Page:The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, vol. 1.djvu/316

 in the Colony for a very long time; that out of 205 whom I have been able to get identified, only 35 have been at one time indentured Indians, and that they have all been in the Colony for over 15 years.

TABLE SHOWING THE LENGTH OF RESIDENCE OF THE INDIAN VOTERS AND THE NUMBER OF INDIAN VOTERS WHO HAVE ONCE BEEN UNDER INDENTURE:

Free Indians who have once been under indenture, but who have been in the Colony for over 15, and in many cases

Of course, this table cannot by any means be said to be absolutely correct. I think, however, it is accurate enough for the present purpose. Thus, so far as these figures go, the Indians who come under indenture take 15 years or more to be able to have sufficient property qualifications to get on the Voters’ Roll. And if the freed Indian population were excepted, no one can say that the trading population alone can ever swamp the Voters’ Roll. Moreover, most of these 35 freed Indians have risen to the status of traders. Of those who have originally come on their own means, a large majority have taken a long time to be able to get on the Voters’ Roll. Of the 46 whom I have not been able to get identified, a great many, by their names, appear to belong to the trading class. There are many Colonial-born Indians in the Colony. They are also educated, and yet on the Voters’ Roll there are only 9. This would show that they are too poor to have the sufficient qualifications. On the whole, therefore, it would seem that taking the present List as a basis, the fears as to the Indian vote assuming threatening proportions are imaginary. Of the 205, over 40 are either dead or have left the Colony.

The following table is an analysis of the Indian Voters’ List according to their occupation :