Page:Speeches And Writings MKGandhi.djvu/127

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DEPUTATION TO LORD SELBOBNE 3'Z new Indians are absolutely shut out of the country ni the establishment of representative government, it will seriously interfere with these vested interests, and in any 0586, it is difficult to see why men of attainments and education, whether they be refugees or not, should not be able to have their permits on application- And, in spite of all these hardships, our anti-Indian friends are never tired of saying the country is flooded with British Indians who were never in the Transvaal. They have made a point of saying that every Indian who was before in the country was registered- I hardly think it is necessary for me to dilate upon this matter, as your Excellency has been told that all the facts with reference to this charge are wrong, but I may be pardoned for referring your Excellency to a case that happened in IS93. Shire and ¢Dumat were large contractors of labour. They brought into the country at one time 800 Indian labourers. How many more they brought I do not know. The then State Attorney insisted that they should take out registration certificates and pay £ 3 each. Shire and Dumat tested the matter in the High Court, and the then Chief Justice, Kotze, held that these men were not, in the terms of the law, called upon to pay £3, as they did not enter for °° purposes of trade," and that he could not help the Government, even if the men, after the conteact was over, subsequently remained in the country, That is only one instance, which cannot be gainsaid,_ in which hundreds of Indians remained in the country without praying £3 each. The British Indian Association hasx always submitted, and that from personal experience, rthat hundreds of Indians, who did not take out trade licences, remained in the country without ever registering ithemselves and paying £ 3.