Indians
Part 1 the history
Edmond Morewood is credited with the introduction of sugar cane farming to Natal where in 1846 he was granted a farm on the outskirts of the Port Natal-Durban settlement. Morewood sailed to Mauritius and Reunion seeking advice on growing sugar cane and he returned with hardy new and knowledge. In his absence the new government expropriated his farm however he renegotiated and was allocated a new stretch of land further to the north, that he aptly named Compensation.
With the expansion of his project, labour to grow and harvest the crop was becoming an important issue and began agitating the authorities to institute the indentured system that Morewood had seen in action on his travels to the Indian Ocean islands. There were anti-indentured labour lobbies on the grounds that an adequate work-force existed, or that the Colony’s white settlers should not be further outnumbered by the introduction of more non- Europeans. Luckily for Morewood the Governor of the Cape Colony, Sir George Gray, instructed the local Government Colonial Secretary to write to the Government of India, asking that the Natal Colony be included among approved destinations for emigrant labour. India had already experienced abuses of the system and exacerbated by rumours of Hindus are forced to eat beef and Muslims forced to eat pork therefore the position of Protector was created in Natal. The Protector regulated conditions of transport from India, pay conditions equal to those in Mauritius and generally to look after the Indian emigrants welfare.
Local laws were implemented whereas a prospective employer was required to officially requisition labour and agree to pay passage costs and other related expenses. In addition only a licensed authority could introduce immigrants into the Colony and the local Protector had power to inspect a ship before allowing its passengers to disembark. The Master had a duty to provide rations for up to two days after docking, all immigrants had to be registered and heavy fines could be imposed for poorly feeding or ill-treatment. The first shiploads of immigrants were indentured for ten years reduced five years. The wage scale was 10 shillings a month for the first year, 11 shillings a month for the second year and so on. Conditions were established for labourers to re-indenture themselves or to buy themselves out for three Pounds after three years service. So-called Free Indians those who had served out their indenture or were to arrive under their own volition were free to negotiate their own terms with employers. On the contract’s completion, it was possible to commute the price of a free return passage, the pay-out enabling purchase of Crown land in 15-acre plots. This proved incentive enough for many, particularly those of peasant families whose prospects were dismal indeed in the India of that particular juncture.
Initially two ships were chartered, the Belvedere out of Calcutta, and the Truro from Madras, each carried 342 passengers, and were the first of 384 vessels destined to ply this route during the coming half century. The Belvedere was first to embark, leaving Calcutta on 4 October 1860 and followed by the Truro ex Madras a week later. No records exist, but it’s highly unlikely that any fanfare accompanied their departure, indentured emigration having already slipped from the front pages of India’s newspapers. The Truro, a paddle steamer, took a shorter route and arrived off Port Natal-Durban on 16 November 1860, with the Belvedere arriving ten days later.
Under the less than jubilant banner headline The Coolies Here, the Natal Mercury reported that the planter’s pet project has been realised and described the swarthy hordes pouring out of the boat’s hold as a queer, comical, foreign-looking and very Oriental-like crowd. The newspaper accurately reported that the complement included bankers, carpenters, accountants and mechanics in its number. Of the Truro’s 342 passengers, 190 were adult males over 16 years of age, 80 adult females, 36 boys aged 15 and under and 36 girls. Christian Indians accounted for 95 of these, while Muslims totalled 23 and Hindus 163. The remaining Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs, Pharsis and Sufis were not classified. Between 1860 and 1911 approximately 152,000 Indians came to Natal with 60% hailing from the Indian port of Madras. This in effect meant that most of the indentured labourers were either Tamil or Telegu speaking. Other groups, mainly Muslims came as traders from Northern Indian, arriving twenty years later.
For the remainder of the 19th century Indian integration into South Africa has been documented in numerous books and newspaper articles and can be found in almost all central libraries and museums.
