Page:MKGandhi patriot.djvu/164

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streets with baskets of fruits or vegetables, as bundles of soft goods, and invited the police-officers and magistrates to buy. It was an act of kinship which was appreciated by the suffering men. Now, a private telegram from Volksrust states that "Mr. Gandhi has been drafted on to work on Volksrust Show Ground, attired in the usual garb."

When passing sentence on him, the magistrate is reported to have said:—"I very much regret to see Mr. Gandhi, an officer of this Court and of the Supreme Court, in his present position. Mr. Gandhi may feel otherwise, looking at the situation in the light that he is suffering for his country. But I can only view it from another point of view."

The prisoner himself made it perfectly clear how he regarded it. In addressing the Court he said:—"In connection with my refusal to produce my registration certificate, and to give thumb-impressions or finger impressions, I think that as an officer of this Court, and of the Supreme Court, I owe an explanation. There have been differences between the Government and the British Indians whom I represent as Secretary of the British Indian Association, over the Asiatic Act No. 2 of 1907, and after due deliberation,