS:- 

Dadabhai NaoroJi. Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Rabindra. 

oath Tagore, M. K. Gandhi, BudruddlD Tyabji 

Pundit Madan Mohan Malaviya, The Rtght Hon 

Sayed Amir Ali, H. H. Sri Sayaji Rao Gaekwar. 

Sir Sayed Ahmed Khan, H. H. the Aga Khan, 

Swami Rama Tlfath, V. Krishnaswami Aiysr, Krista 

Das Pal, Dewan C. Raogacharlu, W. C. BODnerjea, 

A. M. Bose, Ran Varma, Kashinath Trimbak Telang, 

Swami Vivekanada, Toru Dutt, Ishwar Chandra 

Vldyasagar, SlrSaJar Jung, V. P. Madhava Rao, D. E. 

Wacbn, Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Sir Phero. 

zesha iM I.l.l, Rahimtulla Mohamed Sayani, Dr. Rash 

.Behan Ghos_ Nawab Mohsln.U\.Molk, Sir C. San. 

karan Naif, Lal Hohun Ghose, Raja Ram Mohan 

Roy, Bthtamjl il. Malabarl, tthsi Anliil besanr. 

BllblS 8u"ndrllnatll llAollrjell, R'O IIlhwlIf a. lIT. 

MIl'~'" 

"~h

~fts~ at aiU(i~t(;t dJi~.~ 

, ~ 

~~rt!- ~3 ~.. ".{h~, .y.ql~, rtlfl'lJt ~ ~H);lot~ t~~'! ~.! 'to I 

~·~\,Cl~l WI\etl~l ~~uGV 

:ut1~llr :ut::t '\{lll~::t a.)11i ls~~l-t :ttll~ hl~l.{\(('J()l\' 

,., ~!ltl.{\ :aJt1'ldi ~l[ilr-t ::t~-ta E{l31tll ~ll~ l{l. 

&!J(~~. lla.iJt :ttHI~.{\' ~3tlt~rt~ ·fidltll :ut~c.t~I~'l~1 

R~ :ut::t ~'31'Cq~1 lIUle.tl::t rct~ )lEll!s :ttl{l lll-rtcO 

:ut1'lE{l~. d lr~ ~ ): 5l.1~1'fl ~':)ntl q~l-tl ~i~l::t 

~"l~~l H'=tl~ il !It .. ::t ~fY\ill.1 et:a.;q ~:tl\-tl~ et~~. 

1s'l(ll~-tlli ill. !It .. ::t ~avi~l :aJt~~'t~~ et~l~ ((~!It'~lti 

:utletetl?fi ~i ~:tll.{\ ill.l~ ~, ~~Irtl lsl~EI ~ ~':)n1 

'et~frtl ~I)I :ttlitrtl 5l.1~1-t1 'Ca.~::t ~·dGtrt :ut1'lrtHI 

o1~ ~I~

,Jjttdiau 

"'~ 

·~pinitllt 

-N-o-.-4-1--V-o-1.-X-X-I-I-I-.----F-.-n-·d-:-a-y-,-::O~c-t-o-:b-e-r-9-t:-h-,-I9-2-5-.----;;ll:::,c:;:i.::ce::recl::;:.p:-:t::::;::::-;:;,-;;~:-;·U'!.:;-·-:~:-:-':.-;:;H;: •• 

:':"::pa· 

FURTHER PROTEST AGAINST ASIATIC BILL 

1_ r.ETINGS AT LADYSMITH, DUNDEE, DANNHAUSER AND NEWCASTLE 

THE oflicials of the Natal Indian Coogress in 

Meeting At Newcastle 

furtherance of propaganda against the Asiatic On the following day (Monday) the partY' motored 

13111 held a number of meetings in the Northern 

Dish'iets of Natal all of which were well attended 2-30 p.m. at the Indian School-room and by this 

up to Newcastle. The meeting was advertised for 

and a keen interest was shown by those present to time the Hall was full. and some of them had to 

support the Congress in fighting this obnoxious and stand for want of seating accommodation. 

nnjust piece of legislation. 

There were a few European sympathisers also 

Meeting At Dundee 

present and spoke condemning the Bill. 

Mr. A. I. Kajee delt in detail showing how. 

The first meeting was held at the Mosque grounu:, • adversely the BIll affects the Indian community 

in Dundee on SunddY the 3rd inst., at 2 p.m. Mr. 

A. I. Kajee explained in det.'lil the provisions of the 

Bill as it affects the Indian community and pointed 

out that if thIS Bill became law the position of the 

Indians would become intolerable. Messrs. Sorabjee 

Rustomjcf', B. A. Maghrajh and C. R. Naidoo also 

spoke at len6-.th on the 13111. The following resolution 

which was proposed by Mr. Cassim Meer, 

seconueu by Mr. Ebrahun BhamJa, and supported 

by 1\1:r. V. G. Naidoo was unanimously carried: 

" This meeting of Dundee and District Indians 

held ullIler the auspices of the Natal Indian Congr('s& 

hereby approves of all that the Natal Indian 

Congress has done with regard to the protest against 

the Areas Reservation and ImmigratIOn and Re€istrat 

ion (Further Provision) BIll and fUl'ther records 

Hs confidence in the Natal In

INDIAN OPINION October 9th, 1925 

''Tnis M~eting of Dall.nhallser and District Indians 

held under the auspices of the Natal Indian Congress 

hereby approves of every work that the Natal 

Indian Congress has hitherto done with regard to the 

protest against the Areas Reservation and ImmIgration 

and Registration (Further Provision) BIll, and 

further records its abaolute confider.ce in the Natal 

Indian Congress." 

Immediately at the close of all the above meetings 

a good number of those present enrolled as members 

of the Congress and the comments on the Bill published 

by the Congress in Engl~sh and Hindi were sold. 

n is pleasing to note that at Dannhauser the feeling 

WaS so great that the men working on night 

shift'at the Durban Navigation Colliery left their 

work to\attend the meeting and a request by letter 

was recelved by the officials of the Congress from 

the Manager of the Colliery to allow these men to 

return as Il'drly as possible. The members of the 

COngrei\8 after some persuasion succeeded in getting 

the men to return 'to their work in good time. 

Though the meetillg was held at a late honr in the 

evening a large number of 19,dies turned up and expresseil. 

their willingness if n~ be to suffer once 

again with their men in the struggle for freedom 

;1'nd justice. 

Those who proceeded for the above meetings 

were Messrs. Amod Hayat, Sorabjee Rustomjee, 

V. S. C. Pather, A. I. Kajee, R. K. Naidoo, P. R. 

Pather, Ahmed Kajee, C. R. Naidoo, B. A. Maghraj, 

S. A. Pillay and Pandit Bhawani Dayal. 

Mr. C. R. Naidoo who has recently arrived from 

India was welcomed by the Natal Indian Congress 

on Thursday night last week at the parsee Hustomjee 

Hall under the chairmanship of Mr. J. W. Godfrey. 

Mr. Naidoo gave an interesting address on India 

expiaining that the Englishmen's presence in Inllia 

had not been for India's good as a whole. They had 

converted their position as guarJians and trustees into 

that of masters and ownt-.rs. They had exploltpd 

India and were still domg so for their own benefit. 

They had killed the spIrit of Illdld-n nationalism and 

were to-day killing out IndIans inclustry and retarding 

progress. He advised the Indians here to bestir 

themselves into a.ct~~d fight the ASiatic BIll. \", 

Mr. Hajee Cassim Adam the well known merchant 

of Pretoria and chairman of the local British Indian 

Association sails with his family per 8.S. KarolJ 

from Lourenco Marques on the 14th instant for India 

where he intends staying for a short time and returning 

via Europe. We wish Mr. Hajee Casslm Add-m 

a pleasant voyage an(1 a safe return. 

Sir Edward Grigg the new Governor of Kenya 

and Lady Grigg arrived at Nairobi on the 3rd instant. 

( 

A meeting of the Young Indian Improvemant 

Society was recently held at Pretoria under the 

chairmanship of Mr. H. N. Keshavjee to protest 

against the Asiatic Bill and the anti-Asiatic agitatIOn 

carried in the Tranlilvaal. 


?\l REUTER'S massage from Bombay reports . 

m Mrs. Sarojini Naidu President of the South 

African Indian Congress, has issued an appeal 

to all communities to observe Oct. 11 as a day set apart 

to express the national sentiment agaInst "harsh, rugh 

handed, anti AsiatIC legislation of the Union Government." 

She especially calls on Europeans and Indian 

Christians on the ground that it is their duty to 

protect the traditfqnal Christian ide~ls of equity and 

justice. 

It is to be hoped that Mrs. Naidu's a.ppeal will be 

responded to wholeheartedly. But this action in 

India only increases our duty in this country. 

Whilst our brethren in India are suffering for us it 

will not be meet for us to sit quiet. Our activities 

shmlld be redoubled. Successful meetings are being 

held in the different parts of the Province to protest 

against the Asiatic Bill. But while that is satililfactmy 

the delay in calling the South African Indian 

Congress is disappoi.nting. Any delay is going 

to be injurious to us in the future. It 1S high time 

that official representations were made to the Union, 

Indian and Imperial Governments before the Bill 

comes before Pal'liament a second time. The 

letters published in the Gujarati portion of our 

correspondence column in this issue clearly demonstrate 

the feelings of our brethren and their preparednesli 

for paesive resistance. In fact they are 

anxious to put it into action immediately. That iii 

indeed very encouraging a.nd >ve do not by any 

means wish t,o kill that spirit in them. But We 

would ask our brethren to leave that weapon a.,,'i the 

very last resort after all other meanil have entirely 

failed. We know that our patIence is being put to 

a severe test. Let us bear a little longer tlJld exhaust 

even the last ounce of our patience in"app}ying 

every cOfl:stitutionaI means possib.-Ie; and having. 

failed in t.,at our passive resistance~w1).1 be fully", 

justified. , \ 

A mass meeting of Newcastle and District Indians 

was recently held under the chairmanship of Mr. 

L. C. B. Ephraim to protest against the Asiatic Bill. 

The following resolutions were nnanimously 

passed:- 

(1) That this ID.'\8S meeting of Newcastle Indmns 

hereby protests against the Areas Reservation 

and Immigration and RegistratIOn (Further Provision) 

Bill now before Parliament which has 

for its object our compulsory segregation, tho 

deprivation of proprietary and trading rights fnrther 

restrictons on our domiciliary rights and ultimate 

extinction of the Indian Community as openly 

declared by the Minister of Interior. 

(2) "That this mass meeting of Newcastle and 

District Indians assembled in the St. Oswald School 

hereby places on record its wholehearted support to 

the resolutions passed at the Mass Meeting of Indians 

held in the Durban Town Hall under the auspices 

of the Natal Indian Congress." 

It was decided to forward the first 

the GO'fernor General and the second 

Indian Congress. 

resolution to 

to the Natal 

I 

The War Resisters' International Conference recently 

held at Hodesdon (Herts), the following 

resolution was unanimously adopted :- 

" This conference of the War Resisters' Interna- I 

tional, representing 43 organisations in 19 countries l' 

in Europe, America, Asia, and Australia, declares " 

its belief in the essential unity of all peoples of 

whatever race, colour or creed. 

" It denounces all forces which make for their: I 

diviliion, exploitation, and enmity, and especially I j 

the evils of armaments, militarism, and war. 

pledges those whom it represents to work unceasingly 

for a new relationship between nati\'/ns,!, 

based on fraternity instead of force, and serVice iustead 

of subjection; and, recognising the ever-present 

danger of war under existing conditIOns, reaffirm!!, I 

in the spirit of indissoluble comradeship the deter-I 

mination of its thousancls of' affiliated memberr·' 

throughout the world to refuse tn\1itary and waIII', 

service under all circumstanc68 and w-!Iatever the. \ 

c:onsequences in loyalty to: the 8upreme' elaims oj, j 

~he common humanity of all peoples. . ~.. . 

. -::....-... .. - .... .- ... --.- --:.~- -" -;-- 

It

6ctober 9th, 1925 


PUBLIC HEALTH COMMITTEES AND 

INDIA~S 

Im Jurlgmcnt of the Supreme Court in the 

1f case of the Isipingo Public Health Committee 

v. A. C. Jadwat has brought a considerable 

amount of relief to thfl Indian community 

This wa'! one of a s.eries of actions brought 

by the vUlious Public Health Committees functioning 

in the 'uburban areas of Durban ag.linst re- 

, llJrcRentative Indians for the rates levied by them, 

which rates the Indians living in .those alMS had 

refuscd to pny. A number of exceptions were 

taken by defendant to the plaintiff's claim. the 

first of which was that the Committee was not a 

lawfully establiHhed body, that the Public Health 

Act gave the Provincial Council no power to create 

Public Hf'alth Committee" as it purported to do 

under the Public Health Committees Ordinance 

of 1923, and this exception has been held by tpe 

learned Judges t'. be quite justified. The Judges 

hold that the Health Committees are not one of 

the urban authorities to whom powers were entrnstfld 

by toe IIealth Act because they were not 

in existence at the time it was passed. The public 

Health Com'Dittees are not Divisional Councils nor 

ha·.e they been anothoritled by the Governor 

Gcneral to administer the Public Health Act as 

rural anthorities have been. "It was clear," remarked 

Ilis Lordship the Judge President, "that where 

there was no local authority in existence, the 

Guvernor-General, and he only, had the power to 

appoint a b'Xly of men to ad minster the Public 

Health Act. Section 8G of South Africa Act provides 

that Provincial legislation shall be valid and effective 

so long as it is not repugnant to any Union 

Act, and there could be no doubt that the Provincial 

Council, in attempting to arrogate to itself the 

powers expressly vested in the Gover_:or-tl-enel'al 

by the Public lIealth Act was acting repugnantly 

to the Act." 

Ever since ·the passing of the public Health 

Committees Ordinance it had l.>ecome a source 

(If great an'{icty to 1\ large nmnber of Indians 

residing in tho areas created under the 

Ordinance. The object of the Public Health Committees 

in which Indian'! were given no voice 

whatsoever either directly or indirectly, was, as 

they had provrd by thoir treatment of the Indians 

within their area'l, to victimis'} the Indians and 

ham'ls thorn as muC'h as possible, and this judgment 

has no doubt brought at least temporary relief 

to theM. We say temporary because we 

know that those who have a determined object· 

and have no scruples will find other ways and 

means to achieve that object Ollr contemporary 

thlNatal Mercury has already put fIrth a suggestion 

that" it the Provincial Council exceeded its 

powers in cre.Lting these Committees, the Governorlleneral-in-Council 

has certainly power so to do, 

and a pn damntion in the next Gazette shoulU 

establish them in a' position which will enable 

them to proceed with the WOl k which they have 

in hand." Wllat is amazing is that the Provincial 

Council should have been allowed to pass such 

an Ordinance ol!tside the powers conferred on it 

and, further more, that the Governor-General-in 

Council should have assented to it. Together 

with the creation of these Public Health Committees 

the Indians in the areas under the jurisdiction 

of those Committees had appointed their 

O)VIl Health Unions and it was their firm 

stand that had brought about the present test ease. 

They are to be congratulated not only 011 the success 

of their case but also for preventing an 

irregularity being perpetuated in the Provincial 

administration. 

Public Health Committees 

Ordinance 

ProvinCial Council Acting Repugnantly 

To Health Act 

The case of Isipingo Public Health Committee 

v. A. C. Jadwat was heard in the Supreme Court 

(Natal Provincial Division) on Thursday morning 

Oct. 1. 1925 before Sir John Dove-Wilson, Judge 

President, Mr. Justice Carter, and Mr. Justice 

Tatham. 

The Committee brought action in the Supreme 

Court for the recovery of the sum. of £19, which 

their declaration stated was owing by defendant in 

reepect of rates for which he had been asseflSed by 

the Committee. and which he failed to pay. 

The defendant excepted to the declaration on the 

following grounds :- 

(1) That it was bad in law, inasmuch as plaintiff 

is not a lawfully established body, the Provincial 

Council having no power under Act 36 of 1919. or 

any other law, to create the Public Health Committees 

which it pnrports to do under Ordinance 7 of 

1923. 

(2) Alternatively, if it be held that plaintiff i~ a 

vahdly constituted body, that the Provincial Council 

has no power to vest it with the right to impose 

rates. 

(3) Alternatively, if the above exeptions are disposed 

of, that the Ordinances relied upon by plaintiff 

do not in fact vest the plaintiff with that right. 

(4) Alternatively, in the event of none of the 

above exceptions being upheld, defendant excepts 

on the ground that the rate is ultra Vires, because: 

(a) The right to impose rates on immovable property 

conferred by Ordinance 7 of 1923 read with 

Ordinance 6 of 1924 does not entitle plaintiff to 

levy rates on buildings and dwellings only, nor to 

levy rates on business; (b) it is arbitrary and unreasonable. 

and the incidence of taxation unfair; 

(c) it is based, in respect of the residences, on a discrimination 

between European and non-European_ 

Mr. J. J. L. Sisson, with him Mr. T. B. Horwood, 

instructed by Mr. W. L. Burne, appeared for the 

excipient defendants. Mr. E. A. Selke, with him 

Mr. Clarkson, instructed by Messrs. Clarkson and 

Driver, appeared for the respondent plaintiffs. 

On the first exception Mr. Sisson contended that 

the Provincial CouncIl had unwarrantably arrogated 

to itself a power expressly vested in the Governor 

Gellflral by the Public Health Act of 1919 Section 

7(4). 

Mr. Selke contended that the Provincial Council 

had power to legislate as it had. in terms of Section 

8:; of the South Africa Act. and that the legislation 

was not repugnant (under 8ection ~6 of the South 

Africa Act) to the provisions of the Publio Health

Act 1922 in Section 7 (4); that the PublIc Health I 

Committee was such a body as was referred to in 

thatsub-sectlOn, and that inasmuch as the Ordinance 

of 1923 was expl'essly passed, in futherance of the 

Public Health Act of 1919, it could not be regarded 

as repugnant to it; that it was not an infringement 

of the Governor-Gtneral's power conferred by the 

sub-sectIon, because his power is to appomt bodIes 

to administer the Public ~ealth Act only whe~e 

there is no body such as the present PublIc Health 

Committees so to administer it. 

The Judge-Prpsident, III givmg judgment after 

stating the facts, said there could be no doubt that 

in the Ordinance of 1923 the ProvlOCII CoullCIal 

sought to set up machinery for carrying out tbe provisions 

of t~e Public Health Act of 1919. This Act 

provides that the several locar authorIties shall with 

III their respective distrl~cts carrying out the duties 

provided by the Act. Section 7 (3) of the Act reads 


as follows: 

• 

" An urban local authority includes any municipaloI' 

borough or town or village council, town 

Receives Governor-General's Assent 

board, loc~l board, vIllage management board and The promulgation of the Transvaal Proviucial 

ahlo any board of management or committee OL' Ordinance tor tt e control of the issue of general 

other body (not being a rural authority) which is dealers' hcences is contained lU last week~' Provmconstituted 

in accordance with any law, !lnd which CIal G."lzetie. 

under any law is endowed with sanitary powers for The ordinance is styled the General Dealers 

safeguarding the health of its inhabitants of Its distrICt. 

" 

(Control) OI'dinance, 1~2'), and WIll come iuto 

Section 7 (4) reads as follows' 

"A rural local authority means any divIsIonal 

council constItuted III accordance with any lJ.w and 

shall also include any body of pprsons which the 

Governor-General is hereby authOlised to cons~ltute 

as, and declare by proclJ.matlOn 111 the Gazette to be, 

a rural local authority for all or any of the purposes 

of this Act. " 

The PublIc Health (Jommittee IS not an urban 

authority because, ex hypotlws~, had there been 

such an urba.n authorIty in eXIstence 2.t the tIme of 

tIie Act or before the Ordmance was pa.ssed, there 

would have been no need for these Public Health 

Committees to have been created by the Provlllcul 

CounCIl. 

The Public Health CommIttee IS not a LlivlslOnal 

council, nor procl.:nmed by the Governor-General I.n 

terms of suo-sectIOn (3) of SectIOn 7 of the PublIc 

Health Act. It was clear that where there was no 

local authority In eXIstence, the Govel'nol'-Gt'nerlll 

and he only, had the power to appomt a body of 

men to admimster the PubIlC Health Act. SectIOn 

86 of the South Africa Act prOVIdes that Provlllcml 

legislation shall be valid and effective so long as it is 

not repugnant to any Umon Act. and there c,mld be 

no doubt that the ProvmcIaI CounCIl, III attempting 

to arrogate to Itself the powers expl essly vesteLl in 

the Governor-General by tbe Pubilc Health Act, 

was acting repugnantly to the Act, and the fil'st 

exception msat therefore be upheld WIth costs. 

Mr. JustIce Carter concurred. 

Mr. SIsson argued that as the Court's judgment, 

just gIven, ha'l the effect of holdmg that the plamtiff 

Committee was a person non-exi"tent III law. the 

order as to costs should be agamst the mdiVldual 

members of the CommIttee, but the Court would not 

make this order, as the members of the Committee 

were not before the Court. 

Sydenham Public Health Committee v L. P"udJ,Y 

Bellair and HillariV Pubhc Health CommIttee v. 

E. M. Paruk. 

Mayville Public Health Committee v. Bhana Parsotam. 

Malvern Public Health Committee v, ],,1. C. S:.tlt.:m. 

Greenwood Park PublIc Health Commlttt'e v. 

IsmaIl Kajee. 

South Coast JunctIOn Public Health Committee 

v. M. A. Karim. 

Each of the above cases was similar to that of the 

Isi~in~o PUQIic Health CommIttee v. A. C. Jadwat 

reported above, and the first exception taken to each 

of them was identical WIth the first exception in the 

Isipingo casp. 

Mr. J. J. L. Sisson, with him Mr. T. R. Horwood, 

Illstructe,l by Mr. L. Burne, appeal'ed. for the ex 

CIpIent defpndants. 

Mr. E. A. Selke, WIth him Mr. Clarkson. instructed 

by Messrs. Clarkson and Driver, appeared for 

respondE'nt plamtiff~. 

The Court upheld with COl:lts, the first exception 

III each case, on the grounds mdic'lted 111 the judgment 

reported above.-NatallJlercury. 

Transvaal General Dealers 

(Control) Ordinance 

operation on October 21)th and after that date. the 

applicant for a general dealer's licence or renewal, 

must produce a certificate under this ordmance. 

The AdmIl1lstratlOn may (a) constitute for any area 

outside a municipalIty a board, to be called. a rural 

licensmg board, consIstmg of a maglstraw, who shall 

be the chmrman, and not lebs thdn two 110r more 

than four persons; (b) increase, alter, or diminish 

the area of jurisdICtlOn of such board aud at any 

time on due caU'le being shown abolish or dlRcstabhsh 

such a board. 

Every local authority or board may refuse a certificate 

on the following grounds :- 

(1) That the premises where it IS intended that 

the busmess should be carried on &re not BUlbble 

for the purpose of the busmess whether a'3 regal'ds 

their samtation or situation or character of the 

buildings structurally or otherwise. (2) That the 

locahty or the premises is not one in whICh it is 

desirable that the busmesil contempldtea should be 

carried on by the applIcant or at all. (:;) That in 

the opimon of the local authOrity or board concerned 

the applicant is not a fit and proper person to hold 

such a licence or to carryon such a bustness, and in 

the case of a busmes3 where artICles of food or drmk 

are produced, prepared. used. or soH for hum.1n 

consumptIOn; also on any of the followmg gl'oundil : 

(a) That the ",pplicaut IS by re~on of the uncleanliness 

of his perdon or habLts or m~thodil unfit 

to be entrusted with the handling, pL'eparation, Or 

sale of such articles of foo.1 or drink. or is otherWise 

not a desirable person to hold such a lic'lnce. (b) 

That the granLmg of such a lic~nce in respect of the 

premises for which it B SOU'5ht i;~ calculate,l to cause 

a l1l11SanCe or annoyance to persons residmg in the 

neIghbonrhood. 

The decision of a lOcal authol'ity on the board on 

any apphcdtlOn for a certifiCate is final, excpt that 

an applicant lor the renewal of a licence m'lY appeal 

to the Sa[)l'emc Cu,ll't, who m.1Y grant the renew

October 9th, 1925 


bas the power to order the renewal of the licence 01' 

remit the ~ase to the local authority or the bo.lrIl. 

If an application has been refused by a 10C'al antbor· 

ity or board it may not be renewed for tlix 

months.-TItJ' SlUT. 

The Marks Of Christianity 

Bishop Fisher's Sermon 

f 

At the Wesleyan Church, Greyville, on Sunday 

Sept. 1a Bishop Fisher of CAlcutta delivered the 

following sermon, taking his text from St. Paul's 

epistle to the Galatians Chapter G, verse 17: "From 

henceforth let no man trouble me for I bear in my 

body the marks of the Lord Jesus." 

This is the response St. Paul made to certdin 

accnsations, and it is similar to the response of Jesus 

to the doubting among the disciples, "hen he saiJ 

• Behold my hands and my fet't.' He suddenl; 

appeared before his disciples and tht'y thought hJm 

dead and were afraid. They thought they had seen 

a spirit, but he proved to them tha.t he was living in 

~he flesh, antI the proof was an experimental proof: 

Behold my hands and my feet. ' 

St. Paul was driven by many accnsers in the 

Roman Empire, and particularly in those sectIOns 

called Asia. He grew weary of these constant 

accusations--' You are not like unto us; you do not 

follow our customs; you are not one of us you 

preach in a way that we cannot accept: you aI~ continually 

holding up ideals we will not follow, and 

you speak ~ith no authority.' But St. Paul remembered 

that he had been beaten with many 

strokes and had been in prison and had earned his 

right to be a follower of Jesus Christ, and he knew 

his friends, by just touching hIS back and shoulder 

would feel the ridges of flesh that had been mad~ 

by the lash of the whip and therefore he said 'I 

care nothing for your authority or about your' reception 

of me. My justificatIOn comes from someone 

elst', it comes from Jesus Christ. I am crucified 

with Christ. I live, yet not I, it is Christ that liveth 

in me. Bother me no more and bl'mg me into court 

no more, speak to me in the street in dlsPaI'agin~ 

terms no more. You cannot irritate me because I 

bear in my body the marks of my Lord. ' 

Now it is a strange thing that in thIS book of Galatians 

we find St. Paul's spiritual decla.!'ation of independence, 

and the very people to whom he wrote 

it came later to believe in the very gospel he 

preached. 

I sometimes wonder how you and I can have it 

known and understood that we are disciples of the 

Lord Jesus. What is there about me, if someone 

challenges me in the streets of Durban to show that 

I am a Christian? Can I turn and say: Henceforth 

trouble me no more, for I bt'ar in my bodX the marks 

of the Lord Jesus? Is there any way by which a 

man in the street or in the shop or the mill or the 

office or in any of the social walks of life, will know 

I am a follower of Jesus Christ? In what way am 

I marked? I have come from a country across the 

Indian ocean where 320 millions of IndIans belong 

to Bome particular faith. He may be a Hindu he 

I 

' 

way be a Mahommedan, he may be a Parsee, or he 

may be a Sikh. No matter what hIS religion is, 

there is some way by which you can distiuguish the 

group t() which he belongs. The Hindu has his 

particular characteristic, the Brahman wears a string 

upon his shoulder, just an or,linary cotton cord, and 

when you see that you know that ht' belongs to the 

sect called Brahman'. The man in the strt'et nnderstands 

that he i& a Brahman, and the Brahman does 

not feat bein. 10 marJt,d, Or If rou turn to Ute 

,,"'I,"/llJ. w'61lltfll prill'4 ~tlo flUell abOtlt lill O.e1' 

the country teachinl; the children in tho marvellous 

sybtelll \~ here they l~arn the classics and the poetry 

that Ind1.1 has taught her children. You will find 

him always dh,tmguishable, and even the man who 

has renonnced evt'rything, who wears ashes, is 

known by the mark of the ashes. He wants the 

world to kllow. Agam the Mahomedan wears a red 

fez so that the world may know he belongs to the 

Mahomedan religion, and he does not care who 

knows it. Or he may be a SIkh from the nmrk and 

have a huge turban and he will so wrap it that no 

one evel' mistakes it. No one else will wrap it in 

t~t particular way and YOll will always distinguish 

hIm. 0 .. the Parsee will wear a shining cone-shaped 

hat so that citizens of Bombay or Western India 

may understand he belongs to that particular group. 

Even the greetings in the VIllage'! of India, I have 

learnt, baving something to do with tribal and roligion& 

connectIon. Who is itt Is the expression 

~hen you meet someone and the response may be, 

I am a Hmdoo of a particular sect, I am a Chrisban, 

I am a Mahomedan, I am this or that.' He 

belongs to something. He has lost hIS identIty, his 

personal identIty in the thing to whICh he belon$B. 

When we say' Who is it" We reply with our personat 

name. I do not say I am a Methodist, I do not 

~y, I ,am a ChrIstIan, I give my name. I retain my 

mdlvldual self and sometimes myself is bigger than 

my religion, and bigger than my society and bigger 

than my ideals. I make my ideals conform to me instead 

of conforming my own hfe to my ideals. I do not 

know just how I can make everybody understand 

that I am a Christian. We have no mark on the 

forehead, we have no distinctive dress. We have no 

distinctive salutatIOn. There IS no particular way 

ostensibly physical, by which a man can know I a~ 

a ChristIan. If I walked along West Street I might 

pass 500 people in a few moments, yet I cannot tell 

which man is a Christian and which man IS not. 

OUI' social cUAtoms are all so much alike, that it is 

utterly impossible to t('ll who is a Christian. If I 

COUld. go aho~t all the various churches on a Sunday 

mornmg I mIght find out who belongs to a particular 

church, but so far as any actions during the week 

are concerned, it woulel be utterly impossible to dis 

~lDguish me from my friend across the way. How 

IS the worM to know that I am a Christian? Have 

rou ever thought of it or studIed it, or prayed about 

It on your knees, the responsibIlity of compelling 

the world to know through our lives the gospel of 

Jesns Christ. There is no mark. I remember at 

th; clOSE: of an address one night at Benares, a young 

Hmdu came rushing tt) the front of. the building and 

took hold of my fingers and said, 'Let me see your 

hands.' I showed him first the palms and then the 

other side, and he dropped them suddenly and said 

'There is no cross on them, how am I to know you ar~ 

a Chl'istian. I see nothing about you to distir.guish 

you from other men: and it was borne in upon me 

that there were millions of people interested to 

know whether I bore about in my body the marks 

of my Lord. 

(TIJ /)/1 CIJnlznuld.) 

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®piuign 

No. 4Z-Vo1. XXIII. Friday, October 16th, 1925. 

Register..! at tbe G. P.O. a •• N_per 

PIllCK rOUIt ••• '8 

INDIAN COUNCIL OF STATE 

DEBATE ON SOUTH AFRICAN INDIAN QUESTION 

DJ'fIIl~ following is a repOl't of the debate that took 

11 place last month i& the Council of Stat'3 of 

Injia in connection with the IndIan question 

in South Africa which we have extracted from the 

Till/OS of Indl/l'- 

Non-otIiC1

standing ord.ers and allowed Indians to prQceed to 

Soutli".Mrica assuring them full rights of citizenship. 

Indian labourers went out there as British citizens, 

but the provisions of the latest Bill on the anvil of 

the South African Parliament were really dangerous. 

They must be e~lllined, so that the rights and privileges 

of Indians wonld be protected. Mr. 8aBtri 

had on a former occasion said, "If Kenya is gone, 

India is gone." To thilj l\Ir. Karandikar added Ii if 

India is gone. the British Eropirp iit gone." India 

had every right to follow and help Indians whereever 

they were settled and the Indian Government 

were responsible in liafeguarding the rights and privileges 

of Indians. 

Sir UIIlal,' Haya.t Khan, in 5uppol'ting the \resolution 

a.a amended etnphasised that His Majesty's GoverI!Ulent 

had a duty in holding the scales even between 

the various parta of the Empire. If the Britiah. 

Government felt helplesi, then let the GovernmeI\.t 

of Iu

October 16~h, 1925 INDIAN OPINION· 

amended by Messrs. Karandikar and IWmdas Pantulu 

was carried without any dissentient vOIce. 


~HOM a Reuter's me .. sage publitlhed in the daily 

ll---" papers it would appear that Mrs. SaroJini 

Naidu's appealld.ijt week to Indid to "bserve 

the 11th of October as a day tor expressing the national 

sentiment against the Asiatic Bill has been well responded 

to, large meetings being held on that day 

throughout India. Mrs. Naldu presided over the 

meeting at Bombay, at which a message from 

Mahatma Gandhi was I'ead emphasising that" there 

can be no compromise and no repatriation, even 

when it is euphemistically described as voluntary." 

The only effective remedy, in Mahatma Gandhi's 

opinion, iii the diplomlltlc pressure which Lord 

IIardinge had applied successfully. Our contemporary 

the Natal ALercUI!I describes this as "Gandpi's' 

new slogan." 

It is repol ted in the latest exchanges from India 

that Mrs. ~arojini Naldu has oLtained the highest 

number of votes I1S the preSident of the forthcoming 

Indian National Congress to be held at Cawnpore in 

December. It will be the first time in the history 

of the Congr(>s8 that an 1ndian lady will preSide 

over its annual deliberations. Indians in South 

Africa, we have no doubt, will join our brethren in 

India in congratulating Mrs. Naidu on her success. 

Bishop and Mrs Fisher have sailed yesterday from 

Deira per B.S. Karoa for Mombasa and Domb.lY. 

Bishop Fisher hopes to be preseut at the National 

Christian Council which meets in Calcutta on the 

4th of November. Doth Bishop and Mrs. Fisher 

wish to express their love to all the friends they 

have made in gouth Africa. While reciprocating the 

same to them we thank them for what they have 

done for us ~u wish them a pleasant voyage and 

safe r~ urn ,0 their home. 

In tho course of a comment on the action 

of the Union Government in introducing the Asiatic 

Bill, 1.Ju Mahralfa (Poona) writes :-" South Afric.l 

mU8t be given to understand that in wounding the 

feelings of India, the tiny. Colony is eliminating the 

sympathies of a great nation lIke India. " 

At a mass meeting of Indians of thl' Town and 

District of El'welo, held on the Gth instant under 

the chairmanship of Mr. I. A. Jassat a resolution 

protesting against tho AsiatIc BiU was passed unanimously 

and for\~ar\led to the Minister of the Intl.'rior. 

A farewell meeting attl'nded by prominent Indians 

was held under the Transvaal Memon Association 

ill honour of Mr. Hajee CW3Sim Adam at the 

Indian Library Hall, Pretoria, on the eve of his 

tll.'parture for Incha. Mr. A. C. Tayob presided. 

~\n address enumerating the various services rendered 

by him was preflented to Mr. C.lssim Adam 

and speeches were made by Messrs. Suleman Ebrahim, 

Abdul C:lrim, T. M. P. Mahomed and A. A. 

Mirza wishing Mr. Hajee Cassim Addm a pleasant 

voyage and a safe return. Mr. Hajee Cassim Adam 

in a suitable reply thanked the Association for the 

honour done to him and urged the gathering to 

support with all their heart the Transvaal British 

Indiun Association, the only representative body of 

the,TrilDsva.U Indians which was doing everything 

necessary to pl'otect the interest of the Indian commnnity. 

Mr. Cassim Adam donated £10 to the 

TralUl.Vaal Memon Association. 

The Transvaal British Indian AssociatioR haa sent 

the following cable to the Associated Press, Bom 

bay:- 

"Conformably to the pronouncement of Mrs. Sarojini 

Naidu, president South African Indian CtmgI"C88, 

Transvaal Indians have resolved to observe October 

11 as a day of pretest against Union Government's 

high·han.ted, ontrageous policy against Indian&" 

The hon. Secretary (Mr. P. R. Pather) informs us 

that the Pri.le Distributien of the Hindu Tamil 

Institute, 17 Cross Street, Durban, will be held at 

the RJ.wat's Bio Hall on Sunday the 18th instant at 

2 p.m. All are invited to attended. Apart from 

the traming given in this Institute to Tamil boys 

and l,:ir18 the Institute has been very Ulleful to the 

public for holding meetings and public functions. 

