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Eastern Africa. In Kenya, where there aro four communities to consider, the communal system of representation in the Legislative: Council has, after careful consideration, been adopted. The European British subjects vote for eleven electee! members on an adult franchise. The. Indians will vote for five elected members on a wide franchise, which will be determined in consultation with the: Indian community. The, Arabs will vote for one elected member on a, franchise: to be: determined in a similar manner. Until the political education of the, African is advanced, African interests will be represented by a non-African, nominated, unofficial member, who will be a missionary. - The unofficial members of the Executive Council are not limited either as to race or numbers by the instrument of Government. Hitherto there have; been two European unofficial members and one Indian unofficial member, and. it is hoped to confine this arrangement, with the addition of an unofficial, member whose advice on matters affecting Africans will be of value. . In each Council there is an absolute official majority. In Uganda the Legislative Council is not elective. There is no restriction on the number or race of the unofficial members who may be nominated to the Council. Tho members at present approved are two Europeans and one Indian. There is an official majority. In the Executive Council there are no unofficial members. In the Tanganyika Territory there is no Legislative or Executive Council; but, speaking generally, Indians have the same rights as the citizens of other countries members of the League of Nations. Colonial Office, October, 1923. ANNEX B. THE POSITION OF INDIANS IN THE BRITISH EMPIRE. Memorandum by the Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa. Before the Conference conies to consider this thorny subject I wish my colleagues to consider the following suggestions of a way out of the difficulties in which we find ourselves. In Inelia the position of Indians in other parts of the Empire seems to be adding to the political agitation and unrest, while in those other parts the atmosphere for the solution of the difficulty is not improving, but on the contrary getting worse. This latter change is in come measure due to the Sastri mission. Mr. Sastri by his mission and his speeches has undoubtedly made matters worse. He has, for instance, never failed, whenever opportunity presented itself, to attack the Indian policy of South. Africa, and has thereby greatly exasperated public opinion in that Dominion, already very sensitive on this issue. In other Dominions he has made people alive to the issue—indeed, he has largely created it. The claim he has everywhere vigorously pressed for equal franchise rights for Indians over the whole Empire has not only gone further than the local claims of the Indians themselves, but has tended to raise opposition in quarters where it did not exist before. It is because I foresaw this development that I did not invite Mr. Sastri to include South Africa in his mission. It is not alleged that the economic position of Indians in other parts of the Empire, is bad. It is admitted that they are successful and thriving under the laws of tho Dominions, and are: in most respects economically better off than they would be in India. But the claim is put forward for equal political rights throughout the Empire, and its denial is looked upon as a stigma, as an affront to our Indian fellow-subjects. And no questions are more difficult and dangerous than those involving national dignity and honour. The Indian claim for equal franchise rights in the Empire outside of India arises, in my opinion, from a misconception of the nature, of British citizenship. This misconception is not confined to India, but is fairly general, and the Conference: would do not only Inelia but the whole Empire an important service by its removal. The misconception arises, not from the fact, but from the assumption, that all subjects of the King are, equal, that in an Empire where there is a, common King there should be a common and equal citizenship, and that all differences and distinctions in citizen rights are wrong in principle. Hence it is claimed that, whether a British subject has or has not political rights in his country of origin, he should, on migration to another part of the Empire where British subjects enjoy full political rights, be entitled automatically to the enjoyment of these rights. It is on this basis that equal political rights are claimed for Indians who live, in the Dominions or colonies outside of India. It is, of course, clear that the assumption on which the claim is based is wrong. There is no equality of British citizenship throughout the Empire. On tho contrary, there is every imaginable difference. In some parts British subjects have no political rights whatever ;in others they have modified rights of one kind or another ; in others, again, they have the fullest political rights. In the same part you may find British subjects with little or no political rights, and others with full rights. There is no common equal British citizenship in the Empire, and it is quite wrong for a British subject to claim equality of rights in any part of the Empire, to which he has migrated or where he happens to be living. There is no indignity or afront at all in the denial of such equality. Once this is clearly recognized, the stigma above referred to falls away. Indians in those parts of the Empire where they do not enjoy equal franchise rights cannot justly or fairly claim that their national dignity or status is involved. Igo even further. The newer conception of the British Empire as a smaller League of Nations, as a partnership of free and equal nations under a common hereditary Sovereign, involves an even further departure from the simple conception of a unitary citizenship. British citizenship has been variable in the past; it is bound to be even more so in the future. Each constituent part of the Empire will settle for itself the nature and incidents of its citizenship. The composition and character and rights of its people will be the concern of each, free and equal State in the Empire. It will not only regulate immigration from other parts of the Empire as well as from the outside world, but it will also settle the rights of its citizens as a matter of domestic concern. The common Kingship is the
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