India and South Africa

THE Government of India will have one more opportunity, probably the last before the Asiatic Bill comes up for final disposal in the South African Parliament, of showing whether the steps which it has so often professed to have in contemplation in connection with that iniquitous measure consist in anything more and anything else than merely making humble representations to the South African Government. As a result of the ballot on Wednesday last, a very important and comprehensive resolution of which Gaya Prasad Singh has given notice, will come up for consideration at the meeting of the Assembly on January 25. That resolution suggests three definite measures of retaliation against South Africa in the event of the Bill being passed, which may or may not be effective for the immediate purpose, but each one of which is demanded by India’s national self-respect and is undoubtedly justified on the principle of reciprocity to which all parts of the Empire stand committed by a famous resolution of the Imperial Conference. These are that the Governor General in Council do take early and necessary steps to (1) impose on all non-Indian South African colonials in India reciprocal restrictions and disabilities in respect of the franchise, both political and municipal, eligibility for public services and the rights to hold property and trade, mining and navigation licences; (2) deprive non-Indian South African colonials in India of the special privileges accorded to them in criminal trials; and (3) impose a prohibitive import duty on South African coal and offer adequate facilities to Indian coal in the way of transport and otherwise. However opinion may differ regarding the phraseology and form of the resolution, there is not the smallest doubt that in essence and in substance, it has the whole of politically self-conscious India behind it, and that all over India and by every section of Indian opinion, the attitude which the Government of India will take up in regard to the resolution will be regarded as the acid test of its sincerity and earnestness in this matter.