Many Congress Committee meetings have been 

held at this Institute by courtesy of the management. 

PLIGHT OF THE TRANSVAAL INDIANS 

\\1\VHIL~ the Indian popula~ion in Natal calJ be 

\'!\l said to be somewhat large-and that is owing 

to the large labour populatIOn-and the com. 

plamt of the Province being faced With an t\.~ia.t.ic qllestion 

might be justifiable, we cannot possibly understand 

the constant cry of the Transvaal being killed by Indians. 

The Indian populatIOn in that Province is bu~ a 

handful in comparison wlth the vast white population, the 

former Du'mberlng not more than fifteen thotlSand at the 

most agam8t five hundred thousand of the latter. Moreover 

they have no vote nor have they the nght to own 

landed property. The only right. they do possess is the 

right to trade. EmlgratlOn into that Province 1.8 entirely 

closed exceptlDg that @IX educated Indians may 

enter annually. Thus there is not the slightest fear of 

that Province ever being flooded by Indians nor are Indians 

given the least chance to do so. And yet the 

anti-Asiatic cry in the Transvaal is Just as acute if DoL 

more than in Natal. 

The Transvaal ProvlDcial Council bas recent,lJ paased 

the General Dealers ( Control) Ordinance, With the express 

purpose of curtailing the right of Indians to trade 

in that Province, which is the only means of their livelihood 

there. This Ordmance wai rushed throngb the 

CounCil without any opportumty given tc. those concerned 

to even consider it or to lodge tbClr protest 

against it; even the European Chamber of Commerce 

raised a protest against it on that ground, and the Governor-General-in-Council 

has been pleased La give 4is 

assent to it. Apart from this, we nndentand, that. although 

the Asiluc Blll hall Dot yet been passed some of 

its provisious are alreildy being enforced. Tho3C who 

have been given exemption certificates, we learn, are 

bemg re-examined by the Principal Immigra'ion Officer, 

and t.he three year clau~e is being in~rted in the 

Identity Certificates iliSued to those who go on a vLiit to 

Ind1a. The result of this w1ll be tba~ such Indians 

although holding their registration certificates will be 

deemed to be prohibited immigrants if they arrive here 

a little after the term of three years and they will have 

to prove their domicile before they can gt't the right to 

enter the Province--and yet, the l'ery officer examining 

them may have issued to them the certificate. 

What a farce I And all thiS for no other reason but to

make it as dlfficulL and as inconvenient as poselble for 

the Indian to enter and to live in the Union so that 

he may get thoroughly sick of It and choose to aba'ndoD 

it. Truly a British policy of the twentieth century! 

What does this attitude on the part of the authorities 

point out to? It points out only to ODe thing and that 

is the nec~ssity of immedIate action on the' part of the 

!ndians. At last t1}e date for the speCial sessIOn of the 

South AfrIcan Indian Congress has been fixed and that 

date will be anxiously awaited by every Indian, for that 

is when the hnal issue will be decided upon. Protests 

on paper have\apparently no effect on the Government. 

They presumaOly want It in concrete form and the community 

Will have to be prepared to embark upon It. 

A Message From Bishop Fisher 

Bishop Fisher writes to us as follows from 

Rhodesia :- 

I have been reluctant to make any public pronouncement 

concerning the IndIan Situation m the 

Union of South Africa. 'fhls hesitation arises from 

the fact that the raCIal divisions and preJudICes on 

the African continent are the most pronounced that 

I have ever encountered. It IS therefore, very easy 

to arouse animosities, no matter what one says. 

Every opportumty has been given me to study the 

conditions. I have visited Natal, the 'fransvaal, the 

Cape Province, and, in addition to these provmces 

withm the Umon, have VlSlt01l Rhodesia and 

Portugese East Africa. It has been my Pl'l vilege to - 

interview the Prime Minister, General Hel·tzog, and 

to call upon the Mimster of the Interior, Dr. 'Malan. 

Conversations have been held With the Mayors of 

cities, members of CIty councils, members of Parliament, 

business men, Ulliversity profes'lors; clergy- • 

men, representatives of trade UnIons, and other informed 

individuals. Pubhc meetings and conferences 

have been convened 10 centres such as Dllrban, 

Johannesburg, Pl'etoria, and Lourenco Marqnes. 

Mrs. Fisher and I have Visited 1U the homes of Europeans 

and Indians; have mspected comp~unds, 

barracks, shops, plantations, mills, mines and communities. 

We have attempted to secure frank d1Scussioo 

ana. smcere opinions from all mdlvldllals 

and groups, regardless of race. We have carefully 

stndied the literature upon the subject, inclndmg 

legislative enactments, history, resolutions of responsible 

bQdies and assoCiations, editOrIals, books 

and articles. 

From all that we have been able t.o learn, it iii 

evident that the problem is difficult anel that there 

is no app1.rent solution for the immedIate present. 

The proposed anti-Asiatic Bill is not a solutIOn, but 

an irritant. If adopted, it will accomphsh no purpose, 

other than to aggravate the Indian population 

through persecution, to deepen Its sense of martyrdom, 

and to raise up fI'lends for thE' Indian community 

throughout the world. I sincerely trust, 

therefore, that true statpsmanship will prevail, amI 

that the Union Parliament WIll re(,QgOlse the impracticability 

and llnwisdom of the present proposal. 

If I were a white CItizen of South Africa, I would 

regard the Bill as a direct attack upon the bE'st 

interests 'of the white community, even though 

directed against the Indian. The indirect harm to 

the white commumty would be far greater than the 

direct harm to the Indian. Measures of repression 

and programs of exterminatIOn have been prOVE'n 

by history to mean t.le decay of the virtues and 

powers of the pel'peb'ators rather than of the persecuted. 

GI'eece, Rome, Rllssia and many other 

examples may be Cited, both 1U the political and 

the economic world, 

.INDIAN OPINION October 16th, 1925 

The In~hons, through all time, have had gl"edt 

capacity for suffering, and I have tried to show my 

European friends, that tlll' Indians of 80uth Afllca 

are determined, in thiS reg,lr(], to live up to the 

highest tra(litlOlJs of theil' race. If a ero'>.'! is forced 

upon them, it Will be a cross ot Vil tory. 

Believmg that the problem will only be alceutuated 

by the present tendencleg, and that It IS one 

of superficial Importance, I am per8ua,letl that the 

only satisfactory a,iiustment Will bE' forme,l thlOll!.!"h 

a Round Table Conference, in which rcprl'3enlltivt,S 

of the Empire, India, the Govprnment of SOlllu 

AfrICa, and the Indian commul1Ily of SOl1th Afne,l. 

may hear and study all phases of the questIOn. In 

such a way, Borne amlCable agrE'ement m,IY htl 

arrlved at. If Buch a Conference 1>1 hel,I, the Indians 

of South Africa must h,wo ~~~)o->:~O 

1\1r. ShapurJI Sak1.1tvala, M P. for :N"orth U,ltterlleu, 

was to have been of the party of Bl'lllSh M.I'tl leavlUg 

England on Saturrby next to attend the lnter 

Parhamentary Union Conferences which art' to be 

held In the Umted States of America durlllg next 

month. \Vlthm the last week, some. members of 

the BritIsh Inter-Pahamentary Union, ot which .Mr. 

Saklatv.11a IS also a member, refused to go With tho 

party. Their objection was to Mr. Rtkll'~vala. lIe 

was a Commulllst and they (lItl not hold wI~h hiS 

views. Unhl to· day it appeared he would go. lIe 

had hiS Pas~port and h18 ul'rangemf'nts wcre lI1,IJe 

for the Visit. Thew was nothmg III thlcl country 

to prevent hiS gomg. And at thiS stage the Americat;!. 

Secretary of State steps m to cancel Mr. ::;aklatvala's 

passport The obJe~tors pleatled With themselves 

are gomg Mr. Saklatvala remalDf'!. Wbat he 

may yet do, IS not evident. For he has Just reSigned 

from the managership of the Cotton Mills Department 

of Messl·s. Tata Ltd. of New Bro III Street, 

London, the agents of Tal'! Power Co. which supplies 

in Bombay and dIstrICt electrical energy 

generated by water pOW0r-a concern WIth an 

authorised cap1tal of :t4,OOO,OOO. It woulll appear 

trom hiS letter of re!lumatio'1 that he is soliCitous of 

the weible of the hushes:! all'} reahsing hiS communistIC 

V\eWS may pOSSIbly affect the fin.lncial 

stabli1ty, he IE'signs. With Commulllsls anll all 

those who wonltl tlown c,lpit.11ism, It seems ever to ; 

be the same thJ.t whIle thE'Y all

October 16th, J9~5 

--- 

~ig boats has. no doubt, discomagl"li many of the 

seamen, especially as in sOllle C,\!iE'S new men h:we 

been taken on on the boats that have B.llled, WIth the 

conj!l)qt1en~ displdcflltiC''1t of thOse men from those 

. boat" wllO 1l1'8 1m Iu'!{(e: "'he IllCl:d''',,1'8 0' .,,'ft 11'llJ1 


Buckingham Palace, IIho Wnt'O a m1g1lific 'nt gown men's Societi('s in Englaud has somewhat weakened 

of 1>lu(' flilk, an,l a black veil COV(,/'i'l:,{ h('1' fM:e, with thl' pl)sitlOu of the Rtrikers. The major society is 

Hhts to look tbron~a, for Bhopl\ shll adhere£{ to the a!.!Iinst the strikf'o the minor society favours the unofficial 

strike. Unfortunately for the seamen, an 

cUHtom of PUI'IL.h. On h,,1' Ilea ll boats, 

Home, and had it not been for the uutiring efforts 

A-'r a short space of time rt'ttlsed to man the 

of a few persons. the unfortunates at present domiciled 

at the Home, would have beeu on the streets 

boat~, 

d\ut they too, like a number of others on ~he bi!-!ger 

lVoats havo gone back, and the channel boat sernces at the mercy of everyone. 

l',re again in full swing. The regul.lr sailllJg of the Any contributions for the Home can be called for 

on the recpipt of a note addl'pssed to the Secretary, 

BOlt 1770, Durban. 

S. L. SlXOIt. 

dObl SIIr.riltarr,

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.V;~~f!l(~~ ~~k'e~

~ niian ~piuilllt 

No. 4J-Vol. XXIII. Friday, O~tober 23rd, 1925. 

Re,illered at the G. P.o. as a Nc ... papar 

P.'c. 'ouaPE", • 

.-' IS RACE HATRED ESSENTIAL FOR NATIONALISM? 

MR. GANDHI'S ADDRESS IN CALCUTTA 

l\ViT R. M. K. Gandhi delivered an address on 

11. V 11 the subject • Is Race Hatred Essential for 

Nationalism ?' at a meeting held under the 

allspices of the Meccano Club at the Y.M.C.A. Overtoun 

Hall. We reproduce below an extract of Mr. 

Gandhi's addre88 from Young Ind/,(], which we have 

no doubt ",ill be read with very great interest in 

this country :- 

• Is it possible to love one's country and vot to 

hate those who rule over it, whose domination we 

do not want and dislike from the bottom of our 

hearts?' was the problem, said Mr. Gandhi with 

which the younger geueration wal!l faced to-day. 

And the answer given by many, expressed in some 

('ases and secretly nourished in most, was that it was 

impossible. As a student of the qnestion for over 

30 years, the speaker was there to declare his conviction 

that nationalism was perfectly consistent 

with the love of those whose ruli we did not like. 

The disabilities with which he had been face to face 

all these years in South Africa and India were really 

enough to make ono hate his fellow-beings if he did 

not preserve his sanity. • Correctly or incorl'ectly 

one feels he is subjected to the grossest tyrannies, 

for no reason but that he is not the same colour as 

the rulers. How is he then to love those rulera?' 

was the question. Love being a positive force may 

be considered out of the question-how could he 

help hating the tyrant? Illustrations were taken 

from recent wars and administration of law in 

civilised societies to prove that hl\lred seemed to be 

of the essence of nationalism. Nevertheless it was 

the grossest of delusions. .. So long as a large body 

of men and women retain that attitllde, the progress 

of this country, the progress of the world is retarded. 

The world is weary of hate. We see the 

fatigue overcoming the Western nations. We see 

that this song of hate has not benefitted hum1.nity. 

Let it be the privilege of India to turn a new leaf 

and set a lesson to the world. Is it necessary that 

three hundred millions of people should hate one 

hundred thousand Englishmen? That is the concrete 

form to which this evening's subject can be 

reduced. In my humble opinion it is derogatory 

to the dignity of mankind, it is derogatory to the 

dignity of India to entertain for one single moment 

hatred towards Englishmen." But it were wUnigh 

impossible for masiles of humanity to erat.licate 

hatred. Transfer then your hatred, said the spedker, 

from the evil-doer to the evil itself. Hate the evil, 

but not the evil-doer, was the maxim he would offer 

them. And in a few sentences burning with noble 

fervour he declared his creed: .. Heaven~knowil, no 

one in India, perhaps, can claim better than myself 

to have spoken as fiercely and as fearlessly of the 

many misdeeds of EnglIsh rulers and the corrupt 

nature of the system under which we are governeu. 

My freedom from hatred,-I wonld even go so tu 

as to claim for myself individually, my love-of 

those who consider themselves to be my enemies 

does not make me blind to their faults. That is no 

love which is extended simply bt'cause of the 

poss~ion of some virtues fancied or real in the 

beloved. 'u I am. true to myself, if I run true to 

mankind, if I am true to humanity, I must understand 

all the faults that humlJ,n flesh is heir to. I 

must nnderstand the weaknesses of my opponents, 

their vices, and yet inspite of them, not hate but 

even love them ...... I have not hesitated to call the 

system of Government under which we are labouring 

"S1.tanic," anu I withdraw naught out of it. But I 

know that I shall not deal with it, if I begin to 

devise means of punishing the evil-doer. I\fY: business 

is to love them and by patient and ·gentle 

han~ling to convert them. Non-co-opention is not 

a hymn of hate. I know that many who call themselves 

8atyagrahis or Non-co-opel'llotors do not deserve 

to bear that name. They have done violenoo to their 

own cre~d. Real non-eo-operation is non-co-operation 

\vith evil and not with the evil-doer." That 

was, however, not tht' place to go into the intricacy 

of that doctrine. It was a law that was applied in 

all well-organised families and he appealed to them 

to extend that law in the politic~l field. A father or 

a son did neither seek to punish or eucourage a son 

or father inclined to do evil, but tried to correct 

him. Of I.lourse there were father!! and sons who 

under a false sense of love doted ou the erring sons 

or fathers. But he was talking of the • love that 

discriminates, love that was intelligent, love which 

was not blind to a single fault-the love of the refOI 

mer.' The moment we realised the secret, that 

very moment evil would go out of sight. 

And he instanced cases in which the reformer's 

lova couM play and had played an effective part. It 

could be appli€d as between members of tha same 

community, not to speak of different races. There 

were Hinuu8 who conSidered untouchability as part 

anu parcel of Hinduisw, and quoteu scriptures as 

authority. Were the more enhghtened Hindus to 

hate or cut pff the heaJs of those unenlighteneti 

ones? No. The secret was persistent non-violeut 

conduct-or, b

iNDIAN OPiNION October 23rd, 1925 

thlJ wbole of th." co11.ntry wa, ·die, BO that the 

human raoes lJlat live. Th6re il no room tor race 

hatred thlJl'e. Let that be Ollr natiOrutlislll. " 

A question from Mr.Ohapman, the Labrarian of 

the Imperial Library, at the conclusion of the speech, 

drew a telling reply from Gandhiji. "Was not the 

insistence on political freedom and political equalIty 

on-the part o~ Indians. conducive to 1'0.00 hatred, 

when Indians themselves were not capable of rulmg 

themselves" was in effect Mr. Chapmau's question. 

" If YOll lulve drawn th

October 23rd, 1925 INDIAN OPINION 275 

Concerning Freedom 

(By I,. W. n.) 

'11 lIE W,ly to hberatlon is the &lme for a people as 

1 an inllivlIlllul. Hlnce bond.age iii the reHult of 

Ignl)r.1llcC'-nf IUI.,takf)n IhoughL'I, uesires anu 

actlOnl:l the only IMth to freedom is the dispersal of 

i"n'/~:ince by the lIght of true knowleuge and by 

('ow!ucl th'lt id wise in!ltead of fooJj"h. A man may 

/,,, phYHlc.111y a cIMltcl-sl.1ve yet freer far spiritually 

t!UIl his owner. The IIldve ownel· may be free of 

lI.lovC'mf'nt phYHic.llly, yet bpiritually more a bondsman 

tb.1n his IlI.1ve. The d..trkest IgnOl-ance is perh.lpo 

the iI.:nor.1nce that reslllto III wrong discriminatIOn 

For inRt.lI1ce, thtl appetite for worldly power and 

dliDlIlwtlO1l hail tilled the pages of history with record 

of the tltl'llggles of tl"lbes aUlI nallons. Yet we see 

th,lt even wh(·n utLlined the pos.-;essions so haruly 

won have prov('(l to Le impermanent. The unreal 

wit;takC'n for the real, the Hhadow mllitaken for the 

Eluurltance, gors the WolY of all thmgs perishable. 

Forces misdirected through wrong discrimination 

producc the results sought, the fruits, however, 

commence til rot almost before they are gathered 

lind the IUovltable reactIOn upon their source of the 

forel'!> ~ellel'Uted and expl'el:lileu hind the peoples 

from winch they emanate and the oppressor becomes 

tho oppr!'8~ed and learns wisuom. 

The temptdtion to focus human energies so liS to 

achieve results that are toluglble aod ljI)Dcrete by 

tangIble means, by the flmployment of physical force 

that is, IS, IUstmctIve and difficult to resist. 

The fruits th,lt are tangible and concrete do seem 

to be HO substantial, so rpal; physical force ,methoUs 

do serm to produce manifest results, so that to ab,mdon 

both for the spmtual calls for the presence and 

O'(l'l·ciile of a hIgh dl'grt'e of dlScl'uuinatlOll born of 

1~"'Bimildtod knowledge that is sometimes called Faith. 

Yet it ill Just towards this that human experience 

tends; to learn thIS 10:lsou and assimilate the wisdom 

80 acquireu that hves are lived-the lives of units 

called men and of larger UUlls called peoples.. This 

I believe, to be the moral that Mahatma Gandhi is 

trying so patiently, by example as well as by 

precept, to brmg home to the people of India. His 

succoss may mean the world's redemption; it Will 

certainly mean India's spiritual supremacy and 

leadershIp in things that alone matter' 

Indian Press On South African 

IndJan Question 

The l/mdu (Madras) in the course of a leading 

article on .. The New Menace in South Africa" 

crlticisos the Union Government's Asiatic policy as 

follows :- 

.. A man meets his enemy, gives him a severe slap 

on his f.1('e and coolly tells him that he iii pl·ep.lred 

for a compromisE>. General Hertzog's Government 

introlillces l\ most provocative and reactionary measure 

~ order to render the hfe of the Indian more 

Dlis~'rable than It is and tells this country through 

the Mmister of the InterIor that the door is still 

open for negotiatIon. If the Union Government 

pld.ces this outr,lgeous Bill on the Statute Book, it 

means war, Dot negotiation. It is now clear why 

the South Afrlcan Government has been delaying to 

reply to the suggestion of the Government of India. 

,'cg,lf(ling a RonIll! Table Conference. Dr. Malan 

hols been preparing a med.snre which, accOt·ding to 

hiS conception, should be the bst word in the science 

of extermination by starva~on. Before he entered 

into a talk with India.. he desired to tighten the. 

screw on the Indian to such an exten' as to impart 

an appearance of moderation to the decision arrived 

at after negotiation. Indians have now, say, sixty 

grievances in South Africa, and want some settlement 

of the points at issue which would reduce this 

number. Dr. ~Ialan is, however, an adept in the 

political game anu he is now consciously Increasing 

this number to ninety-nine, so that ultimately, after 

compromise, the number may be reduced from 

nmety-nine to, say, eighty. While the net result, 

when compared With the existing situation would 

be intolerably bad, the Union Government would be 

able to tell the world that they were reasonable and 

wanted to redress the just grievances of Indians and 

that they were astonished at their own moderation. OJ 

In the end onr contemporary asks :- 

.. In the face of this relentless policy, wIll the 

Government of India tell the public what steps 

they propose to take to defend the helpless commumty 

which is threatened by slow but sure 

death? It appears to us that after this gesture on 

Gen. Hertzog's part, there could be no more talk of 

a Round Table Conference from this side. That 

stage, if it ever existed, has long ago gone Pait by. 

N either is there any further room for representa. 

tions and protests. If the Government in India represented 

the people in a real sense, South Africa 

would not have dared to behave in the fashion it 

has been doing. The Union Government know that 

Indians are helpless, that the Reciprocity Act is 

lying idle, that India is not even bold to levy a 

countervailing duty on Natal coal. They realise 

that while Great Britain would not interfere in the 

affairs of a self-governing Dominion, she dare not 

countenance any retaliatory measures in India in 

view of the complications which would result in 

South Africa. India is thus between the devil and 

the deep sea, owing to the studied indifference of 

the Government which is alien. It is not surprising 

III the circumstances, that tltere is a movement in 

South Africa to revive the passive resistance 

struggle. Lord Hardinge sympathised with it; will 

Lord Reading follow that noble example? .. 

Mombasa Indian Association 

Supports South Africa 

The hon. Secretary of the Indian National Association, 

Mombasa, communicates to us the follow 

ing:- 

A mass mef-ting of the Indians of Mombasa and 

Kllindini was held to-day under the aUlipices of the 

Indian National Association to protest strongly 

against the .. Areas Reservation and Immigration and 

Registration (Further Provision) Bill" that is 

going to be brought for the second reading in the 

South African Union Parhament. Mr. R. M. Shah 

explained the purport of the Bill reading a telegram 

sent by the President of the Natal Indian Congress 

to India. He explained how fat the Bill affected 

the position of the Indians there, and showed in 

conclusion how the bill was directed towards the 

total expulsion of tha Indii\n community from the 

South African territories. 

The (oUowing resolution was then moved by Mr. 

D. B. Desai and seconded by Mr. M. A. Parakh and 

passed unanimously :- 

.. !'his mass meetmg of the Indians of Mombftsa 

and Kilindini heJJ, under the auspices of the Indian 

National Association strongly protests against the 

Areas Reservation and ImmigratIOn and Registration 

( Further Provision) Bill now before the South 

African Union Parliament and further urge thy Inilian 

as well as the Imperial Governments to use 

their utmost influence in preventing that Bill from 

being passed ...

INDIAN OPINION October 23rd. 1925 

The Marks Of Christianity 

Bishop Fisher's Sermon 

Contmued from page 265 

We Christians do not beheve in marks. In many 

ways·we do not believe m divIsions. We object to 

have ourselves marked in any way, then we must 

have QUI' dIstinctIOns in spll'it and in our hves. You 

and I must have the mark m our spirit. Jesus said 

'Behold my hands' and Paul saId 'I bear in me the 

marks of the Lord .Jesus.' What are the marks of 

the Lord Jesus? So far as I can see there were 

three, th~ spear-pomt in the sIde, thrust by a soldIer 

near ~he aeart to, SEle whether the blood as it ~shed 

fortb, would be blood and water, signifying' death. 

He had a second mark of naIl prirlts in hIS hands 

and feet, the prmts of the Cross, and in the third 

place the'marks of the thorn wounds on His brow. 

Just three distinguishing marks upon the bod}' of 

Jesus, and after His resurrectlOn everyone knew 

him by those marks. It is the most effectIve preach 

,ing in the world; It is the only preaching in the 

world. I mIght preach to you from the PUlPIt bht 

if on Monday I did not bear about me the marks of 

the Lord, all my ideals are naught If I do not believe 

and live in them. My preaching would be a 

mockery. DId I hear a sword print in the side? 

It signifies sympathy. We say our sympathIes are 

from the heart, then this spear-prmt beSIde the 

heart of Jesus causes sympathy to gush forth, love 

and understanding to gush forth. Sometimes I 

think we are all too unconscious of the need the 

world has for sympathy. We are all busy preparing 

houses for ourselves and we are all busy preparing 

economic conditions to be of advantage to 

ourselves, we are all busy thmking of our own 

familIes. We are busy thinkmg ot ourselves. We 

want to see to-day that we live well. We want to 

see that certain opportunities come to us. We are 

not anxious to die. Weare not anxlOUS to have 

some man nail us to the Cross and say 'there goes -a 

self-de~yi~g Christian, that man has nothmg, behold 

hIm. As a matter of fact we shrink from that 

type. We would rather have a mall of whom It is 

said 'that is hIS house and his possessions' Weare 

eager to acqUIre, but we are not so eager to serve or 

die. Sometimes I think we are not conscious of the 

sufferings of the world. Sometimes we are not 

'Conscious of the slums of the world. We are not 

conscious of the struggles of the world. We do not 

see. We are eager to live our own hves and to forg.et 

the need of sympathy and sometImes the worse 

the condItion IS, the mOre it dl'lves us away from It. 

We must feel with Florence Nlghtmgale, who, 

when she looked upon a wound, bound it up. That 

is the spirit we must foster. Our sympathIes are 

not enough even if We have the sympathy I think 

we have. Sometimes it IS becanse we do' not have 

the knowledge of the world's suffermg, bnt even if 

we have, we do not have the sympathy for it. We 

have to have the nail-prints m the hands that serve 

and work, the print in the feet to bring rehef to 

bring all sorts of kindliness to bear upon the o~en 

wounds of the world. We shall never be satIsfied 

with sympathy alone. We shall have to hd.ve not 

only the mark in the side but the naIl-print in the 

hands and feet., and we shall have to have these 

thol'U-prints in our brow. I should say the thornprint 

in the brow would typIfy faIth. Faith is the 

instinct of victory. Sometimes if· we look at our 

problems we look pl'ssimistically. We do not have 

that Christian attitude that leads us to beheve that 

Jesus Christ is able to win the VICtories if we will 

but trmt and follow the msiinct of faith,. Let problems 

come and solve them in the ChristIan way 

Have thl' difficulties, but have that attitude of hf~ 

that will make victory pOSSIble m spite of it all. 

The spear-prints in the 8i(le tYPlty sympathy for 

the ?eer1s of man. The nall-prj,lts in the han,l-. 

serVIce fonowing Rympathy, the thorn-prints on the 

brow, faIth, faith in the destlnr of m,ln, faith In the 

outoome of the world. faIth in the redemption of 

promIses through Goil, pll1ngmg into it not in the 

~pirit of f,ltlhsm. but of dynaln{c Chrl

~' . 

'~ndtan 

~ + • 

~ptntott 

,. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

No. 44-Vo1. XXIII. Friday, October 30th, 1925. 

Registered al the G. P.O. as a N.wspapor 

PRica 'ou •••• ,. 

THE SOUTH, AFRICAN INDIAN QUESTION 

BY MR. C. F. ANDREWS IN 'YOUNG INDIA' 

TO-DAY, the people of India are .faced with a 

II crisis in South Africa which is far more 

serious than anything that has happened lIince 

the year 1913. when Mahatma Gandhi led the 

passive resistance campaign in Natal in order to 

obtain justice for the Indian cause. The en

~78 __________________ IN __ O_IA_N-.O __ PI_N_I_O_N 

________ O_c_t_ob_e_~~3_Ot_h,~19~2~5_ 

ployment of tile terms of this Agreement upon 

white South Africa itself. 

Thirdly, public opinion must be vocal in every 

province on the subject. There must be no compromise 

and no weakness. 

The Government of India, 

which has to act at the present juncture, must 

be assured in any action It takes by the certainty 

that public opinion in India is quite undivided on 

the issue. 


1\\ T the Synod of the Anglican Church in the· 

ru Cathedral, Pretoria, Deacon Amos Mphahl~le 

is reported to have moved that the Synod 

respectfully urge upon the Government the necessity 

of frammg legislation which should uphold the racial 

purlty of the white and Bantu peoples, by prescribmg 

that the cohabitation ofa white man and natIve woo 

man be a criminal offence, as was that of a native man 

and a white woman. The resolutlOn was unanimously 

adopted. "It was a tragic fact.," the speaker 

urgea, "that native girls weIe proud of white husbands. 

I appeal to you as the superior race to 

protect the weaker people," he added. Mr. E. J. 

Kerswill said it waf> the duty of the superior race to 

set an example to the weaker in fall" dealing. Pumshment 

for assault in the case of the white offender 

was comparatlvely light. The native offender was 

hanged in most cases. Marriage between black aud 

white was an offence agamst the law of God, said 

Bishop Carey, of Bloemfontein. The Bishop of 

Pretoria announced the resolution would be forwarded 

to the Prime Minister. 

The above resolution is a very important one but 

what effect it will have is a question. To believe 

that the evils that existed under Smuts Government 

will be removed by the present Government in so 

far as Natives -and Indians are concerned is, we 

think, hopeless. There is adequate provision in the 

law for white men to be dealt with for crimes committed 

against black women and we know that they 

have been severely dealt with when they have 

managed to reach the Supreme Court by judges like 

Mr. Justice Krauze:- But the fact is that a very few 

lIuch cases do manage to reach the Supreme Court. 

The average white man in this country trades on his 

skin and the word of the white man against the 

black almost in every instance succeeds whereas the 

black man's word against the white man invariably 

fails and what ghost of a chance can there be for it 

to succeed when a white woman is concerned? 

In the circumstances the vast coloured population 

we see in this country is the result of the union 

between the white man and black woman and, a 

very few mstances do 'we see where the result has 

been through the union of a black man and a whIte 

woman. This fact goes to prove that the crimes of 

the white men against the black women are not 

considered as crimes but as their inherent. right to 

satisfy their passion. 

~' , 

At a meeting of the Transvaal amber of Commerce 

held recently in Johannesbt g the following 

resolutions were adopted m cor. ection with the 

recently passed General Dealers C ~rol Ordinance.- 

(1) This meeting protests agams Clause 3 of the 

General Dealers' (Control) Ordman'!F which Imposes 

on general dealers in municipalitie~ the obligation 

of applying to a Town CouncIl to make provlsion 

for the constitution of a special board for this 

purpose on the same lines as for rural areas. 

(2) This meeting is also of opinion: that Clause 13 

may operate harshly and should be d'eleted. 

(3) this Chamber urges that amendmg legislation 

to give effect to the above, should be passed by the 

Provincial Council at the Epecial sefJsion convened 

for next week. 

The following appears in the Rrmd Dm1!J jJ[all ._ 

At a meeting of Johannesburg Indians held on the 

premises of Mr. 1\1. S. Coovafha on Tnesday night, 

under the chairmanship of Mr. Essop ISID,tll Mia, 

it was resolved by a majority to estabhsh a new 

IndIan political organisation under the name of the 

Transvaal Indian Congress. After the resolution 

was passed, the following officers were elected: 

Mr. Essop IfJmail Mia, president; Mr. .Jussab 

Ebrahim, vice-president; Mr. M. S. Coovadia, 

treasurer, Mr. N. A. Camay, secretary; and at the 

terminatlOn of the electIOn, Mr. Essop Ismail l\Iia 

gave the sum of £50, which was received" ith cheers. 

[NoTE.-We deal with the above in our leading 

article.-Ed. 1.0.] 

The following are some questions drawn up by a 

sub-committee appointed by the Johannesburg 

Southern Suburbs European AssociatIOn at a meeting 

last week whIch will be circulated among the 

candirlates for the forthcoming municipal elections: 

1. Do you realise the evil arising from the 

invasion of the Asi:ttic trader in whlte residential 

areas? 

2. Are you in favour of the Areas Reservation 

and ImmigratIon and Registration Bill as drafted 

by the Mimster of the Interior? 

3. If so, would you support any application 

made to the Town Council to bring it into 

operation? 

4. Will you deal with this questIOn from your 

election platform so that the electors in your ward 

will know your views? 

5. If returned will you urge the Town Council 

the necessity of supporting the Government in 

this matter ? 

The Union Parliament has been prorogued to 

January 22. 

Mr. V. S. Pather Ot. hon. Secretary of the South 

African Indian Congress) has left for the Cape by 

the Union Express last Wednesday to make the prelimmary 

arrar.gements for the forthcoming Congress. 

South African Indian 

Congress 

The Fifth Session of the South African 

Indian Congress (in Conference) will be 

held in Capetown on the 10th November, 

1925 and the following days. 

Business :- 

1. Report and Financial StatemenL 

2. Deputation to Union Government 

re Asiatic Bill. 

3. Deputation to India. 

4. Election of Officials. 

5. General. 

A. H. GOOL, 

Deputy President. 

A. ISMAIL, 

Hon. General Secretary. 

Head bffice : 

28 Ayre Street, 

Cape Town. 

S. A. I. C.

October 30th, 1925 

'NOlAN OPINION 

A WORD TO OUH COUNTRTIIEN 

HEIlE should hardl,9 be a single Indian in the 

1f Union who is not aware of or concerned 

about the danger we are faced with as a 

consequence of the anti-Indian legislation already 

passed and proposed to be passed by the Union. 

Government. Under the circumstances every Indian 

should also know that to save ourselves from 

the impending ruination the only remedy is to act 

unitedly with one voice. We are grieved to find, 

instead, tll.lt some of our &>untrymen are trying to 

bring about divisions in the community the purpose 

of which must be known best to themselves. Their 

line of action is not different. They are out to fight 

against the same laws nnd on the Bame grounds as 

the existing representative bodil'ls. At least that is 

what they profess to do. But to do this instead of 

joining with the already existing constitutional 

body they have chosen to have their own bodiea to 

conduct the work on their own. Such a body ~lists 

in Durban known as the ,Natal Indian Association. 

It is not a constitutional body nor do we 

know that it represents any more than its own 

offiClals and perhaps a few others. Molvi Abdul 

Care em and Mr. E. M. Paruk are, we understand, 

fathering this little body. We have respect for both 

thel!le gentlemen in their individual capacity but we 

cannot congratulate them for their latest action. The 

only grievance that has prompted them to form this 

body, in so far as we have been able to judge, is 

that they are not able to command the confiwmce of 

the people. If that be so they are rendering their 

position in that regard all the worse. If anything 

is more disappointing about the so-called Natal Indian 

Association it is only the connection with it of 

Mr. E. M. Paruk. Mr. Pcl.l'uk holds a high position 

among the commercial class in Durban and we 

should have thought he would know better his responsibilities 

to hiS people. In so far as others cannectpd 

with that body are concerned, most of them 

are irresponsible. For pecuDiary motives or what 

we do not know but. they have-even during the 

time when Mr. M. K. Gandhi led thEl passive lesistance 

campaign-rendered but little service in the 

cause of their brethren. They only indulged in 

hindering the cause, and nothing more can be expected 

of them now. They will have to be faced 

and put up with by the community but not led by 

them. The commuDlty can be led only by the 

Natal Indian Congress whose services are wellknown 

to be reiterated here. 

We had thought up till now that Durban was 

the only unfortunate town where there was a body 

existing with the express motive of hindering the 

'good work done in the interest of the community. 

We now find, however, that such a body has been 

formed in the Transvaal too. The name of thIS 

body is .. Transvaal Indian Congress." With the 

exception of Mr. N. A. Camay who.is appointed the 

secretary the rest of the offiClals have been tested in 

communal affairs and found wanting. The president 

Mr. Mia who is a very fine gentleman ID his 

individual capacity has demonstrated but little patriotism 

during the passive resi:;tance campdign in 

the Transvaal in 1908 and all the other gentlemen 

were tested when they held for &. short time the 

reins of the British Indian Association, the only 

official representative body in the Transvaal. They 

were found wanting and the community had 

apparently lost confidence in them because they 

were boon replaced by others. This is probably the 

grIevance that has prompted them to form another 

politICal body. The action of none amazes us so much 

as does Mr. Camay's in this new body. Mr. Camay's 

sacrifice for his country's cause has been great. 

