BRITISH INDIANS. DEBATE IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS.

Evening Post, Volume LXXV, Issue 31, 6 February 1908, Page 7

BRITISH INDIANS. DEBATE IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS.

HONOURABLE SETTLEMENT. ' BETTER TERM'S MIGHT HAVE BEEN MADE. By Telegraph.— Pice* Association.— Copyright. LONDON, sth Fobruary. Lord AmpthiJ] (one-time Governor of Madras, who in 1904 acted temporarily as Viceroy of India during Lord Curzon's absence in England) raised a debate in the House of Lords on tho treatment of British Indians in the Transvaal. He expressed satisfaction at tho compromise arranged regarding registration, though the Government ought to havo secured a settlement of the question before granting the Transvaal self-government. Lord Curzon considered the R3tthme.it was not final. Viewed from t!ie standpoints of Indians and colonies, liio matter assumed entirely different aspects, and the two forces were pullrog in opposito directions. He urged lhat the restrictions ought to be such as to reduce the feeling of vexatiousn.'ss i.nd injury as much as possible. The educated and higher classes of natives ought not to be herded with men of lower degree. Lord Elgin, Secretary of State for the Colonies, in reply, said an honourable settlement had been arranged, satisfactorily to both parties. Indians were excluded from the colonies not on account of their bad qualities, but because of their goor 1 qualities— the patient industry, frugality, and temperance which made them such formidable competitors to white men. In the future the Indian community in the Transvaal, though limited in numbers, would occupy a definite and honourable position. Lord Lansdowne (Foreign Secretary in the late Administration, and a former Viceroy of India) thought the Government might have bargained and made better terms. The subject then dropped. MEETING AT JOHANNESBURG. BOYCOTT OF ASIATIC TRADERS. JOHANNESBURG, sth Feb. At a large meeting of residents here last night a movement was inaugurated to boycott 4siatic traders and employers of Asiatics. A league was also formed, with the object of establishing committees throughout the Transvaal, and to Becui'e pledges for the maintenance of the boycott. Under tho settlement referred to by Lord Elgin, tho sentences of all Indians in prison in the Transvaal havo been remitted. Finger-prints aro dispensed with in tho caso of educated Asiatics and those who aro property-owners, and others whoso idontity is easy to establish. Mr. Smuts, Colonial Secretary, allows all Indiaus entitled to rO-gisterr - ogister an opportunity to do co during the next three months. No information, the giving of which rhay offend religious susceptibilities, will bo askod for. Transvaal Indians who were legally domiciled in the country before the war may now return. Tho settlement is said to have caused unqualified satisfaction in India.