Chapter 82 Chapter Three Enduring Insults

The insult made me sick, but I was used to it as I had endured many of it in the past.I therefore resolved to forget this insult, and to treat the matter as calmly as possible. We had a letter from the Director of Asian Affairs, saying that because I had met Mr. Chamberlain in Durban, they thought it necessary to remove my name from the list of petitioning delegations to Chamberlain. This letter was intolerable to my colleagues, who suggested that the organization of the delegation should be abolished altogether.I pointed out to them the embarrassing situation the overseas Chinese group was in.I said, "If you don't go and petition Mr. Chamberlain, you'll be supposed to have nothing wrong with you. Petitions have to be in paper anyway, and we've got them ready. Whether I'll read the petition or someone else will read it, It doesn't matter at all. Mr. Chamberlain wouldn't argue with us about it. I don't think we'll have to bear it."

Before I could finish my sentence, Tie Bu Sai yelled: "Isn't the insult you have suffered an insult to the overseas Chinese group? How can we forget that you are the representative of all of us." "You're quite right," I said. "Even the overseas Chinese community has to endure such insults. What else can we do?" "Why do we have to put up with it anyway? We're not afraid of anything great. How much more rights do we have to lose," asked Tiebsay. This is a very bold answer, but what is the use?I am fully aware of the limits of the power of the Overseas Chinese Mission.I appeased them and persuaded them to find Mr. George Godfrey, an Indian lawyer, to take my place.

So Mr. Godfrey led them to the petition.Mr. Chamberlain mentioned in his reply that I did not participate in the petition. "Instead of hearing the same representative over and over again, wouldn't it be better to have a new one?" he said, trying to lighten the air. However, all these not only did not end the matter, but added work to the overseas Chinese group and ourselves.We have to start from scratch. "It was your idea that the Overseas Chinese Mission helped the war, and now you can see the result," someone laughed at me with such words.But this kind of ridicule has nothing to do with it.I said, "I don't regret my advice, I think we did the right thing in fighting the war. We do it only in fulfillment of our duty. We don't do a thing for any reward, but I have a sense A firm belief that all good things must eventually come to fruition. Let us forget the past and consider our present task." This was agreed by all.

I went on: "To tell you the truth, what you asked me to do is actually done. But I don't believe I should leave the Transvaal just yet, if you give me permission to go home, and I have to stay as long as possible." Some of the time. I can no longer work in Natal as I used to, but I have to move here to work. I should not plan to go back to India within a year, but I have to register as a lawyer in the Transvaal Supreme Court. I Confidence enough to deal with this department, if we do nothing about it, the diaspora will be expelled from the country, besides being plundered. Every day the diaspora may be exposed to new indignities. Mr. Chamberlain refuses Seeing me and that official bullying me is nothing compared to the insults that the entire Chinese community has suffered. It is impossible for us to live like dogs."

So I struck while the iron was hot, discussing many things with Indians in Pretoria and Johannesburg, and finally decided to set up an office in Johannesburg. There is no certainty that I will be registered as a lawyer in the Supreme Court of the Transvaal.However the Law Society did not object to my application and the court accepted it.It was difficult to find several offices in moderate locations for an Indian.But we have quite close contact with Mr. Li Qi, a local businessman. Through the introduction of a familiar house broker, he found me several suitable houses in the judicial area of ​​the city as my office, so I decided to Started my professional work.