DUflng the passive resistance campaign under the 

leaderllhip of Mr. Gandhi Mr. Camay was holding 

the position of a postDl

INDiAN OPINION October 30th, 1925 

that will appoint them is representative. 

Let us not forget that our actions 

are being watched very carefully by 

our enemies and the slightest faltering on 

our part may impair our cause. Petty prejudices 

_if their be any should for once be 

put aside so that we may be able to show to 

the Union Government, to India and to the 

world that we are in earnest and that we are 

not going to anow our legitimate rights in 

this land ~f our birth and domicile to be 

trampled under foot without a murmur. May 

the Almighty guide the deleberations of our 

Congress and make it a success and may 

He guide us all in doing the right thing. 

Mts. -Sarojini Naidu Interviewed 

By Associated Press Of India 

S. A. Indian Congress The Only 

Representative Body 

In view of the widespread interest and 

agitation in India in regard to the anti-Asiatic 

legislation and in view of the possibility 

of various deputations from South Africa 

going to India to place their grievances 

before the Government and the public, Mrs. 

Sarojini Naidu, interviewed by the Associated 

Press in her official capacity as President 

of the South African Indian Congress 

stated as requested by the Indians of 

South Africa that she wished to make it 

very clear that the only organisation com· 

petent to represent the Indian community 

in South Africa was the South African Indian 

Congress to which are affiliated the 

Natal Indian Congress, the Transvaal British 

Indian Association and the Cape British 

Indian Council as representing the n:spective 

provinces and which are recognised by 

the South African Union Government as 

authorised to spea.k in the name of the Indian 

community. Other associations like 

the Natal Indian Association, for instance, 

are not affiliated to the South African Indian 

Congress and tepresent mainly only 

small groups of trading interests unconnected 

with the general welfare of a larger 

community. 

Referring to the anti-Asiatic legislation, 

Mrs. N aidu remarked, it is one of the iniquitous 

and barbarous acts of legislation 

which surely the clvilised world. can never 

tolerate. India will never countenance the 

repatriation of the Indian community under 

any pretext or disguise. Indian settlers are 

colonials with as much right to live on the 

soil of South Africa as the English, the 

Boer, the Huguenot and the Jewish colonials. 

Especially in Natal the Indians have 

built up the prosperity of the country by 

their very life blood and neither the arrogance 

'or colour prejudice nor the brutality 

of sheer physical strength can entitle one 

set of colonials to disinherit and exile an 

Qther set of colonials from the land that has 

been to them not only a fostermother 

but the mother itself. As she {Mrs. Naidu} 

had reminded the Minister of the Union 

Government while she was in South Africa, 

India is no longer the India of the folded 

hands and appealing eyes and now the 

whole strength of India will be mobilised in 

support and defence of the children overseas 

whose very existence will be menaced 

and whose human rights are down-trodden 

by the dual forces of unreasoning colour 

hatred and the bitter jealousy of economic 

cOl1]petition. The campaign of protest against 

the anti-Asiatic legislation will be formally 

inaugurated on the t I th of October when 

from every village and town of the great 

continent of India prayers will be offered 

for the stricken and disfranchised Indian 

citizens of South Africa. 

The Sense of Proportion 

• (By L. W. R.) 

That the Greater includes the Less, and consequently 

is the important is too obvious for argument. 

Yet in practice precedence is all too frequently given 

to the latter-the birth-right sold for a mess of 

pottage. Man's mind is like a mirror; it gathers 

dust while it refl6cts, and reflections are not the 

truer and clearer for the presence of the dust. Small 

minds, like small mirrors, are by reason of their 

limitations, prone to mislead the observer, and to 

Jeave him without a true sense of proportion, and 

when to this are perhaps added prejudIce, intolerance, 

bias or others of the sombre emotions which 

cloud truth and clarity of vision, the delusion is 

complete, and factions, schisms, internecine strife, 

and like forms of discord and disruption make their 

unlovely appearance. 

The stature of men is largely the measure of their 

vision; of their ability to distinguish between 

essentials and incidentals and to give to each of 

these the place or preference it deserves; and it is 

one of the marks whereby true leaders may be 

known that they possess the vision and the power 

to subordinate the minor to the major ev('n at the 

ruthless sacrifice of their own predilections. Leaders 

lose their qualifications for leadership 110 soon as 

they suffer presonal prejudices to influence an 

impartial outlook upon a situation, since their 

vlsion and judgment become thereby clouded and 

uncertain. Obviously danger to the cause on hand 

lies in treating as primary considerations that truer 

judgment must determine to be merely secondary. 

The measure of success already achieved in IndIa 

along the difficult and arduous path towards Nationhood-the 

co-ordination and harmonising of 

erstwhile conflicting forces and interests-was 

possible only by reason of the selflessness and the 

wide range of outl00k possessed by her great leaders 

and employed by them. 

Only by recognising and compelling recognition 

of the principle that sectional interests, however 

important in their place, must be ilubordinated to

-----------------------.-------------------------------- 

()ctober-30th, 1925 INDIAN OPINION 28! 

th(> int(>r('Rtll of til" greater whole, and by flO shaping 

pohcy and cOllillld,. could the progl'esfl mdde have 

Iie('n aclllevpd. AlItI the llleaSllre of advance on 

the rOcl111116 l\iJllistC'r 01' Mr. Tielm,\U Roos be asked to 

mltl"C'H3 the Synou, was negatived by the Bishop of 

Prl'lori.l. 

.. It was the duty of the Churches, .. continued the 

ArchLle,lCon ••, to Apeak With a de..!I' and uniteu VOICe 

on the fl1ndJ.Iuental prlllcipl!'s of Chrlstiamty. They 

were not concerned with det,uls of govel nment. but 

to them it was the enunciation of a vital prlIlciple. 

antI lhe Colour Bdr BIll was alien to the spirit of 

Chl'ist, It was not th€> duty of the Synoll. as such, 

to s,ty how these things should be dOlle, but it waf! 

for them to say v. bat' they believed to be the will of 

Christ on a snbject, 

They had to avoid all side 

issneA amI. concentrate on the fact th.lt the Colour 

Bar Bill was contrary to the prinCIples of Christianity 

... 

Professor Brookes 

PI'ofellSo\' E. H. Brookes. of the 'l'r.lDsvaal Unt 

.'ersitv COll.:>gll. Opposl'!l tbe resolution. ,IUd lllo'l'ed : 

'l'hat this Synod If'ell'l strongly that any I t'BtrictiVl' 

lq,(Isl.ltJoll such as the so-c,lllf>d Colour Bar 

131118holllll Dot pl'l'celie the legisLltion l'xtendmg 

to lldtiv(,1!1 tilt· 114ht to acquire l.1nd out"i,le the 

limit~ hull down by the Native Land Act, which. 

it un,lelstand8 from hlA spt·cches ill t1ie Transkei. 

is part of the Prime Mmibter's native ·pohcy. , 

l'hat this Synod assures the PrIme l\hmster of 

itR fullest ~) mpJthy WIth Ids etfOl ts to formul,lte 

a national natIvo policy on non-p,lrty lines, 

l'l'ote~:ior lkook('s f.,li,l he opposed the Colour B.lr 

DIll in so [,U' th,lt bad he bel:'ll ill P,lrliament he 

would not han· mtrodnced it. In other resprds It 

w.as f'imply pnttinl.! into LHV a regul.1tion th.lt hat! 

.llways t,xIsted, un Ithl:'l'u ,\as IlO velY Wdlkcu difference 

between th~ new law and the old regulation. 

He would hke to know how many natives there 

were amuous to proceed to any post enumerated in 

the Coloor Bar BIll, and in. how far the Bill was 

opposed to the principle of Christianity. In those 

circumstances restricting Indian immigration was 

similarly against those principles. What the country 

needed. said Professor Brookes. was a scheme by 

which both races would be allowed to develop along 

their own lines, where they came as little as possiblo 

in contact with each other. It was the intentIOn to 

mtroduce a BIll for the advancement of the native 

franchise in some form or other to all the other provinces. 

It seemed to-nim-that the Synod was- condemning 

generally. without a word of gratitude for 

anything that the Government had done. 

Rev. S. A. Bishop msisted on absolute justice 

without regard to colour. 

Mr. C. Baber supported Mr. Brookes, and said that 

the Colonr Bar Bill should not be opposed on the 

grounds that it was a bit of piecemeal legislation. 

Bishop Of Pretoria 

The Bishop of Pretoria thought that Professot" 

• Brookes was he

Kazi, Sorabj~e RUBtomjee, M. B. Naik, F. Gareeb,' 

Molvi G. Mnstufa and the Rev. J. M. SundrllID and, 

the Be-v. Chunoo also addressed the gathering. The 

following resolutions were passed unanimously :- 

1. "That thi!l mass nteetlng uf btdians held in the 

Town Hall, Mal"itzbul"g, undar the auspices of the 

Natal Indian Congress (Pietermarittbnrg DIstrict 

Oommlttee) emphatically protests against tbe Area'J 

Reservation and Immigration and Registration 

(Furthell' ProVision) Bill in that the Bill aims at the 

oompull'!O'l'Y segregation of the lndians, deprives 

them of th-eil' existing and proprietary rights, and 

fnrther restricts their domiciliary rights with a view 

to their ~ltimate extermination frCfIIl the country.,' 

2. "Tfiat this mass meeting of Indian assembled 

at Pletermaritzburg strongly supports the reaolution 

passed by a representative meeting of Natal IndiaJilB 

held at Durban on the 31st Angust,. 1925¢ affirming 

the suggestion of holding a Ruund Table donfe:rence 

as the only solu.tion fpr a settlement of the Indian 

qnestion." 

Hindu Tamit Insdtute 

Prtte Distribution 

Record Crowd. Witness, Children's Actillg 

'Ehe ftl'll'ID'Wing report has been forwarded to 1!l'R by 

tJa.e, ken. Secretalry em the above' Instrtlite> fOt' p'o:blli .. 

cail10n 1- 

A l1ecQrd: crowli gat"fuJel1e~ at the Rarwat's BID Han 

e.Dl SIruJ!l!, who' fll"esi.ued, 

P. R. Falfuer, the S-eelletary< a.nd B-, MOO1'l'J.'8wami 

PIllay, the Headmasller,- tooilf thei'!' sealt'il alt ~ ta:DI-& 

plrn-ctl'lall¥ at the' appoontelil1 hour, ta.oe, hall}! waS' fined 

to overfiowing. An interestmg, fea.ture- W'aS- thai! the 

audien.'Ge {loInprIsedl of OiVell 51i)0' women' of' aU sectwns 

oLthe' In.dian eom!t'lllml)lJ,tp. At] l".m. fully 

20g ehildll1en headed by the C~l!I'lmlttee (1)!f tlhe- Itl'8tf~ 

tute, marehed\from the> Ins1JiI)I~»)~»I)' 0 

Birmingham's ]\fedical Officer of Health. in hIS 

annual report, speaks of the mischievous resoIts of 

a KnowiJedge of birth-eontro} by young people. For 

Birmingham'lI birth-rate last year wa~ t'he l'owest 

o'n' record 19.2, as compared Vtith .30.7 twenty yearsago. 

A:.nd Su" James points' out tihat fol' England, 

as It whole, the population is almost stationer:y at 

, p'J'esent, a condition' which- he considers is li'lrely to 

, portend the decay of the' Empire, as" in' other nation!! 

where l.lIrthl.eontrol has' been practised for long 

periods. But he, however, d had a faint 

consciousness, though ae added, there was no need 

to assume that they felt pain or pleasure. Plants 

were also thingil oil habit., of "unconscious memory"; 

as for instance a plant that raises its leaves to the 

snn's light and drops them at night time. When 

such plant is kept entirely in the dark, as in a 

cellar, it COnbnlleil to observe the times- of its habit. 

There have been many fine novels written about 

lunat1c ailylumns, and' somB' perhaps written by 

lunatics, but when the bibliography of madness IS 

compIled~ Mr. H. G. Wells will as usual find'himself 

in capitals. It is a hnman and a good book. If it 

has not the characteristics of Cha1'les Reades' .. Hard 

Cash. " itrsurpasses by far iJy the qualities of life

October 30th, 1925 JND1AN ONN10N 283 

-----.----~--------------~----------------------------~and 

truth, that ancwlIt anti commenddble endeavour. 

And if by this book Mr. Wells achieves anything in 

favour gf the bdter and more hnmane treatment of 

the lunatic. the nation will indeed be beholden to 

him, for apart f"om the treatment of the hmatlc. 

there is eve" a doubt, whethf'r one who is decldred 

a lunatic is really so. and it is just POBRible that 

those who have the power to certify others a6 

lnnatbs, are themselves not free from some form or 

other of the same mal.ldy. 

There is a struggle going on between the Ministry 

of Health and the West Holm Boalu of Guardians on 

the amount of relief Pdyable to thf' out-of-works in 

the district of W('st Ham. which owing to its situation 

JD the dock area on the Thames, has a very 

large populdtion. Some 70,000 unemployed are in 

receipt of poor rehef, the rate of such relief allowed 

hy the Guardldlls is 59/- per week per fdmily. The 

MlDistry of HealtlJ insist on the amount being reduced 

to 55/- but the Guardians refuse to accept this 

legal standard rate. They holJ that they are justified 

in allowing what they consider a living rate, 

regdrdless of the fact that the I'ecipient of su~h a 

rate of rehef, when in work, earned a lesser sum. 

'fhe Guardians have from time to time been 

financed by way of loans by the Ministry of Health, 

'''hich already amount to over a million pounds, and 

the Ministry were prepared to guarantf'o a further 

loan of three hundred thousand pounds if the 

Guardians would reduce the rate of allowance as 

suggested by the Ministry. As a result of the 

Guardians' refuSdl to fall in with the views of the 

Ministry, they are not in a positIon to payout any 

rehef. So the Ministry has taken up the relief of 

the out-of-works, and will no doubt later seek for 

the necessary Parhamentary sanctlOn. And at the 

same time the struggle continues between the 

Ministry and the Guardians. The Guardians 

threaten that when the pdor rates are collected in 

the district, they will make up the dIfference m 

the rate, which the Ministry IS paying, so that the 

rate of relief in the end would amount to the rate 

the GuardIans are figbting for. There is to be a 

deputation of the Guardians on the Ministry next 

week. 

The League of Nations at Geneva has been notIfied 

by the BI'itish Government that the Governor 

of Burma has completed an agreement in the 

IIukawng Valley, to emancipate about :3.000 slaves, 

men, women anu chIldren, by a ransom which those 

freed will pay in annual instalmepts. The practice 

of Btll1ing slaves, giving them aWdY as part of a 

mdrI'iage dowry, or Iq settlement of blood feuds. 

and breaking up f.unilies of slaves is to cease. 

The de,lth is announcetl to-d.\y of the ~Llbarajah 

of Jammu and Kashmir, Pratab. H.R. Sir Pratab 

Singh is in his 75th year. The Maharajah was the 

third of line. grandson of the founder of his 

dynasty. There was one chIld born to the Maharajdb 

in 1~04 but died from an accident the year 

after. He is succeeded by his nephE'w Sir Har! 

Singh. The dead Prince succeeded to the throne 

30 years ago. The area of his rule was 80,000 

square miles. and the population over 3,000.000. 

During the late war he malle a very cOluageous 

break from tradition in leaving his country and 

visiting France and the Indidn Expedition. He saw 

the battle of Cambrai. he was hon. lieut.-gener,d of 

the BI·itish Army; W,\S a frieDll of Lord Roberts. 

gave £100,000 to the Indi,\n Memori.ll to Queen 

Victoria. and waived a claim of over £11;3,000 for 

the use of his sohliers overseas. He was interested 

in History, Religion. and PolItics. When he was 

over 50 he won the Royal IIllm:lne Society's Meddl 

for saving the hfe of an Englishwoman at Isl.mibad, 

and he was still playing criwket after he was. sixty. 

But he played it under distinctive condition:!. A 

story is told of him that on hearing that "Ranji" 

was nearby, he said he would like to see him. They 

had a long chat about the game-then the Yaharajdh 

asked jf Ranji had evet made" an egg." "Oh 

les." was the answer. •• More than one egg'" 

• Of course, lots of them." .. Ah, " was the MaharajJ.h's 

proud reply. .. That has never happened to 

me. not once." The reason was !imp1e. Bowlers, 

wicket keepers and fieldsmen were diplomatic, 

everyone of them, in every conceivable way. made 

it possible for him to score. But that was an 

example of oriental politeness and grdve humour, 

which nobody derided. He was entItled to a Royal 

salute of 21 guns. Kashmir is noted as a land of 

romance and magnificence and travellers call its 

c.lpital Srinagar, the Venice of tho East, and among 

the many wonderous things to behold is the Royal 

Barge, manned by 50 oarsmen behind the canopy 

and 50 in front. They keep perfect time with the 

padtlles, and are gorgeously dressed. It is the land 

of the Arabian mghts. 

Crematioo 

Its Economic Advantage To The Nation 

Mr. Arthur E. Piggott, speaking recently on 

"CrematlOn" at a meeting of the Manchester Rotary 

Club. Johannesburg, said that cremation was a 

reverent treatment of the dead, and in that respect 

might be regarded as an advantage to the living. 

Its advantages from the hygienic point of view were 

genernlly conceded, but its great advantage was on 

the sc(\re of economy-not alone to individuals. but 

particularly in the Iilavmg of the cost of large areas 

of land cemeteries. Cremation reduced both the 

civic and the indiVidual cost; burial increased the 

burden of expense to the nation. 

Mr. Piggot claimed that cremation wa.s in entire 

accordance with Chl'lstian belief and interfered with 

no religious ceremony or rite. It avoided the 

dangers attendant on graveside funerals in inclement 

weather. It transformed corruptIOn into cleanliness 

and made the disposal of a dead body something not 

repulsive but artistic and symb'llic. Cremation 

could only take place after searching inquiry as to 

the actual cause of death, and removed all possibility 

of being buried alive, while the regulations made by 

law eliminated the risk of murder going undetected. 

In the course of the address Mr. Piggott pointed 

out that the amount required to be raised. in the year 

1~2:l for municipal cemeteries in Manchester amounted 

to £3,3H, equivalent to a rate of O.O,jd. Powers 

were. however, recently sought by the Corporation 

to acquire no less an area than 90 acres lD extent in 

the neighbourhood of the Southern Cemetery "and 

its appropridtion for bunal purposes." The Southern 

Cemetery already occupies an area of 98 acred 

and apPl'oximately some 13-1,000 dead bodies lie 

there. Now the scheme was to withdraw more acres 

of fertIle soil from the service of man, caused 

by improper treatment of the dispOBal of the dead. 

If cremated ashes were stood in an urn-which was 

by no means necessary-or if the ashes were pulvelised. 

allll scattered ,\ very few acres would suffice 

for the city for generations.-1 h8 Star.

* •• ~~ ••• **.***.*.~ 

~ Original Correspondence ~ 

~ ~ 

~ The Editor, INDIAN OPINION. i~ 

~.~.~.~ ••• ~ •••••• f 

Canon Haywood Harris At 

Maritzburg Meeting 

Sir,-It seems to me that the presence of Canon 

Heywood HarrIs on the platform at MarItzburg on 

Saturday last\requires some explanation. The meetmg 

was calle,l by the Indian Congress to protest 

against the legislation now beIng mtroduced against 

the ASIatic races, but an allusIOn to this was made 

by the Canon. Instead he repeated some common 

ChrIstIan platItudes about "l"lghteousness" and 

.. princIple, " and laId great stress on .. team-work" 

I.e. co-operation. 

Judging however, from a report of this gentleman~ 

words in the Nalal W~/ness of 15th Oct. 192.5, 

his homIly on " prInciple" falls very fiat, and he 

hImself stands convICted of inconsIstency and insmcel"lty. 

HIS words as reported are: "The Indiar:, 

natIve and coloured people were encroaching on 

many of the ordInary avenues of work, and it was 

becommg Increasingly ddficult to place all the European 

boys. He wan Led the school-boy of to-day to 

grasp that the whILe people would only hold theIr 

posItIon In work and In government In this country 

so long as they pt'oved themselves bettE'r able than 

the other races to fill the vanous posts." No "teamwork" 

between ~he races here, but cut-throat competitIOn 

on raCIal lines' 

Box 335, 

Mantzburg, 

26th Oct. 1925 

I am, 


------- 

Yours etc, 

CRAS. RAKER. 

• 



Govind Ranade 


Vaishavlte Reformers of IndIa 

M K. Gandhi and the South Arrican 


Aspecs of the Vedanta 

Es,ars 00 Indlao Art, Industry and Education 2 

Sri M 1I1bwacbarya - 

HiQdu~sm. by Dr. Barnett 2 

Position 01 the Women in the Vedas 

VlInaculars as Media of In&tructlon in 

Jo(l,ao Sch lOis and Colleges 

Elsent'als of HindUIsm 1 

Dadlbhal Naorojl's Speeches and Wrltingl 6 

Indian NatIOnal Congr .ss 8 

Tbe Madras Corgress and Conferences 

Allahabad aod Nagpur Congresses :l 

( 

The Surat Congrfss and Conferences 2 

The ImprovelUl;;nt of Indian Agriculture 2 

T'le Congress Conferences and Conventions 2 

India's Untoucbable Saints 2 

For India's Uphft, by Anne Besant 3 

The Governance of India, by Govind Das 7 

Sri RamanuJacharya 2 

Sn Sankaracharya 2 

Ur. Gandhl'~ Speec;hes and Writiags-Il!96 to 1917 3 

The Indian Demands, by G. A.Natesan 2 

IndIan Industrial and Economic Problems by Pro!. Kale 3 

Essays on NatIOnal Ideahsm, by Dr Coomaraswamy 2 

FIlIENDS OF INDIA SERIES' Lord Morley, Sif Wm 

Wedderburn, Rev. Dr. Mliler, Sir Edwm Arnold, 

Edmund Burke, Lord Mmto, Henry Fawcett, 

John Brlgbt A O. Hume, Sir Henry Cotton, Lor

No. 4S-Vol~ XXIII. Friday, November 6th, 1925. 

ttecisterecl at the G. P. O. .~ • He_a.,.r 

PIUC. Foo .... «. 


t\\JiT ESSR~. Parbhoouas Haribhai Patel, Nanalal 

11 V II M. Khanderh and Manilal G. Patel all of 

whom have been allowed to enter and reside 

in the Tran!!vaal as educated Indians and hoM. 

exemption certificate!! issued by the Government 

have been served with the following notICe declaring 

them prohlhited immigrants :- 

.. Take notico tJl

286 INDIAN OPINION November 6th, 1925 

!' hU: admias.ian t.o make I To this item .of 

n SC .i. ~Z J[mVTf/ gives the sub-lIea4iag: 

.. " era

November 6th, 1925 

INDIAN OJJINION 

no sensible person can doubt th&t the bringing in 

of another CmH!i of sea-lIIen, belonging to another 

lace, called Inliian lai!cars, in order to break the 

original slriko and force the aca.-men who have 

stmck work In accept 10\ller wages iii an act on the 

pdrt of the Shipping Companies which will stir up 

r,lcial hatred and p.lJI.8ions to no small uegree and 

comphcate the politwal situation of the world. The 

Routh African Indian Congress have very rightly 

and .widely caLled at ()nce their protest to India and 

• the rel'lt of the world against this action ()f the 

shipping companies, and they are able being on the 

spot, and at close £Iuarters, to know wllllt is going 

on and w unden!tand instinctively and immediately 

the serious harm which iil certain to be done by the 

enCollragcmcnt of such a policy of trying in India 

labour on behalf of the shIpping companies. 

Alreooy the situation in South Africa is serioUil 

enough. Already the raca hatred against the Indian. 

is incredIbly bad. Already the Indians have 

boon drii'en from pilla. to pGilt, and their cup of 

misery and bitterness is very nearly fulL Bnt if 

the news which the telegt'a.mil from Bombay ha.ve 

published of the recruiting of 700 lascars who have 

Leen shipped off to South Africa to break the strike 

is really true, then, indeed, the cuP of mieery will 

completely overflow, and there will be no hope 

whatever of any lel!8ening of the race hatred between 

the white and ·thpIndian races in SOllth 

Afl'ica. The ~our Party in South Africa, to 

whom an appeal has just been made in London to 

meet the Indian delegates of the Indian Trades 

Union Congress, in ord

.0 

INDIAN OPINION November 6th 1925 

so forlh tQ replace postal, telegraph, and telephone once I jumperl on him and gave him rather a caustic 

,. time. 

~~ E is for general unclassified services, m- "You coloured people" I cried, and pray what 

(lIDding clerical work. It will mclude women, who right hav.e yOll to let down the whole of the Orient 

will be registered for service in canteens, hospitals, by calling them "coloured p~ople" and then deand 

so on, but in no circumstances wlll women be claring that they amonnt to a Illerc fraction of value. 

Clllployed in places where there is any danger of "It is thIS deplorable cheapening of yourselves 

rough handling. that has brought about all thIS trouble. Cannot you 

The Home Secretary interviewed by the Press on understand that such words lower your standard and 

the O.M.S. is reported to have said, that the Govern- the whole of the Orient, and the old Inllia who bement 

had all its plans ready for the eventualities lieved that the rest of the wOI'ld revolved round 

following a general strike, and if necessary would their beloved land and received its substance from 

call upon citizens and bodies lIke the O,M,S. for it ? 

volunteer helpers. 

" Do you know, or do you not beheve, that a r(J,l'e 

It waS in 1893, that the Venerable Anagarlka like a man is always accepted on it's own value? 

Dharmapala a 'Buddist monk was last m London. But they must live np to that value. 

Tpe boat train that brought the Begum of Bhopal .. You, yourself Don" (his name is not D H1 bnt It 

al130 carried the monk. He is a ta.ll spare man WIth will serve) are "gilt-eiged" but for this f~lse lhllia 

keen brown aesthetic face, flashmg white teeth, dence you ticket yourself eke,p and n I~tlf. I should 

and curly grey hair, and clad in a vollllmnous hate to hear you continually bO.lsting yourself or 

ol'ang~ gown, wound round him WIth canvass shoes, your people-tho' advertisin6 always pays, bnt I do 

of the same hu~. He has no personal posseSSIOns want you to raise your stand.1rd which has fd.lleh so 

beyond a small case contaimng toilet artIcles, a few low here, that you are trea.ted and cla~sed with 

books of devotion, a quantity of Bndclist Literature, everyt)1ing you should not be br .... cketed wUh. 

and a 'portable typewriter. He travels but has no I claim you a va.lued friend and yet you try to 

money. He is here to consolidate the position of cheapen me by thinking I would gIve my regard to 

fonowers of Lord Budda, in England, with the help something wOI'Lhless-you would run my standard 

of such followers by establishing a ~laha-Bodhi below half-m1.st. " 

Society. 

" A man is known by the friends he keeps, so 

The Begum of Bhopal on her arrival was met by 'tis said, and the same theory applies to woman. I 

Lord Headly the Mohammedan Peer and some of want a gilt-edged friend not a shoddy acquaintance. 

the officials of the Mosque at W .... kmg. WIth her R~spect yonrself-your race, your abilllies. YOUI' 

are her so!'/. Prince Hamidullah, her daughter-Ill- work and be tnle to yourself. " 

law, her grand sops Syecl Lafir Khan and Raschid Bi8hop Fisher Rays .. I am myself-I am above 

Lafir Khan, and her Minister-in-Attendance Sir my ideals, my mdlvitll1ahty I retain." HIS Ego is 

Israr Hussein Khan. She has taken a house in healthy and beautiful, he is gilt-edged. " 

Portman Square. To-day sbe placed a wreath at Do not confound this With conceit which IS 

the foot of the Cenotaph. - offensive and despicable. "I wag ill New York 

The 1924 Nobel PrIze for Literature was awarded about three years ago and accidentally ran 3crOiS a 

to Vtdislas St. Reymont, a Pole. The novel which South Africln one ddY. He seemed very mIlch 

gave him the prize is caUed " The Peasants," and is troubled at the lack of ('ourtesy of the people, .. Oh, 

the first of a series of fonr of his novels. The MISS 1\1

cf)piniDtt 

J ·'-N-o-.-4---- '-.-X-X-I-I-I-.---F-r-id-a-y-,-N-o-v-e-m-b-e-r-.-3- 6 Vō t -: h -,-I-9- 2 -S-.---:R.::-.-:~i:-:.te-red-:-.-:~-:::.'!:-:-::::-;=~-:.!!::- ••-::",- 

n::l)EUTEH'S message from Cape Town rtports 

il\\ that the Fifth Session of the South African 

Indian Congress was opened by the Mayor 

of Cape Town in the City Hall on the 9th instant 

at 8 p.m. There was a large gathering of Indians, 

and scores of telegrams conveying messages of sympathy 

and cheer were received from Associations and 

individualfl in this country as well as India, and 

one from Mahatama Gandhi. 

The Mayor, in his address of wt'lcome,cpleaded for 

patience and tolerance and remarked that justice did 

not mean the undermining of the one section of 

the commnnity for the betterment of the other. 

After the presidental addreEs by Dr. A. H. Gool the 

Conference adjourned for the next day. 

There is at least one sphere of industrialism in 

Durban in which, in the eye of the law, Europeans 

and Indians are treated alike. This is 

the printing industry. This was demonstrated in 

the Durban Courts by a judgment delivered by Mr. 

A. T. Roberts when it was t!hown that Indian 

printers' assistants had to be paId according to a 

schedule adopted by the NatlOnal Industrial Council 

of the Printing and Newspaper Industry of South 

A fl'i ca. The same conditions apply equally to Europeans 

and Indians. If, therefore, IndIans continue 

to be employed it is because they are as efficient as 

Europeans. One might go further and say that they 

must be more efficient, otherwise they would not be 

employed, in view of the prevailing colour preJl1dlCe 

and active propaganda in favour of white labour. 

The Transvaal Nationalists, in anticipation of the 

Prime Minister's intention to make an epoch-making 

speech on the Native problem at Smithfield this 

week, has submitted a memorandum which is likely 

to provoke trouble in Government circles and which, 

it is prophesied, may lead to a serious ministerial 

orisis in the near flltnre. 

This memorandUm declares that .. Uniformity in 

Native policy is a first requirement in the? solution 

of the problem. In order to secure snch uniformity 

steps must be taken to incorporate the Bechuanaland 

Protectorate, Basutoland, and Swaziland. The NatIOnal 

Party of the Transvaal accepts segregation as 

a basic principle and expreSiles its opinion that there 

are four sub-divisions in this system, viz., territorial 

segrl:'gation, social segregation, industrial segrega- 

\,tion, and pohtical s~~ 

It further goes on to say: .. By keepin~ the 

Native as far as possihle ont of f.killed amI civ1lised 

labour, the Wages Act is legislation that will operate 

in the direction of Industrial Segregation and as 

such it is welcomed by the Executive Committee. 

Anv vocations where a certllicod.tI' of competency is 

nec'essary shouhl not be open to Nativ{'s and Asi 1- 

tics, The Colour Bar Bl11 is legislation which 

carries out this princible,' Work or business which 

is liCCIlSCll by the Provincial authorities, as {or 


~,\' 

• 

•• -:M::-."'-pa-pa- 

example the liquor trade and ordinary trade, should 

not be open to the Native or Asiatic. " 

On the question of the franchise the Transvaal 

Nationalists are no less emphatic: "The Transvaal 

National Party expresses its opinion that the Native 

should not have the franchise. as far as Parliament. 

Provincial Councils or Municipalities are concerned. 

('nder no circumstances is the Nationalist Party of 

the Transvaal prepared to allow the Native franchise 

to be extended to the north, and it feels strongly 

that the Native franchise in the Cape should be curtaIled. 

The Nationalist Party of the Transvaal further 

'lSSerts that they are not prepared to agree to 

the direct representation of the Natives in Parliament, 

even though such representativeR voted in an 

advisory capacity only, and even then the Transvaal 

Nationalists would not agree to it. The Committee 

feels that the public of the Transvaal (irrespective of 

parties) will never agree to give direct reoresentation 

to Natives in Parliament or to give them a vote 

in a Parhamentary election in the Transvaal. As 

far as the Cape Coloured are concerned the Committee 

is of the opmion that this question should remain 

in abeyance until such time as the Native 

question has been satisfactorily solved. 

We await with interest the statement of the 

Prime Minister who is more or less committed to a 

much more liberal policy towards the Natives even 

if he has no sympathy with Asiatics, That the two 

questions are practically one to the Transvaal NatIOnalists 

is plainly seen. It 1S a question of "whites 

against non-whites." 

The London correspondent of the Natal Advertiser 

cables that Mr. H. S. L. Polak, of the Indian Overseas 

Association, draws attention in Th8 Manch.sllt~r 

Guardian to the fact that October 11th was treated 

throughout India as a day of prayer and humiliation 

in protest against the Indian policy of the Union 

Government. He describes it as "an episode of 

great moment, certainly to the Indian people, and 

probably to the Empire at large." 

The Town Clerk of Durban, replying to an inquiry 

from the secretary of the South African European 

Motor Drivers' and Mechanics' As90ciation 

writes : 

.. I regret to inform you that the Town Council 

has no power or authority to introduce legislation 

whereby Europeans only shall be eligible for the 

'occupation of drivers of steam driven vehicles within 

this borough. This would imply class legislation 

ami on that account would be strongly opposed ... 

l\bss S. M. Warner, L.R.A.M., gave an interesting 

lecture before the Durban Lodge of the Theosophical 

Society on the 5th inst. on "Some Modern 

Composer." :Miss Warner illustrated her" lecture 

by giving several musical selectio'ps. aemonstrating 

how mnsic expressed itse~. in "Nature, Mysticism, 

Humour, etc.. There was an appreciative auwenee.

INDIAN OPINtON November 13th, 1925 

Mr. Gandhi, in a message to the Bombay Chronicle 

Oll the South African day says I-" Happily the 

question of the British Indians in South Africa is 

not II tJarty question. India mnst be able to avert 

the calamity that threatens to overtake onr countrYr 

men in that sub-continent. 

The proposed legislation 

is a manifest breach of the settlement of 1914. 

My experience of the Indian question in South 

Africa is one of It series of breaches, promiSe!i and 

declarations, which have been proved from the 

official records. " 

--- 

" The vroposed legislation, (says Mr. Gandhi) is 

in effect a confiscation of almost every right that the 

:t3ritish Indians possess. Their sole crime consists 

in being good traders and not being EuropeanS. 

There can be no compromise in this matter, no repatriation 

even when euphemistically described as 

volUntary. tet me, however, say that retaliation 

will be no remedy, if only because there can be no 

effective retaliation. The only remedy is diplomatic 

pressure. Lord Hardiuge applied it successfully. 

Will the present Government repeat that performance 

?" 

The Bombay Oh:rrmule publishes special messages 

from leaders all over India on the South Africa 

day. Mrs. Slirojini Naidu hopes the wrongs of Indians 

in South AfrIca will kmdle in the heart. of 

India sorrow and indignatwn. 

Dr. Rabindranath Tagore writes that the treatment 

met~d out to Indians in South Africa should make 

them-conscious of their responsibility to the original 

inhabitants of the country. Provocation to inflict 

injury on their neighbours tor the sake of their 

own self-interest should be avoided. Let Indja~s 

win the heart of Africans through sacrifice and 

co-operation, and share the resources of the ,country 

by the glad. consent of the legitimate owners. 

