Page:Speeches And Writings MKGandhi.djvu/151

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THE MARRIAGE QUESTION
61

only just been arrested and sentenced to be imprisoned for three months with hard labour. This is his third term. He is a Mahomedan. A brave Parsee, a well-educated man, was deported to Natal. He re-entered and is now undergoing six months' imprisonment with hard labour. He is in gaol for the fifth time. A young Indian, an ex-Volunteer Sergeant, has also gone to gaol for the third time on the same terms as the Parsee. Wives of imprisoned British Indians and their children either take up baskets of fruit, hawk about and earn their living in order to support themselves, or are being supported from contributions. Mr. Smuts, when he re-embarked for South Africa, said that he had arrived at an understanding with Lord Crewe that would satisfy the large body of British Indians who were heartily sick of the agitation. His prophecy has been totally disproved by what has happened since.


THE MARRIAGE QUESTION

The £3 tax was not the only disability of South African Indians. Among the various legal disabilities to which Indians were subjected, the most galling was the one concerning the introduction of the plural wives of Asiatics into the Transvaal. The law involved great hardship on the Muslims in particular. Mr. Gandhi urged on the Minister "not for a general recognition of polygamy", but contended "that, in continuation of the practice hitherto followed, existing plural wives of domiciled residents should be allowed to enter." On this question the following correspondence between Mr. Gandhi and Mr. E. M. Gorges took place in September, 1913. In reply to Mr. Gorges' letter, Mr. Gandhi wrote on 22nd September:—