On Monday in the House of Commons Mr. Churchill, in
reply to a question, announced that the Imperial Govern- ment had agreed to the request of the British Indians in the Transvaal, and had vetoed the Asiatic Law Amendment Ordinance of last September. It is a very difficult subject, but in our opinion the Government have acted wisely. Undoubtedly the majority of the white inhabitants of the Transvaal desire to impose disabilities upon their Indian fellow-subjects. The claim of these latter -is not to enter the Transvaal free of restrictions, but to secure the enjoy- ment of certain elementary civil rights by British Indians who are already in residence. On the merits there is no answer to their case. It is ridiculous and unjust to deny what is given to the meanest white to members of a race who sit on the Viceroy's Council and the Indian Bench. Such a differential treatment cuts at the root of all Imperial unity. At the same time, we understand the feeling of the Transvaal trader who finds the ground taken from his feet by men who live barely and hardly and sell cheap. It is open to the Transvaal under its new Constitution to pass fresh legislation on the matter which could not well be vetoed. We agree, therefore, with the Times that the Government should carry their views to their logical conclusion, and introduce into the draft Constitution a reservation in favour of Indian residents.
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