--....- 

Mr. C, Rajgopala,chariar says that the price fol' a 

com.fortable domestic life, and indifference to the 

ce.lls of national duty. is dishonour at home and dishonour 

abroad. The remedy for pariahdom in the 

world is to make one's natIOn free at home. All India'. 

resources should be placed. at the dispoaa,l of 

her national lea.ders for the liberatIOn of India., 

which alone ean solve the colonial problems, 

, 1'0 protest against the anti-Asiatic legislation now 

being introduced in South Africa aud to concert 

measures for the remova.l of the dIsabilities against. 

Indians who have settled in the South African 

Union, a public demonstration was held at Mirzapurpark, 

Calcutta on the 11th Oct. Speeches condemning 

the action of the South African Government and 

advocating retaliatory measnre~ in India were made. 

Mr. Jagadish Chandra Mookerjee, who has rec'elltly 

returned. to India after a short busi~ess v~sit 

to South AMca, gave ltu account of the dli~culties 

and humiliations he had to undergo. He Bald that 

the passport authorities in Calcutta and. ~e Cons~lar 

authorities in Africa could nob help a BrItIsh subject, 

although subjects of Faance, Portugal, etc, had the 

sgppori of their Governments. He said he had to 

leave India Oli a. passport visaged by the Portuguese 

Oonaul to land in Aft:ica on Portuguese territory 

there as the British passport officials in Calcutta 

oould only give a passport at the owner'~ risk. The 

speaker said he felt asb.amed of being a British subj~ct. 

At this meeting Dr. J. 1'11. D

November 13th, 1925 IND1A~ OPINION 291 

India's Protest Against Asiatic 

Bill 

Hindus and Muslims, Jews and Christians, Farsis 

antl,Hikhs, we aU may have our differences, but in 

our utter dett'Station of the South African Government 

of the laUer's treatment of our countrymen In 

South Africa we are all one. The public meeting 

held On the Cbaupatty Sandi! recently under the 

auspICes of the Bombay Provincial Congress Committee 

and several other public bodies gave unmistakable 

expre8Bion of the feelings that are univers-dolly 

held by all the Indians throughout the 

whole of India over a question that vitally touches 

India's honour and self-respect. Indeed. the South 

African Indian question has been simmering for a 

long time, till at last, slowly but lurely, it has now 

come to a head. 'fhe time has arrived when either 

it mUBt mend or end. If it cannot mend in favonr 

of tbe Indians let it be ended by all means in our 

power even the most extreme that we would com 

IUdntI. Those who treat Indians as brutes ought. to 

be treated as brutes in return. The time of argument 

and deputations and peaceful negotiations is 

long past. The South African Government has 

shown without equivocation or any mental reservation 

that it is a sort of an oligarchy that is founded 

on racial pride and arrogance, that falsehood and 

broken pledges are the sole props of that Government 

and that its whole Indian policy stands rooted 

in dishonour, in deceit aud utter disregarrl. of the 

Banctitr of pledged words and solemnly-signed 

treaties. "Scraps of paper" lie strewn broadcast 

throughout the whole of that country m all the 

controversy that has raged so long between the Indians 

and the South African Government. But 

what i. the head and front of the Indians' fault? 

Yes, we must admit, the Indians have their faults, 

the faults of their virtue! Indians, according to the 

South African Government's code of morality, are 

made to suffer because they possess certain virtues 

in which the Whites are grossly deficient. Indians 

are frugal, Indims are good traders, Indians are 

satisfied with small profits, and Indians are quiet 

and peaceful citizens. The Whites have all these 

qualities in a negJ.tive manner and for this reason 

and this only the fiJ.t has gone forth that the Indidns 

shouM be penalised and driven out of the country 

bag and baggage. To the eternal shame (if the British 

Government, by their quiet acquiescence in the 

iniquitous behaviou.r of the South African Government, 

the latter has practically received a free 

charter to do their very worst towards the IndIans. 

But what could be said ab.mt the Indian Government. 

Its present position is the most humiliating 

one. At the very time when the Viceroy has been 

constantly regaling the Indians with the assurances 

that negotiations were carried on with the SUCCeStlOlS 

of the Boer Gov",rnment and the Colonial Office in 

Lond()n, the South African Premier and his Ministers 

have been forging new chains and bringing into 

existence new legislations which would practically 

hound the Indians out of that Bub--Continent. 

N ever in the history of the Imperial Ooverr.ment it 

has shown itself off in a more subservient and 

slavish position. It seems it is the tail that wags 

the dog and not the dog the tail. In this South 

African controversy the respective rolls between the 

Imperial Government and a subordinate Government 

that has not even a Dominion state is quite changed. 

It is South Africa that rules and the Imperi,.l ColonidI 

Office that takes its commands from its inferior. 

But what about India? India no longer has any 

voice. Indid is merely a subordinate branch of the 

British Government and it is supposed to be beneath 

&Dr oonsideration. India is a helot country. and 

helots have no voice to command. The proposed 

legislation in Soqth Africa Is a confiscation of almost 

every right that the British Indians PQsseeB and ,e~ 

they and their countrymen in India are not capable 

of moving their little finger to ameliorate the lot of 

their brethren over the seas. This is a most hu,miliating 

condition In which the Indians find themselves 

at the present moment. It is proposed to 

hold protest meetings throughout the whole length 

and breadth of the whole country, But what of 

that? Who Is going to listen to this protest? None. 

What is to be done under the circumstances ? There 

is only one method ani one only that will ever 

make India heard in the councils of the Empire. 

Let India be free. A free India will command respect 

from others and will be feared by them. Indeed, 

for t.he present moment, for all the Indians of 

whatever pOlitical colour they be. the time has 

arrived when lcowing aside all other questions, they 

should all unite to make the Sonth African question 

their own and through this question to devise the 

different ways and means to make ladia a free and 

a self-respecting country within the Commonwealth 

of British Nations. The time has certainly arrived 

for Great Britaip to make her choice. Are they 

gomg to hug South Africa to their heart and let India 

slip out of its hand? Or are they going to 

fight-yes actually to fight-for India, that is fot 

justice, for equity and for mO",lity, and thua by a 

true Imperial gesture win over India, and in this 

victory win India's love and India's allegiance? 

Let Great Britain decide before it is too late.-&nj 

Vartmall. 

Harmony And Discord 

(By L. W. R.) 

A~ no time in the history of the IndIan people. 

whether of the Motherland or of South Africa, hall 

the spirit of unity and harmony been more needed 

than now. The nationhood of India hangs in the 

balance, and on the same issue rests the fate of the 

Indian people of this dominion. India and her 

people are being Bubjected to trial by Ordeal. 

According to the response to that test will deliverance 

bo achieved or further postponed. The question to 

be aDilwered is: How earnestly is that liberation 

desired? And the teBt whereby that answer shall 

be judged is 'he measure of harmony attained within 

the body or bodies politic. That this is n~cessarily 

so, follows inevitably an understanding of the 

psychology of the situation. India's mission ill so 

lofty. Her shadow to-day is the darker by oorurast 

with the great Spiritual light Bhe shed in the days 

of old. and with which, if her people will she may 

yet again illumine the world. But ere the spirit 

can shine through the vehicles harmony in these 

mast in a measure at least be estabhshed. There 

must be harmony in aspiration which in turn must 

be untainted by sordid or selfish motives. The note 

of •• Brotherhood" must ring true and elea.r throughout. 

Not for revenge sake, nor that the fruits of 

victory may be plucked and enjoyed must this 

labour be wrought but that Liberation may itself be 

used to liberate otherwise where bondage is. If it 

b,e objected that these prerequisites are unduly high 

and exacting let it be remembered that India's 

liberation may be the prelude to the World's redemption, 

that India's resumption of her foretim~ 

spiritual ascendancy may mean the spiritual regeneration 

of a vast field outside of India-the 

possible dawn of a new age for mankind---and that 

the higher the mission the grcater the qualifications 

required of the missioner. Harmony and monotone 

are not synonymous. The "raginis" or sub-tones 

shade and coloW' and enrich the "raga" or overtone.

, 

They are "the same, yct not the same"; they contrIbute 

to and s,vall the harmony. SImIlarly, differences 

of opinion, differences in pomts of VIews, 

new angles of vision, of outlook, are not neccssarily 

discordant with any given main purpose. On the 

contrary they too may" be helpful and enriching. 

Very dIfferent, however, IS it with calculated dISruptive 

opposition that has as its object the promotion 

of discord m order that some personal or 

party end may be gained or that some enemy or 

rival party may be defeated. The' wreckmg of a 

good cause for such ends IS nothmg less than 

satanic, and heavy mdeed lS the retributIon that 

must react upon the unhappy mstruments thereof. 

Instruments rather than authors are such, mostly, 

instruments lli(nding themselves, as channels. to the 

dark forces o~posed to harmony, opposed to the 

building up of that synthetlC hfe towards wh1ch we 

are plainfully labonfmg. Of such foolIsh ones so 

lending themselves to eVIl It may truly be sald; 

"They know not what they do." But sure it IS also 

that the evIl to which they are party IS greater than 

they know, and that if through theIr wayward folly 

they injufe the whole (of which they are part) the v 

injufe themselves most all for action and reactIOn 

are equal and God IS never mocked. - 

A Protest Meeting at East London 

A mass meetmg orgamsed by the British IndHlU 

ASSOCIatIon of East London was held m the Tannl 

Temple Hall on Sunday 25th Oct. at 3-:30. p.m. to 

protest against the Areas ReservatIOn and ImmigratIOn 

and RegistratIOn (Further ProvlBlOn) BIll 

There was a large attendance of local and chstnd 

IndIans. Mr. S. CasooJee preSIded. The President 

and a Number of ther IndIan l3peakers dealt at 

length WIth some of the provislOns of thIS new BIll. 

The folloWlllg resolutIon was carnpd amidst 

applause - 

"That thIS mass meetmg of East Lonclon and 

district Indians assembled at thlS Tam]l '1'e'll1ple 

Hall under the auspIces of the BrItIsh Indmn Association 

of East London hereby places Oll record Its 

emphatic protest agamst the Areas ReservatIOn and 

Immigration and Re!nstratIOn (Furthel' ProvIsion) 

Blll the provlslOns of whlCh are most obnOXIOU'l and 

humiliating to the BntIi:lh Inelmn& ot the U mon ot 

South AtrICa " 

The elec1non of delegates to the forthcommg 

Conference at Capetown also took place. l\Ief!!:lrs. 

S. C.tsoOJee and A. M Chetty were nnal1lmomlly 

elected to represent the Bnbsh Indian ASSOCiatIOn 

of East London 

" 

The Transvaal Tamil Benefit 

SOCiety 

Under thp, auspIces of the above tlO{.1e[\·, a 111,(83 

meetlDg was held at the Goldbf'rg 1310 Hdll, Fo'{ 

Street, Johannesburg, at 4 p.m., on Sunday the 2;)th 

Oc~ober 1925, to dISCUSS the adVIsabIlity of Bll b 

mitting a protest to the proper anthonty agamst thR 

.. AsiatIC Bill." The Chairman of the SOCIety. 1\£1 •• 

R. 8. C. PIllay preSIded over the meetlDg and very 

ably -dwelt upon the outrage of the BIll to the 

gathering. whIch was a large one. Mr. P. S. Pather 

read the Bill translate,l llltO Tamil bv 1\1r. K. R P. 

Naidoo, the Han. Secretary of the Society, which 

was fully explained by Mr. C. K. '1'. N,lidoo After 

a lengthy discussion over the demellts of the BIll, 

the following fesolutlOns were unanllHously pa::l~e(l 

I. This Mass Meetmg of the Tamil Benellt SO';let.y 

held at the Goldberg BiO Hall, Fox b'tte!)t, Johannes- 

INDIAN OPINION November 13th, 1925 

lJUrg. on tho 2,jth day oC Octobel' ID2'i. hereby 

ron.lorses tbe actlO'l of the Tr.tn'lVa,11 BlltJsh Indl.tn 

ASf;ocmtJOl.1, in rcc(lr,--~,,o 

;~ OUR LONDON LETTER t 

~ ([ FROM OUR OWN CORRE~PONDFl~'r ] ~ 

\If ~th October. In:>. 'If 

o

November 13th, 1925 INDIAN OPINION 293 

---'-------~ -~~--- ------------..:...::~ 

absolute equality, anll ghing up tbc attitude of 

colonr superiority. Vl"e mll"t now meet on term~ of 

absolute eljuallty with thosl' \\ Lrml \\ e have prevIOusly 

regarded afl our inferior:!. 

Mr. Shor" Sin~ha, of the foreign department of 

the Y.M.C ..A. 

I Ulet d nativl' btudfllt m an English 

town after a big football match. 'V" saw IJcfore IlS 

a mass of drunken swmrmg p('opl('. The student 

tllrn('d to me and ('xcl,lImed, Good God, II'! this the 

race in whosc hands God has placed the destiny 

of my pt'ople. 

Emma Goldman who iii an ananhist and revulutioDlst, 

was dl'ported in 1 ~ 1 ~I from Am('rica to) 

HnR",ia, has just brought out bel" !J.t(>bt book ('ntitleJ 

"My IJit,illusionment in HIl8SIJ." It HI in f-xposure 

of Bolshevist tyranny, but it iii qllestIOnable whether 

it will find its way into the hbr,tries of those who 

ha\e ('arJier wl"ltings as a rcvolutionll:!t. 

Sir Willidm Joynson lIicks the Horne SecreLlry, 

is reported as saying at Liverpool, that on the Commumat 

menace he could not ask hit; Govermnent to 

legi~J.lte in advance of public opmion. It ,\,~S (hflicult 

for an English Caumel Mmister to usc (hpl~ 

JDatic language in refc·rrmg to a Government, wLose 

agents were engaged in grtting- through Bl'it.lm's 

bulwark of Sdmty in an ende.lvour to destl"OY the 

the British Empire. Hut, he coul,l say this, If 

necessary His Majesty's Government would be prepared 

to put before Parholment a revi~ion of the 

laws so as to bring them up to date to deal effectIvely 

WIth the positIOn created by the CommunIsts. 

Whatexer penalty Parliament mIght seek to Pllt on 

on the Commull1!lt game, It would have the greatest 

respect for the traditional freeuom of the country 

and the rIght of free speech, 

At the New Education Conference at Heidelberg 

in August, at whkh '2S Ndt:ons were represented, 

Professor Marcault (Fromce) at Its final meetlng 

pleaded for humanism bt'fore natlonahsm, and IS 

reported to have said "A httle German child pnts 

her hanrl into mine; at that moment I am not 

French, she is not German; we are just human 

beings united by our mutual need of love." 

Golden Service is a phrase no doubt famih.1r to 

most people, but it has now been put to a novel use, 

but Ilone the less in a happy sense. Mr. S. l\I.lrgetson 

has had ill his employ Mr. F. Williams for ,iO 

years. Mr. Mal·gdson has been pleased to insert a 

notice in the Press teslIfymg to the faithful service 

of his employee, as coachman, chaffeur 3THl frif'nd. 

as a Golden Service announcement. ~IJ-. :'.Iargetson 

has also in a tangible manner shown his appreCl:ltion. 

Mr. Wilh,lOlS has not only been boy and mom 

in the licnice of hiS master, but has prospeled under 

hiw, as the head of his own household. In these 

times when there is such a conflict between thb 

interests of Capital and r., .. bour, Master and Servant, 

this GoiUl'n Ser"ice Announcement comes as a 

timely reminder of what may be the rule rather 

than the exception of the relations between mJ.Ster 

and serv-ant. Here. there "as not merely the relationship 

of master and servant, but what is more 

they were friends. And this friendship can be hut 

the result of understanding, and a spirit of give .1nd 

take. 

The European Allies with Germany holye met at 

Locclrno, and are now bUSily engaged in "hammering" 

out a security Pact. for the maintenance of 

Peace in Europe. It will be interesting to learn the 

terms of the Pact, when it becomes a fact, anll the 

question tholt arises uppermo!'t in one's mind is, by 

what sanctIons will the tern:s of the PdCt be enforced, 

it must be either by peaceful arbitration. or 

by an appeal to the Go(l of battles. And yet it does 

seem strange thlit Brih11ll should have been the foremost 

party. to oppMe the proposeu Geneva Plotocol 

atI pdrt of th~ machinery ot tblf Lea;;ue of ~atiolls. 

The Protocol. if it had been adopted would have 

concerned the regulation of world questions, the 

Sec nrity Pdct "ill only regulate European questions. 

I:!ntolin refu"r~,l to be a party to the Protocol because 

to erJi

INDIAN OPINION November 13th, 192~ 

Random Thoughts 

(BY • RAMBLER' ) 

A Noble Thought 

Dr. Rabtndranath Tagore haa the true universal 

spirit, we signify the capacity to realise otherlil in 

one's self, or in other peoples' skin. This is not 

really as easy to do as it sounds. How many of us 

can really put ourselves in the opponent's position? 

If we could really do so, we shall soon be rooting 

out jealousy, anger and all forms of distemper born 

of an incapacit;1 to see the opposite viewpoint. In 

the Bibl~, It is reoorded of Christ at one plac~ that 

while his disciples and He were approaching a city's 

gates, they saw the carcass of a dog. The disciples 

saw only the ugly carcaSs and felt repulsed, whlle 

the Master said: What beautiful and pearl.like 

teeth it has I TWa is quoted as an example of how 

high-minded souls see heauty in all things. The 

same idea is attempted to he expressed hY' the 

c~uplet : 

" Two persons saw throllgh the Windows. One 

saw the stars and tha other the mind. " 

'" 

In the Mahabharat,-the great Hindu epic, it is 

recorded that the high.minded Dharmaputra was 

commissioned by Krishna to go round the world 

and find one evil-minded person. At the same 

time, the evil-minded Duryodhana. was commissioned 

by Krishna to find a single good' soul. Both Dharmaputra 

and Duryodhana failed in their respective 

missions. The former found the world full of good 

souls while the latter saw everywhere only evil 

thoughts and evil action. Who was right and who 

was wrong? Both were right and both were wrong. 

The answer may seem paradoxical but it is the only 

right answer; for in the world there is no unmixed 

evil or good. and to the extent that both Dharma 

Plltra and Duryodhana thought that the world was 

absolutely good 01' absolutely e"n they were both 

wrOl1g. 

Tagore's Poem 

I now give below the gem from Tagore's poems 

which gave ris9 to the thoughts reoorded above. No 

commentary is needed on Tagore's poem to draw 

attention to its beauty. It is beauty itself. 

The Scavenger 

Why do they shun your touch, my friend, and call 

you unclean 

Whom cleanlinells follows at ev&ry step makmg the 

earth and air sweet for our dwelling, 

and ever luring us back from return to the wild? 

You help USi like a mother her child, into freshness 

and uphold the truth, that disgust is never for man. 

The holy streatn 6f your ministry carries pollutions 

awar And ever remains pure. 

011ce Lord Shtva had saved the world from a deluge 

of poison by taking it himself 

And you save it every day from filth with the same 

divine slifterance. 

Come friend, oome my hllro, give us courage to 

sei've ttlllD, even while bearing the brand of infamy 

from him.-RABINDRAN.A.TH TAGORE. 


--- 

'tb be ebtllinlld from the Indian apinton Press, Phamix, 

!bti!.l. l'llstal Otdets to be m"de payable at Durban. 

Tho HOIi. Mr. Gokhale and the IndeDture S,stem a 0 

11.1111&12 110m. au II, b, 14. K. aal2dbl 'j 6 

'" 

A Book-and its Misnomer 

Bagavad Gita. Mrs. Besant's Translation 

Asiati~8 Registration Amendment Act (1908) 


Hindu Socialldeah, Ly P. J. Mehta 

Rise and Growth of Bombay Municipal Govt. 


Tbp. Story of the Ramayana, the EpIc of Rama 

o 

a 6 

a 6 

4 6 

2 6 

2 6 

A Study in Indian Economics, by P. Bannerji 4 6 

Tbe Indians of South Atrica, by H. S. L. Polak a 0 

Lile of M. K. Gaodhi (in Tamil) 2 6 

The Golden Number of" ludian Opinion" 

Paper covers 

Bound in Clotb 

Speeches on Indian Affairs, by J oho Morley 

The Hon. Mr. Gokhale's Tour in South Alrica : 

Special INDIAN OPINION Souven;rr. 


( 


Govind Ranade 


Vaishavite Reformers of India 

2 6 

3 6 

.3 6 

2 6 

.3 0 

.3 3 

6 

% 6 

M. K. Gandhi and tbe South African 

Indian Problem o 

Aspecs of the Vedanta I 6 

Essays on Indian Art, Industry and Education a 6 

Sri Madhwacharya I 6 

Hinduism, by Dr. Barnett a 6 

Position of the WomeD in tbe Vedas 6 

Vernaculan as Media 01 Instruction in 

Ionian Schools and College, 

Essentials of Hinduism 

Dadabhai Naorojl" Speeches and Writiogg 

Indian National Congress 


Allahabad and Nagpur Congresses 

The Surat Congress and Cooleronco8 

The Improvement of Indian AgrIculture 

The Congress Conferences aDd Conventions 

India'S Untouchable Saints 

For India's Uplift, by Anne Besant- 

The Governance of India, by Govind Das 

Sri RamanuJacharya 

Sri Sankaracharya 

Mr. Gandhi's Speeches and Writings-Il!96 to 1917 

BIOGRAPHIIIS OP EMINENT INDIANS:- 

Dadabhai Naoroji. Gopal Krl.hna Gokhale, Rabindrll. 

oath Tagore, M. K. Gandhi, Budruddln Tyabjl 

Pundit Madan Mohan Malaviya, The RIght Hon 

Sayed Amlr Ali, H. H. Sri Sayaji Rao Gaekwar, 

Sir Sayed Ahmed Khan, H. H. the Aga Khan, 

Swami Rama TITath, V. Knshnaswami Alyar, Krista 

Das Pal, Dewan C Rangacharlu, W. C. BOnneTjea, 

A M. Bose, Ravi Varma, Kashmath Trimbak Telang, 

Swami Vlvekan"ada, Toru Dutt, Ishw., Chandra 

Vldyasagar, SlrSalsr Jung, V. P. Madhava Rao. D. E. 

Wacha, Sri Ramaknshna Paramabamsa, Sir Phemzesbll 

L.~ehta, Rahlmtulla Mohamed Sayan!, Dr. R""h 

Behar! Ghos-, Nawab l\IohslO-ul.Mulk, Sir C. San. 

karan Nair, Lal Mohun Gbose, Raja Ram Mohan 

Roy, Behramjl M. Malabari, Mrs. Anne Resant, 

Elihu SlItendranath nanetJtIll Rao Blhadllf R.I!N. 

MIIOlket. 

IIcb 

4 

1 6 

6 0 

8 0 

6 

II 6 

I 0 

2 6 

2 0 

2 0 

3 6 

7 6 

2 6 

:2 6 

3 ' 9

No. 47-Vol. XXIII. Friday, November 20th, 1925. 

B.·,lStered at the G. P.O ••• a H_ .. paper 

PalOS I'ooa.8'at.. 

SOUTH AFRICAN INDIAI~ CONGRESS 

FIFTH SESSION AT CAPE TOWN 

"Tf'lIIl~ fifth sepsion of the Sonth AfrICan Indmn 

II COIl'.(Tl·IH was opened by the ~I.lyor, Mr. 

W. F. FIHh, at the Clty Helll, C.1pptown. A. 

l.uge number of Indi.1nH were pl'e"lpnt, tllf' grcdter 

pOI'tlOn of the main hall bem/{ filled, a'l we'll as the 

many tiprll of seats on the pldtform. 

JInndrt'tillof telegram'! conveym'..: mf~s.~ag'el of sympathy 

and cbeer wet'e recClved from UflNociattons and 

individu.1lH throughout the country as well aA Indklw 

A 8hmf of these cablf's and telf'grams W,1'1 exhibited 

and some were rpad. One cable from l\f,lhatma 

(j,lIldhi read: .. "VIBh Congl'cbH BUCCC'b:l ; have courage." 

(J,oud appl.1usf>.) 

Various tele/,,'Taml:! received from N.1tal RupportIn~ 

the aims and objects of the Congrf'Ps wt're mcln,Ipd 

fl'om the uBKoCl.1tions find iwltvldll,lIs VIZ, MeS~ltl. 

O. II. A. Jhaveri, EdItor,,; 'lIlHlh,' A M. Omal', 

Amoll D.1wooll & Coy, Ebrahim 13 t~~ I, M D. MOtdtl, 

Tunal Bros, S,lyC'tI Flikroodeen, Hoosen Khan. A. 

H. 1\:.1)1), Tanul 1\Llha S tbha, Suburban IIll1di 

S.luha, l\Iiankhan anti Emmamally, I3.t~',t Ltd, 

Am,ou Hatrejee, 13. ]\f. Singh, ]\f. C D 111.1, 

Otlman I3I'OS., l\1.mlOojee l\'Iof)sa, Patielar U mon, 

Hurat Hindu AflAoC'iatwn, Kathiaw,\f Ary,~ l\I"nd,tl, 

Parsnram Tailors As~oci'ltlOu, Hmdu T,tlllil Institute, 

Bombay Presidency Association. Iwlt,1ll Women 

ARsoliation, Younl.( Mpn's Vcdic Society, Lec1c;l1El 

Nou-Ellrepe:m Auxlhary, .JnnctlOn Chll wool1 CongrtWl, 

Manning' Pl.lCe Inlli,m A~soci,ltJon, K.1kni 

An,iuman, Suburban Retail De,ll!'r;;, aUlI Zoroastll,m 

Anjnman. 

l\l,IllY letters of rrgrC't for abspnco were alqo rt'MI 

from prominent citJ)lPlls. OnC' of the It,ttf'rR was 

fl'om Mr. Morris Alexander 1\1 L.A. who Eul>! - 

•. I vt'ry Illuch rpgret, th.lt I am nnahle to be 

p)'esl'ut at the opening c('remony ot the Fifth SNl~\o1l 

of the South Afril\m In,han Conlrrl'ss on 1\fonlI.lY 

evening. . . .. I wish the Conference every 8UOcc~s. 

I am SOrI y to sce signs of tIlsllIlion among 

i4l'CtiullS of the Iudi,la commumty evcrywhelt.l In 

South Atric.1. It is .ILove all nece:lS,lry to present .1 

nniteu front anu to apt'olIe wlth one vOice. I hC.\1 tlly 

agree. with the sugg'f'stlon of a Round 'f.lble ConfC'rence 

at which Gn·.1t lll'ltain, India antI South 

Africa wIll be repl'l'sC'u.d. 'fhe solution of the 

pI'obIl'm mll"t be songht in the (,,11m ,ltmo~phel'e of 

the ConfC'rence Chamber antl a JUilt solution mllst 

be found ... 

In opcning the CongrC'tl'! the 1\I.1YQr of C,lpe Town 

~"tid :- 

.. I IMve hNm askl'd to open thIS irnport.lnt Congrpss 

tillS t'vening, and I have consPllteu to .10 flo) bC' 

C.lIIS(" as Mayor, I l'l'prE'sl'nt all claS'lt?s of lhe ('omlnunity 

iI 1'('''lIl'Otl\ t' of r,lC~ or crep,!. In"", I nc,t 

necf'stl,lI'lly be in a!-,'Tt:'C'll1ent "\\11th yon or 1,ll'lItliy 

myself WIth your v\Cws oC'colllse I mn Pl rf..rmlng 

thlS cerC'Ulony. But I know you repr'·",'nt very 

large vested lllterests in tht:' Union of ~outh AfrIo~ 

I know also tholt you ,u-.~ 1'.11 t Ull(1 P,t! cd pf !l1C' IITC It 

lllltish Empire, and as buch-l'ecogni"lllg the huerty 

of the gre.lt lllltl~h Commollwl,llt h-you haH' t:'yC'l y 

light to disC'uss matt"I'S l'OnCernlllg your well-lwing 

all\l future St,ltU" in Sout.h Afric,l. 

•• Tho Indians have Leen ill South .\.ftieJ. :linee 

the year 18GO, dll,l no one will deny, they have 

been good and Idw-llHdmg people. They are an intplhgent 

anti tlll'lfty people. During the Great 

Wdr Illllid supphed Its full quota of men, and these 

men fought well and bravely. They rallied to the 

Empu'e 111 the hour of need, and acquitted themsE'lves 

like men, ,m.} hecause (If this alone they have 

e.lliletl the right of freely expreasing their views and 

pubhdy diRcussmg matters 1Il which their interest~ 

are involved. 

" It is not for me to express an opinion as to the 

glOunds of YOlll' /lllevances; these I must leave to 

you to Ul.3CUSS idll'ly, and, I trust, dispassionately, 

for, I sllbmit, nothing is ever gained by immoder,ltf' 

J,mgll.1L(t'. More is achieved by diplomacy 

,IllU cazeflllly thr)Ught-out argument. 

Exercise Patience 

" I h,tve no dOllbt a greolt deal of the trouble is 

due to lack of 1I11IIel·l:!t.inumg, and whilst you ask 

the ::-loath Aflie LIlol to ex~rCl8e patience, may not 

you be reason,llJly a..,ked to practise the save virtue? 

Perbon.Jlly, I do not consIder onr differences are due 

to prejudice. I.lIn proud to number among my 

friends m.Juy men ot Ea.stern natlOnality for whom 

I iI,tve the VeJ'y WM'mest regolrd. 

.. The, e may b~ dIfficulties of immigration, but, 

surely, the"!I' .lre no more sever~ than the immigratIOn 

l.lws of ArnCllCd.? Who of us have not read 

of thp treatment which men reCClve at Ellis Island? 

Rightly, or wrow:;y, n.1tions consid()r they hive the 

right to reHtrict tlw number of immigrants to their 

fl'hl)L>cti ve conn trl\ 8, I t cannot be right to allow unrl'stt'ictetl 

iIl1rnigr,ltlon into a country. Governments 

mnst protect theIr pl'ople or there is the danger of 

an ahC'll po[ml,ltwll squeellrely, tli('y, too, must be protected against 

mdl::,rnmin.1te llllllugration. 

.. We mn"t not ue too eager to blame the Governmeot 

of the lolnd. 

This IS a difficult question. Per 

~9_6 __ ~,~ ________________ IN __ D_I_A_N-,O __ P_IN __ IO~N~ ____ ~N~o~ve=m~b~e~r~2o~t~h'~I9~2~5~ 

dllty WI Md.yor to perform thil'l ceremony. 1 hope 

yO\1, will ha-ve a sIlcceSSfl11 OongresB-all interchllnge 

of {deAs iii alWa1i1 good--and I feel ceZ'u.in of this: 

11 \vI'ong has been done, tMt wrong will be righted. 

But, as I say, discuss everything in moderation. The 

pitiful plight of some parts in Europe to-day is due 

primarily to immoderate speech su pported by wild 

fat1a.tictsm-=-the l'(!Butt hlUJ been chaos I 

" I know the Indian community to be honest, 

sober and law-abiding. I need say no more." (Applause.) 

The Presidential address then followed, the fuU 

text of which is published elsewhere in this issne. 

The Vlsitmg delegates were then welcomed by 

Mr. M. "Y,. Hawa, President of th~ Cape British In. 

dian Council. 

Mr . .A.dvt>cll.~ J. W. Qodfrey replied on behalf of 

tlie Natal delegates and ill the course of his remarks 

sll.id that notwtthstAnding that he had the quallficatiotls 

ot an :fi1ngliBh barrister-at-law he was debl1rred 

from exercising the Parliamentary vot.e. The 

pOlliUan of IndiaIls, he said, was rendered very 

gl'aVll by the Aslatiu Bill and that a delegation would 

~ve t6 be sent to hldia to give our Mother-country 

th~ trt1th. ,. Voteless We tilay be but voiceless 

never !" said the speaker amid loud applause. :Mr. 

Godfre~ then mewed the adoption of the Presider.tial 

add.r'eas. 

:Mr. A. A. Mirza 1'apl'esenting the 'rransvaal uetegaWs 

seconded Mr. Godfrey'S motion. 

Or. A. Abdurahman 

Dr. A. Abdurahman, who next spoke, was enthusiastically 

receIved. He warned his hearers not 

ttl follow his Ildvice but that of their leader, Dr. 

Gool, as he, the speaker, was a "fil'ebl'and." Referril'l.g 

to the spirit uf nationality he said "When Britons 

sing they 'never will be sla"es,' to a very large 

extent that spil'it is a Very admirable one; it intends 

to improve a people, but. carried too fat: it tends to 

le:td to what hawened in Europe a. few years ago." 

When there was no softening and tempering m 

fifit'lnce ~ re'ligi:on and Christianity about. that spirit 

of na'tionality it aiways led to Mthing but wa.r. 

Itt; assltrtld his hearers that they had the full sl1Ppot't 

of the tlOlot1red people of this country. (Cheers). 

Mr. A. I. Rajee then moved a 'Vote of thanks to 

th~ Mayor which was passed with acclatnation. 

Itl !l.oool'dance ~ith a resolution pl1sse'd at last 

ytlat's Conference the Presidetit after ettlogising the 

sElrViceS 'Of Mr. V. S. C. Pather as hon. Genetll.l 

S~eta1'y of th-e South African Indian Oongrest; 

presented hitt!. in recognition thereof with a beaut! 

fb.i l~ther attache case. 

The Conference then adjottt'ned oIl the motion of 

Mi'. bl1Wa01l of KitnbElrly with the singing of the 

N1ttional Ant.hetn tin the fonoWin~ day. , 

PrOteedings Of The Following Days 

On Tuesday aud Wednesday (10th and 11th instant) 

with night sittings hUll o'clock and -Thursday 

till 1-30 p.m. the proceedings of the Conference 

t60'k ~lace iii the Fidelity Hall, Primrose Street. 'On 

Ttlesda.~ M;jtQ :t.m. the Hall Wall filled with delegatee 

ail well M'6'htlsideTS who had eome to watch the prO' 

ceElliings. AfilN the Mintrtes of ~he previous 'Confel"ebC6! 

the Piaancil£l Statement and the Secretary's 

rept»:'t 'Ware rflad Il.nd passed 'Various matters affecting 

the Indlan com1nunity WiOlre discussed and resolutions 

passed thereon. (The 1'e5olutions appear elsewhare 

'l'Pl .thlS issue.) 

The moat important discu13!non took t>lace on the 

Asiatic Bill when speeches were made by the deleg81iea 

'9'ery ft!e'ling'ly. There was difference of 

opthion Bot OB the ,tn'inciple of the Bill, which was 

totll.lly rejected ,by every i3peakel' In the strongest 

terms,


• South Africa, wlll strive to voice in a moder-dote and 

Bober manner, the grievances of our people who are 

left witho..t vote and power, in this land of thdr 

birth and adoption. We have a Just ('..anse and Wcl 

~;;r.ll endeavour not to jeopardise our position by 

VIOlent and revolutionary methods, which can only 

hlghtcn the tension and etimllidte the prejudice 

against DR. 

Perhaps it Is only proper, that this important 

8e!ll!ion of our CongreM should take place in Cape 

Town, the mother City of South Africa, and to a 

certain extent, still the home of liberty and just 

trootment of the non-Europe.ln. Here in the Cape, 

the Europeans still hold sacred the !.'feat tradItions 

of the BrItish people-justice and fairplay to the 

Coloured man-and I trust will never bow their 

heads In shameif-lls submission to th-) reactionary 

and un-Christian Doctrine of the North "No equality 

in State and Church between Black and White. " 

Unfortunately the propaganda of hate, calumny 

and misrepresentation against the Indian is fast 

spreading l':louthward. Anti-Asiatic Leagups, associations 

and societies, supported by the leading 

newspapers with glaring headlines and leading 

articles are doing their worst to damage the positiOa 

of the Indian. All over South Africa the Europeans 

are being awakened to a sense of grave danger, and 

even the sanE' and sober attitude of the Cape European 

is becoming slowly undermined by this spirit 

of prejudice and intolerance. 

