Binns was later appointed by the Legislative Council to lead a delegation to India in 1894 to obtain the approval of the Indian Government to a proposal that Indian indentured labourers working on the canefields in Natal who did not return to India at the end of their indenture contracts should be subject to an annual tax of £25. The proposal did not find favour with Lord Elgin (Victor Bruce, 9th Earl of Elgin), the Viceroy of India, and an annual tax of £3 was subsequently imposed. This measure caused significant resentment amongst the Natal Indian community and was strongly opposed by the Natal Indian Congress, as recorded by Mahatma Gandhi in The Story of My Experiments with Truth sv "The £3 Tax". Sir Henry, however, was an outspoken opponent of the introduction, under the government of Harry Escombe, of the Dealers' Licences Act of 1897, which unfairly hampered the ability of Indians to carry on trade as merchant traders in the colony. Binns described the Act as 'an un-British measure'. Binns succeeded the Rt. Hon. Harry Escombe P.C. as prime minister in October 1897. He was known to favour good relations with the neighbouring South African Republic (ZAR) under President Paul Kruger, a position which caused tensions with some of the fiercely pro-imperialist members of his cabinet, such as Albert Hime (Sir Albert Henry Hime) and Henry Bale (later, Sir Henry Bale, Chief Justice of Natal from 1901 to 1910); and with the newly appointed High Commissioner in South Africa, Sir Alfred Milner (Alfred Milner, 1st Viscount Milner). It was nevertheless under his premiership, in May 1898, that Natal joined the OFS-Cape Colony customs union, which reduced Natal's economic ties with the Transvaal. He died in office on 6 June 1899 in British South East Africa. He was buried at the military cemetery in Durban. His successor in office was Sir Albert Hime. Binns also served on the boards of the Natal Bank and the Durban Tramway Company. Binns married Clara Acutt, whom he had met when they were fellow passengers on the ship "Early Morn" from England as immigrants to Natal in 1858. His only surviving child, Percy Binns KC, was a contemporary of Mahatma Gandhi at the Natal Bar and later became Chief Magistrate of Durban.