Grey River Argus MONDAY, March 26, 1928. THE CHINESE EXODUS.

Grey River Argus, 26 March 1928, Page 4

Grey River Argus MONDAY, March 26, 1928. THE CHINESE EXODUS.

While . Aust tnlia and New Zealand keep a strict- check, it appears as if time will inevitably witness the admission of more Asiatics to almost every one of the countries bordering the Pacific Ocean. There is a continual exodus from China. The .Japanese also are spreading. They are indeed compelled to go abroad.. The countries nearest them are being gradually over-

run, and ultimately the dispersion sees them trickle into almost every country around the. Pacific. For one thing, the Asiatic is very adaptable. He will tackle what the European would disdain, and gradually he secures a footing, as on the Pacific Slope of North America, and then he is irremovable. The modern migrant, from the East is far better fitted than his predecessor for the new environment into which he goes; because his own country is gradually being brought into touch with Western ideas and industries and commerce. The Malay States show both Chinese and Japanese in an improving economic position. It is the same in California, and the neighbouring States of America. However, the situation in Western Canada is at present of all the most significant. The AttorneyGeneral of British Columbia declares that the assured destiny of that province is to be -a British- 1

Oriental community. Recently, leading Canadian politicians have been talking of limiting the foreign influx to a proportion of 30 per cent, of the total immigration. However, with the present decline of the birth rate in Britain, this in another generation might prove an imprudent policy, because it would limit the legitimate influx, whereas an illegal one might include a fair Asiatic- percentage. The position in British Columbia, is now I hat out of every six male persons, one is an Asiatic. Thus out of (>OO,OOO, there is mt Asiatic population of 43,000, of whom 17,000 are Japanese and 26,000 are Chinese. There are only 270,000 females in British Columbia, and deducting juveniles and others at schools ami colleges, there is one Asiatic male to every six European males. On the other hand, the birth, rate of the Asiatics is three times as great as that of the Europeans, which leads statisticians to the reasoned conclusion that in half a century, with two more generations matured, and with the present rates of migration. and of births and deaths, the Asiatic will be the dominant race. This is contrasted with the position in .1878, when the proportion of British was greater in British Columbia than in any other province of Canada. The angle from which British authorities elsewhere regard the prospect is that of Hie tendency towards the absorption of Western Canada into the United Slates, since the white inhabitants would undoubtedly be more inclined, with the gradual increase of the Asiatic element, to favour such a change, lit would seem that the. British Columbians must reconcile themselves to a permanent Asiatic element, because their attempts to check the Chinese are ineffective. The poll tax is now £5OO, and Still they come. In -the lumber industry a minimum wage law has been operating, and it is now being extended to other industries, with the object of squeezing out the Asiatic, while the landowners to a large extent have pledged themselves no longer to lease land to an. Oriental. The Chinese and

Japanese have found loopholes in recent laws dealing with marketing, and have strengthened their grip on the fruit and vegetable trade in the main centres. As to the Japanese, the rule at present is to limit the immigrants to 444 yearly. It appears that tlie, greatest reliance as to preventive measures is placed on securing the co-

operation of the Governnienls of the Oriental eountries, but it is certain that a great many will run the gauntlet, onee their compatriots are established in the lands to which they wish to go themselves. New Zealand has hail not a few instances of this. Thus the. increase of the poll tax fiftyfold in Western Canada has had practically no check on Chinese immigration, as the Chinese Associations there have become very wealthy, and they finance every activity of their countrymen, from buying land and selling products to the finding of their passage money. An absolute exclusion law seems probable in British Columbia, but the future alone can show whether it is now possible to stop the exodus of the Asiatic eastwards and southwards. The only alternative to one class if immigrant would appear to be another, so that the lesson for Australia is to fill up her vacant spaces as soon as possible with the type of newcomers which she prefers.