But in IIpite of this clamour of selt-interest, in 

H)24 Imlians looked hopefully to the Bouth African 

Party Government under the able leadership of 

General Smuts for protection and fairplay. However, 

they were disappointed when Mr. Patrick 

Duncan brought forward hiB Class Areas BIll. The 

faU of the Smuts Government, howenr, prevented 

that Bill from bE'coming the law of the land. Hope 

sprung anew in the breasts of our people, when in 

the Mm. fE'ar the Hertzog Government was formed, 

but again they were doomed to disappointment. 

This time the death-knell of their very existence 

was sounded by the iniqnitous BIll fathE'red by the 

Rpv, Dt'. Malan Minisf.(-r of the Interior, 

This hydra-headed Bill enforces compuls01'Y segregation 

in residence and trade, restricts immigration, 

curtails domiciliary rights and tightens the Asiatic 

Registration Act of the Transvaal. 

First with regard to the reservation of areas as 

embodied in the Bill, I should hke to draw your 

attention to the fact that at present an Indian enjoys 

the right to buy, lease or lIellland in Natal and the 

Capo Province, unlike hi& poor unfortunate brother 

in the Tnlnsvaal, who can only lease property in 

certain reBtll'Ved areas or a location. 

The first chapter of this Bill compels Indians to 

reside and. trade in specially aUoted areas. No 

matter what their financial position or sOOial standing, 

only in these' special areas will the Indians be 

permitted to live, trade or buy and sell property. 

All businesses existing outside that area shall cease 

at the expiration of the prcsent lease or at the death 

of the present lessee. 

It 1urther empo,vel'S the Governor-General to 

proclaim. that in the Province of Natal, no Indian 

shall be able to buy or lease l,md, except from another 

Inuian, and only within 30 miles of the Coast. 

But it wonld appear from the wording of the Bill, 

that us soon as the Governor-General procl,lims this 

Indian belt, the Urban Authorities, outside the 30 

miles limit will lose the power they are glven in 

this very Bill to proclaim class areas, As a result 

Indians, in Natal, outside this zone, will lose their 

present vested rights to reside and trade, whether 

they al'e in rural or urban areas. It h.ls been estimated 

that nearly 700 licences wili be expropriated. 

It is expropriation without compensation; in other I 

words, simple confiscation. 

Besides thiS, tho Governor.General br proclama. 

tion can extend or reduce these class areas. This 

means thdt even in these locations the Indians will 

not enJoY,this security of tenure essential to their 

well-being and development. 

The policy of racial segregation has been rightly 

condemned by all truly civilised meR. It brands 

the segreg

INDIAN OPINION November 2?th. 1925 

\ 

who actually suffer from Indian competItIon are a 

few of the s~all shop-keepers. Is it then for the 

benefit of these few that thousands of the poor are 

to be exploited and fieecerl? and is it because of 

a narrow selfish class of white traders, often 

foreigners and aliens themselves, that the whole 

foundation of the British EmpIre is to be endangered? 

This Bill also dbals the Indlan a cruel and unjust 

blow, in that drastic changes,are to be made in the 

Immigration laws of the country. The general 

question of immigration of Indians has been practically 

settled. With the 0xception of a few Indian 

teachers and priests for the Transvaal, minor children 

and wives of IndIan settlers, the doors of the 

country are barred against the Indian for ever. We 

sti1!::feel the injustice of this Immigration law, yet 

forl.he sake of those living here, we have 'tacitly 

submitted to it. But this Bill gives further powers 

to the Immigration Officer whose arbitrary and orten 

high-handed actIOns in the past have been severely 

critised by several judges. 

Again to keep up this form of oppression against 

the Indian, the distrICts of Utrecht and Vryheid, 

although part of Natal now, are to be consIdered, as 

flJr as the Transvaal, so that the Draconian laws of 

the Transvaal could be applied to the Indians in 

these distrICts. Such Gilbertian legIslation IS unheard 

of outside free South Africa. If it is the 

intention of getting rid of the Indians by hook or 

by crook, why not apply such hocus pocus legislation 

at once to Natal by enactmg that Natal should 

be considered part of Zululand, and as no Indians 

are allowed to trade in Zulu land, it follows that all 

Indians now in Natal, shall forfeit their right to 

trade. Why stop here, Transvaal could be declared 

a part of Lappland and all Indians not wearing 

heavy fur coats and living in ICe houses should be 

immediately deported to Kamchatka which for the 

purpose of this Act could be d~clared a part of India. 

The Government aimed at beIng dIplomatic and 

clever, but succeeded in being only ridICulous and 

spiteful. 

Besides all these absurdItIes, the BIll boldly 

inTades the precIncts of his private life. It attempts 

to regulate his marriages by the following clause, 

that if he intends marrying in India or bringing his 

wife and children back into the Union he must do 

so before August 1930 or tJefore 10 years of his first 

entry into th-e Union. In future no Indian could 

go to India marry and bring back his wife. Surely 

every man ha.s the right to marry whom and where 

he likes. Some men would sacrifice everythmg 

for love, but the majority would like to have their 

wives, as well as their businesses. Such proscrIptIOn 

dates back to the old days of sll1very, apparently not 

this completely eradicated in hIghly civilised land. 

The Bill further affects a large number of Inulans, 

In that they wIll be compelled to give up their dual 

domicile in the Union, a'l many persons hold a 

domicile, for instance, In the Transvaal by birth, 

and a domicle in Nalal by residence or vice vers.1. 

This right of dual domicle wIll cease to exist in three 

years, which means th1l.t large vested. mterests In one 

or other of the Provinces canuot be controlled by 

the ownei' and WIll in many ca.ses spell his financial 

ruin. The object of this, apparently, is to eliminate 

Indian businesses that m:lY have escaped the flanking 

attack of the class areas restrictions. 

Again Indians inciudIn1 those born in the Union 

by merely absenting themselves from the Union for 

a longer period than 3 y(>ars forfeit their domicilIary 

rights. Where is a South African born Indian to 

go, who absents hImself from the Union for more 

than 3 years? I have a brother studying in England. 

If he does not return to the Union before 

1928, he is debarred from entering the land of his 

peopYe. Is this not in conflict with the most elementa.ry 

principles of justIce and fairplay? 

This concludes a general analysis of this pernicious 

Bill, but it by no means covers all the many 

clauses which detrimentally aff~0t the Indian now 

resident in South AfrIca. .. ' 

Why do the Europeans consider the IndIan unfit 

for decent society and unworthy of just aud eqUlt,-, 

able treatment? First they contentl that the In-' 

diana in Natal tire sufficiently large 10 number to 

become a menace, being HO,Ollo to 170,(1)(1 Ellropeans. 

That the small trader h:u been practically 

eliminated and Indians will expect to work besides 

Europeans in the skilletl or semi-skilled trades 01' in 

offices, which WIll create in their breasts a feehn" of 

equality with the Europeans, which IS largely'" obnoxious 

and against the very basis of a domlU>lnt 

White South Africa. 

1\fy answer to thiS iii that the Inllans have created 

by their sweat and tOll, the fou'ldation of N 11.:\1'S 

present prosperity. Sugar, Tea, Fruits and many 

other co.nmoditles have been cultivated by the Indian 

at miserable wages. The big profiti h,1ve gone 

mto the Dockets of enterprising planters an,1 other 

ca.pitalists and lOtO the coffers of the Province, turning 

it from the verge of blnkrllptcy into tn \t of 

great prosperity. 

The Indian population is practic


to hordo together, rich and poor, vul~"llr and refined, 

, cultured and ignorant. What power has the Indian 

to prevent IIlums? What hope has he of keeping 

pace with the march of civilisation? 

""gain the Europeans contend that Indianfl being 

d a different creeli have lowpr morals than Europeans. 

' This kind of religious prejudice is typical of the 

medieval reli~,'ious intolerances, and this is no place 

to ~ntf'r into religIOus controvE'rsiell, suffice it that 

the Ilame arguments have hopn used in those times, 

an


\ 

Resolutions 

The following resolutions were passpd by the 

South African IndJan Congress at its fifth Sl'ssion 

held in Cape Town on the 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th 

instant under the deputy-presl

November 20th, 1925 I NDIAN OPINION 301 

and it is soggl'1lted that it be Fe(lacoo to such 

sum as i. found usually to ,..ov(>1' the costs of 

appeals b"fore the Immigranta' Appeal Board. 

(j) That women examiners to the ImmigJ'Stion 

DE'partment be appointed to meet thf' reHginus 

susceptibihties of Indians in regard to their 

~;I women. 

That Waiting Rooms be provided for women 

in the Immib'l"'dtion Offices. 

(k) That in regard to transit permits Immigration 

Officers be instructed to exercise their discretion 

in the extension of snch permits on reaaonable 

grounds and not on medical gronnda 

alolJe. 

(1) That 118 Will understood at the time of the 

passing of Immigrants' Regulation Act, Natalborn 

Indians and Cape-bern Indiana shonld 

be allowed to retum to their respe:ltive Provinces 

on the production of their birth 

c.rtificates. 

(m) That instructions to the Principal Immigration 

Officer, Durban, to restrict the time limit for 

the intro


20. Having regard /9 evils ktcp,l to alcoholIc 

drink, this Congress includes in It" policy ot work 

the lending of activo support to au V movement for 

the discouragement of the consumptIOn of .1lcohohc 

liquor, and further that each Provincial body with 

its district committees be called upon to give elfect 

to this resolution wherever possible. (Propohed by 

Mr. A. H. M. Tilly and seconded by Mr. D. K. Patel.) 

21. That the Natal Indian CougreRs act With full 

powers as local committee to the Houth AfrIcan Indian 

Congress With the co-optratlon ot the honoran' 

general secretary of the South African Indun COIlgress 

for the purpORC of making ,lllllecessary arrangf' 

ments for the holdIng of an In,lt,lU Agricultural 

and Industrial Show III Durban. (Proposed by 1\11. 

Sorabjee Rustomjee and seconlled hy Mr. Jple and repre"entatlve~ of:-\ .\. 1. Congr~,'! 

in Older to brmg ar).)ut a final an'i amicable settlemellt 

of the Indun que.t~n. 

The MIUlsterd reply, although (h.appfllutlo;, was ,ery 

clear. It was III elfe·~t tIllS ,-fh'lt the S,lluts-Gandhl 

a'J'rcement refferred only to ttu th~n e.l:l3tlu6 11 v, ani 

~ , h 

It II ,l~ .0 put

November 20th. 1925 IN 01 AN OPINION 303 

the agreement, were mspecWl4 eVia ,.,J.ea aeqlAiud 

ille~ally ; .. hat. t1u GoverDIll'lnt. Were practically nnaoimous 

a' regards the principle of the Bill which therefore 

conld not be cbangrd; ~hat. the C.>\,ernment coold not 

j'igllOl'e the deaire of the Eoropeau otI!, a "ko~; ,haft all 

the constractive crIticism received by the GO"emmen~ 

goes to show that the Bill does IIOt. go Car enOllgt,; that 

if OQIlIlt.mati V'8 luggest.Wo. wen to be made ~y the [ndian 

community as to the detaile of tM lbll r.hey 'ItOll:d 

receive ,he COllllideratioD of tbe GoVerR1DeIlG; tbar. ii WIUI 

t.he IOtention of the Minister of the [uteriot to refer the 

Bill to a Select Committee and Indians would b!! given 

full opportunity of stating their case. 

'Vith regard to the suggestion or a Rouud Table Conference, 

the Minister's reply was tbat the first snggestion 

of such a Confer.enc!! came from Mr. Thoma~, daring his 

vialt t4 the U Ilion, b~ that. a good maDY papers grotest.ed 

agaiost the auggsioo. thai; the ladiau ~ut ~en 

8Ilked for a. Round Table Conferf.'D~ aDd the qoeat.iOll 

was not settled, bat, that .IIegotiatioos hetwten the ln~ 

dian and the U Dion Governments had not reached 

finality and it was therllfor!! not pOS3ibl~ to ma:re 1., 

annollllcemen~ in colluection therewrth. thaL it was 

eIptlcted toaL the negotiations would conc/llde very 

sltortty and the realllt weuld t.hen be anDOI.1IIoed.. Tb 

Minister aiM !tated tbat the Go~rnHtent COltSi1Iered t~ 

Iwlian qlleM1U>1I. t.o be on. which aad w be :8Qlved Ity 

lIhe 80llth African Government. and people wi~ outside 

interference but tbat representations may be made 

from ontllide. 

From this reply there ill no doubt bet as to the intention 

of the G01llIDJnellt ill regard to the AiiAtlC Bill, 

bnt there ia a tiLde doubt as to wboth.·r it. is prepared to 

call a Round Table Conference or not. The resnlt of 

the negotiaLiooa l>et1reeU the Indin and UnlOn Governments 

in this respect Will be awaiLE'd w.th IDterest. 

We respectfully beg to differ from the Minister when 

he 81l.18 that. the .pmt. of the 1914 Sett.lemeut. ftlrtved at 

with the Gortrmnellt has Dot."beim Tiolat!d. The 8pirit 

«If the tettlQlIlent wal t.bllt after tilt> Indian community 

bad agreed to the stoppage of further Indian Immigrants 

entering the Uaion excepting !.he entry of ten 

educated Indians annually. the Government would not 

introduce any fUither disabhug legislatIOn against the 

resIdent Indian populaGiOll and that the existing Is 11'8 

would be admiDiMte~ •• ympatbeucaUy. The Government. 

DOW "iah to "Ick to the litter of tilEr 8eUlelllent 

and to give it the narrowest iuterpretatlOn poSSible BUlted 

to tbeir purpose. This attitude on the part oC the Government. 

Ct.Ilnot be considered honourable. 

We respect the view of the Government that tb. internal 

affaira of Saut.h Africa should be settled by the 

South African Government aud people, but so lang as 

t.be Uuion remains part ot the British Empire, the 

Ihethod:s adopted to eettIe those affairs should be oonmteD' 

wit~ ahe principles and ideals of the Empire. In 

trying to settle the Indian question, the Government is 

completely ignoring the feeIingSl of a large section of la,, 

abiding citizeD8« 'be Empire and doing I grne injustice 

to that section at the bidding of aaotber section 

whose dem&Dds are hilil, seltlih ad nnreaPlable. We 

realise that the Goverument does not wish to do otherw.se 

as it


November 20th, I925 

Petition, Submitted to Union 

\ 

Government by 

South African Indian Congress 

~o the:Ho:lO~rable the Mmister of the InterIOr, 

Pretoria. 

SIr,-We, the undersigned, bemg Members of deputlttion 

elected at- the Fifth SessIOn of the South AfrICan 

Indian Congress assembled III Oonference at Cape Town 

from the 9th to the 12th November, 1925, deSire to express 

our sinncere thanks for grantlllg this interView. 

~'The South ,Afncan Indian Congress, which IS constItuted 

of electell rcpreKentatives of the various Provlllces 

(if the UllIon BlttIDg III Conference as aforeilald p1ssed, 

lIJDong others, the followlllg resJlutIOds - 

1. That the South AfrIcan Indian Congress in Con 

Conference views with alarm the Areas ReservatIOn 

aud ImmigratIOn and RegistratIOn (Further Provi510n) 

Bill, whICh IS in violatIOn of the 1914 

Gandhi-Smuts agreem~nt and ,vhlCh Bill has for 

!ts obJe~t.s the compulsory segregaf,ion of Il)(itans; 

the deprIVAtlOu of their propne',ary rights and the 

ultimate eitmHlatIOll ol the Cornmnnity as openly 

dedaloo by the Mllliste!' of the InterIor, and be~s 

to submIt to the Government that on a matter of 

prInCIple the Ind'an Community of South Afm .. a 

opposes tbif BIll ~n toto. 

2. That this Uongress urges upon the U Olon Government 

to consent to a R~lln1 Table Conference of 

the Union and Impenal GClvernlllent •. the representatives 

of India, the Indian Govelllillent and repl'e£entatI,es 

of the SOlltl> Afncan Indian Congress 

to ~o 181de1' the whole !!lo5ltlon of th3 I ndlans h~re 

and arrive at an honourable set~lement. 

The tenor of the resolutions clem I) mdICiiltes that the 

llillis not :wcejJtable to the Indlan commnnlty because 

it is agnlos~ tundamental prmciples of goal cltizenshtp. 

Consequenlly it ~~ felt that no good pnrpose could be 

served by dlscllssmg It in detail while other gr~at dJificultles 

eXist, whIch leqUIre a l]ustment, e.g, questIOns of 

Licence~, ImmIgration, E incatIOn etc. 

The Indian community are thoroughly dieatisfied as 

the Bill undoubtedly lmposes upon them a stIgma of m 

feriority. Furl-her the Bill IS contrary to ihe -,plrit of 

ue Gandhl-Smuts agreement. 

If there l8 an earnest desire on the part of the U mon 

Government to arrIve at a satI"ractory setLlement of the 

general pOSItIOn affectlllg Indians 1U the U man, then we 

feel that thiS could be best achieved bv a Ronnd Table 

Conference III accordance with the suggestIOn contained 

in the second Resolut.lOn. 

Thls belU6' tte view of the C~n£"tC3S, we urge I(S 

accrptance upon the Umon Government as a bona fide 

desll'e on our part to diSCUSS genclally the wbole slluatIon, 

aod brlOg about a thaI and honoura.ble se&tl,:ment. 

The Congress IS not aware of any rpa,on why the 

Umon Government has not formollly declmed Its llltention 

to agree or (hsagr~e to th~ R mnd T d ble Conference 

alLhou~h tv has Intimated tuat It ,,"a' III commuDlcatlOn 

w th the Indlalil GQ)l'erBment 10 regard thereto; and that 

matter.; hai Llk~n a defiat~e conroe. 

The C(lllgress realise .. I he n!JC",ol~y there IS for arn\'- 

109 at SJme satisfactory unders:anJwg on these vital 

qnestlOno; and is preparld to do lls sh4re in !ecurin~ a 

settlement consI~t"nt wleh honour. 

We respectfully press upon the UDl~n Government our 

sincere belwf in good result.s that a Round Table Conference 

would bnng about; and trust that the Uni0n 

Government Wlll accept anti accede -to the terms of 

the second Resolution aforementioned, and in the meantime 

stay further progre~, of this Bill. 

We have the honour to be, 

Sir, 

Yours respt'ctfully, 

J. \1'". GODFREY, E. M. ALLY, V,H,LEY MAIIFllED, 

GOOLA~I RASOOL . .-\)(OD BAYAT, 8HAIK HntEn, 

M. A. H. MOOSA, fl. M ~UR'lOO, S. H. ~\lDOO, 

MOOLJEE G. PATEl" V. R. C. PATHER, S. EnRAHDI, 

A. A. MIRZA, A. E. HlI.FFEJEE, 1\I. M. (1AXDIIl, 

SORABJEE RUS'rOllJEI". 

Me.nbeis of the Deput~tion of the 8.A .• I. Congr~ss. 

A. I. KAJEE, 

General Secr~tary, 

175, Gtey Street, Durban. 

We I'C6ret to announce the sad a.·mlse of ~Ir. Itosan 

Kha'1 a prominent Inulan \ierchant at P. M. Burg. 

who was one of the be~t workrs III the cause 

of the Indian comm.llltv aDd Ins uutimely death 

at thiS jun:ture IS very ugfortunate. Mr. Rosen Khan 

was the Victim ot the ,,"rea: fire at P. M. Blll'g ou Tuesday 

being very serIOusly burnel abollt the hand3 and 

lower portion of the body and died late W' cdne3day 

lllght, WI:' tender ollr eympilthy to the lelat.lves of 

the late 1\11'. RosJu Khan. 

F AR,lVI FOR SALE 

650 Acres, House, Large Cowsbed~, Calf~he;lg, Stables etc_ 

20 Acres Planted to BANANAS'" Acres PINEAI'I'LKS 

and PAWPAWS, 40 Acres SUGAR CAXE 

100 Acres let out to INDIAN TENANTS 

2 Permanent Stl eami! of Water. :Fenced Paddoc k 

Good Labour Supply 

Only fourteen mdes from DURBAN. 

Four mlles from Ph

~ ntlta!t ~pittitl1t 

----------- -- ------------------------ 

No. 4~-Vol. XXIII. Friday, November 27th, 192 5. 

Itoci.terecl.,lbe G. P.O. u • N ..... ,. 

Peloe POO"IUIC.& 

1\\ REUTER cablegram from Delhi. datetl Nov. 

Li1l 21, gives the information that, with the concurrence 

of the Government of South Africa. 

the Government of India have decJ(led to s"nd a 

deputation to South Africa. Mr. G. F. PaddisoJl, 

of the IndJan Civil ServICe and Commissioner of 

Labour for Madras will lead the deputation. Of 

the remainIng members, six will be announced 

shortly. 

The main purpose of the deputation, continues 

the commumque. will be to collect as Boon as POSSIble 

first hand information regarding the economIC 

conditIOn and general position of the resident Indian 

community in South Africa, and form an appreciation 

of their wishes and requit·ements. It is expected 

that their report WIll affortl valuable malenll 

for the Government of IndIa to lise in connection 

with the dlscussions now proceeding between the 

two Governments. 

------ 

At 9 a.m. on l\fonuay, the day when the morning 

paper published the above pronouncement, the 

::;.A. Inihau Congrcbs delegates Balled from Durban 

on their mil;sion to India, there being a large crowd 

on the wharf to bid them Godspeed. We present 

with this issue a portrait supplement of the delegation. 

1\11'. E. Norouien, President of the Cape Brltish 

Indian Union, a body existing only In nam, inter 

,'iewed by Reuter's Agency, saill that the members 

of his organisation, while they would oppolle the 

108s of any of their present rlghts, and welcometl 

the decision of the Union Government to receive a 

lleputation from India to discuss the draft Asiatic 

Blll, yet on the olher hand they deprecated the 

sending of a deputation to India from South Africa, 

anll also the inclusion therein of one who is not 

himself an Inuian, viz., Dr. Abdurahman. 

--------------------------- 


'7"~ 

That the Ministel' of the Interior, DI. Malan, is 

not sati~fietl with the SUppOl t given by the people to 

his pro pORed Bill to deal \\ ith the ASIatics. WdS a 

stdtement ruatle by ]\fl'. A. F. Fordhdlll. l\I.L.A .• at 

a meeting of the Southern Suburbs European Association 

at Tnrifontein. Johannesburg. on the 18th 

instant, says a Xutul J/I'rt ur!/ telegram. .. Thtl Minister 

told me, (he said) that there had been very 

little support from Natal, and that the country districts 

did not seem to be interested. " 

.. It seems to me that the Indians in Natal have 

got their clutches so deeply into the land that people 

are afraid to dISCUSS them," asserted Councillor H. 

Crocker at the same meeting. BUSllless men go to 

bed secretly praying that the Bill will go through, 

but are afraid to express their thonghts in public. 

He pomted out that in the General Dealers~ Control 

Ordmance, which had just come into force, there 

was an excellent weapon of attack against the Asiatics. 

He urged the ASSOCIation to make a note of all 

Asiatics' shops in the district, and to oppose their 

applicahon for Hcencas under certain sections pro 

VIded by the Ordinance. 

It was proposed at. the above-tnentioned meeting 

to arrange for a South Africa Conference consisting, 

of course, entirely of Europeans, to be held in Johanneslmrg 

to dISCUSS the Asiatic question, and a 

Committee was appointed to investigate and report 

on the mjltter. 

Mr. G. Hullet, M.P.C., Natal, when asked by a 

pressman to state hls opinion regarding the Premier's 

Native proposals, said :-" General Hertzog is quite 

right m saying that with the Cape Native having the 

vote, no Government could withhold the vote from 

the Natives of the Transvaal, Free St¥e and Natal, 

. and his boldness in grasping the nettle is to be 

highly commenllcd. As regards the Cape Coloured 

vote. I apprcci.1te the difficulties, but as I am led to 

believe this 18 a dlminishmg qnantity, the extension 

of the franchise to theslil people who reBide in the 

Transvaal and Natal can be viewed with less concern. 

The term • Coloured man' mUllt be clearly 

defined and must not include the Asiatic or the 

Malay ... 

The Cape BrItish Indian Union fears more harm 

than good is hkely to result from this deputation, 

anll while It is entirely opposed to the Asiatic Blli 

it hopes to induce the Government to amend it by 

excluding tho Cape Province from its scope, as was 

done by the Smuts Government m regard to the 

Class Areas Bill. 

We are gh\d to think that the VIews of Mr. Norodien 

are not shared by those outsiue bis small circle. 

We shoulll be a"hamed of our Cape community were 

they to adopt such a selfish attitude as to ask the 

Govt'rnment to exclude the Cape Province from th~ 

Asiatic Bill. 

At the Church Congress held recently in England, 

Lord Wilhngdon. who has had 11 years lJ{ adminis. 

trative work iu India, f>aid: .. I honestly believe 

that if the whole attitude of White races to Colonred 

races could be entirely altered, if the While men 

would always act in the spirit of giving equality of 

opportunity to those who are Coloured, what appeared 

to be the aggressive and unreasonable attitude 

of CoioUl ed races would entirely change, and 

they would be found to be ready to discuM these 

important matters in a fair spirit, and with a dne 

sense ot all the dIfficulties sUlTounding them ... 

Mr. J. H. Oldham. an expert and a public speaker 

of a high order, said that many calling them to show 

a united White front against people of other colour. 

He asserted that a solid White front certainly and 

ine~itably meant a solid Yellow front, and solid 

Br(}.wn front ... anu a solid Black front; and that in 

the end of the day, could have only one meaning. 

It meant war. A nd the only way to prevent us 

from drifting to that disaster was that men of COut ..


age and true vIsion should refuse to be entangled in ,----______________ 

tile Snarll(:1 of fllcialisJP. and a purely rarial way of , I THE QUEEN MOTHER -, 

lo()kin~ at questions, and should strive everywhere ((~ UEEN Alexandra, the Queen Mother, offln4 

always to enSllre thtl triuJP.ph of the claims of ~ ten spoken at as Alexandra the Good, 

humanity and justice, even when such striving 

brought them into opposition with men of theIr 

paseed peacefully away on the 20th 

own race. .. Who may more fitly take the lead in instant, at i::)andringham. Her's WdS a be .. mtiflll 

rendering this SerVl\)e so indispensable to the future ~lfe whlCh calls for no regrets. As Primes:! of 

welfare of mankind than the Ohnstian Church?" Wales, then ail Queen, and smce the death of 

he asked. 

her beloved husband, King Eu waru the Pedcemaker, 

as {Jueen Mother, the late Queen Alexandra 

endeareu herself to all alike rICh anJ 

poor, to all sectIOns of the peopl~, and she 

nobly upheld the high reputation of the Royal 

The following telegram was addressed by the COUlIcil 

of the ImperIal Indian CitizenshIp to the Government 

of India:- 

"The OouncIl of the Imperial Indian Citizenship 

Af'lSociation b~gs to inVIte the earnest attention of the ' 

Governmet ot India to the strong teehng prevalent 

in the country that if the besis of negotIations betweep 

tqe Goyernj.Ile,nts of In~la and South Africa is 

8,~ nM.EW!ltalldhw that the question o~ rep.l.triahon of 

I~diflll~ froII:\ So~th Africa liihould Oil left ope.\1 for 

\li!lCUSI:\iOD,l It will be IltenUQsly opposep. by the whole 

country. The ConnCll "'Ill thank the Government 

if the~ are tn a Positlon to delare defirutely whether 

iII ftl'¥ tJ.egot,atjo.\1 they are prepared t,o compQmise 

0.\1 the rePlJ.tr\lj.tIOn qllestlOn." 

COP',tmenting on the aove on, the 5th October, the 

Bombay, Ohrontcle say~·-''If the positIOn of Indians in 

South Afica has grown worse from day to day ,It isdue 

in small measure to the Invertebrate attitude adopted 

by the Government of India To accept any compromise 

on the repatrIatIOn question would be an 

infamous betrayal of the cause of IndIans in South 

Afuica. The latter, the maJority of whom are cohmial-bo.rn, 

are as much entitled to lIve and trade in 

South Afrioa as any of the Whites. The_Government 

of India have so far refused to take the -public into 

confidence regarding their negotiatlOns with the 

South Africalll Go.vernment and if, as the telegf'am of 

the Imperiai Citizenship AssociatIon suggests, they 

aJ(e Vlobbling tm the VItal issue of repatl'io:ltion, it IS 

hme they were eompelled to !,>ut thel!' cards on 

the ta.l!>le.'" 

$J .", 

Reuter's recent message mforms that 'the deputatlon 

app()inted by the Government of India to pro 

'ceed to 8auth Africa to i~:rveliltlg>lte the posltion of 

Indians 'there, sailed' for the Union from Bombay 01;1 

the K!Il'agola on Wednesday. The members of the 

deJ;lutlitien are.-Mr. G. F. Padd,ison (Madras CommIssioner 

of labour) and ~essrs Raza Ali aJ;ld Bajpa~. 

CouRClllcr Mrs. Benson was a passenger aboard 

t\l~ ~. ,8,. K,ha:Q~al\a, which left Du,rban fol' India OLl 

Mo~

In the Imperial Parliament 

Union's Absolute Right to Legislate 

The Asiatic Bill 

---.- 

London, Nov. 23.-ln the Commons w-dav replying 

to a question by the Right Hon. Josiah W~dgwood 

(Labour), the Rt. lIon. the Earl of Winterton 

(Under Secretary of State for India) .tated that 

communications were still passing between the 

Governments of India and South Africa in regard w 

th~ Union's anti-Indian legislative proposals. He 

did not t1~ink any good purpose would be served by 

laving the papers on the table of the House. 

Mr .. Wedgwood asked for an assurance that the 

papers would be laid on the fable before any legislation 

by the Government of South Africa was 

passed into law. 

'fhe Earl of Winterton replied .that it would be 

quite unconstitutional for him w answer that. because 

the Government of South Africa bad an abso-· 

lute right to pass any such legislation.-Reuter. 

The Delegation to India 

Durban's Send-off 

He assured them t~t they would not have muse to 

regret the choice made by them. He would do his 

b~t to represent the Indian cause from all poiuts of 

VIew to the peoples and the Government of India. 

He said that the eulogy showered upon the delegabon 

by the enormous crowd was not all that W~ required 

of them. The deputation Wail leaving these 

shores on the following morning, and durin.!: its 

absence from 80uth Afri06 it behoved every true 

Indian to put away hiE petty differences in his cupbO'drd 

and to see that the entire Indian community 

of South Africa stood at the back of the deleg-ation 

as one n:.an. Unity should hi their watchword, and 

if his advice coming, as it was, from a tried person, 

were taken to hEart, he felt assured that the mission 

w India would be a crowmng success. He felt that 

judging from the enthnsiasm displayed that after: 

noon, the deputation was leaving for India with the 

entire Indian commumty at its back. He saw that 

there were si~ns of determination in the eye .. of 

every Indian present that after noon, and be was 

fully confident that the fight they were going to Pllt 

up against the Asiatic Bill would he crowned with 

success. 

Pundit Bhawaui Dayal thanked the audiim ce on 

behalf of himself and hll~ brother delegates. an d impressed 

upon those present the nooeddlty of car rying 

on the work with re-doubled energy. 

The meetmg terminated after Dr. Abdurahman 

wasgar4nded and the other members of the deputation 

wer~ each presented with a beautJ.ful bouquet. 

The doctor was given three hearty cheers whIch 

went ringing through the hall. 

Rawat's Bio Ball was filled to suffocation when 

the Natal Indian Ol>llgress convened a mass meetwg 

on Sunday afternoon fur tha purpose of hearing the 

delegate. who had returned after attending the 

South African IDdia.n Conferonce a.t Capetown, and 

of biddinll God-speed to the deleg-ates of the South 

Afrlcan Indian Oongress who, on Monday morning, 

left for India in (lOnnect.ion with the Asiatic Bill 

now before the HOllie of Parliament. 

Mr, V, Lawrence presided a.nd was supported by 

Mr. P. R. p~r, tb6 acting seoretary of the Natal 

India.n Congress, and Pl'ominant members' of the 

India.n ooUlmunity. The members of the deputation 

PI,()Ct6di.pg W Indul--Dr. A. Abdul"ahman, 

M.P.C., of th6 Ca.pe Provinoe, Messrs. J. W. Godfrey, 

V. S. O. Pather, Sorabje6 RustoUlJee, Amod &yat, 

Pundit Bhawsili Dayal and A.

agitation in Chma, and added that the attitude of so 

many pro[essmg Christians towards the colour problem 

was one of the greatest obstacles to the advancement 

of ChristIanity throughout the world. 

The conclusion of all the spe'lkers was that the white 

man must meet men of other races on terms of 

absolute equality. 

So far as India is concerned, one may safely state 

that white men who occupy positions similar to 

those held by Lord Willmgdon mvarlably act on 

this principle. When I was myself living in India, 

my Indiau friends used constantly to tell me that 

Indians were invariably treated with courtesy by 

EnglIshmen m hIgh positions It was only the inferior 

wh,ite man who treated tlie IndIans as inferior 

to hImself. \ 

That Englishmen generally represent a stronger 

and more capable type of human beings than mapy 

of the IndIan races is mdisputable.- But that is no 

reason why all IndIans should be treated as inferIOrs 

simply because of theIr complexIOns. As a matter 

of fact, many Indians are intellectually and SOCIally 

superIOr to many whIte men, and justICe as well as 

good breedmg reqUIres that those who behave as 

glmtlemell should be treated as such, regardless of 

race or colour or creed. 

Equal Ri~hts for All Races 

Not only IS this t'lementary principle of good 

manilers largely ignored in the conduct of many 

white men towards coloured men, but m the DommIOns 

there has grown up, concurrently with the 

growth of democracy, a system of legislatIOn delIberately 

plc.lnned to deny the coloured races the 

elementary rights of CItIzenship. ThIs development 

IS totally at varIance WIth the prinCIples laId down 

when England was gradually bUIldmg up her great 

EmpIre. 

In Cape Colony, for example, equal justICe for all 

races has always been the establIshed prlnCIple of 

government, and when Natal was annexed m May, 

1843, SIr George Napier, Governor of {Jape Colony, 

issued the followmg proclamatIOn ;- 

There shall not be m the eye of the law any 

dlstmctIOn or disquahficatIOn whatever founded 

on mere dIstmctIOn of colour, origm, language, 

or creed. 

Yet wlthm 50 or sixty years the little group of 

white settlers who had been permitted to rule the 

whole of Natal began to establish r,wial barriers 

agaiust IndIan traders, many of whom had been in 

INDtAN OPINION November 27th, 1925 

By ignormg the prmciples of eqUIty so well laid 

down m the above-quoted declaration of ISla. we 

are allowing the Empire to drift rapidly in a 

dangerous direction. The supremacy of the white 

races must ultImately depend on the concluct of the 

white man. It 18 well to remember that white men 

are a small minOrity of the population of the British, 

Empire, and if we, by betrayal of our own prinCIples, 

create a feeling of raCIal antipathy. we. shall 

have to face the steadily growing hOiltlhty of the 

coloured races. 

In Austraha there is a comparatively small white 

population, quite unable to defend Itself against a 

conceivable attack from Japan. In South Africa the 

whites are an insignificant minority ail compared 

with the blacks. In India our whole pOSItion depends 

on the willingness of the Indians to recognise 

the value of services rendered to them by Englishmen; 

but if those services are to be accompanIed by 

an insolent claim of racial superiority they Will be dechnpd 

Without thanks. Similar considerations apply 

to Ceylon, to the Straits Settlements. and to the 

West Indies. If the 13rltish Empire is to be held 

together in anythlllg hke its present dlmensionR. 

oomplete harmony between men of dlffel'ent races it! 

essential. 

Suffering Injustice 

(By L. W. R) 

That our suffermgs are a blessing in disgUIse IS 1'1 

pious opmion frequently voicel at Indian protest 

meetmgs. It is, however, not always ql1lte as clear 

that the sIgmficance of the sentiment is appreciated 

aud its truth realised because if it were one would 

rather expect such appreciatIon and realIsation to 

become somewhat more patently manifest. Suffering 

is but the reaction of the "I" conscIOusness to 

disharmony or discord in Rome centres in the body. 

