Page:The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, vol. 2.djvu/138



Where did you prepare the pamphlet?


 * I did not prepare it in Natal. I prepared the whole of it while on the voyage home.

How did you secure the information it contains?


 * I was determined to make myself acquainted with all the facts about the Indians in South Africa, and with that object in view I had translations of the Transvaal laws supplied to me, and I asked friends in the Cape Colony and in other parts of South Africa to furnish me with any information they had on this question. So, I was fully acquainted with the facts before I decided to go to India. In the memorials which have been sent from the Indians of Natal to the Home Government, the Imperial view of the question has always been kept in the forefront.

Were the memorials bearing on the franchise question?


 * Not exclusively. They treated with the immigration and other laws the Colony has passed, as well as the Transvaal agitation.

What was your object in publishing the pamphlet?


 * My object in publishing it was to place the entire facts regarding the position of the Indians in South Africa before the Indian public. The people here believe that India does not know exactly how many Indians were outside the country, and what their status was, and the object was to draw their attention to the subject, and it was with that view that the pamphlet was published.

But had you not an ulterior object?


 * The ulterior object was to have the status of the Indians decided to our satisfaction; that is to say, in terms with the Proclamation of 1858.

Do you hope to be successful?


 * I certainly hope that, with the help of the Indian public in India, we shall achieve the end very quickly.

What means do you propose adopting?


 * We desire them to go in for a constitutional agitation in India. At every meeting that has been held, resolutions have been passed authorizing the chairman to draw up memorials addressed