ASIATICS.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 18947, 11 March 1927, Page 16

ASIATICS.

ALARM IN BRITISH COLUMBIA. YELLOW WAVE SPREADING EASTWARD. (from ocb srraAL correspondent.) VANCOUVER-, February 11. The contractors who built the Canadian Pacific. Kk-ilway, and introduced large numbers of Orientals for the purpose, would have stayed tjieir band had they foreseen tlie alarm their action was destined to cause fifty years, or forty years afterwards. A comprehensive survey of Oriental population and activity—the first to i-o made—reveals facts from which people may - reasonably deduce that, a century hence, the Oriental will be m a pos'tion to challenge the white people for supremacy in British Columbia. The Oriental problem in Canada has, in the past, been confined to Bntisu Columbia. Very little sympathy was given by eastern communities to tn© protests coming from the Pacific province, as it was not anticipated that the Oriental would cross the Rockies. But the present survey proves that he is beginning'to trek eastward, not to stay on the Prairies, but in the settled' portions of Ontario'.* British Columbia may therefore cet a little more sympathy in its protests. ' _ The Asiatic population in British Columbia now stands at 46,000, and shows very rapid -growth during recent years, 'ln the race, the Chinese are beingr quickly overhauled in numbers by the Japanese, for, during the present quarter of a century, Japanese have increased - five-fold in numbers, while the Chinese population has but doubled. Orientals hold real property valued at £2,500,000 in the province, and there are 3000 of them registered in businesses, among a population that is no greater than that of Queensland or the North Island of New Zealand. The children of Orientals now comprise 4 per cent, of the entire school population, and are increasing in attendance at more than double the rate of the white children. Japanese have increased ;n_ total numbers from to 20,000 in "X? years —in far greater proportion to the total white increase in the population. Oriental Birth Bate.

The birth-rate among Japanese i 3 more than double the birth-rate in the white population. Since the last census, ti:e aggregate increase in the Japanese population of the province, through the excess of births over deaths, has exceeded that of immigration. Apart from this, there has always been difficulty ill securing registration #of births among Orientals, and there is some ground for the suspicion that, even yet, with, the greatest vigilance on the part of the Provincial Board of Health, there are births which are not. reported. Many of them are not registered until years after. A new and significant feature in the survey i 3 that which relates to the growing tendency of the Oriental to go eastward, to Ontario, and even Quebec. This eastward trend commenced in 1914, and is growing to quite a steady movement, gaining in volume with the years. In 1918-19, 1100 Chinese went to Ontario and Quebec. Latterly, the three Prairie Provinces have been getting a quota. Japanese go to school in greater volume, absolutely and relatively, than Chinese. There are now 2500 Japanese children and 2400 Chinese in the provincial schools, although the total population of the Chinese is much greater than that of the Japanese. Jn three vears, the school attendance of Japanese increased 74 per cent. Deportation Proposed. Since the publication of this report, returned soldiers have been endeavouring to arouse public opinion to the need foF some action before it is too late. TLe association passed the following resolution: —"Immediate deportation of al! Chinese from Canada, following confiscation of all their personal property and complete 'disbarment' of immigration from China to the Dominion." A soldier member of the B.C. Legisla- ! ture is ini'-oducing a Bill, prohibiting ! Oriental children from attending white schools, forbidding Oriental ownership of property in land, and establishing | an education test that will prevent the | present dominance in industries, particularly lumber. Both the resolution :md the Bill are ultra vires, and will be treated as such, but they Eerve to show how the Oriental invasion is being regraded by ex-servico men.