By identification of the" I" with the body the dil:!' 

cord produces in the former the emotIOn called 

" pain" from whICh arises the notIon of suffering. 

A nation or commumty is but a larger unit. an aggl'egation 

Of the individu.1ls composing it, Just a~ the 

physical body of anyone human being is an aggregation 

of the cells, tissnes, organs' etc. constitutlOg 

it and the analogy in regard to the rationale of 

suffering holds equally good. Not that suffermg 

the Colony longer than the1r white rulers Similar is a necessity following from the recognition of the 

measures were adopted a few yearA later by the pl'esence of dis-harmony. R

November 27th, '925 INDIAN OPINION 309 

--- ---- ---"--------;---------------=-~ 

body corporate and in the individual lives that form 

.L to which we may quite safely ascribe much of the 

existent trouble from which we suffer. Let there, 

then, firstly be honest lIelf-examination and there 

after a whole-hearted effort to rtmove the evil dis 

('~sed. The Bishop of Calcntta. when here, expreBBed 

J,,-st these sentiments and he spoke not in a spirIt of 

criticism bot of love. None can reJ.lly believe in 

theIr claim to respect or honestly speak of self-respect 

while they entertain doubts about their olVn respectability. 

On the other hand respect and 3dmiration 

flow out irrestibly to the worthy. Nom' who knew 

Mahatma Gandhi, when he Ii ved here among us, 

not even his stol1test political opponents, could 

withhold from him profound respect and admiratlOn. 

lIe drew these out of others, frequently in spite of 

of them-selves, because "there lives a Master in the 

hearts of men" who'le very nature is Truth and 

Purity and who compels recognition of that Master 

in the hearts of others in whom truth and purity are 

awakened. Let, then, our first (':lore be to cease 

doing oUlselves "injustice" and to eradicJ.te from 

the communal body whatever may rightly be regarded 

as unhealthy and corrupt. 

That we may be no worse than "our friends the 

enemy", the instruments of our correction, In no 

I wise affects our duty. We have firstly to become 

worthy in our own sight of the liberty we claim. 

Recognition of our worth must then inevitably follow 

however tardily. Then only may we truthfully 

say that our aflhctions were blessings in disgUISe 

seeing that they moved us to attain our trne stature 

and to qualification for helping in turn the very instruments 

that, whatevel' may have Leon theIr designs 

and motives, were but thfl channels through' 

which Higher Powers led us to salvatlOn. In the 

divine economy all forces move to ultimate good 

and the purpOSi of men's activities is often other 

and greflter than their knowmg. 

Is the Lesson Still Unlearnt? 

(By L. W. R.) 

Perhaps the most momentous incident of the Great 

War 1914-18 was the pronouncement "NQ indemnities, 

no annexation," proclaiming :IS it did allegIance 

to an ideal and marking an advance in the ethical 

standards governing any prevIous conflict in modern 

times. Now, the ideal of actions perfomerl as duty, 

of 8aCl'ifice for Right sake, of the renunCIation of the 

fruits of action is one that has been held up to humamty 

from time immemorial, and is th 1 arresting moral 

expressed in tne lives of the world's Teachers allli 

Exemplars. Not infrequently It has beell adopted 

and advanced by way of justification of the "peaceful 

penetratiou" practised by nations desirous of imposing 

their civilisations upon others, for extending 

"spheres of influence" and the like. Be it conceded 

that the world's peoples are suffiCIently inter-depe. , 

dent to preclude anyone unit living wholly unto itself; 

be It conceded further that a more advanced race 

or sub-race may justifiably feel caUei upon actively 

to interest itself in the affdirs of the more backwal'd 

\~'[lterests of the latter or of the greater whole, any 

\:"\oh justification automatically ceases the moment 

the motive prompting it is coloured by self-interest 

or so soon as the duty of instructing or advancing the 

iterests of the beneficiary is performed. Devolution 

is one of the commonest phenomena in nature. The 

seed after having been nourished by the part;nt tree 

enters upon its life of pseudo-independent existance 

and growth. The sacrificial duty done, the parent 

no Inger seeks to maintian contol. The rule obtains 

throughout nature; it should similarly govern all 

human polio'es, thos9 of men and those or natiolls. 

1AI rtgbU,o\lIll' •• e' '" \!If 4iltrabUht 'hAl It Ibo\11101 

be so, is retleded in practice as the missionary motive 

in peace an(l in such pronouncem"nts in war as that 

of "no indemnities, no annexations." When, however, 

it iii sought thJ.t such recognition shouM be carried 

beyond the theoretical stage, beyoud the stage of mere 

profession or of merE-ly partIal performance; when 

the trne and final test of motivfl is applied, and the 

final proof in action is demanded, then, alas, the canker 

of selfishness, hitherto hidden, asserts its presence 

and under cover of conntles.'1 excuses Principle is once 

again S.1crificed on the altAr of Expediency. It is the 

spirit of the jungle stIll in ascend.J.nt, stil! unconquered 

by ths Human. Just as it was between Phaorah 

and th~ Israelites, a reluctance "to let him go," to 

relinquish the materIal advantages of over-lordship, 

to "have and to hold" so-history is ever ,repeating 

itself!-is it to-day as between the races European 

and non-European notably 111 India and South Africa. 

The fruits of exploitation are too sweet to rehnquish; 

tneyare present, material. "real,,, l\Ioral, eteical, religous 

considerations? "All right, no doubt, in theIr 

way but-'" All of whICh means another lessoll to 

be learned, the lesson of the Dead-Sea nature of the 

fruit of unrighteousness, to be set when in the wisdom 

of the Great Ones who guide hnman destinities the 

time is rIpe and fittIng. 

O~E*i~E*i~ ~~~~~~o 

~ • OUR LONDON LETTER i 


\V 1.ith OctoLer, 1925. \V 

o~E*i~~~~~~~~~o 

There IS some stir in Lomlon on the question Ilf short 

weight and measure. \ lIegatlOns are rIfe, for 1Ostance, 

before the Food CounCIl therp WJS eVidence that a paper 

blg manufacturer, had bad ordl r~ for the heaViest paper 

bigs p:Jsslbll', for USe in the \lell!lI~ or ,u~dl' by retail; the 

Bugar would be put 10 the paper bag' hnd weighed WIth It, 

thu$ glvmg- the customer short, weight. Customers are help_ 

less agam~t the retaller~, because the po\tC} Cln prosepute 

in cages of sho,'t 1\"l'lght 01 1U 'a~ure, only 10 re3pect of 

the sale of bread, t"a and coal. In all other caEes the 

customer alone 1$ entItled to prosecute, on Ii charge of 

obtainlOg money by false pretences, or for a brf ach of 

a celtain trade law, This of cour~e, the cll'tomer will 

not do, for upon hlln falls t,he burden of till' pro;ecution. 

There i~ a I'kehhood from whflt is now happennig in 

London, steps will be takpn to amend the law on the 

subject, so that the pohc a shall have the right to prose 

I ute in all case8, wheN short wei~ht or m~asure is gIven. 

rhe Fooll CounCil, by its investigations into the cost 

of production, and dl'tnboLIOIl of food~tllff", hlS so far 

rendered good serviCl} plrtlcularly I1l regard to the 8tlple 

foo dbreae!. In Stlptember the Food Council announced 

that was no JustIfication for the tenpenc~ qnarter loaf a~ 

that time, and three d1Ys after the prIce was rcdnctld by 

the bakers to nme pence half penny following a fall of 

four shillings on the price of a llIlck of flour. In October 

the Food Council agam annouuced this tIme that nine_ 

pence halfpenny for the loaf WdS also unjustlllabit', and 

asked the bakprs who were selling at less than nine lJalfpenny, 

to send lD their n'lmes and addre~ses for the preparation 

of a white list. Ou the Slme day as this actIOn 

was taken, the bJ.kers orgalJlsations rednced the loaf to 

ninepence, following a fortber fall of f(lor shillings on 

the price of a sack of flour. It Will be noticed that 00 

each occasion the Food CounCil announce 1 the loaf was 

too dear before the prICe of flollr fpll. And on each 

occasioo the bakers' organisaLiolls took a halfpellny off a 

loaf after the price of flour had fallen The significant 

fact reI Dains in the contention of the Food CounCil that 

fl JOr having falle'! eigbt shillmgs--four shillings 00 each 

occaSIOn-from forty nine &hllhngs to forty one shillin!!"s 

per sqck of flour, the price of the loaf ought not to be 

more than eight. pence halfpenny. The Food Oouncil 

-1.lm" to haft .yldelloe of bf,a

. 3. 10 INDIAN OPINION November 27th. lOiS 

) 

prices below ninepence, in different districts, and in one 

distA-iet fIB low all seven pence halfpenny. The bread 

organisatIOns npt 80 long AgO practICally ref II sed to give 

evidence before the Food CommIssion, say ng that they 

hod no new facts apart from the evidence tl,ey had previouslV 

gl\'en before the Royal Commis~ion on foodstulf~, 

but there is every indication now that they will seek to 

gi\'e evidence before the present Food CounCl!. 

Eugen Saindo\V that famous strong man, died yesterday 

suddenly at, his home in Holland Park A venue, at 

the age of 58. His death IS attributed to the bUrqting 

of a blood vessel in the brain. This is said to have been 

the result of shock and overqtram, which he suffered 

some conSiderable time ago, when, fo1\owmg a motoring 

accidept, he lifted hiA caf oub of a ditch smglebanded. 

AL tast the Governm~nt has set the machinery in 

ll1w in motion agaltlst CommunIsts. Some forty Reds, 

were accordIng to press reports. considered by the Government, 

a.nd eight of them were arrested on charges of 

conspiring to publish seditious hterature aod conspiring 

to incite to mutiny. The men charged are Albert Inkpin 

secretary of the Commumstic Party of Great Britain, 

John Campbell Editor of the Workprs' Weekly, Harry 

Pollitt seoretary of the National Minority Movement, 

E. Oart, LondoI! orga!l\ser of the Commumst Party,' 

W. Rust secretary of Young Commnnis~ League, T. H. 

Wintrmgham a member of the staff of the Workers' 

Weekly, W. Gallacher a Clyslde Commumst, and T. 

Bell a member of the Executive of the CommuDist Party. 

l'he ffrsb six were to-day released on bail of~ a £100 

each, Mr. George Lansbury M.P. standing surety, for Q 

£100 in each case. The last tWO are under pohce escort 

on the way to London. The caaes were adJourned for a 

week. 

With the opening of the Michelmas Sitting'S, of the' 

Law Courts on the 12th inot. began a New Legal Y~ar, 

and it was marked With aU the ceremonial attaching to 

the event. The Lord Chancellor, the judges and the 

K.C.'s and barristers attende1 s~l'vice at Westminister 

Abbey, ana at tbe Roman Oatholic WestmiDlster Cathedral 

and from th~l!Jl8 proceeded to the HOllse of Lords 

where they "breakfa~ted." And in dUe course ~ ended 

their way to the Law CourB, and walked 10 propession 

through the great hall between tnasse 4 of slJe

1udian 

No. 49-Vo1. XXIII. Friday,. December 4th, 1925. 

A SUCCESSFUL LICENSING APPEAL 

1f 

liE Town Council's past policy in restricting the 

number of Asiatic licences in Berea Road was 

reviewed in the Council Chamber on 20th ult. 

when Meaars. Moosa Bros. appealed against the decision 

of the Licensing Officer in refusing to grant the 

transfer of a retail licence in respect of premises at 

1:I.J, Berea Road. Appellants formerly held a licence 

for premises at the corner of U mbilo and Berea Roads, 

and had been forced to vacate the premises on account 

of a portion being sold to the Corporation for 

improvements to the corner. A previous appeal bad 

been refused. 

• 

The grounds of appeal were that apP6llants bad 

held a licence for the premises for 17 years, that 

they had been compelled to move, that they were 

the owners of the premises to which they wished to 

remove, that there were scverallicences held by Indians 

in the immediate vicinity of 123, Berea Road, 

and that no objections had been lodged. 

Mr. DouU, who appeared for the appellants, stated 

that they would lose £1,000 which was outstanding 

in book debts if the licence were refused. He argued 

that it was not competent for the Licensing Officer 

to restrict appellants' rights to continue their long 

established business without lawful reason. The refusal 

of this licence would not solve the Asiatic problem 

in Durban, and the granting of it would not 

prejudICe the rights of Europeans. 

The Licensing Officer said in this matter the law 

was quite plain, but there were other points besides 

those which had been mentioned which ought to be 

takeu into account. It. was probably not quite true 

that the applicants would 10S6 the whole of their 

book debt. if the licence were refused. It was certainly 

not quite true that. the applicant wonld not 

displace a European by moving into 123, Berea 

Road. One had already been displaced, a woman, 

to whom the applicant had shown no mercy, and 

who had lost her all. An Asiatic had told a tale 

1900 years ago of a master whose steward owed him 

money. The story went that although the master 

showed the steward mercy the steward showed none 

to a fellow-servant, whereupon the master tlirew the 

steward into prison until he had paid all the debt. 

And the teller of the tale had evidently thought that 

just, for he added that so eternal justice would deal 

with each and everyone who behaved in like 

manner. The Licensing Officer went on to argue 

that the law was in favour of his decision, and he 

knew of no higher ethical authority than the 18th 

chrevious visits to South Africa have fitted lam for 

the position of mediator. A gentleman through 

and through, of a quiet yet convincing personality, 

acceptable both in European and Indian society, 

Mr. Andrews can truly be described as the friend 

of all At a time when we are a.lso expecting the 

official deputation from the Government of India, 

and pORSibly one from the Christian churches of 

India, Mr. Andrews' presence in South Africa is 

invaluable. What is needed is quiet, coavilleing 

work of the type which Mr. Andrews is 80 well 

fitted to carryon. Any loud, blustering demands 

would only irritate tho'le many Europeans who are 

friendly disposed towards us. As a community, 

we are prepa.red to stand or uIt by the decision 

of a round table conference as has been suggested. 

If such a conference were to come to the decision 

t11at the Indiana of South Africa are a menace to 

the well-being of the general public and that their 

presence has become a curse, we shall bow to its 

decision. Times have changed we admit. Recent 

egislation tendll to level aU workers up to -the 

European shndJ.rd, and we must abide by the 

law. At the same time we would point out that 

we are handicapped by lack of t'liueatiou of the 

masses to stand clhngside Europeallil. OUf means 

of livelihood are verI much restricted. That bein&

~3~t2 ____________________ 1_N_D_I_A_N-.O_P_t_N_t_O_N ________ D_e_c_em __ 

ber 4ili'~92S 

th$ oase, lfe naturally look: with 9.11\t'lI1 upon the 

pi'0p08ed legislation which wOuld confine u. &0 

lace.tJonti. both for llvlog and trudidg. We \Velcome 

the oflicial deputlttiod of the Gov~rnment of 

India which is nroceeding to South Africa, and we 

feel sure that the Congress will come forward with 

ey~ &OlI!iiitanOO'. Every~hing is to be gained b)" 

a thorongh Investigation into the poiiUtion here. 

Franldy, we do not expect any definite result to 

cdOla {rdhl Ul.l",bours of tM officisl deputation, 

.tI ubj~ beiDg, ",e unde~tal1d, tner'lly to gather 

information and report to the Government of Indill, 

which. of emtt~e, jot ne

December 4th, 1925 

lNOlAN OPINION 

dealt with-in the United States. in Canw. and 

here. We could not allow another alien race to 

further complieate onr problems. (Applause). 

The 110n. W. A. Deane, who Waf very cordially 

received. e.x.preBlled pride and pleasure at being pre 

Bent to put the position in plain language. Europcan. 

ill Natal were fighting for their very existence. 

The peril for us to-day, he said, would be the peril 

for South Afrim to-morrow if unchecked. (Hear, 

hear, and applause.) He agreed that the Bill before 

Parliament should be regarded as a non-Party 

measure. lIe quoted Mr. Shaik Hamid as saying "we 

had hoped that the Nationalisl Boers who had been 

deprived of their flag and their presidentB, and reduced 

to the status of subjects, wonld sympathise 

with another similarly-placed nation." (Laughter.) 

Mr. Deane warned Indians not to test the temper of 

Natalianll any further. Indians were well treated 

here. 

The Mayor then put the motions to the meeting, 

which were carried unanimously amid applause. 

The IndJan National Association's 

Resolution 

The Indian National Association representing the 

Indian community of Zanzibar expresses ite deep 

sympathy with its Indian brethren in South Afrioa 

in thE'ir troubles, and assures them of all the sup. 

port that is within the power of the Indian National 

Association to give them to maintain their poeition 

and self-respect in South Africa. In the opinion of 

the Indian National Association, India should not 

becODUl a. party to any scheme of repatriation whether 

described as voluntary or compulsory. " The 

Indian National AflBociation is further of opinion 

that the Bill proposed to be passed by the Union 

Parliament is manifpstly a brE'ach of the Gandhi 

Smuts settlement of 1914 and urges upon His 

Majesty's Government to take imme(bate steve to 

obtain redre!!s in the interest of the solidarity of the 

Empire. 

Random Thoughts 

(By RAMBLER) 

Sastri -the Man 

The Right Hon'ble V. S. Srinivasa Sastri, P.C., 

President. Servants of India Society, delivered the 

Convocation address of the Mysore Universitr this 

year. It need hardly he stated that the Chancellor 

of the Univprsity-His Highness the Maharajah of 

MYllore,-could not have made a worthier choice. 

The Right Hon'ble Sastri is. what is called in political 

parlance, a back-number. He has had hill day' 

and they are over, at least for the time being. That 

does not, however, detract from his eminence as a 

speaker and a thinker. It may not be widely 

knQwn that before the late Mr. Gokhale rescued 

from oblivion the Right Hon'ble Sastri, the lattilr 

was a schoolmaster,-the Heaimaster of a struggling 

Boys' High School in Madras. The teacher's profession 

is always an underpaid and ill-appreciated 

profession. Mr. Sastri's case was no exception. 

During Mr. Gokhale's visit to Madras, Mr. Sastri 

came into contact with ' Master' and recognised in 

him his guru. Mr. Gokhalo similarly felt attracted 

to Mr. 8astri. It was a great sacrifice which Mr. 

SastrS made ~t the time, when, ill obedienoe to the 

call of service, he -resigned hiB headmastershlp and 

embraced voluntary poverty as the badge of Ute. 

A Patriot 

It cannot be !\aid of Mr. Saetri, not even by hiB 

critics,-that he belongs to that category of lll'm 

who have mlBged the call of the conntry. In & 

Dl3D'! life-time three calle come at one Hme or other, 

and as they are seized and made lU!e of or are let go, 

Dlen mould their liV68. One of the oalle ill the call 

of a woman's IOTe. It ie only O'ne& in a life-time 

dOe8 the call come to men and wOmen, when ne 

sacrifice is considered too great at the altar of the 

one being who is the object of devoted love. Then, 

there ill the call of the religion or of God. To 'all' 

thinking minds, the call of God comelt early in life. 

when they awaken to the iniqnities and injustices 

of life and to their own impotence to redress them. 

Few, like Buddha of old or Gandhi of our times, 

radically l-evise their life's waye M a reBult of snch 

ex:perieDce. 'Alany of us make ottr own compromises 

with religion and plod on. Similarly, does 

the call of the country also come to one surelY 

• 

enough and we respond or turn a deaf ear as we are 

constituted and circumstanced. Sastri is certain\y 

one of those woo have unerringly heard the call bf 

both God and Country. Opinions of Mt. Sastri may 

Qat agree with our own but none f!an deny Sastri's 

claim to speak to the youth as an elder brother. 

His Best 

Mr. Sastri gave unto the stndenta that had gatherered 

to bear him, his best in thought and style. He 

spoke sweetly. but frankly and firmly. He declined 

to be drawn into an expression of opinion on 

the proposals for nni versity reform that were on the 

anvil and did so with "Very good reasons. He !!aid it 

will be only too easy for him with the characteri!tic 

irresponsibility of politicians to dogmatise as to 

what shonld and should not be done. For during a 

great many yeal'll, !!laid Mr. Bastri 'politic!! has been 

meat and drink to me. And if anybody were to remind 

me that I had not the necessary local knowledge, 

I should reply exultingly that I hall outlived 

the Bimple time when ignorance was considered a 

disqualification for the office of • agitator.' You 

may be thankful that the imp in rne is not so highly 

developed, Mine be the homely ta!!k of an elder 

brothE'r who seeks in confidence and love to g\ve 

the benefit of Ws experienCt' to the junior m.embers 

of his family. Thirty seven years ago, I left mY' 

alma mater as most of you would presently leave 

fOUl'll, not without distinction. And although I 

cannot boast of having made fame or amassed f8rtune 

or acquired a wide command over men, my Ufe 

has enabled me to see some men and thiqgs out t>f 

the ordinary; and it may be that ~f you are attractin 

as well as silent for an hour or thereabouts 1 

shall impart 80me words of needed counsel a'nd 

warning.' No one who has perused the oonvoca· 

tion address of Mr. Sastri can deny that he baa fulfined 

his promise in full. Mr. Bastri was in Ii reflective 

mood. He did not set himself to beat the 

drum of service and sacrifice and urge the youth to 

set in quest of the unattainable. Instead, he Bet 

himself to give youth the benefit of his own lifeos 

disappointments and disillusionments as typioal of 

the disillllllionments and disappointments that beset 

aU seekers after practical idealism. If one had to 

sum lip the leasons of Mr. Sastri's life, he could 

aptly Bum it up in the words 'Disillusionment, thon 

art the Goddess.' 

The War Mentality 

Mr. Sastri has come in for adverse commenta by 

youthful writers in the presa for h.ia sobriety and 

caution. He is told that he is a man of speculative 

mind pitch-forked into the position of a man ~ 

action and consequently a misfit whose experience& 

han no univtlrsal application. The oritic. also

I 

3 1 4 INDtAN opiNION December 4th, 1925 

argue that ethics and principles of action are poles 

apart and that what is ethical need not necessarily 

be expedient and that action reqnires a practical 

mind which Sees only its own side of the picture 

and refnses to see reason on the other side. These 

sentiments are voiced by the nationalist press which 

make it an every-day grievance of their existence 

that the Anglo-Indian and the civilian bnreancrat 

refuse to ilee the reason of the Swaraj movement. 

How contradictory does this pOile appear with the 

role of practical men they adapt where Sastri is 

concerned? If Indians are to subordinate expediency 

to reason or ethics, why should it be 

wrong on t~e part of Englishmen in India if they 

do so and re~use 

to see the jnstice of the Indian 

claim and think it to be devinely ordained that British 

exploItation should continue in India'il own 

interests.' It is this mentality of expedIency that 

gives rise to wars, racial, communal and international 

hatreds and all the ills that flow from them. The 

frni¥! of this philosophy of expediency call be seen 

in Bengal politics where the polical parties hate 

each other more than they object to foreign rule, in 

the "Punjab where hatred is the iospel of both the - 

Hindus and Moslems, and in Maharashtra and 

Madras where the Brahmins a.nd non-Brahmins are 

ever in a state of civil war. 

Only Panacea 

The only panacea for the communal jealousies, 

racial hatreds and political intrigues is the cultivation 

of detachment in public life. Detached thinking 

will lead to detached action when things are 

viewed and judged detachedly. It is pure reason 

and not sectional or narrow interests that will influence 

the decisions of the mind. The great need 

of the coUntry is detachment which is another name 

for selflessness. Mr. Sastri's entire address iii a plea. 

for this ideal and it is for this clarion call that the 

writers in the nationalist press haul Mr. Sastri over 

the boaIS. Mr. Sastri hail reached an age in hili cwn 

life imd an eminence in public life when he oon 

afford to forego the cheap laurel of a irowd'il applause 

for worshipping in the market place. The 

loss that arises from the omilililion to see the main 

current of thought m Mr. Sastri's address is the 10ils 

not of Mr. Sastri but of those who know no language 

but that uttered in terms of ilelf,-the individual 

self, the communal self, the national self, bnt 

not the universal Self which sees itself in other 

selves and having the vision to realise the nnity of 

selves seeks to serve not by aggrandisement but by 

self-~bnegation. To say this is not necessarily to set 

the seal of approval on all the political achievem~nts 

and, fa.ilures of the Right Hon'ble Srinivasa Sai!tri, 

the politician. That would be unfair both to the 

distinguished lecturer and the humble scribe. Mr. 

Sastri came unto the students as an elder brother 

and he spoke to them not of himself but of his perception 

of the basi9 principles that govern right condnct 

as he has seen and tested on the touch-stone of 

life. 

It is therefore but right that the principlef! 

should be weighed Qn the scales and not the lecturer. 

Verities of Life 

Mr. Sastri spoke the eternal veritlelil of life in 

language simple and form familiar to the students 

that had gathered to him. All honour to Mr. Sasb'i 

for the kindliest service that he had done to the 

student-mind by his frank and fearless utterance, 

heedleBli of the unkindly critic, he knew sure 

enough, waited to tear him to pieces -for all the 

omissions and commissions of a life-time of dedicat~d 

service in the country's canse. Like Tagore 

in another sphere, like his guru Gokhale in politics 

Mr. Sastri's is the unique distinction to be milil~ 

understood by his own countrymen. But this very 

misunderstandi~g is the salt of life. Posterity, detached 

from the ~eart and passions of the moment, 

will judge him more truly and kiu,lly. These pel' 

sonal aspects apart, it is worth whIle to rCVlew 

briefly,the first principles of conduct to whICh Mr. 

Sastri drew attention In hIS remal k.\ble a

December 4th, 1925 INDIAN OPINION 3 1 5 

---- - - ----- --~-----.,-----=....:..:....:....::,-=--------.:!.:.::!.- 

thod'l of a~taining Hwaraj and followed it up with 

an a Hl'f'sS on • Culture an.l Public Life' by the 

IIon'ble Sir C, P. I{,lml-iwdmi Iyer, L'1w Member of 

the G()VCrnmClnt of Ma lrdl!. Mr. BhuLlbhai J. 

DC8a: pre~i'l(Jd. Thp- chOice of the Chairman W.1S 

apprOpll,\t'> to th" OCI: IIH()'l. )'lr. Dasai wail an 

aI")f'nt Homo-rill,'" in the days of the home-rule 

a~itatlOll of Df' H'~lnt'!4 br,m,l. So Wil.'! Sir (then 

Mr.) Rollna'lW,lml lyer. The Chairman lell Rombay 

while the IpGtllrer led Ma.lra!!. Both are IJ.wyers, 

and eminent in their c,lhn~. Both are young. The 

chairman, If Dame Rllrnf)Ur spoke truly, wooed the 

LIW Mflmbcl'lIhip of the Guv('rnmf'nt of India, or 

was woood in tlllt b,.h,lf, whlle the lecturer WJ.S 

led captive into the Law ~Iembert4hip of the Madras 

Government by Lorll and Vvly Willingdon. Nonco-operatlOn 

drove both the chairman and lecturer 

out of poht\C~ by its int()lol\mC..l of oPPQsite viewil, 

-one into tho arms of the proft'saion and the other 

other into an olllbrance of th,., burP-aucracy. It. was 

thercfOl"e only to be expect",l that when an attractive 

subject as 'culture an. I pnblic life' WJ.S proposed, 

the lecturer Bhould make it a pea for a sermon and 

an apology. If non-co-operatIOn had not produce!! 

intolerance, wf'll,-thc lecturer may not have left 

public life. Wh,lt wa::! puhlic liCe without tolerance? 

Cultivate toleJ"lnce bofore all other virtues. That 

was the burden of the lectmer, although he omitted 

all references to non-co-operatIon. 

Pros 

The address was excellent in its dIction, elegance 

and imagery. Sir Rtmaswami is a cultured man in 

the sense that he is a mll'l of accomplhhmentil. His 

desertian of politics had. not lost him the cunning of 

speech. Hlr R.Lma3wami referred to religious persecutions 

ill IIindu religious history which are relics 

of a barbarous age and to tolerance that has sinoe 

markcd the spiritual growth of this ancient land 

whieh is rightly acclaimt'tl the 'cradle of religions-' 

lIe quoted eminent men of lettprs who rightly 'laid 

emphasis on the neell for htlDllhty and tolerance ail 

inalienable characteristics of culture. Sir Ramaswami 

also referred to the dogmatism of the journalists 

tending to give a fundamental aspect to the immelhate 

and evanasccnt. In conclusion, the lecturer 

plelldell not for the extinction of aU dogmatism 

bllt for the co-existence of a respect for the opposite 

view point. l\h', Desai endorsed, the appeal of the 

lecturer and asked the youth to learn to win without 

conct'lt and loso Without rancour. lIe claimed that 

Bombay was f.lst re-establillhing its claim to be a 

city With a large fund of tolerance and as~ured the 

lecturer that he would always bo welcome, whatever 

views ho held or may have ceased to hold since the 

Home-mil' days. The last repartee was a doubleedged 

weapon in this casE', as Mr, Desai is equally in 

Sil' Ramaswami's plight. The audience, however, 

was not critlCal and MI'. Des,\i eilcaped. 

Cons 

It is but fair that tho other side of the case should 

be stated. Advocates of tolerance do concede that 

there is room for a lImlted amount of dogmatism, as 

all Rections C.lU inill.Lte only from a positivity of convlCtion 

that one side of the C,LSe is for the time being 

the right viewpoint. Tho recognition conceded to 

dogmatism is however nominal. The emphasi~ of 

tolerance is real. What the advocates of tolerance 

have In mind is the intolerance of the non-co-operation 

days. Now that non-co-operation has failed. 

its critics are able to s.L1 "we told you so." But let 

us eraase from our mind the failure of the non-co-_ 

opel'ation movement and only remember the intensity 

of national feeling during the p:limy dayS of 

non-eo-operation. The country was ilgething with 

feelin!,'S of anger an,l illthgnation. The Punjab and 

Khilafat wronllS wt'l'1.cnough to try the patieuce of 

pn, ,nlbJeo\ people. 4"ldW tn " orlU(!M etatt Uk. thatt 

)'" Gandbi rlRbU, Cll' wrCl!1li11, of!81'eQ a proRra!UD111 

of action which caught popular fancy. Many calculated 

mind. laW the seeds of failure in the movement 

and iltood aloof and they had to bear the 

opprobrium of their aloofness. It hall been argued 

that if BO one had stood aloof non-co-operation 

wonld have encceeded. It is an argument that does 

not compellJympathy. If non-co-operation did not 

appeal to the reason of a section of people they had 

every ri,;-ht to refrain from participation and even to 

attack it. The i88uI for consideration, howevet, is 

whether the exe&I!I!IM of the people in the heat of 

non-co-operation which resulted in the temporary 

ecliplJe of anti-non-co-operationists, were really of 

8nch a character lUI Tiuted the atmosphere of public 

lite. 

Dadabhai N aoroji 

A Reminiscence 

By RT. HON'BLJI V. S. SRINlVASA SASTRI, P. C. 

Twiee I wae privilf'ged to meet Dadabhai Naoroji. 

The first oCOOllion Wall in the very end of 1906, after 

he had presided over the famous Congress of that 

year and for the first time used the fatefnl word 

.. Swaraj." Gokhale had arranged that the yonng 

men who had joined the Servants of India Society 

or were about to join it ihould wait on the Nester 

of Indian Nationalism and receive his blessing on 

their life-mission. I had not been sworn, but I had 

resigned from my profell8ion and come to Calcutta 

to be admitted in form to the Society. Mr. C. Y. 

Chintamani too wal there, for then he contemplated 

joining the Society. Mr. (now Sir) Dinshaw Wacha 

was the only stranger present. We were introduced 

in a few words by Gokhale, whose behavionr on the 

occasion I remember as a pattern or reverence or 

self-respect in Ratural and attractive combination. 

The GM\nd Old Man gave us impressive advice. One 

interesting IJtatement is perhaps worthy of being recorded. 

He had himself contemplated the formation 

of a body of workers eimilar to the Servants of 

India Society and congratulated Gokhale on his 

good luck in realilling that which to him had only 

been a dream. 

The other time was in 1IHO. The Society had 

held a bnsy and frnitfnlsession. We had resolved 

to open branches in Bombay and Madras, and to 

enable me to llSSume command of the Madras 

Branah, my training had been as a special measure 

terminated at the end of three years and a half, and 

I had been declared Ordinary Member. The Madras 

contingent left Poona like men adventuring forth 

on a rlaring enterpriiJe and resolved to fortify themselTes 

at the start by a draught of inspiration at the 

very fonntain of patriotism. So we went by previous 

appointment to Versova, where Dctdabhai was 

surrounded by the loving care of his family. We 

were seated in a small ~oom and promised not to tire 

the venerable patriarch. He entered in full dress 

and occupied a large chair. I broken the silence by 

a short speech explaining our presence and praying 

for just one word of collnsel an~ encouragemenL 

He Mid a few words in reply by which we felt 

more than rewarded. A conversation ensued, in 

which he showed solicitude for onr comfort and 

satisfied himself that arrangem,ents had been made 

for dne hospitality to us. We also succeeded i~ 

pertiuading him that his yaluable library should bjf 

left as a legacy to our Society, wher~ we had already 

a r~peQtable collection of books on politics, hi8tory 

and euonomtoa and o~ I'arliaDlentart .t'e90t'd. Be 

ll#J1ttaUt pve fn,mzatidU' far the ... maw 01 Us,

316 INDIAN OPINION December 4th, 1925 

, 

volumes. But owing to causes beyond our control, The Hon. Mr. Gokhale's Tour in South Africa: 

the transfer could not be effectuated. 

Sp~iaIINDIAl!l OPIKION Souvenirr. 

I 

It so h.o.ppened that I was in Bombay the day he 

passed away. Among the theusandli and thousands 

The Ethics ot Passive Resistance 

3 

of m~n and women who carne to pay their last respecUi 

I was one of the few who were permitted to 

Govind Ran&de 1 

ESlay 00 Indian Econollics, by Mahldev 

stay Mwnstairlil. In spit~ of the vastness of crowds Hindu Psalms and Hymas 

J 

the hush was nearly universal and impressive. and 

Vaisbavite Re/orlXlers of India 

2 

tbe solemnity was deepened by the chant of some 

Verlles from the Zend Avestaa in the room where the M. K. Gandhi and the South Afr:can 

!leJ\d lay, which rounded to me strangely like our 

Indlao Problem I 

own £lama Veda recited in the ilouthern style, which Aspecs of the Vedanh 

I 

Qnes hea.rd. can never be forgotten and has the 

power ()f mirring one to one's depths. 

Essays 00 lndiaa Art, I ndustry and Education :I 

~tI Madhwacharya 

J 

\ 

The Late Mrs. Soobee Ellary 

HInduism, by Dr. BUllett 

PositIon of the Women in the Vedas 

II 

6 

0 

3 

6 

6 

0 

6 

6 

6 

6 

6 

I 

I,' 

I 

I' 

! I I , 

I , 

On Fridat last the 13th ultimo, after a short, and 

patient suffering there passed away at her home 

"Cato Manor," the wife pf late V. Ellary. The late 

Mrs. Soobee Ellary was greatly esteemed throughout 

the whole district, and her loss will be much 

f~lt. ~n the days befQre Mrs. S. Ellar:r became ill. 

her reputation as aJ),olltess stooq very high out and 

valueq }:tel' friendship. The d'eep sympathy of many 

go O'Ut f.!,t ~his time to her I) sons and five daughters 

itt their sad bereavement. 

The f-aneral serflce was of impressive nature. 

After a preliminary serVICe at the house, according 

to Hindu ()ustom, the body of the late Mrs. Soobee 

Ellary was laid to rest alongside her husband's grave 

who predeceased 18 years ago, in the beautiful 

private cemetery at CJato Manor. The Bons and 

daughters were the chief mom-ners, and a large 

nUD),bel' of relatives, and representative number of 

residents gathered to pay their last tribute to a 

highly valqed !Uember of the Indian community. 

