Evening star., 1908-01-26

for Indian coolies who should refuse on
the expiration of their indentures to re-
new their contract or else leave the
colony Owing to the exercise OF the
imperial veto the penalty OF deportation
was altered to fine OF t3 annuaiiy.
Thousands availed themselves of this
concession.
The imperial government, however.
sanctioned the immigration restriction
act of 1907. which confers the right to
deport the unregistered Asiatics from the
colony and 1t Is the application of the
provisions of this act which is creating in
India in the Transvaal and England ex-
traordinary interest and agitation.
Mr. Harold Cox. NJ p, speaking In the
emergency meeting in London. moved:
THAT the meeting deeply regrets the
imposition by the Transvaai government
Of diffarential laws and
Discrimination regulations. such as the
Asiatic law amendment
Aieseu' act and the immigration
restriction act of 1907. upon British In
dians lawfully settled in that colony. to
whom the laws seem humiliat'ng and de-
grading and regards with the greatest
concern the enforcement of these laws. In
spite of the offer of the resident Indian
community to be registered voluntarily.
as an attempt at the expulsion rather
than Identification of that section of
British subjects and the extinction of their
vested rights and property. The vital
and sole point was. why a comparative
handful of white men should wish to get
rid of the British Indians solely because
they objected to their competition In
trade"
Amer All. in sacond'ng the resolution.
said that the going back of British In
dians to India in consauuenc" Of this
legislation would necessarily provoke
feeling of great bitterness there. As a
native. feeling that the -emin"nco OF
British government was necessary to the
development of India. he considered the
question OF the gravest importance
Sir NJ Bhownaggree moved: That this
meeting deeply regrets that his maJesty's
government should have given IT'S sancuon
to a measure so drastic as the immiera-
ton restriction act which allows deporta-
ton for a purely statutory offensn of
British citizens. The arguments in favor
of il were a farce and a fraud and were
making an impression IN India wnlch
was getting to be q political danger.
The British Indian coolie in the Trans
yaa, objects to the registration. which
subjects him to the measurement by the
ten fingers impression. He does not at
tach so much Importance to the tnump
impression. but he Is implacable on the
digit syStem which he deems degrading
because applied to criminals The Lon
don Times in the discussion or the ques-
ton suggests that the imperial govern
ment should pay the coolie an indemnity
and for the reason that tn" imperial gov
eminent incurred that liability in intro
ducing coolie labor in the early days of
the settlement of Natal.
X
The Boer republic. says the Times. al
ways resisted Indian immigration. But
unfortunately the Natal Is
Importing again resorting to the I'm
portation of Indian coolies
Sooiies. on a large scale, in order
to release native labor for the Rand
mines.
The question is further aggravated by
the action of the Chinese. who. accord
ing to a telegram from johannesburg OF
January TO- held a large meeting and re-
solved because of the arrest and I'M
prisonment of several British Indians
| under the registration act. to telegraph
to the Chinese minister in London and to
the Chinese government at Peking.
The London Times, under the head of
"Asiatic Difficulties" says: Racial
trouble in the TranSvaal is extremely acute
and Is taxing a 10TH lTduSHl Will HIS
chief for the whole empire. The Trans
vaal government is dealing very harshly
with the natives of India. But on the
other hand, the Times claims that "even
If, for the sake of argument 1t was nee
essary to do something to discourage or to
regulate the Indian immigration. it was
not necessary to ignore the claims OF
those already settled in the country. or
to adopt the most provocative instead of
the most conciliatory attitude. A very
4 s%,rI1 hon fo hoo
adopted and. what is much worse. it has
received the sanction of the imperial gov
arnment. apparently without protest. and
without any serious attempt to mitigate
the harshness of legislation"
There is. however. according to the
| Times. another side of the question, it be-
ing that which presents itscses to the
European man who, removed from all
contact. social or economical, with Asiatic
or African races can take philosophic
view of race difficulties. THE same
people who wept over the degradation of
Chinese coolies, as depicted by Mr.. Bir-
relps educational bureau. are perfectly
calm In the face of the ejectment of the
| kings subjects from homes that they had
been permitted, and often invited to oc-
cupy. But while people In these conven-
lent and agreeable inconsequences act
thus people actually in contact with
| Asiatic races take very practical view.
London and New York may play with
tralia and on the Pacific slope it is mat
ter of business, and sometimes rather
sordid business"
| The Times discusses at length race
hatred and business hatred which the
| Asiatic provokes. AS a
Racial coolie doing work for the
capitalist his work is dirt
, Ha1Aea' cheap That is business.
| But when the Asiatic becomes storekeep-
| or. commission agent. baker. tailor, shoe
maker in fact everything, making money
at them ALL because underselling his
| white rival. That is business hatred"
Business hatred sometimes borrows the
| name of race hatred. because the latter
| is represented by an ordinance Of nature.
| primal. inexorable and rooted In the order
of things" And the Times concludes:
Business hatred is a very nasty thing to
deal with. Very unreasonable and very
stubborn, but it is wise to face the real
mischief and not go on imagining it to be
| something that we can conjure, with the
| empty phrases and the cant about prin-
| ciples that do duty SO effectively in the
| house of commons and on the public
| platforms. 1t is real thing, founded
| largely upon unconfessed fear of the ORR
entail whose business capacity is more
| recent discovery than his industrial eff
cheney What is happening in South
| Africa should warn us that the Asiatic
difficulty throughout our colonies is the
| vest and most urgent problem with
which imperial craftsmanship is now con-
| fronted.'
| Great Britain's Asiatic difficulties in