RIGHTS OF INDIANS.

Taranaki Daily News, 24 July 1922, Page 5

RIGHTS OF INDIANS.

THE QUESTION OF EQUALITY. INDIANS DESIRE SOLUTION / By Telegraph.—Press Association. Auckland, Last Night. A civic reception was accorded Mr. Sastri last evening. Replying to two arguments against granting equal citizenship to Indians domiciled in the Dominions/he said that undue advantage was taken of the fact that the Indian franchise was not yet as wide as in the self-governing Dominions. Immigrants from foreign countries were not asked what was the political condition of their countries, and he asked why Indians, although British subjects, were alone told they could not get a greater measure of enfranchisement than they possessed in their own country. The second objection was based on an apprehension whether the granting of full equality in New Zealand, where it could have no effect because the Indian population numbered only 300 or 400, would not ■ upset political institutions in other parts of i the Empire. This derpurrer had particu{lar reference to South Africa, where, ?n I lyatal, for instance, the Indian population I far exceeded that of the whites. Equality could not be granted there, and therefore it was inadvisable to create a precedent. He recognised that South Africa was on a different footing, but there was no need for the other Dominions to vex themselves with that problem. With Africa expressly excluded by a decision of the Premiers’ Conference, it was not proper for the other Dominions to delay a solution of the vexed problem, but it could be made safely and easily.