Page:The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, vol. 2.djvu/199

 with, apparently, the avowed object of committing a breach of the peace. Particulars of this deplorable matter are easily available.


 * The evil effect on the natives in general of yesterday’s proceedings will be accentuated, and race hatred fostered, unless steps are at once taken to show that your honourable body, as custodians of law and order in this town, will not countenance conduct of this sort. It can easily be understood that the massing or congregating together of a body of natives, such as that at yesterday’s Demonstration, is a source of great danger to the town, as, for instance, was the case on the occasion of the massing of natives on the racecourse in their feud with the police some time ago.


 * I submit that the native element in yesterday’s Demonstration has cast on the fair name of Durban a blot which it is your duty to at once wipe out, and I venture to say that your taking up the matter with a vigorous hand will be viewed with satisfaction by the majority of your burgesses. I respectfully suggest that, as a first step, the Corporation should cause an enquiry to be made as to who is responsible for the massing of these natives, their behaviour and control on the occasion alluded to; and, further, that to prevent a repetition of such conduct, special bye-laws be passed, in case those at present in force are found insufficient to cope with the evil.


 * This is rendered all the more necessary as no reference was made by the Honourable the Attorney-General to the rowdy and dangerous element created by the facts referred to. I, however, feel confident that his regrettable omission to do so only arose from the fact that he did not witness what I and others saw. The Togt boys are easily traceable, I should think; others were servants of members of the Committee, one of them especially having taken advantage of the occurrence to advertise his firm by sending down his store boys, each armed with two or three sticks, with his firm’s name appearing in glaring letters on their backs.


 * Mr. Labistour’s letter to the Corporation, drawing attention to the danger incurred in the massing of a body of natives armed with sticks for the purposes of the Demonstration on Wednesday, and calling on the Town Council to enquire into the matter, should not be overlooked. We believe the Demonstration Committee were not in any way responsible for the native impi being at the Point; but the natives did not go down there of their own initiative, and it would be as well if the matter were fully investigated and the onus thrown upon the individuals who took upon themselves so grave a responsibility. As Mr. Labistour quite properly remarks, the native element at the Demonstration was a blot on the fair name of Durban, and might have been productive of the most dire results. There is no love lost between the Indian and the native as it is, and to bring together