§ SIR H. COTTON (Nottingham, E.)I beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies whether his attention has been drawn to Clauses 5, 8, and 9 of the Second Schedule of the Vrederdorp Stands Ordinance of 1906, under which the residence of British Indians, other than domestic servants, is prohibited within the area affected by the Ordinance; and whether, looking to the fact that the Ordinance does not come into effect until it has been assented to by the Crown, and that for several years past, both under the Boer Government and at present, British Indians have been allowed to occupy land within this area under grants given by the burghers of Vrederdorp, and are still residing within this area and have erected substantial structures thereon, the Secretary of State will advise His Majesty to disallow this Ordinance.
§ MR. CHURCHILLMy attention has been drawn to the provisions referred to. This land was originally granted to poor burghers—that is, to white men only, and on condition of personal occupation. The Ordinance, therefore, merely perpetuates the legal conditions which were in existence before annexation and in defiance of which certain Indians have, I understand, acquired some stands and erected tin shanties. I may add that it is very desirable to keep the white and coloured quarters apart, as the practice of allowing European, Asiatic, and native families to live side by side in mixed communities is fraught with many evils, and is, in Lord Selborne's opinion, injurious to the social well-being of all three. The whole question is, however, still under consideration.