DR. RUTHERFORD (Middlesex, Brentford)I beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies whether his attention has been drawn to the recent cases of administration of the Natal Dealers' Licences Act in the Klip River division, the Lower Umzimkulu division, and the city of Maritzburg, and especially to the cases of Ismail Moosajee, A. M. Kharva, Goorahoo and Lala, Ameer and Hoosen, Mahomed and Amod, Sunthsing, Valli Rasool, Fyzerally and Mawlabuccus, Moosajee Ismail and Company, in the Klip River division, P. N. Chetty, Maritzburg, Mahomed Saduck Vahed, Marburg, Natal, British-Indian shopkeepers of standing, who wererefused renewals of their shop licences by the Board on appeal from the decision of the licensing officer; whether he has perused the Report of the evidence in the various cases referred to, and the remarks of counsel, the licensing officer, and the Board; if not, whether he will do so; and whether he will take steps to impress upon the Government of Natal that this law must not be used as an instrument for exterminating the British-Indian trader in that colony.
§ MR. CHURCHILLYes, Sir. My attention has been drawn to these cases. The Secretary of State is communicating 457 with the Government of Natal with regard to them.