"""Cdn tribllted. 

Mr. E. Mohamed's application for a greengrocer's 

licences in respect of the premises lately occupied 

by'Mr. Wessels van Wyk in Churoh St,reet, Cape 

T6w'11, was not granted. 


Til be obt31D"~ froll) the Ind'an OJ;n,Qn Press, PhceDlx, 

N~tal. Postal Otders til pe mlldo: payable at Durban. 

'the Hott. Mr. Gokhale and the Indenture System. II 

tl1diaq itQIU\! i(ute, b, M. K. G.lndhi t 6 

.. nQok~l:l~ it:! M'iJl:lotD~r I Q 

lhs .. yad Gi", Mr •• B .. arn'. TrallllatiPIl ,IS 

Aslatle~ ae~!st~atlan 4mendment Act (1908) 

in gngli~b jln4 Gujar,.ti 

1Iindq ~p~aJ I4@al" by r. J. MehtlJ II 6 

Rise and Gtowth of Bombay Municipal Govt. 4 1$ 

4~ri~uitH;~1 tRdu~~rl~s ip In41a ' z 6 

rb~ ji~Qry of th", ~~Ql~)'ana, \he Epic (II R~Qll! 11 (j 

4 ~ 

, q 

No. 50-Vol. XXIII. Friday, December 11th, 1925. a ........ tIlMoG.p.o. ........... ' 

1'aJeI. r_ .. . 

. ( ------~ 

MR. ~NDREWS~ IN DURBAN 

--------~~----- 

1\\Ji1 R. C. F. ANDREWS who arrived at Durban I came out with my dearest friend, Willie Pear 

.Ll V II from Pretoria and Johannesburg last Mon- son.-he gave me then a man/ram to carry with me, 

day. at 11 a.m .• was met at the Central which we all, Hindus, MusaImans and Christians 

Station by a large number of prominent members of alike can repeat; for it speaks of God as One. Again, 

the Indian community and by European friends. this time, he wOl,lld wish me to carry the same 

lIe was garlanded on behalf of the Natal Indian mantram, which is the motto of our ABram at Santi 

CongreHs by Mr. V. Lawrence, Vice-President of that niketan. It runs as follows :- 

Lody. ]'Ilr. Andrews was first taken to the late Mr. ., SIuJ,ntam, Shivam, Advailnm." 

P.m;eo }{ustomjee's premises in Field Street, where 

,l crowd was anxiously waiting to greet him and to Its-meaning is, that God is th.., All Peace, the All 

h€dr hIm speak. He looked very tired at the end Good. the One without a second. 

of his journey, but at once rose and addressed those· .. He told me to carry that message of divine peace, 

aSAemblcd as follows :- 

divine goodness, divine unity, to all South African 

I .. I have comA to you, at this critical time, for two Indians. He said, that we who were engaged in this 

special rl'USODS. The former is, that Mahatma critical struggle should. be fu 11 of peace from. God; 

Gandhi himself WIshed me to come out to you. He we should also be full of goo dness; we should also 

told me, that it was my duty, if possible, to leave be united one with another in the Divine Unity. 

Imha for that purpose. The second reason is, that .. I have now told you the message of my Gurndev, 

the Poet, Rabindranath Tagore, whom I call my and I have given you Mah atmaji'a ow. love and 

Gllrudcv, in Iilpite of 

blessing. Through you, 

his very serious ill- 

who are assembled here 

ness, has allowed me Mr. C. F. Andrews' Message this morning from every 

to ('ome out and bas 

province in South Aftinot 

WIshed me to re- 

ca, I would wish to 

main. Therefore I have 

send this message of 

come to you with the On coming again the third time to South my Gurn~v and this 

blessings of two Asrams, Africa, to help in the' Indian cause, I have love and blessing of 

-the Asram at Sabar- brought with me from the Poet, Rabindranath Mahatmaji, to every 

mati, and the ABram at Tagore, the very same message which I brought single Indian, down to 

Santiniketan. At both with me on each previous occasion. The Poet the tiniest Indian baby 

of thE'se relIgious re- bids us put all our trust in the child, in South Africa. 

treats, where prayer to 

May God bless you all, 

God is offered daily by • Shantam. Shivam. Advaitam' and also bless the work 

all the inmates of the in 'God, the All-Peace, the All-Good, the One.' which I have come out 

Asram, I was sent out In the midst of all our trials and diEficulties, to do in His Name." 

to you with their loving let that be our daily prayer and remembrance. At the close of the 

prayers and blessings. We are not trusting in ~wnan strength to give gathering, it was de- 

Mah.ltma Gandhi and us the victory, but in God. Mahatma Gandhi cidecl to send at once 

the Poet, Rabindranath 

cablegrams to the Poet, 

Tagore, the founders of sends the same word of faith and hope and Rabindranath Tagore; 

these two Asrams, have love, Let us therefore remember, day by day, to Mahatma Gandhi; 

also sent me with their the and also to the Imperial 

own prayers and bless- Shantam. Shivam. Advaitam. Citizenship Association, 

ings. Therefore, I come Bombay, which had 

to you with what I dare ,f;:' . pro'rided the steamer 

to hope is the divine blessing to 10U all from India. 

e and sent Mr. Andrews as its representative 

.. I want to say one thing more. Mahatma Gandh'~ to South Africa. 

said ~ me, '~h~n he ~sked .m~ to go,-" Do not go An Important Correction 

out tIll the dIVIDe VOIce wlthin tells you that you 

Ulust go out." At that time, the Poet, Rabindranath 

Tagore was so ill, th.lt I did not wish to leave hi 

amI I told Mahatmaji that I could not leave him. \ 

But later on. the inner voice became so clear, that 

I could resist it no longer. Then, when I went to 

my Gllrmlev and told him that the inner voice was 

so clear, that I could not resist it any longer, he said 

to me: .. Now you mllSt go; aud you shall carry my 

blessings with you." Later on, when I went to 

Habarm.lti, to Mahatma Gandhi, he gave me his 

blessings also. Therefor!', I do not come emptyhanded. 

I feel that I come both with the divine 

voice leading me, and with the divine blessing to 

offer to ron anll to your children. 

.. The Poet, Rabindranath TagorE", gave me, on my 

first ,isit to Natal nearly twelve years ago,-when 

An unfortunate mistake was made by the reporter 

of the Johannesburg Star which was repeated in the 

other papers. It was said, that Mr. C. F. Andrews had 

been • delegated by the Government of India.' This 

is not the case. Mr. Andrews was sent by Mahatma 

Gandhi and by the Poet, Rabindranath Tagore, and 

his steamer passage was provided by the Imperial 

Citizenship Association, Bombay. He comes out at 

the unanimous wish of all the leaders of Indian 

public opinion and is in no way connected with the 

depotation of the Government of India, which is 

now on its way to South Africa, and is a purely 

official deputation. 

Mr. Andrews has been asked by the S. A. Indian 

Congress Deputation, which is now _on its way to 

India. to be present. ~ Durban to~ \lrelQODl6 t.b~

, ' , 

Government of India Deputation on its arrival, and 

to rellder them any necessary assistance. Thill has 

been confirmed by the Executive Committee of the 

S. A. Indian Congress at their meeting on December 

6th. It is necessary to make quite clear that this 

reception of the official deputation in Durban in no 

WIlY' tmpli~ apy preyioua eonnexion between Mr. 

C. F. Andrews and the Government of India Deputation. 

They are independent of one another and 

have (!'ollI.~ Q'tlt indepenObserved. It is use'Ies8, 

however,. to argue ,alii; tlilll wbDle ~n't &gilin. Sn~ly it 

-.ir\u be etottgh -tb Mr :t~ Mr. Gandhi's own statement 

~bmlt',;he :n~w !BrIl, in YlfUng Indw. where he emphati- 

-c,aliy d~cla~!l ,that the 'pr~sent Bill, and the Colour Bar 

'6li PliEic~ding it, ,a.re 5'f suoh a charac~er? that tl;1e carr'ying 

of them out into law would wreck the wllOle settJement 

of 1914,lmd leayP nQthing whatever llIltouched in 

the agreement tha"t 'he then made with General Smnts. 

It 'is 1mpo~lble, therefore, to be!,ieve that Dr. ¥alan is 

re~llv setlQlls. Ill, bis contention wlth regard to the 

Ga.u4hi-S.r.rmta. Agreement, when he declares that his 

prat!('.l.Lt AAlidJ;ie Bill IS 110 breach ~f its term&. U mor 

WLate.ly, it i's ellfWllly ~ble ro hehev.e .that he i6 

seriollS' ill his cmtt.el!ltion, when .he 4eclal'9B that this 

Asiatic Bill is merely 'a {aithfnl carrying ont of the 

reoorruoendations of the Lange Commission. For the 

J;,anp 'Co~n's .Recommendations ,have been 

fiagmntly yi,elatea in ev,erl11art of abe Bill. 

Let us here explain this matter ill

December 11th, 1925 INDIAN OPINION SIt} 

--~~~--------------r---------------------------~~ 

movable property as well as agricultnral land (ii) it 

proposes no compensation whatever for takIng away 

from Indians existing righta (iii) it pays no att.ention to 

the ~linority Report, in the Lange CommiBllion itself, 

which is printed and published against the WlthdJaw~1 

of an, existiu~ right., of land-purchase from the Indian 

oommunitr, because i~ would be • oontrory to the interests 

of goqd ffelmg ~nd the I\E!QljEl of fair-plaf. 

Thus, the preBeJlt Ed! is no more a carrying ou~ of the 

recommendation. of the Lange Oommiasion shan it ia a 

carrying out of the ter~s of the Gandhi-BmutA Agreement. 

DR. MALAN'S PRONOUNCEMENT 

fN\ n.. 1faJaij b~8 POIf publir:ly !D,.de his pJ'ononncel..Lt' 

ment flonoerning Lhe Round Table Cpnference. 

Speaking lit CapetowD, he stated that the Indian 

Government bad asked for a Round Table Conference on 

the Asiatic Question, but the Upipu GoveTl~ment had 

decldeiI t41l~ ~4ey pouhl pot 8gree; becanse ~ ~nd 

'Tlble CQQferl!llctl would lJl,Qan m~killg oow:el¥!ions oq 

the e8ilential principlea of the Bill, and the Government 

were not prepared to do that They, however, welCOlLed 

the Deputatio/l froQ} the Government of India, which 

was CO/lllog tp Sou~h Mrica to investigate the 4sjatiC 

question. If t}le am were ~~, It would \Ie J'ef~rre

320 INDIAN OPINION December I. tho 19.25 

not aspire to any political ambition, they, the 

Europeans, will see the justice and indeed the 

necessity of my countrymen being granted the 

rights I have just referred to. " 

, It seems to us that the intention and spirit of the 

Agreement was that the vested rights of the Indians 

should be protected and that in future the law 

should be sympathetically administered and also 

that although that agreement only settled matters 

existing at that time, my countrymen thought there 

were other matters that required consideration, but 

Mr. Gandhi did not think it proper to press for any 

more. He made it clear that although they were 

not pressing for them then, he thought it best to 

leave it until \the good sense of the European public 

should see fit\to grant them more elbow room, to 

progress. 

1. wish you to remember that we are South :Africans. 

A lot of us do not know India, except geographically. 

We are bred and born hllre. We hav" 

no other home. We speak the language, English 

being spoken. Some of the Indians do not know' 

the Iniian language. We live and think and move 

about exactly as the Europeans do. Weare to a 

large"extent South Africans and we expect that in 

any legislation that will be introduced that some 

consideration will be given as regards our faith, so 

that when we- have said in that statllment that it IS 

a breach of the -Smuts-Gandhi Agreement we do 

feel that all the legislation is being introduced in 

direct violation of vested rights and the spirit of the 

Agreement, which was that we should be sympathetically 

treated and that the other matters still 

to be considered would be sympathetically dealt 

with. Legislation is being introduCl~d -which cer- 

1ainly has the impression of restricting us. I think 

it was the view of the then Government, with Mr. 

Smuts at its head, that this should not be so. 

On the question of immigration for Indians, the 

Smuts-Gandhi Agreement to a very large extent 

said that the qUE.'stion of immigration was practically 

settled as at that date. Ldon't want to enter into a 

discuBSlon of this Bill as I attended the Conference 

Rnd the Conference did not wish me to enter 

into discussion of this Bill. I think it is right 

to say, however, that in this Bill you have 

been pleased to introduce you are restricting our 

personal movement, for instance, wives should be 

brought in within a certain period, and the increasing 

of the immigr-dtion bail that was required 

from about £30 to £100. I think this is unreasonable. 

There are further restrictions. Then of course 

there is the question of domicIle which is now defined 

in the Bill, which practically says that an -absence 

from the Oolony of three Yllars means the los9 of 

domicile. These are things which perhaps will 

appeal to you as showing that the spirit of the 

Agreement that we relied upon is not being carried 

out. Those are further restrictions, a repressive 

policy against the Indians, which we feel ought not 

to be the case. That is as much as I wish to say at 

present. 

DR. MALAN: I think before we go furthQr it is 

just as well that we come to some clear idea as to 

what was in the Smuts-Gandhi Agreement and 

what was not. As you will know the Alliatic Enquiry 

Commission was appointed in 1921, or rather 

the Report was published in 1921. That Commission 

went very exhaustively into the whole question 

of what the -so-oallell Smuts-Gandhi Agreement 

really contained and what not. Now on page Iii of 

the Report. In the first place you will see there 

that that so-called Smuts-Gandhi Agreement which 

was to put an end to all these differences between 

tile Government and the Indian population, was 

/based on the definite understanding that after that 

(agreement there should be no further agitation on 

J -he part of the Indian population in regard to the 

laws of t4e (.ount)'y. Now, as you will see from ~Ir. 

./ 

Gandi's letter, Mr. Gandhi did not acoept that. It 

was definitely understood that there was to be an 

end to the agitation against Ilegislation. 

[The Minister then read over again the whole 

passage qrwted above by Mr. Godfrey from ]\1r. 

Gandhi's letter.] 

The second point is this-that the nndertakIng of 

General Smuts at that hme rel-ltl:'d ouly to the 

administration of the existing laws. As r.11" as I can 

see no undertaking was given or could have been 

given by any Government that the laws would not 

be changed or that any laws with regard to any 

question would not in future be introduced. Couditions 

are continually changing in every country 

and it is an impossibility for any Government to gi ve 

an undertaking that no additional laws will be made 

in respect of a certain subject or that existing laws 

will not be changed. General Smuts said .- 

" With regard to the administratiou of eXlsting 

laws, the Minister desires me to say that it 

always has been and will continue to be the 

desire of the Government to see that they are 

administered in a just manner anfl with dne 

~egard to vested rights." 

Now we come to the point of vested rights. 

Vested rights, General Smuts said, would alw,\ys be 

protected. Now I find in tho report of the Asiatic 

Enquiry Commission that Mr. Gandhi took the 

precaution before leaving South AfriCiL to put on 

paper what he thought WelS included in that pl·omise, 

what vested rights really meant. Now I think this 

is very different from what h" says here :- 

"DEAR MR. GORGES,-I have now got a 

moment to submit my note 011 the Gold Law. 

As you know, after mature consideration, I 

refrained from pressing for the insertion of a 

special clause defining "vested rights" in connection 

with the Gold La.w and Townships 

Amendment Act, because I felt that any defimtion 

in the correspondence might result in 

restricting the futnre action of my countrymen. 

However, so far as my interpretttion of • vested 

rights' is concemed, I thiuk I should reduce 

it to writing. GenE.'ral Smuts was good enough 

to say that he would enrleavour to protect vested 

rights as defined by me. The fol\owing is the 

definition I submitted to SIr Benjamin Robertson, 

who, I understood, submitted it to General 

Smuts. My letter to Sir Belljamin Robertson 

containmg among other matters the definition, 

is dated the 4th March 1914: • By vested rights 

I understand the right of an Indian and his 

successors to live and trade in the township in 

which he was living and tradmg, no matter how 

often he shifts his residence or business from 

place to place in the Slme township. I am 

fortIfied in my interpretdtion by the answer 

glVen by :Mr. Harcourt III connection with the 

matter, in the Honse of Commons, on the 27th 

June 1911:- 

, Complaints against that legislation (the Gold 

Law and Townships Amendment Act) have 

been made and are now being investig-

December J uh, 1925 INDIAN OPINION . - 321 

old Transvaal Law, they were protected in 1908, 

the Transvaal Gold Law. 

Vested interests, even though they were acquired 

illegally, even though they were acquired contrary 

to the spirit of the exi .. ting laws, were protected in 

1 ~Il !', and you will find that throughout this Bill that 

1 have introdl1ced exi .. ting rights, vllsted interellts, 

of Indians are also protected. If the protection of 

vested rights whenevt'r le(,.-islation is introduced is 

meant by the protection of vested interests, I think 

we have kept to the spirit and to the leltt>r of the 

Smuts-Gandhi Agreemoot. 

Now coming to the question the chief qUiStion 

that you have raised here this morning, viz. of a 

Round-table Conference between the Government of 

India, the British Government and the Government 

of the Union, in regard to Indian matters geuerally 

in the Union, I can just say that of course a suggestion 

was made h~ this cennection by Mr. Thomas 

when he visited South Africa. I think that was the 

first suggestion made. Now, if I remember rightly, 

at that time when Mr. Thomas made his l.'uggestion 

it certainly did not meet with the approval 01 the 

European popl1lation of the country. A good many 

newspapers at that tIme, voicing the opinion of the 

public, prott>sted against that. They thought it was 

rather an interference on the part of Mr. Thomail, 

visiting our country, on a question which is very 

difficult and delicate. Any way, it was "'merely a 

suggestion on his part. Now the Indian Government, 

starting from i hat sUggestion, entered into negotiation 

with the Union Government and they definitely 

asked whether it would not be possible to have a 

Round-table Conference. Now that question with 

reference to a Round-table Conference is practically 

settled between the Government of India and the 

Union Government, but the negotiations have not 

yet rt'ached finality, that is to say, the Government 

of India and the Union Government are still 

negotiating with regard to Indian affairs in ~outh 

AfriCd. As I say, the whole quesm.


ment again and refe~ed to Select Committee, to lay 

an the OOde'fl.ee ytfu c!ttt gtn. !tgair1st the vltriotIs 

ol/ttt~ M. the :aill hefdre tha Select Comtilittee, rOll 

if'lH b~ very W'eIcottie to do Sd. . 

Anel' Mr. GbdfNI'V had inlide his reply the Mitiister 

It!tain referred t6 hi!! o:ffet to htmt critic!st!1S In delxtil 

abtlttt the Bm and ttte Dep;:ttation departed. 

;~~~~~~.~~)~~~~O 

~ OUR LtiNDON L:E'fTER I 

~ t FROM QUR OWN CORRESPONDENT 1- ~ 

tI .. '" 5th November, 1925. , 

1lI~~~~~~~~~'~~O 

Mr. E. L; j!'. Wood the Minister of Agriculture in 

the present Oonservakve Government of Great BrItain, 

has been appointed to succeed Lurd Reading as 

"siceroy of India, He is a son of Lord Hahfax, and 

grandson of the first Viscount Halifax, who was 

Secretary of State for India from 1859 b) 1866. Mr. 

Wood is 44 years. He is a High Ohurchman like 

his father. He has never exerclsed himself in 

or!entai pt:oble:m,s and pursuits. He belongs to the 

school o~ Lord Grey of F.tlIodon :as will go to 

lndia with au open mind. The new VlCereine Lady 

Dorothy Wood, was before her marriage Lady, 

Dorothy dnslow, 

The political I .. evee is uM "tVithtiut its liot/seqtHl11cl:lS. 

Labout'ites who atemem.bers of the CCIUsanative 

and Liberal Partias; from tittle to tirt1e 

object to paying the Levee to tha Trade Unit/ns tlJ 

whioh they belongl on the ground that it it! tistid tor 

thead .. ancement of the J.A:l.bonr Part~. The obj{Jeting 

Labourites ha\Te the right of statutory exl:lmVtiotl 

frum sUllh a paymentj and l30rne of them ar~ exctltdiaing 

it, Mr. Macquiston and other Cotil3et'''ative~ 

are ui'ging the Goverilment to intra1uce fttrthl:lt< 

legialatibn on the question. . 

Amb!th IiI Chief Of thr~e million subjects on the 

Gtnd Coast 6J AftitJa hal:! arrived in England. 

Ht3 

dt~§e!l in El1f'opMh cldthel:!, aM s):Jeliks English 

HtHmtiy. He Ms btltne ttl study the inethods of 

Mdcatittn. itl ttl€! Untver.3ities, with the view to 

at1p,lt1ng tlielti to Ii Oollege, otiened riot 136 long alto 

ttb Acrlra for WliSt Afticarls. He has bMii to the 

Uhited Statile tln a Similar i:t1i!Jsiorl, wMre lie VIsitM 

8tJveral ceftttea of learning delivering atldteslles ttt 

(Ju1umbib. Utliverlnty, and Haihptoll CoHege. The 

0611eite at Atlci-!l "Wall Milt at a cost or £500,000, 

-w:liicl1 waif! l/jafied froth the Britisli Govet'h1lietlt 

!itld ,.m btl paid ]jack by means {If taxes collected 

iil. the nlffi.n1li'~. ThI! f3taff tlf tlie cOliege will consist 

6f Bh~lsli and Afueridaii Masttlre, about 4~ goirtg 

ft'tilli Bt1tai'n. The Vibe Priiloil'al of the College 

wM i~ tlo'¥ 111 Ltihdoh ill Dr. Aggr'ay, ",lio it will be 

i'e1fiEftt1l:l@rEld. Was Olitl tJf tli€! PMlp§ stokes tJ01tltliis~idii. 

Whitlli vi!!ited Afillelin Otilbnies hi tlia 

liUI:ii'e!t 6f tiRe tldufllffidft tlf Mrtdl1tifj. 

" U.~~!nWal1aei'. H}ltdf1 ¥thill&i, }t.tI" chairman of 

the fi6yai dtJlntilisslbf.t ott It1dll~fi dut'fencr and 

ll'lMhcij with lils M11eagh.es trtlm Ehg1aIid Sir 

Henry Strakosch, Sir Reginald Mant and Mr. W. E. 

Pl-esWtl, iett J,..d1illdfi to-day tor Ii1dla where they 

\\flU 11~ jOihed l:Iy tlitlif 6tlH:1¥ cCll1e!1gI1es :ProfE'ssof 

fl. 0; Cojflijee, SW Mllnecitji badabohy, Sir Ra.nden 

{ifl1naili Mlitfaarjea, elit Alexaiidet Mul-ray, sir flurshotAtnciag 

TttkUt'das and ~M' Nbtc(}t W.tN·en. The 

Cbfurliissitlft wHl fillsl Like evidehcl! ih termS of its 

l'efett'llice, arid ~htltl proceeti to LUhd.6tt to take evlt1erl6e 

Ui~re alit! foff:b.hlate its fltlditigs and recomfilelitiaUoiUl. 

'turKey is betng rapid.iy westerntsed. It has now 

made. the w~ari.ng of the Fez iitegai, and has got thll 

Muit} to 4ec1are that the Fez has no religious 

Bai:J.dU~ti, \ tin the oocasion of the celebratiqn of the 

thiJ!d I1Iifl. ¥~i'~liri.t~t th\l procl~mation ot Tu.rkE'Y as 

II lte~Uij1.d, Wi :.r~lihlelit ;M"'tat~ l~{lIilal l:'~still 

arrived wearing evening dress and a tophat. The 

depnties were so attired, 01' woN\ morning coats. 

The dIplomabc corps wore uniform. til the e\>'cnilig 

nt the state Rlll, men alHI wotnen drE'fli!otl In the 

fashiont, of _Ettrope danco,t to WE'stern t11l1sic. Men 

il1 thE! Services atilt in the Police, We,ll" pNlk('(l anlt 

other forms of Western headgear. Madame Sattlt 

Be~ who came to London with her httsband, who is 

a dl!lttnguished Turkish official, is the first Turkish 

woman to broadcast her Bubject was the Turkish 

Lady of Yesterday and 1'o-diY, and gave s'e1ections 

of getiilihe iJ:furkish mnslc arrAnge(l for the plano. 

It would appear that the characterli1tics tn drl!s~ lma 

manner, which distinguished the 1'urks from other 

peoples, will be matters of the Plst These changcs 

will be regretted by all lovers, not only of tho 

spectacular, but of natIOnal traits. 

1'he closing scene at the Wembley was a!l triumph. 

ant as its opening was magnificent. Over 27 OOO,O()() 

people visited Wembtey. They came not on'11 from 

the British tsles, but from every part of the worlJ, 

to see the producHons of the British Empire, and 

none 'has left it without a deep impression of the 

potentialities of the 13ritish Empire.. The King wae 

pleased to say that the Exhibition has stimnlatE'd a 

legitimate pride in Britam's past achievements, as 

well as an increased sense of responsibilties, for the 

years to come. And the Duke of York, in declaring 

the British Empire ExhibitlOn closed/ said that he 

was confident that its resnlt!! would endure for the 

benefits of the :Empire, and its peaceful mis3\On in 

the world, 

Miss Enid Russell Smith and M:iss Alb H. Kilroy 

have the distinction of being the first wotnen to pass 

a civil service exa.mihation under the new conditions, 

which admit women to the higher Government 

posts.. They will stltrt at salaries frOIl1 .£200 

to £400 a yeat, WIth added bonusl nud there is 

nothing to prevent them in tIue conrse, from rising 

to th~ topmost heIghts, in any Brltisb State Departfuents, 

from salaries of £3000 00 £2500 a year. Any 

woman With the zieoesssary qnflhflcatlons may become 

permanent Secretary to the Treasury an(l 

head of the Cn'll Servioe, or perlllanant Under 

Secretary of 8fate fot War, 01' for foraign Ilfhlrs, or 

for the Dominions, or fol' India, ot' Head of the 

Board of Trade, the Post Office, the Ministry of 

Health or anf other Government offiCI! in Whitehall. 

TbeslJtls of Prime :Ministel's do ttot ahV,\Yd fo11ow 

itt tM footsteps of their fltthel's. Mr. Artthony 

Asquith I11l1ys (jfi the fillns. llI'iga,ller-Genel'.i1 

AI'thtll:' ASQUltli is !ttl mdllslrialist, Mr. Cyril AsquIth 

is a laWyer. MI'. Lloyd (jearge'll l\\Ttl sans lU"a in 

bllsif1t!!!IEl. Mr. BonM L1w's soH tllchard Is stddylllg 

law. Mr. RltlI1!1ay MacDonaldls (lldest BOn 1s ltt1 

atchitect. ms yortnget' sod Matcolm is wrIUr1!t II 

Uoolt bn his recent ti'ip i'dllnd th~ wOl'ld. MI'. OliVe!' 

Balt1wifi, tli@ soh tjf thE! present dl1tiServll.tlVe Prifile 

Minister, is a labour parW uiili, add gtow!f ~e!t~~ 

tliUlefj "fld tears tjhicltehs, 

:Il!vei'ywhate to.day boy. Itt-a playing It~ Uti)' 

rcl.wkes, btlt it lack!! the "at-ieW Ilfid,llhthust:l.l!nl. th:l.t 

Were mafiif(!st yeafe agd. Tliet'E! is ted ilintlh 5f 

aetionl!tlt'lll~ iii ihtl {loutitI'Y, :ilid. it ll.J:t6Cts natinliat 

Mlebrat,iotlS, which was in'lfketl Wlt.1i tlia mirtli il.tid 

ffeedon1 of a happy tJ~6t:Jla. 

,. INDIAN 0PiNI0N it 

SUMtripti6fl Rate!l. 

Wi'l'iUN tltt~ UNIoN: B. d. 

%early ••• 20 {1 

Half-Yearly 10 6 

OUTSIlJE tHE UNION and OVERSEAS I 

8. 

I,. 20 

'tI 11 

«. 

o 

6

~ ndiatt 

./ 

~piuion 

No. 51-Vol. XXIII. Friday, December 18th, 1925. 

Re, stored.t tbe G. P.O ••• a N ..... per 

PRIGS I'OUU."'8 

MQ. C. F. ANDQEWS' WELCOME IN DUI{BAN 

'1\l MASS MEETING was held in Durban on 

LMl Sunday Dec. 13th to welcome ~rr. C. F. 

Andr8ws. The Rawat Bio Hall was crowded 

to its utmost capacity and the welcome was of the 

most enthusiastic character throughout. Mr. Andrews 

had pleaded that there should be no public meetings 

so that more time might be given to hard work but 

consented to one meeting being held !lO that he 

might specially meet the poor people who are to li'e 

found in great numbers round Durban. 'l'he gathering 

was a truly remarkable one and will be long remembered 

by the Durban and district Indian community. 

On the day before Mr. Andrews had spent 

the day motoring as far as Stanger and meetiug the 

Indian community both at that place and at Tongaat. 

Thertl had been also many long discussions concerning 

the critical situation that had arisen, owing to 

Dr. Malan's fateful announcement that there would 

be no Round Table Conference, but only the oppor· 

tunity given to discuss the terms of the Bill in Select 

Committee. All the members of the Executive of 

the S.A. Indian Congress had accompanied Mr 

Andrews throughout Saturday and had held conferences 

at every available moment. 

Mr. C. F. Andrews was enthusiastically cheered 

as he entered the Hall and he was received by Mr. 

V. Lawrence, Vice-Chairman of the Natal Indian 

Congt:ess, who is acting as President in the absence 

of Mr. Amod Bayat on deputation. He looked very 

tired, but was evidently deeply touched by his reception. 

and shook hands heartily with those who 

were near him and seemed to Le at home at once 

with all who were present recognising many old 

friends. 

Mr. V. Lawrence said that thera was no need 

whatever to • introduce' Sadhn C. F. Andrews in 

Durban where he was known' and loved by the 

whole Indian community on account of his devotion 

to humanity. Wherever Indians had trouble Mr. 

Andrews was certain to be the first to arrive on the 

scene to help. 

Other speakers followed one after the other who 

struck the same note of welcome. The word 'Sadhu' 

was used again and again by those who spoke to 

describe what they felt concerning the nature and 

character of his visit. 

Mr. Andrews in reply begnn by quoting the Sdnshit 

man/ram, which the Poet, Rabindranath Tagore 

had given to him on this as well as on former occasions 

to carry to the Indian people in South Africa. 

It spoke from first to last of God. It gave the vision 

of God. It directed the thought away from the 

world to God. The name of God was first and last 

itl it, and all in all, In the same way, in accord.mce 

with the spirit of this mantrnm, in obedIence to the 

6haIJlam. /)/tivam, Adt'allalll, 

he had come out again to South Africa. It was true 

as the Chairman had sald, that Mahatma Gandhi and 

the Mahakavi, Rabindrnnath Tagore, had sent him. 

but it wall still more true (though he said it with the 

utmost humility and reverence and awe) that he had 

been sent to them by God. FOl' it WdS only when ~t 

last the 'nner voice within was so strong that he 

could not resist it that he came, and that inner voice 

was not from man but God. 

Therefore, Mr. Andrews said. in the struggle 

which was before them,-a struggle which was the 

most serious to the community of any in which 

they had ever been engaged,-they must remember 

God an.1 put their trust in God alone. 

The audience were very deeply moved by this 

opening of his speech, which Mr. Andrews with 

great emotion spoke first in Sanskrit (while giving 

the words of the mantram) and then in Urdu. He 

then went on to tell the story of the Prophet Muhammad 

and his noblest follower Abu Bekr in the 

Cave how when thousands of enemles were all 

round and they were in the cave, Abu Bekr said, 

• We are only two' but the great Prophet had rebuked 

him and saiel • No. A Third iii with us,-God 

Himself.' Even so, if God was with the Indian 

community then however great, their opponents 

might be, God was greater still and He would give 

the victory. 

Mr. Andrews went on to tell in most touching 

words the story of Mahatma Gandhi's suffering dnd 

loss of health in India and also about the Poet, 

Rabindrnnath Tagore, his own Gurudev, how ill he 

was, and how very hard it had been to part with 

him and come over to South Africa. He wished if 

possible, in accordance with Mahatma Gandhi's injunctions, 

to have very few meetings and receptions, 

so that there might be time for quiet work both by 

seeing people personally, Indian and European, 

and also by writing. They must learn to regard him 

rather as a writer than as a speaker and must give 

him the time neetled to get his writing done. 

Mr. Andrews has been studying the conditions of 

the poor people among the Indian community along 

the coast and in Durban itself and has laid constant 

stress on the rE'markable desire for further educational 

facilitirs , .. hich he has found everywhere to 

prevail. of all thl' needs of the community he feels 

that this spiritual need of higher education of an 

tnnobling character is the greatest and he is d8voting 

lUuch attention to this subject.

iNptAN OPINION t>ecernber 18th, 1925 

::7"2 -.. _ 

[)) 

A DISGRAOEFUL SPEECH 

It. MALAN'R utlieratitJe Ih inkOOuoitlg t~~ new 

Asiatic BIll has given rise ~ a bumber bf 

speeches uttered in a similar tofte, but none of 

those we have read has come qUIte up to ~bat of the Rev. 

M. L. Fick; M.L.A.; for Its brutally an-Christian sptrit. 

Addre;~iI1g a largl! ib~fetIi\g hi ttle Potcbefstfifafu Tol\it1 

Hall btl the fmmlgrlttlOtl and Registration BIll (lili it is 

called by the speaker), he explained its exact me~nin~ to 

the audieh~. iliA Wb~Bhip tlrtl Mayof ~~~sided. It iii 

interesting to note that the meeting was "entirely free 

from party I\olitics." We take the authentic telegraphic 

accoBnt 8ent 'to bbe newilpapers fr6m Potcbefstroom.\ 

Mr. Fick saId ~hat the main ob~ect of the ~Ill was to 

make provisIOn for the reservatIon of residential and 

trading quat1ers il1 urluln at-eas for t:ertaln (1e1'8OJlS hat_ 

ing raee rharabteristms different from white p-eople. Thtl 

onl! p'etlple whB at preKent wol\ld -bt! llffeeled WUilld be 

the AeialiiOlY. 

&z now we knbw quite -definitely fl'dm Mt: Fick that 

all the elaborately an'atlged camoufiage tJrepal'OO by Dr~ 

Mal!tn for avoidmg the word I ASiatic' in nrdel' to aMd 

wonnding Indtan ettsCeptiibthtres will dedliite B6 mre at 

all. The Bill has become rIglftlt (!alied The AIlITl.ti'b Bill 

and the only people to be affected by it are AsiatICS. It 

is well that Governmenb supporters are now making that 

point aosolutely clear. 

l"he n.ev. M. 'L. Fick goes on to say, that the Government, 

aia hot wanL tile "coolie II to become part and 

parcel of the popUlation of South AfrICa t for social, commlH'Oilll 

lurd ~oon'on.llo ~easolIM.' It i~ dIffict.ilt W kJt6w 

what to do wtien peo~e, wIto o1:l~ht to 1t~ow l1ette1', 

delibWclltely USe ah iillllllting Word sucii all "Cdcli'e" to 

delft!Hbe 1l. wMle dOIfimflblty, ~l1'd thll inl!l1~t b'ffel'E!d by 

thIS tt!ve1'\lfid g'eilttedJlan bed~$ ~n the wtn'se "'hell It is 

rertltiJbbM'ed ~hat lte pl'O~& t~ b~ the to1M'Wer aM 

wotthiptJer'6f O\'J.~ 

Mfu m -A'Sla, ivb6m ho d6ublt he 

wotHd ha~ 'M,lllid a "'OdOhe, rl if Chri'st had lived. ih ihm 

lan-d \llong wHh His ASl.atrc bMlre'ts an'd stst~. 

