This Day in History: July 18, 1914
Additional Date: July 18, 1914
Mohandas Gandhi, after successfully leading campaigns of Passive Resistance in this country, finally left from Cape Town by ship for England, from where he would return to India in January 1915. Deliberations between Gandhi and Gen J.C. Smuts led to the passing of the Indian Relief Act, by which the £3 tax on ex-indentured Indians was abolished, validity of Hindu and Moslem marriages recognised and children of Indians living in South Africa were enabled to join their parents in South Africa. This Act, which Gandhi claimed to be the Magna Carta of Indian liberty in SA, was passed in July, and it contributed to his view that his task in South Africa has been fulfilled.