Page:The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, vol. 1.djvu/175

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

have their names on the Voters' List, should ever be debarred from voting in the Parliamentary Elections, no matter how capable they may be or what interests they may have in the Colony?

3. Do you really believe that no Indian British subject can ever acquire sufficient attainments for the purpose of becoming a full citizen of the Colony or of voting?

4. Do you think it just that a man should not become a voter simply because he is of Asiatic extraction?

5. Do you wish the indentured Indian who comes and settles in the Colony to remain in the state of semi-slavery and ignorance for ever, unless he chooses to go back to India for ever?

Colonial Office Records No. 179, Vol. 189

12  The letter and the questionnaire are referred to in paragraph 8 of “Petition to Lord Ripon”, before 14-7-1894.

Deputation to Natal Governor (3-7-1894)

DURBAN,[13]

July 3, 1894 To His Excellency the Honourable Sir Walter Francis Hely-Hutchinson, K.C.M.G., Governor and Commander-In-Chief In and over the Colony of Natal, Vice-Admiral of the same, and Supreme Chief Over the Native Population

May it please your Excellency,

At a meeting held on the 1st July, 1894, of leading Indians in Durban, we were requested to await Your Excellency’s pleasu