The first record of Indians in the district is in 1877, when one Indian was in the employ of Bauboo Naidoo and, in 1878, there were five Indians, four being employed by W.J. Boyd. In 1882, the Resident Magistrate for the Klip River division reported that there were many complaints from both masters and servants and thus no satisfaction was achieved by either party. An example was a letter written by W Bloy to the resident magistrate of Ladysmith reporting the disappearance of `coolies’ Royappan and Sowryammah. He then wrote to the Protector of Immigrants stating that the `coolies’ had not returned to him and that they were being harboured by someone in Ladysmith. When contacted by the Protector of Immigrants about the case, the resident magistrate reported that the Indians had been jailed for fourteen days for refusing to return to their employer. In 1883, T Bauboo Naidoo, who was employed as Indian interpreter in Ladysmith gave power of attorney to Walton Tatham to collect £2 10 shillings per month on his behalf, from the clerk of court in Ladysmith.
In 1882, no one in Ladysmith spoke Tamilso which gives evidence there must have been Indians in town. In 1886, the resident magistrate reported the number of Indians in Ladysmith as 100 and in the whole district as 350 and, by the 1891 census, there were 607 Indians in Ladysmith. The reason for Klip River having such a high concentration of Indian Railway may perhaps be attributed to the fact that Indian labour was more reliable than Black labour and JB Brain stated: “…..Black labour was unwilling to work for long periods at a time, either because of the need to return to their homes to plough and plant, or because they were target workers, then it would not be surprising that employers tended to prefer the more stable Indian as overseer and for similar tasks requiring continuity.”
Ladysmith Indians come from a variety of religious backgrounds such as Muslim, Tamil, Hindu and others which can be seen from the temples that have been erected over the years. These religious centres not only served as places of prayer but also to promote cultural and educational activities and, adjoining most of these religious centres were halls where functions could be held. In 1898, the first Mosque, also of wood and iron, was built by Hazruth Soofie Sahoeb on the site of the present Soofie Mosque in 1898.
The National Archive marriage register has several Indian marriages recorded before 1900. In 1891, COOPPOO aged 41 years married NOONAINAH, aged 17 years; in 1893, JEEUN aged 19 years married JANKI aged 13 years; in 1896, BILATHOOSEW aged 38 years married BHAGEC aged 14 3/4 years; in 1898, MUNGRA married SOOKNEE aged 13.
An Indian Rajput soldier, Parbha Singh, who was trapped in Ladysmith during the siege and, after the offer of his services to the army in Ladysmith had been rejected, he made it his duty to help the residents of Ladysmith. He achieved this by exposing himself to harm by standing, for many hours every day, on top of a large pile of stores, which had been covered by canvas. Whenever he observed smoke from the Boer guns, he would vigorously wave a flag and shout. A friend would vigorously ring the Town hall bell to alert the residence to the danger of an incoming shell and thereby contributed to the saving of many lives.
The wife of the Viceroy of India, Lady Curzon, commissioned the manufacture of a embroidered, ceremonial robe of honour for this plucky Indian and this robe plus money, medals and a return ticket to India were dispatched to Durban. These were all collected at the harbour by a DLI escort-detail and delivered to the Mayor’s parlour. On 11th October 1900, the Mayor of Durban, Mr J Nicol, robed Parbhodum Singh and he was presented with the medals and money – the letter was augmented by local contributions. He never used the return ticket to India, for he took a job with the railways to inspect the railway line and he was stationed near Ennersdale, living in a wooden shack next to the line. He would travel to Ladysmith at the end of each month in his uniform, to collect his war pension as well as his award of a bottle of brandy, after which he invariably played cards and gambled. After returning home after one of these sessions, he was surprised by the arrival at his shack of a young woman and a 7-year-old girl – the woman had been sent to him by her husband to honour a gambling debt to Parbhu. Although instantly amused but nonetheless shocked, he allowed the woman to remain at his home – they lived happily ever after and had more children!
