Page:The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, vol. 1.djvu/96




 * Pretoria,
 * September 16, 1893


 * To
 * The Editor,
 * The Natal Advertiser

Sir,

My attention has been drawn to the reproduction of Mr. Pillay's letter to The Transvaal Advertiser in your paper with comments thereon. I am that unfortunate Indian barrister-at law who had arrived in Durban, and who is now in Pretoria ; but I am not Mr. Pillay, nor am I a Bachelor of Arts.

I am, etc.,

M. K. Gandhi

Pillay's complaint was that he was violently pushed off the footpath. At that time, capital of the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek (South African Republic); later Administrative capital of the Union of South Africa; 511 miles from Durban.

The Natal Advertiser, 18-9-1893

Letter to "The Natal Advertiser" (19-9-1893)

 * Pretoria,
 * September 19, 1893


 * To
 * The Editor,
 * The Natal Advertiser

Sir,

I shall be very thankful to you if you would be good enough to find place for the following in your paper:

Mr. Pillay, who recently wrote to The Transvaal Advertiser, has been taken to pieces for being "nasty" by some gentlemen here and by the papers there. I wonder if your leader about "the wily wretched Asiatic traders", "the real canker that is eating into the very vitals of the community", "these parasites who live a semi-barbaric life" would not bear Mr. Pillay's letter out of the field in a hard-word competition. However, tastes differ as to style, and I have no right to sit in judgment upon anyone's style of writing.

But why all this outpouring of wrath on the poor Asiatic traders? It is difficult to see how the Colony is in danger of li