44 THE SOUTH AFRICAN INDIAN QUESTION sent to you through Lord Selhorne, after the great Indian Mass Meeting in Johannesburg, was pleased to inform the British Indian Association that, although you would be pleased to give us every opportunity of stating our case, no good purpose was likely to be served, as your Lordship had approved of the principle of the Ordinance, in that it gave some measure of relief to the British Indian community, though not as much as His Majesty’s Government would desire. Wet who are the men on the spot, and who are affected by the Ordinance in question, have ventured to think otherwise. We have felt that this Ordinance does not give us any relief what- soever. It is a measure which places British Indians in a far worse position than before, and makes the lot of the British Indian wel!-nigh intolerable. Under the Ordinance, the British Indian is assumed to be a` criminal. If a stranger, not knowing the circumstances of the Transvaal, were to read the Ordinance, he would have no hesitation in coming to the conclusion that an Ordinance cf that nature, which carries so many penalties, and wounds the British Indian community on al: sides, must only apply to thieves or a gang ofrobbers. I venture, therefore, t`o think that, although Sir ~Lepel- Griffin has used strong language in connection with the Ordinance, he has not at all exaggerated, but every word of it is justified. At the same time I beg to state that the Ordinance, as amended, does not apply to British Indian females. The draft Ordinance undoubtedly applied to females also, but owing to the very strong protest made by the British Indian Association, and by Mr. Ally separately, as Chairman of the Hamidia Islamic Society, pointing out the great lviolence that would have been done to female_ sanctity, if I may say so, tha