II W'e do Mt *all.t, '" /saId MI". FICk, \I lid tlttCdut'a'g'e 

tra'ding \+hf'Clh 'suck-\! tM Wry life-Wood '6f'th'e people ilttd 

lea~e'S il.dthHIg at 'alL We do iiOt want a pa~sitlc'al comm~ia.l 

MM'lffiinfty iii Uli§ oobntry." 

It IS mtere'lting to remember that the charge 'o~ befng 

a parasiticlH oommunity is exactly the on.e whidh Dt. 

In~e, President of tbe Eugenist Society, LOB600, ~evels 

against the white community in SoutJh Africa., beoause 

they refuse to do manual labour and inS1st 011 hving 

upon the labour of the natiVllS, coloured people- ~lld lBdialis. 

Mr. Fick, iu the course of further remarks, pointed 

out that the ilpread of Mohammedamsm among the 

natives wall to undermine the tn:fl.llenee of ChristIanIty 

and to be wbversive of whIte oivilisa.tion. 11ldiafl&, 

being Bl'ltish subjects, eould not. be summarily ifeftt e\1t, 

of the cmmtry, as wete the Cbinese; there.fOJ.'e they mU8t 

regulate the IndiaR aud place Slii>h teat-rict.Ions upon 'him 

that he would find it impossible to live In South AfrICa. 

We have, in these words, the echo 01 Dr. Millan's 

speE!cb, in introducing the new AsiatlJ Bill, when he 

said. 't'hat pressure wOllld be applted under the "BIll to lDduce 

as many Indians as pOSSible to leave the country. 

Dr. Malan's sentences are a IILtie smoother, but the 

meaning is tbe same. 

tn reply to this, it will 'be best to give, not our OWll 

words, but the words of the newspaper In Calcutta calced 

1he .statesman. This paper represents English opinIOu in 

India and is IIsuall! ift regard ho British Interests antI 

AsiatIC. Yet \l{ith tegarJ to thtl l'tesett bm it wtites in 

its edItorial as folluw8 I- 

I< The worst feature of this measure is its rlIshonesty. 

It propo~es to aim at proviihng special reservations to 

wbicb ASiatICS are to be restricted but its reftl Objl'Ct, at! 

was calmly adlnittt~lJ by Dr. lila/an; the M:ltlister of the 

f utl'rior, 18 to fol'oo as many Indhlll!l lUI possible to lellve 

the country through sheer nabilitl to. tolerate the new 

conchtiMA to be lbl~&!ed upon t.!efn. 

.1 Ii; is bad erlough that Indian citizens of the Empire 

snould be denied the ordinary rights of cItizensbIp by 

theIr fellow-eitlzens is S6UtAl Afrlcli : bttl. tlrere h \(ome" 

thmg almost diabolical m the crtJelty wtllch would ~lpel 

them, not by 8UOllllar, ClI:proptlltt.lOb, hut by tl procesil 

6f slow rorture." 

If the paflsag'e which we have ~UQted from tim Rev. 

M. Fick'e addres8 is eMeflll~ IItudied, it will be ~ft tbut. 

rhe remarks of the 8ta-[(Jsman ediboi'ifsl are m:mtl too 

Strong abaat it. 

a the course ()f th~ di1lellMiOB wbich followed we rtlSd 

tbat Mi'. Fick Baid that tile term!! gf tlie Bill were retroo 

lipeotive te AllgUll't, lIJ2[h The \Vo\'d I 8eqYlire' precluded 

Indians frem tnheriti9tJ property, fot ml!ltaB1le, in 

municipal MeM. A li&w,yl!l' itt the l:Il1Ul~rrct! iflj!i~ted that 

this should bemaliesblwll1teIYdear.MI.. FfCk., thete. 

lipoll, nndeftook to mo..e ill that diteeLiOll t\'ben the BIll 

Was before Pat'lra.'Il1ellt .. 

Iii this crosiltg iICl\Jtle at tb'e Poteb"efsU'oom nnAAli'1g we 

cart ahxrost see t.hts tiI~ting, t\'bUih \Vas 'efltir\lly tree 

from party vohtirs\ ' (betmfse Ol! the Indian qlleeti

December 18th, 1925 

tNDtAt4 OPI~lON 

ber. lie i. the Aroham~edan member on the tmpel'ial 

Council of Stat. tor the United Provinces, 

represenwng the Mohammedans of ()udh. The third 

member is Sir Deviprasad Sarvaralkari, who i. also 

a memher of the Couneil of State. representing the 

non-Mohammedan community in Bengal. ite is an 

old man and if! accompanied b, his 8On. II. will 

arrive hr the next boat on becember 30, and will 

join the Ilepntation immediately on arrival. 

Mr. Paddison acts sa an official member on the d0- 

patalion whiH! the lIon. Byed Raza Ali and Sir Dev .. 

prasad Sarvardikari act aa non-official members. 

Mr. G. s. Bajpai, who has boon acting 38 beputy 

Secretarl' or the GovernmeJlt of india in the 1m· 

perlal Searetariat at Delhi on this emigration subjeat, 

aooempaniM the deputaUoD as its secretary. Mr. C. 

s. ,ftickett ada as hil usistanl 

fJ'he main llurpOlle ot the deputation" will be 

.. to collect 38 soon .. pOl!8ible first-hand information 

regarding the economic oonditioD.l and the general 

poBiUon 01 the resident Illdian oommunity in South 

Africa and to form an appreciatioll of the wishes and 

requirements ot the Indian community in South 

Mrica." 

• 

~very read.r of Indian 0l'znwn is rOQ,lI61ted to fur- - 

nish eith.8I' the gener .. l secretary of tile South African 

Indiatl Oo~reslll 175 Ore, Street, Durban. from aUf 

part 01 the Union. or the secretanes of the provincial 

bodies namely, 'rhe Niltal Indian OOllgreSi, 

Foulldi.1 Lane. Durban, The Tmnavaal British 10. 

dian As8ociatio~ Box 6522. Johannesburg and The 

Cape llrHish lndian Council. 28 A,vre Street, Capetown, 

with lull part;iculan of 31lf licenliDg or other 

cases in which an Injustice may have been done and 

ot which he may be aware. These particulars 

will then be laid before the deputatJol1. It is essential 

thai such particulars should be full and facts 

contained therein absolutely correct. 

Rev. M. L. Fick on ASiatics 

Friday.-Tke Rev. M. L. Fick, 

Potchefstroo~ 

M.L.A., addressed a well-attended meeting in the 

Town Halllalilt night aod explained the Immigrat.i.on 

and negistration ami which the Qovernment propoAes 

to introduce early in the next sesllion of Parliament. 

The meeting was called by requisitioning 

the Mayor, who presided. 1t was entirely free of 

part, politiOi. 

_ 

~r. Fick said !:.he main obieck 01 the Bill was to 

make provision for the reservation of residential and 

trading quarters in urban areas lor certail'J. personil 

having race characteristics different lrom whioo 

people. The only people who at present would be 

affected were AsIatics. 'rhe (lQvernment did no, 

want ~ t.he cooUe" to become part and parcel of the 

po{>ulaUon

Right of ent~y and residence in anyone Province 

does not include right to enter or remain in any 

other Province. There is no right of inter-provincial 

migration and a person lawfully domiciled in 

anyone Province may be a prohibited immigrant in 

any other and liable to the statutory penalties. 

Persons convicted of certain specified offences are 

liable to removal from the Union (Sec. 22). 

O,tus probandt is on the accused to prove his innocence 

(Sec. 23). 

The legal wife of an exempted person is not entitled 

to admission, if SUCD. person has in any Province 

offspring by any other woman who IS still 

living (22 of 1914, Sec. :3 (2) (b) ). 

In the ~atal 

and Cape Provinces domiciliary 

rights and right of educational tests under Act 30 of 

1906 Cape of Good Hope and Act 30 of 1903 of 

Natal are preserved to such persons as were lawfully 

entitled to reside in the said Provinces at the commencement 

of Act 22 of August 1913. 

The Orange Free State J~aws prohibit immigration 

or resIdence of Indians within that Province, save as 

as domestic servants and the like under contract. 

The Smuts-Gandhi agreement of 1914 provided 

that the Indians should accept the principle of restriction 

upon further Indian Imigration to this extent 

that ten new comers per annum for each Province 

(excluding Free State) should be admitted, 

apart from temporarv visitors such as priests, teachears, 

etc., so that the resident population should 

have the benefit of the mfusion of some new blood. 

It was also understood, that such new comers must 

be recommended by the official representative Body 

of the Indians and be snch as that Body should 

select on the ground of their usefulness to the community. 

Such new comers were to enjoy all the 

privileges allowed by law to holders of registration 

certificates. 

Restrictions upon the Freedom of Indians 

recognised as Lawful Residents of the Union 

including those born in South Africa. 

TRANSVAAL; 

Indian disabilities have their root in the Grondwet 

(Constit.ution) of the Old Transvaal Republic 

which declares that there must be no equalIty III 

Church or State between whites and non-whites. 

The doctrine is still preserved. 

REGISTRATION 

(LAW 3 OF 1885, ACT 2 OF 1907, ACT 36, OF 1908) 

All male adult Indians lawfully residing in the 

Transvaal must hold and produce on demand to any 

police or other officer a registration certificate lawfully 

issued under Act 3{} of 1908 or a letter of 

Exemption issued under the Smuto-Gandhi agreement. 

Temporary visitors such as priests, teachers, 

etc., must similarly produce their anthority to be in 

the Province. Women and children under the age 

of 16 years may be called upon to prove their relationship 

as wives or children to one or other of 

above classes of adulls. The statutes above cited 

disclose a gradually increasing stringency. The original 

note struck by the S.A. Republic is not only 

sllbtained, bnt has been amphfied by st:.l.tnte by 

every succeeding Government. Adult ma.le Indians, 

other than holtlers of registration certificates, 

letters of exemption or temporary permIts are prohibited 

immigrants and are h of fixe,] property 

can in law only be acqull'ed through proccss of 

registmtion of such property in the Deeds Register. 

Such Wards, Locations, etc, as above ref('rreJ to are 

MUUlclpal property, and residence thl'l!'in by ASiatics 

confers no fiXIty ot tenure. Orulll,mly a 

monthly rent.'tlls paid (mel the ten,mcy IS a monthly 

one. 

Prior to the 1st of May, 1!}1!\ fixed property 

might be held by hmited lIabilIty companIes forme,l 

of India &hareholders, or mIght be hl:'ld by a European 

trustee for the benefit of an IndIan or Inumns. 

The practice was for such European holders to P,lSS 

a bond in favour of the beneficiary or benefiCl,lries 

and to grant powers of attorney to ('ruble the actual 

owner to deal with snch property. Ad:n of l!H!) 

specifically depnves limIted halllhty comp,IUles controlled 

by AsiatICs of the right to h-\ve fi "{cd property 

registered in thelr names and applIes the prohibItion 

under L'lw :3 of 1885 to such companies. The practice 

of a European holder takmg snch property in 

trust and passing a mortgage bond by W,ly of secunty 

is likeWIse made impOSSible. Any such company 

controlled by Asiatics as shall have acqlllred the 

ownership of fixed property smce the 1st of 1\1 Ly. 

1919, is compelled to dispose of same WIthin two 

years from the :lrd July, 1919, or by Order of Court 

(Sec. 2 i~id.) The 3rd of July, l!H!), is the date of 

the commencement of this Act. 

The Johannesburg location known a~ the "!\I,ILIY 

L'lcation," the local hahltat of ASIatic residents Ii 

notorIously the shIm of Johannesburg and for ye,lrs 

was unspeakably neglected by the l\Iunicip,llity. 

More recently, probably through fC,lr of infeclious 

disE-ase breaking out m that Ilnartcr, this location 

has received more attention and its conditions are 

now slightly Improved. 

(7"0 oe COItflHurd ) 

Things in India 

(By MR. C F. ANDREIVS ) 

I 

It is quite natllral that I should be asked, immediately 

on my arrival in Sonth Africa, by every 

onl'I meet,,-'How are thmgs in In,fia?" There is 

always a freshness in what is heard at first hand, 

compared with what one reads in ,listdnt nf>Wllpapers 

which are already sevel'al weeks olel when they arrIve. 

The first questIOn of all. Uldt everyone WIshes to 

know and that I WIsh t? answer, IS WIth reg,ml to 

Mahatma Gandhi's health. It IS nece~,l.Iry for all 

Indians in South Africa to reahse. that the stram of 

the last seven years has been almo~t more than he 

could hear. In the year l!I1X, he h,l,l an Illness 

which brought him very near to cle,ltll indeed. 

Dnrmg the year 191!'J, he was partly rf>covel·ing 

from this almost fatal attack of elysentry; anti yet 

towards the end of that year, oWlIlg to the Pnnj,Lb 

disturbances and the Congres:i Investig.ltion which 

followed, he had no c111nc9 of lll,lkln~ a inll and 

complete recovery. Therefol"{', when the gre.lt national 

movement began, called Non-co-operation, he was 

still very weak In bo,ly. I c LIl rememb'lr how 

prostl"

December 18th, 1925 INDIAN OPINION 327 

--- -------------------------------------------- 

llifp, which served to increase his ill health; an4 he 

oVl'riltrained hims~lf again mntally by his extraordinary 

absorption in study and reading; for this 

nu'ntai enrgy now took the phce of his former 

activity in outward things. Whatever might be the 

callRe, in prison be hecame at i.u;t very unwell; and 

at a mOAt critical moment, when his hfe itself was at 

stak. the operation for appendicitis was performed. 

Then a conval('scE'nce for some months ensued. This 

convalescence wa'! all too soon brought to a· ... close. 

and o/Jce more tbe round of outward activities began. 

whkh l,ecame almost never ending. Day and 

night wel'e alike taken up With the demands, which 

were made upon him for 'dmRhan' and for special 

ViRUS to every part of the country. Only those who 

have hpl'll with him on thoRe journeys can have any 

Idea how tcrllLle the iltrain WaS! One after another 

of his companiollR who accompanied him broke 

down under it. bnt he himself seemed never to give 

way. As I have said, It was only his inner spirit 

that, sustained him. 

Again, last year. came all the agony of the Hindul\fuAlim 

rIOts and disturbances, which reached such 

a pitch at last. that MahatmaJi felt It impossible. to 

endure the anguish of them any longer. Night 

after night he lay aW.J.ke. ql1lte sleepless, seeking for 

some light to gmde him III the darkness. Then 

sudddenly there came to him, as it. a Vision direct 

from God, a flash of illumination. He declared his 

determination to fast for twenty-one days both as a 

penance and as a means of healing the terrible 

brt;ach between the two communitIes, which had 

grown wider and WIder. 

All through that fabt,-as also through his previous 

illncl'''''s,-lt was my very gre,ltest privilege to 

be with him. It is not possible here fully to record 

all that happened: and it h:ts been told many times 

before. But it may eaSily be understood. how 

serious the physlc"l strain was, when I write, that 

on the twelfth day of the fast the doctors regarded 

hiS life as in serious danger and implored him to 

break the fast itself. IllS charactenstic reply was 

'Have fdlth in God.' In that faith. he conqnered his 

physical illness ancl came through triumphant. 

At the end of the fast, his recovery of health was 

quite remarkable. After a few weeks he was cert,liniy 

better, both in body and mind, than he had 

been for many years Even his remarkable walkin~ 

poweri came back again. and he would start out, 

WIth his long stick in hand, at such a pace, that itwas 

cl:fficnlt fOI' those with him sometimes to 

keep up with him I Indeed, at this time, he was 

able to accomplish as much as ten DlIies a day; and 

he kept up his stt'pngth all through the cold weather 

of 1924-1\)25. 

But suddenly, about April, 1925, came a most unexpected 

attack of malarMI fever: and though he 

appeared to throw it off QUickly, it is clear that the 

malarial poison still remdined in his blood. Yet 

even then he began all too soon, at an extremely 

early date, to go on tour again after the attack; and 

when he came to Bengal in order to meet with 

Deshbandhu C. R. Das, it was clear to me that the 

strength, whICh he had regained all through the 

cold weather. was rapidly bClDg dissipated. . 

FiullUy came one of the greatest sorrows he has 

ever had. Deshbandhu died quite suddenly at 

Darjeeling; and in a moment all tho cares and responsibihties 

fell upon him alone. which Deshbandhn 

C. n. Das had carried before. He remained in 

Calcntta and BElngal for three full months collecting 

for the Df>shbandhu Memorial Fund. He wore himself 

out, day after ddY, WIth an energy and devotion 

that never tired. At last. ill the month of September, 

even hiS own amazing vitdlity began to show 

signs again of weakening. He pleadell to be 'lllowed 

to cancel the tellt of his viSit in Behar and the 

t1n1tG4 l'rgv!t1dc:_,1II1l that hu, ftll"M fett1l't1. \I'! hili 

I'1wn ABram, The (loIlRre •• l"cal leadsn of \he Hortb 

frl'ely and gladly gave him leave: and he went b'I.Ck 

to Western Inllia in the hope of obtaining some rest. 

But the people of Kutch had made up their minds 

to have him with them: and they implored him not 

to cancel his Kutch visit. They promised him a 

complete holiday. if he would only remain in the 

KIJtch State as their revered and venerated guest. 

Mahatma Gandhi agreed to this; but the idea of 

giving him a 'holiday' was hardly understood in its 

proper sense by the Kutch pea pie. Indeed, instead 

of any reRt and repose, he was compelled to undergo 

the most physically t>xhausting time of the 

whole year over the rongh Kuth roads. Not only 

was he physically tired out; bnt his mind also was 

shocked and pained by what he saw of UntouchabilIty 

in all its evil effects in that corner of India. 

Perhaps the mental strain he endured in Kntch was 

greater even than the physical. He lost ei"ht 

pounds in weight in a fortnight's time, and when he 

reached Sabarmati at last he was entirely exhausted. 

But his marvellons spiritual vitality still sustains 

him; and when I went to se') him, just before I left 

for South Africa, he had again wonderfully recovered. 

He was very bright and cheerfnl; and he 

was again able to do his work right on throughout 

the day. He sent his love and deep affection to all 

both Indians and Europeans who remember him in 

South Africa. 

His day's work in India begins at 4: a.m. with his 

prayer and worship of God. He goes on with hia 

different engagements throughout the day. He lives 

mainly on two thJngs,-oranges and goat's milk. It 

is not possible alas! now to assert that his old physical 

vigour has all returned; for he gets easily tired 

in body and a short walk is quite enough for him. 

Nevertheless, his mental and intellectual energy is 

as fresh as ever: and his spiritual hold over the 

masses of the people of India,-Hindu and Musalman 

alike,-is by no means abated. Wherever he 

goes, the whole countrysid, for miles round, flocks 

to see him; and in homely simple ways he drives 

home the lesson, (0 of getting rid of untouchability, 

(ii) of healing the breach between Hindus and Mos 

It'ms, (iii) of never touching drink or drugs. and last 

and most enthusiastically of all (iv), the duty of 

wearing homespun khaddar cloth and thus reviving 

Indian village hfe on itA economic side. 

~~~~~~ »o,»)o,>l;>,»;»;»;>.,);»> ~ 

~ OUR LONDON LETTER ! 

, [ FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT] .: 

! 12th November, 1925. i 

o~E(E(E );>~);»> 0 

The Begum of Bhopal is still in London. On hAr 

visit to the Mosque at Weking, she was presented 

with an address by Lord Headly, on behalf of the 

British Muslim Society. In reply she declared that 

she was proud to belong to the British Empire, 

which stood for the toleration of all religions. Her 

visit, apart from her being a Muslim, was of peculiar 

interest, for her descendants had largely contribnted 

to the building of the Mosque, and she herself had 

promised to help in t.he extension of the Mosque, 

the better to enable it to accommodate ifs increasing 

worshippers. 

The Bl'gum was a deeply interested spectat or of 

the proceedings, during the two minutes silence at 

the Cenotaph on Armistice Day. She was so impressed 

with the significance of it all : the memory 

of the fallen, the widows, the orphans, and the disabled. 

anJ. what was due to them all by those who 

live, that to mark her sense of appreciation she sent 

a cheque for £5,000 to Earl Haig's Fund for the 

British Legion. But this was not all, she allowed 

her graud daughters clad in Highland dress to sell 

poppies on Poppy Day in London. 

Emile OOlle the rttlneb p~(lbolo!Jiet. dill

INDIAN OPINION December 18th. 1"5 

an interested audience on Sunday last. His theme 

was based on auto-suggestion, in his well-known 

tormula.: "Day by day, and in every way I am 

getting better and better." And dUring the evening 

he-gave demonstrations of the effect of autosuggestion, 

manifesting that the formula comprehensive 

in its terms and beneficial in its general 

effects was susceptible to variations to meet cases of 

differing natures. Coueism is really nothing new. 

It is simply anto-Bugge8tion. And within the last 

decade the Bame teaching found expression in America 

ap.d was known as "The New Thought" It. system 

of positive affirmation. 

Anto-sllggestion hal! come to stay. There is much 

in it to cymmend itself. The Archbishop of Oanterbury 

is appointing a commission of six clerical and 

six medic.a.l members on a permanent commission to 

in~estigate faij;h-healing, in order to separate the 

functions IS of the cJergy and the physicians in cases 

where faith-healing is possible. The seuaration of 

functions to help the physician to tend the body 

and the clergy the mind of the patient· in other 

words each recognising the ntility and necessity of 

t~e l!ervices of the other, so that they act in co-ordination 

working for the same purpose. 

The Home Secretary's announcement that as soon 

as the stock-in-hand IS exhausted prisoners' clothes 

will no longer be marked witli tlte broad arrow, wiU 

be well received by all those who are interested in 

the WOrk of giving the man who comes out of prison 

a living chance of a new life. The broad arrow is the 

sign of government ownership, but used to mark the 

prisoners' clothes it has come to mean a degradation 

to those who wear it, a stigma which seems to cling 

to the wearer. Its disappearance will set film wrij;ers 

and producers thj.uking; for without it pictUres of 

daring escap/tdes of prisoners would lack much 

of bhe thrill. Perhaps tlle,. will resort to the 

stripes on prisoners' clothes which are in vogue in 

American prisons, or the imagination of the :t51m 

men may produce something sensational in this line 

for convict pictures. 

Mr. James Oliver Curwood, the American author 

whol3e novels are full of the wild and simple life, 

was recentlr in London. It was his first visit. And 

this is how he expressed himself to a pressman: 

"Hardly had I been twenty-four hoult's in this city 

than my Indian blood cried out for the wilderness, 

tbe wilds, the thousands of miles lilnmapped, Un. 

charted, w4ere thlil most beautiful :flowers in the 

world grow, where you meet real white men. It 

~n't that I don't like London. For what little I have 

seen of It I love immensely, but I love the cold 

fightmg North where the pack on your back is the 

l'Iole barrier to sta.rvat.ion for months on end, and 

where the cut of your clothes don't count; where 

you can't preSs a button to light a fire and where 

there is not 8ufficiel1t wood to build a match within 

a thousand miles of y011. On the ... vay over I s').w 

three whales in the ooean, and ther ma.de me homesick 

fol' mY' trozen north seas." He 1. It quarter Indian, 

his grandmother was It full blooded, Mobawk Indian, 

and one ot his grandfathers was Oharles Marriot, 

so the wild places are in his blood. Over 150,000 

copies of his bookS were sold in Ohina last yea,. 

Professor A. Zimmern is at the head of II. school 

~tarted at Geneva, the- City of Lost Hopes and 

Causes. The school aims to give its pupIls the 

tllternationai student mind and itself pnrposes to 

learn about and think out those problems which 

affect every citizen as a social unit. whether he be- 

longs to a sovereign state, a. colony or a mandated 

territorY; but Professor Horace Lamb recently remind· 

ed the world that Science could not alter human nature 

Ilnd yet Socrates held that Virtue is Kllowledge. 

1M Assembly of the League of Nations this year 

has devdt~d Much time to education. it realises that 

edddatidd is tHE! greatest 111t!.uetide in the world to 

@feM.8 ttl. ~12»~l p,t.tl~",!lll Q.a~~r, ,,," the Bcldev,,> 

ment of ita objects. A world CongreRS of Bchool 

teachers will probably be convened In the near 

future to consider the best methods to educate the 

you~h of aU countries in the ideals or world peaC8 

so that solidarity may be further dt'veloped and 

str(ingthened. A resolution at the Assembly Invited 

tbe members to undertake the reVision of their 

history manuals so as gradually to r£>dnce the number 

ot pages devoted to military events and especially 

those pages in which wars of c~nquel!!t are 

justified and beld np for admiration. The Intellectoal 

Co-operative Committee which deals with eJucatjonal 

problems has its Chairman Prof. Henry 

Bergson and among its members PrOfessors EinsteIn 

and Gilbert Murray. 

The King has approved the grant ot a Royal 

Charter to the League of Natlonlt Union. Tho 

Charter is granted on the petition ot Lord Grey of 

Fallodon. and I .. ord Cecil of Chelwood-the two 

Presidents of the Union,-Professor Gilbert Morray 

Chairman of the Executive Committee, Lord Lueenboroug, 

treasurer, Mr. David Davies M.P. and Mr. 

Reginald McKema. 

= 

Racialism 

(ay L. w. R.) 

Selfishness, sometimes euphemistically styled 

" Self-preservation" Is one of 'IJl unholy trinity. 

Its two companions are ignorance and intolerance. 

Merging, the three synthesise, prodUCing, aI! It were, 

the compound known as RaciaUllm. Racialism Is 

morally a virus that, once innoculated, spreads contagion 

broadcast. 

Its symptoms are hatred and 

blindness to any virtue in the unhappy objects of ita 

hatred. Its victims, like those of hydrophobia go mad 

and run amok, before themselves meeting destruction. 

Raos hatred is bitterest where ignorance Is deepest; 

tolerance is the brlg}:J.t offspring of Knowledge even 

as Selflessness is the child of Wisdom. The true 

Knower sees the One in all aDd all in the One. rocognises 

the pseudo-infinite variety of the Many as 

but appearances, on the screen of consciousness, of 

That which is the Limitless, Beginningless, Changeless 

Reality, the Substratum of all that is or seems. 

;Every oppo~ite is Been to be complementary of some 

othir that is oppol!lite to it, as is positive to negative. 

In the Cosmic economy every fraction ot the limitlass 

divetsity has its pla.ee and function; reflects. 

however modestly, l!Iome aspect of the Infinite 

Absolute Perfection. Attraction and repulsion have 

likewise their place and in their place are natural 

and proper; they too subserve the Law and Purpose 

that make for Harmony. But Hate is Evil, of all 

evils most evil. Stygian darkness fills the heart 

wherein bate dwells. The Spark of God within the 

heart, wherefor man is more than beast and whereby 

he may become mOt-e than man, cannot abide 

\'there hate rulel!!. Either the usurper must be cast 

Ol1t or the Spark abandon the man to the fate that is 

the beasts', "There ill no grief like Hate." And .. 

with man, 110 with manldnd-nations and 1'!l

Jttdian ~pinion 

No. 52~Vol_ XXIII. Friday, December 25th, 1925- 

J1eciotend.t tile o.p.o •••• Iir_ 

Patall FolH!I'RC.II J 

. ,- 

MR. C. F. ANDREWS IN JOHANN·ESBURG'~· 

irUJ':i tolluwins add .. _ WIlQ given in Johannes- 1 

II burg at a meeting' ot c1ergy·and·--lait". .0-- 

December 21st, 1925, and its substance was 

altlo delivered at St. Mary's Cathedral after evening 

on Snnday. December 20th. It was listened to by 

these European audiences with remarkable attention. 

"I will begin by repeating what my father, who 

was a devout Christian, used to call the Psalm of the 

Christian gentleman. It runs as follows:- • 

"Lord who shall dwell in thy tabernacle, or who 

shall rest upon thy holy hill?" 

"EveylClie that leadeth an uncorrupt life; and doeth 

the thing which is right ILnd speaketh the truth 

from -his.' heart. 

"He that hath used no deceit in his tongue, nor 

done eVlI to his neighbours; and hath not slandered 

his neigliliour. 

"Be t.hat setteth not by himself, but is lowly in 

his ~yesi and maketh much of them that fear the 

Lord. ' 

~'He ·tbat promiseth unto his neighbour, and disappofntet:b.! 

him not; though it were to his own hindraMK", 

'''He that hath not given his money upon usury: 

nor taken reward against the innocent. 

"Whoso doeth these things shall never fall." 

In thio pidu,,, ot tbe true gentleman 1 want 

especially to note this one verse :- 

"lIe that promiseth to hili neighbour and disappointeth 

him not, though it were to his own 

hindrancJ\." 

For my position to-night is, that we who belong to 

the British Race and who are Christians, are in 

serions danger of doing the very opposite of this verse 

towards the Indian neighbour, who is in our midst; 

we are in danger of arguing from the immoral principle, 

that we are obliged to break our promises to 

India, because self-preservation, as a White Race, 

must come before anything else. 

Let me explain the pOSltion by historical facts, 

which cannot be disputed. 

When thE' first Indian immigrants came to Natal, 

in 18(;0, they were brought out from India at the 

special request of the Natal Government under 

pressure from the Dnrban Corporation. The desire 

WaS so great to keep them in the country, that in 

1870 it was t'nacted, that any indentured Indian at 

the expiry of 10 years residence in Natal might receive 

a crown grant of land instt>ad of his return 

passage. The terms on which they came were those 

of fnll domicile, with freedo:n to t>l;lgage in agricultural 

antI commercial pursuits as soon as their indenture 

was ovpr. The Government of India 

would not have allowed them under any other conuition. 

Mr. J. R. Saunders, speaking before the 

Natal Comniission of ISS.!, stated as follows ;- 

.. If we look back to 1859, we shall find that 

the assureu promise of Indian labour resulted 

in an immediate rise of revenue which increasei 

mise of renewed Indian immigration,,' and ' u,'p 

...again. went.. wages. 'revenue and eaIariee;" :, - 

From such contemporary records it. is clear, fhat 

Natal was brouglJ,i flom, the verge of banktUptCy 

more than once by the supply 'of Indian' indentured 

labour. Europeans HOCKed into Natal wnen each 

four-fold in a few years. Mechanics found 

their wages more than doubled. But, a few 

ypurs later, alarm arose lest Indian labour 

"ould be suspt:'nded. Simultaneously, down 

went revenue ana wages. Then came a protime 

of prosperity returned. 

' " , ' 

The Asiatic Enquiry Commill8ion of 1921 adds 

another fact which it is n~ to bear in minlC 

The indenture system, under which they were 

brought out, was very little better than slaveri. 

The Lange Report rightly says ;-"It should be emphasised 

that there has been very little spontaneous 

emigration of the labouring classes from India to 

South Africa. They were recruited with difficlllty 

and not infrequently by methods which were CODlmonly 

known in India as "Coolie catching." 

Thn~ these thousands of Indian I3bou""" -{vho 

with their desce..ndants ,comprise ,by- far the ~i' 

proportion of In.dians in ~outh Afri


, 

becember 25~h. __ 19 2 5 it 

traders sfill continued. 

So the sore remained open 

on both sidei!. 

Mr. O:okhaltl clUne out tn 1912, and by a statesm8tlliktl 

act llgreed that 110 objection would b') raised 

if the door of Natal was finally closel1 against all 

Indian ir?migration in the future, provided only 

that Indlans already domiciled in Natal received 

sympa~eti(}' treatment. The pltldge 01 such sympathetlc 

trellbfl.eht wouid be the immediate abolItion 

of the obnoxious £3 tax. 

General Smuw immeQiately tOGk itdvantage of this 

agreEmJeld ~lthMr, Ga1:ullle to pltBs thtJ ItullligratlOu 

Restrictfon Act of 1913, by which Indians of all 

classes were finally prohibited from entering ~outh 

Africl!,., No objection was raised against this eIther 

1W Mt. (iokMte, or Mr. Gandhi, or hy the Ihdian 

GovernmetJt, in MC'Ol'dllttce with wllltt was regarded 

as fn1 ggtee1nent t-eached by MI'. Gokhale1s visit to 

So'ttth AIrfoil.. Bat when It was aSked itt return 

that the £3 Gt:it shdu1d. be abolIshed no action in 

that direct.fon was taken. Mr. Gokhaie was the very 

soul of honour. 

He had taken that journey to 

South Altfca whHe In :IH health; it wM altogether 

agttlttBt the doc'torls

,7 

O~tember 25th, 1925 INUIAN OPtNIt)~ 331 

Imperial Conference in 1926, he coulurhood of New 

York. Roast beef and plum-pudding, tnrkey and bam, 

feasting in abundance,-these material things wcre everywhere 

in evidence; but not the spirit of the lowl)' Christ, 

born in a manger, in povertl and Buffering, del!tined to 

a lite of tJerpetual jacrlfice whose en~ was the Cross. He 

\\'t:ut~ to tnt!: .. These lJllople in tbe West are materi8lis~ 

even in their most solemn religious teati,ail'." 

That scene ne witnessed in America was so entirely 

different from the quiet, joyous thanksgiving with whicb 

we celebrate Christmas at &ntini1i:etah! Therl', long 

before dawn, the boys of the Asram walk iu procession 

slowly throngh the mango groves singing their morning 

hymn, 

, Awake, A wake. the ti~ht is breaking.' 

Then follows the gathering of our househotd,-Hindns, 

Buddhists, Muslims, Parsecs, Jews and Chri!lLillns, 

rejo.clDt; tlog\ltlrer\ lJIll'cefully and t'everent,ly\ with 

methtlltloll, because of t.he birth of Christ. RabindranaLh 

Tag-ore himself giVe\! the setmon in the Mander at. our 

Christmans thanksgiving and in the afternoon the poor 

are ft!d aud thO$6 who do the hnmble wOI'k of sweepeJ'll 

for our Asram are specially honoured. One of my keen 

regrets, while I am writlDg tbese Word'!, is t.hall I shall 

miss t.his yelll' my Christma~ Day at. the Asram; and a 

holtle-aickn'es~ cr,\Ues over me at the thought 

But the Poot has sen~ me out to South Arncl with 

bls 0Wll mantram,- 

Sht\ntam, Shivam, Advaitam, 

and Mahat.ma Gandhi h1l.s bade me become a me>St.>ftger 

of pt>ace. tberefore t know that by obedience to their 

expressed wish l bave

__ 3_j~2~ __________________ I_N_D 

__ IA __ 

N~O~P~I~N~I~O~N~ ____ ~n~e~ce~ber~?~h, 

I~~5 

ppcially Concerning Rabindranath Tagore. In the in ~leep, I seemed in my JI'eams to be stru~ghng 

Nearer.East also, among Arabs, Syrians and Egyptians 

whom I bave met, the two names which were 

~ga\J)st It. B~t the oppres~ion became overpow

/'December 25 th, 1925 INDIAN. OPINION 333' 

~1 pfl nor to coloured per 

Bon'i lawfully in occupation at the commencement 

of the Act. 

Act :\7 of 1m!) Sec. 1 amendd the above to the extellt 

that it acceptfl any BritiRh Indian, who, on the 

Il:1t dar of May, EllS, WdS l

INDJAN orIN ION 

December 25th. '9~S 

made to the African Govprnment. We may be 

call~d l1PDI1 by force to Rnrren,ll'l' our right~, but let 

ns glV~ nothmg away by weak conces"ion Let us 

never negotiate' concerning H~patl'i'ltion. 

thpm, not by summary expropriation, but by a process 

,of slo..y torture." 

An iQspection of tile ter~s of thp Bill itself 

shows that the word,s used above are none too strong; 

for abe clause after /.I.Ilotb.-er strikes at the root of all 

th~ truly ;rema.r/rnble growth, under lI)credIbJe hardsh!ps, 

Which th~ Indian CQml)lunity has made in Natal I ndian Congress 

Natal. That which has been gained by slow a,pd 

steady indu,stry and patiepce is to be cut dowI). in Il A request is being mad

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