Coll 1/49 'Aden. Administration and control: changes consequent on Indian constitutional reforms; transfer to HMG' [‎445r] (898/968)

ON INDIAN CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM
20“ Nmembris, 1933.] Memorandum by Sm Phiroze ! Continued
C. Sethna, on the Future Constitution ot Aden
teeil tlemi^
e. so lat I,..
imedtbt^
*1 out krij
eketueiiJij
one tai ail®
'eom wail
on, Sir, talk
Hmjke:;
[ sU NB
i No.
i Court j’ss
to t!ie
at iclfiri*
^tasa*®
jonrse
“ I now come to item No. 5. The communique says that a proportion of
Indian service administrative personnel would be retained in the Aden
service—and please note— a proportion 5 will be retained and the rest will
be sent away, and even the proportion that is retained will be retained ‘ for
some years, which means that at the earliest opportunity they will be
asked to go away. And what is more important, in the future under the
Colonial administration no more Indians will be taken, which will also
be some little loss to this country in the matter.
“ Then there is the last item, which is perhaps the most important of all
I is said no racial legislation or segregation would be permitted by His
Majesty s Government Now, Sir, we have very grave doubts if in spite
of this assurance that Government will be able to maintain this promise
for long. I will tell you why? His Majesty’s Government must carry out
a uniform Colonial policy. If they favour and discriminate in favour of
Asiatics m Aden, there is bound to be a clamour on the part of Europeans
in the other Colonies to which Government will have to yield as they
have yielded m the past and they are yielding every day. Therefore these
assurances are all paper assurances. They will last only for months or years
and the position of Indians in Aden will become the same as the position
of Indians m Kenya or other Colonies. And that, Sir, is our most serious
objection to the transfer. Experience tells us that we have suffered else
where and we are bound to suffer here as well, in spite of all promises and
pledges to the contrary.
“ Now, Mr. President, I will in accordance with your wishes be brief
although I have much more material to add. I will enumerate the objec
tions which we entertain against the proposed transfer. They are manv
but I will content myself at present with only five.
First. It has been said that we are fighting and agitating against this
proposed transfer merely on the ground of sentiment. If we do so are
we not justified? Indians have been in Aden even before the British Vent
there The British acquired Aden 94 years ago in 1839. Indians were
there before that time and because of the encouragement given by British
officers more Indians followed the British flag and particularly because they
had assurances that Aden would ever remain a part of the Indian Empire.
If they at any time had any doubts on the subject, because of Indian
experience in other Colonies they would never have sunk their lakhs One lakh is equal to one hundred thousand rupees as
they have done in buildings, shipping wharves, salt factories and in other
concerns. They control in a great measure the trade of the Settlement.
It will be no exaggeration to say that the barren rock of Aden with her
population of 3,000 inhabitants has been converted into a prosperous port
with a population of more than half a lakh One lakh is equal to one hundred thousand rupees by Indian men and money, by
Indian resources and enterprise. It is therefore the duty of the Govern
ment to give us a patient hearing and to do us justice. We do not want
to go under Colonial administration because we know that in that event
Indians will have to leave the Settlement for reasons that I will deal with
in our second objection to which I now turn.
“ Near Aden, as the Honourable House knmvs, is Somaliland. Somaliland
was at one time administered by the Bombay Government. 'So long as it
was administered by the Bombay Government, its three ports, Berbera,
Bulhar and Zaila, were prosperous. They were going on from strength
to strength. After the Somaliland War the Home Government thought it
right to transfer Somaliland to the Colonial Office. With what result, Mr.