THE INDIANS IN KENYA.
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
SIR,—The Kenya population figures, just published by the Colonial Office, seem to me to be the final word in the claim for political equality now being advanced by the immigrant Indians of that Colony. The delegation from them at present In this country have averred that the Imperial Conference of 1921 confirmed the principal that " no inferior status should be assigned to Indians in Kenya." Half the truth is worse than none. What the Conference actually did advocate was the claim of lawfully domiciled Indians to rights of citizenship, without in any way defining the extent or nature of those rights ; and it is even more important to remember the clear recognition by the 1921 Conference of the fact that citizenship rights could not be granted to Indians unless the Kenya community had the power to control immigration. That stipulation, after the resolution passed at the Imperial Con- ference of 1918, was inevitable. The resolution ran :-
" It is the inherent function of the Governments of the several communities of the British Commonwealth, including India, that each should enjoy complete control over the composition of its own population by means of restriction of immigration from any other communities."
It is true that, with one important exception, all the self- governing Dominions have been able to satisfy India regarding the citizen rights of her nationals domiciled within their borders. But, as the exception indicates, they have done so simply because the Indian nationals were comparatively few in number. On behalf of South Africa, the exception in question, General Smuts found himself unable to agree because of the large number of. Asiatics domiciled in Natal.
As these new population figures unmistakably proclaim, what was sound for South Africa is equally sound for the young colony of Kenya. • Its total European population is 9,651 as against 35,355 Asiatics. Who will say that a policy which, in the opinion of a statesman so liberal-minded as General Smuts, was good for South Africa is bad for Kenya
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