Page:The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, vol. 1.djvu/242



It is an admitted fact that the Indian labour is indispensable to the prosperity of the Colony.If so, your Petitioners submit that the indentured Indians, who so materially help forward the prosperity of the Colony, are entitled to better consideration.

It need hardly be mentioned that the Bill is a piece of class legislation and that it accentuates and encourages the prejudice that exists against Indians in the Colony, and thus would widen the gulf between one class of British subjects and another. Your Petitioners, therefore, humbly pray that your Honourable Assembly will come to the conclusion that that portion of the Bill which contemplates reindenture and the imposition of a tax in default of re-indenture is not such as could be considered favourably by your Honourable Assembly, and for this act of justice and mercy, your Petitioners shall for ever pray, etc., etc.

Abdulla Haji Adam and Several Others

From a photostat : S.N. 434


 * 7The petition was published in The Natal Advertiser, 5-5-1895.


 * 8Forced, unpaid labour

Petition to Lord Ripon (Before 5-5-1895)

PRETORIA,

SOUTH AFRICAN REPUBLIC,

[Before May 5, 1895]

TO HIS EXCELLENCY THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE MARQUIS OF RIPON, HER MAJESTY’S PRINCIPAL SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES, LONDON

THE PETITION OF THE BRITISH INDIANS RESIDING IN THE SOUTH AFRICAN REPUBLIC

HUMBLY SHEWETH THAT :

Your Petitioners respectfully venture to approach Your Excellency in connection with their position in the S. A. R., especially as affected by the Award lately given by the Chief Justice of the Orange Free State in the Indian Arbitration Case.

2. Your Petitioners, whether as traders, shopkeepers’ assistants, hawkers, cooks, waiters, or labourers, are scattered over the whole of the Transvaal, though the greatest number is settled in