Market gardening has been a traditional way of life of the Indian community for many years. In the Report of the Coolie Commission (1872) for example, mention is made of small locations of Indians in the neighbourhood of Durban who carried on a thriving trade 1n the sale of vegetables. Furthermore, the available literature suggests that Indian growers played an important role in supplying the local urban population with fresh produce, The Report of the Protector of Indian Immigration (1882) states that "Those (Indians) settled in the vicinity of Durban and Pietermaritzburg have succeeded in winning for themselves almost entirely the supply of the local market with vegetables".