30 AUGUST 1913, Page 14

VOTELESS ANGLO-INDIANS AND THE CROWN. [To TIDE EDITOR Or THE

"SPECTATOR."] SIR,—I have spent some of the best years of my life in our great Dependency, and I realize to the full the value of the Crown. It is only owing to the artificialities of the British franchise that over a hundred thousand loyal subjects placed as I am are excluded from the vote. Taken on the whole, I think we are somewhat above the average of the home elector, and I have noted that French citizens living under the Tricolour in the same continent are not similarly dis- franchised. The Crown means so much to us in India that, whatever may happen, our loyalty and devotion to the King- Emperor will stand unimpaired. With many men at home enfranchised things are otherwise. They will ask if your " automatic " theory could be applied to a President, and a reply in the negative will weaken their attitude of loyalty.—