§ SIR MANCHERJEE BHOWNAGGREE (Bethnal Green, N.E.)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies if his attention has been drawn to a representation, dated 20th April, 1901, signed by a number of British Indian trading firms and residents in South Africa, complaining that the regulations directed against them by the late Boer administrators in the Transvaal and Orange River Colony were being still enforced; whether he has now discussed with Lord Milner this matter, with a view to repealing those regulations, and, if so, will he state the conclusion at which he has arrived.
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES (Mr. J. CHAMBERLAIN,) Birmingham, W.(1) The representation has been brought to my notice by my honourable friend, and I am making inquiry in regard to the allegations contained in it. (2) The status of His Majesty's Indian subjects in the Transvaal and Orange River Colony is a matter of considerable complexity, which I fear cannot be settled by a simple repeal of the laws of the late republics on the subject. I have been obliged to reserve it for consideration after Lord Milner's return to South Africa, but I may add that both Lord Milner and myself will approach in a sympathetic spirit any 815 proved grievances of our Indian fellow-subjects in the new colonies.
§ ME. KEIR HARDIE (Merthyr Tydvil)Do not the same regulations apply to Indian subjects in Natal as well as the Transvaal, and will consideration be given to their case also?
§ MR. J. CHAMBERLAINI cannot answer the first part of that question without notice, as I do not know exactly what the regulations are; as to the second part, the Government will not interfere with regulations made by the responsible Government of the colony.