DEPUTATION TO LORD ELGIN
The deputation to the Earl of Selborne. High Commissioner in South Africa, having failed in its efforts to obtain redress, the Indians led by Mr. Gandhi organised an agitation in England and succeeded in enlisting the sympathy of many Englishmen in the cause of the South African Indians. An influential Committee with Lord Ampthill as President, Sir M. M. Bhownaggree as Executive Chairman and Mr. Bitch as Secretary, was formed to guard over Indian interests and a deputation from among the leading sympathisers of the cause of British Indians in South Africa was organised to wait on the Earl of Elgin, the Colonial Secretary. The deputation which consisted of Lord Stanley of Alderley, Mr. H. O. Ally, Mr. M. K. Gandhi, Sir Lepel Grirfim, Mr. J. D. Rees, C.I.E., M.P., Sir George Birdwood, K.C.S.I., Sir Henry Cotton, K.C.S.I., M. P., Mr. Dadabhai Naoroji, Sir M. M. Bhownaggree, K.C.I.E., Mr. Amir Ali, Mr. Harold Cox, M. P, and Mr. Thornton, C.S.I., waited on Lord Elgin on Thursday, November. 8, 1906, at the Colonial office. Lord Elgin began by saying that his sentiments would all be in favour of doing anything he could for the interest of British Indians. Sir Lepel Griffin having introduced the Delegates in a neat little speech, Mr Gandhi, as one of the two delegates from South Africa, spoke as follows:
Both Mr. Ally and I are very much obliged to your Lordship for giving us the opportunity of placing the British Indian position before you. Supported though we are by distinguished Anglo—Indian friends and others, I feel that the task before Mr. Ally and myself is very difficult because your Lordship, in reply to the cablegram
