AFRICA.

Otago Witness, Issue 2808, 8 January 1908, Page 28

AFRICA.

THE TRANSVAAL. CAPETOWN, December 28.

I Mr Gaudhi, an. Indian barrister, in addressing a mass meeting of, Indians, oiu the Rand, .-declared that Lord" Elgin's action in sanctioning the Immigration" Act unduly strained Indian loyalty; for it was a • barbarous and - savage measure, although it was passed by an avowedly Christian Government. - Gaudhi and eight compatriots have been prosecuted for failing to register under the act, but nave been released on paroje. Many Indians - have been * arrested elsewhere in the Transvaal. December^ 31. The Indians' counsel declare -that the Transvaal is only empowered to send Indians to the border and not to a place over the border. -The Indians at Durban have appealed . to the delegates "at the Surat Congress to raise a vigorous protest throughout India. They declare that the Indians in. South Africa' are helpless. , > . • PRETORIA, January 1. The Government of Natal is arranging to deport via Natal those" Indians- who ■refuse-to comply with the registration law. - * January 2. < At a -meeting of 20,000 Indians at Johannesburg it was resolved to continue resistance.; The meeting vigorously protested against Ik>rd"' Elgin's' action in sanctioning the, Immigration Act, ans Uaus surrendering the, right and duty . of protecting the interests of the weaker and unrepresented parties, who were Britiisn subjects and who suffered less tinder tn*e former regime. . LONDON, December 38. The Times says that the Imperial assent to the Immigration Restriction Act enables the Transvaal to enforce Asiatc registrations by deporting^ the. passive registers. The Times recomme"ncto the Imperial Secretariat to organise a. comV mission representing the Empire to iives^tgate tie Asiatic problem and to make plain mutual dif&o»J±JES.. The j»ur-

nal continues: "Possibly the evf* dence of some of our most exclusive! colonies would -naka it impossible tcf entirely bank the door agains§ the- gro"^* ing tide, of tha population of fclia Eas£» and possibly also convince us that thd unrestrained immigration of Asiatics wouldl be fatal to our civilisation and raoev Certain parts of tne Empire most suited tot the Orientaia and least suited to our habits might be specially reserved foz--Oriental immigration..'* January 2. The Times hopes that the fact that .* respite has been temporarily granted tqi the Indians in the Transvaal resisting th* magistrate's order to quit" may Be due tot the counsels, of wisdom and moderation* from Lord Elgin. The voice of the Im> perial Goveromeni} might even now make itself . heard effectively in Pretoria to restrain the Transvaal from! taking extreme measures towards the Indians who have already settled there. The Times then warns the coloni&s. most proudly procftiini>ing their determination to remain, white! countries of their absolute, dependence '.ojai , the Motherland for protecton. -Without* that protection W long could Australia,, for example, exclude the Japanese? Hfotf; for six months' after, the Japanese had! made up their minds to settle .on ths grounds of Australia. The Imperial) Government' is not. without deans of insisfing. upon reasonable compromises in tho. various colonies in deoiicg with. this, gravest and most urgent Imperial, problem, which is solvable only by a direct -appeal; to the sense, of Imperial recponsibility of the sister States of the Umpire. , The Times, in closing, says its remarks refer to the Indian ' and Asiatic difficulty gener/ ally. , ' ' ; /