Page:The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, vol. 1.djvu/186

 Petition to Lord Ripon (Before 14-7-1894)

DURBAN,

Before July 14, 1894

TO

HIS EXCELLENCY THE RIGHT HONOURABLE MARQUIS OF RIPON,

HER MAJESTY’S PRINCIPAL SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES

THE PETITION OF THE UNDER SIGNED INDIANS NOW RESIDING IN THE COLONY OF NATAL

MOST HUMBLY SHEWETH THAT :

1. Your Lordship's Petitioners are Indian British subjects, residing in the various districts of the Colony of Natal.

2. Some of Your Lordship's Petitioners are traders, who have come to the Colony and settled therein. Some again are those who, in the first instance, came from India under indenture, and have now, for some time (even thirty years), become free. Some are Indians under indenture, and some are born and educated in the Colony, and engaged in various pursuits of life as attorneys’ clerks, compounders, compositors, photographers, schoolmasters, etc. Again, some of Your Lordship's Petitioners have considerable landed property in the Colony, and are duly qualified to vote at the election of Members for the Honourable the Legislative Assembly. And a few have got sufficient property qualifications, but have not been able to get their names on the Voters’ Roll for some cause or other.

3. Your Lordship’s Petitioners hereby approach Your Lordship with regard to the Franchise Law Amendment Bill, which was introduced last session by the Honourable Sir John Robinson, the Prime Minister of the Colony, and which has passed the third reading in the Honourable Legislative Council, and recei