cHAP. Iv] IMMIGRATION OF COLOURED RACES 1091
and compelled them, if engaged in trade, to trade in locations,
 and compelled all Indians to be registered and pay a
fee. The Act was the cause of complaints from the Imperial
Government, but, after an arbitral award in 1895, only of
friendly though urgent representations! After annexation
there was a demand in the Colony for further restrictions,
but the whole position was summed up unfavourably to
their contention by Mr. Lyttelton in a dispatch of July 20,
1904, in which he declined to do more than allow the passing
of the usual legislation on the Natal lines. The following
extract from that dispatch is of great importance :—2
In this dispatch? Sir A. Lawley dwelt strongly on the
danger with which the continued existence of the European
commercial community in the Transvaal towns is threatened
by the continued influx of Asiatic traders, with whom, owing
to their lower standard of living, Europeans cannot compete,
and on the consequent violent prejudice against the Asiatics
which exists in every town of the Transvaal. He pointed
out how in towns like Pietersburg the small European traders
had been completely swamped by Indians, and contended
that it depended upon the decision of the question of the
position of Asiatics whether the Transvaal should remain in
any sense a white man’s country.
Two facts rendered immediate legislation imperatively
urgent :—
1. The outbreak of plague in the Indian quarter of
Johannesburg, illustrating the necessity for removing Indians
to separate locations on sanitary grounds.
2. The fact that, as had been anticipated, a test case was
being brought before the Supreme Court of the Transvaal to
determine the validity of the old Boer Court’s interpretation
of Law No. 3 of 1885.
The final proposals of the Transvaal Government as set
forth in that dispatch are that there should be introduced
‘nto the Legislative Council of the Transvaal—
(@) An Immigration Restriction Law on the lines of the
similar Cape and Natal Acts, providing inter alia an education
test for would-be immigrants, for the purposes of which
fndian languages should not be accepted.
(0) A measure dealing with Indians on the lines of the
Government Notice No. 356 of 1903, above referred to,
providing :—
! Parl. Pap., C. 7911. * Parl. Pap., Cd. 2239, pp. 44 seq.
* Parl. Pap., Cd. 2239, No. 2.
Mm?