Page:Speeches And Writings MKGandhi.djvu/221



''At the Madras Provincial Conference held at Nellore in June, 1915, Mr. G. A. Natesan moved a resolution thanking Mr. and Mrs Gandhi for the invaluable services they had rendered to the Motherland by their heroic struggle in South Africa. Mr. Gandhi, in acknowledging the thanks of the Conference as spoke as follows:—''

In so far as sentiment enters into the claims of India, with regard to the status of Indians in the Empire, it seems possible that by a measure of reciprocal treatment as between India and the Dominions this difficulty could be surmounted. Given an outlet for Indian emigrants in East Africa, it ought not to be beyond the powers of statesmanship to arrange that India should have the power to exclude white men of the working class, just as the Dominions exclude Indians. Or rather it might be arranged that the number of Indians to be admitted to any one of the white States of the Empire should bear a relative proportion to the white population of the State. As a matter of fact, if the proportion agreed on is to avoid the necessity for removing some of the Asiatics now in the Dominions, it will have to be something like twice as great as the number of the whites in India in relation to the total population. The existing white community in India, inclusive of troops