Many of the Indians besides engaging in wage labour also carried on their own market gardening on smallholdings. This perhaps was the reason why Indians complained of their working on Sundays and extra hours for no extra pay, as this did not allow them the time to attend to their own produce. In 1878 there were five Indians in the district, four being employed by W.J. Boyd and in the same year S Graves reported that the trend was continuing. 1880 recorded the birth of the Sanathan Dharm Sabha body which established a temple in Forbes Street. About the same time a small Hindu temple was constructed of wood and iron at the railway barracks.
By 1902, many Indians owned land in Ladysmith and the 1902 Ladysmith land valuation roll showed the following listed owners: H Nullamea, Moono Maharaj, David Vinden, Ebram Abdoola, Mohamed Esack, Ajam Hoosen, Esop Suleman, Hirjee Valjee, Hoosen E Chupty, China Narsoo, Abdool Kassim, Samuel Nadan, Himmunchal, Moonsamy Naidoo, Kharwa and Goga, AM Omar, Moola M Amod, Ramasan Panday, Kader Khan.
By 1898, Indians were employed by the Ladysmith municipality and on 1 March 1898, two were hired by the Works Committee at 40 shillings a month, again on 28 September 1898, an Indian sirdar was appointed at a salary of £3 a month.
The Indians, whether free or indentured, had established themselves firmly in Ladysmith however, they faced the same crippling legislation and anti?Indian sentiment, sometimes as in the case of traders, even more in Ladysmith. In the famous case of Vinden versus the Ladysmith Local Board, Jessie Vinden, the local Indian school teacher and wife of the Indian court interpreter in Ladysmith, took the Ladysmith Local Board to court for wrongful arrest. She was arrested by the local Native Police as a ‘Coloured’ person. This case was heard by Sir Walter Wragg, who ruled in favour of Mrs Vinden who had been jailed after being asked for her pass by a Native constable.
Anti-trader legislation in Ladysmith was very keenly felt in the 1900′s when trade licences were refused to Indian storekeepers and, in 1903, Cassim Mahomed, who had been trading for three years on a farm near Ladysmith, was not allowed to renew his licence. Cassim Mahomed had been the only trader in the area until a European opened a store but discovered that Mahomed held a monopoly on all the trade in the area. Mahomed lodge several appeals and it was only later, after further investigation, it was learned that the Public Prosecutor in the case, a police sergeant, was a sleeping partner in the European firm that had Mahomed convicted.
News more interesting than this case is that of MA Goga, who was refused a licence on the grounds that he was unable to keep books in English. Representing Goga was one of the leading advocates of Natal, Wylie, KC and Goga’s appeal was upheld. Not so with two other cases, where the appeals were turned down because they weren’t in a position to afford legal counsel. In the case of Benne, the Licensing officer justified his decision by saying that the appellant was incapable and getting old. He went on to say that Benne was of the labouring class and ought to be on a farm and not keeping a store. In the case of Goga, his father had been trading in Ladysmith from 1880 and, on his death Goga had taken over the business. The premises did not belong to Goga but to a White man in Newcastle and was later purchased by Goga. In 1902, the town council made Goga erect a building costing £5,000 before they would renew his licence. This meant that the value of the town and the amount of rates that the council would collect would be increased at the expense of Goga.
Mrs Henderson remembers her indentured Indian cook Pastoo, as being not only an excellent chef but also part of the family. On Christmas 1903, he was entertained the family performing cartwheels and other tricks to the delight of the gathering. So impressive was his performance that his master gave him half a crown. This generosity, however, turned to fury when it was discovered that his performance had been inspired by the consumption of his master’s precious bottle of whisky! Sadly, on termination of his contract, Pastoo returned to India where, on arriving at Bombay docks he was so excited and impatient that he tried to leap from the ship to the docks, missed his footing and fell into the water and drowned.
See Dhoolie
See Indians in the Boer War
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