The Wanganui Herald. [PUBLISHED DAILY.] THURSDAY, JULY 9, 1914. CANADA AND THE HINDUS.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 14340, 9 July 1914, Page 4

The Wanganui Herald. [PUBLISHED DAILY.] THURSDAY, JULY 9, 1914. CANADA AND THE HINDUS.

i The decision of the Canadian Courts j against the entry of the steamer Komagaj ta’s load of Hindu immigrants, and the j exchange of the latter’s truculent attiI tude for a submissive acceptance of the situation, will please all advocates of the j “white” policy. That policy is more cori rectly described ah one which insists that J the whites should keep their own countries free of a coloured admixture, while the coloured people remain within the I bounds of their own habitation. This docj trine has been emphatically adopted by I Australia and New Zealand, and more re- ; eently South Africa showed her acceptI anco of it, so far ,a,s Asiatics are concerni ed, in no less emphatic fashion. After much agitating, hath of somewhat bitter economic and social experience, Canaan has now come into line with the other "white” Dominions of the British Empire. For a long time, the Dominion of Canada, and the province of British Columbia in' particular, have been feeling the effects of the influx of Asiatics. The labour market of British Columbia was swamped, and hundreds have been endeavouring in vain to procure work. This state of things has been partially duo to the immigration of unfit white people, but also to the numbers of Orientals' who have secured entry into the country—according to the census returns of 1911 there were 19,568 Chinese alone in British Columbia. The Japanese have almost absorbed the fisheries; every small ship is held is a Chinese. As the "Times” correspondent at Victoria rays, "it is felt that Asia is knocking, and knocking persistently at the door of Western America. By forcing an issue the Indians will probably impel Parliament to pass more drastic legislation against Orientals, The British Columbian members of the House of Commons are united in favour of the absolute exclusion of Indians, Chinese, and Japanese, and no Canadian Government will strongly resist tho unanimous demand of the- Pacific pro-

vince.” Til at the “Times” correspondent's forecast was! correct is seen by the more stringent laws against Asiatic exclusion recently passed by the Canadian Parliament. But' vested interests wer'e not yet done with, hence the recent attempt to force an entry for the Komagata’s passengers. This incui’B : on was attempted with the deliberate intention of defying the • Canadian law. It was organised by a wealthy Indian contractor, Gurdit Singh, of Lahore, who, interviewed on the subject, said, “I financed this trip for the purpose of testing the validity of the immigration regulations excluding Hindus from Canada, and I am to carry the matter to its extreme limit if my countrymen arc deported. Wo are British subjects, and we claim the right to migrate from one part of the Empire to another. You come to remaking yourselves our rulers. We come to you as labourers and you deny us entry.” Apart from the coolness of his complaint against Canadians for wanting to rule in their own country, Gurdit Singh over-reached himself by not making himself sufficiently acquainted with tire new Canadian immigration law?, and . nould probably never have made the trip had he been properly seized of the fact that those laws made his attempt futile, and his dejected departure from British Columbia inevitable. It is a notable victory for Dominion right, and now that flic has established the validity of her legislation Candida .will, no doubt, begin tho task of purging her shores' from Asiatics already there, just as South Africa has done. Apropos, it is to he hoped tlie Hew Zealand Government is not ging to dally with the matter of speed 1 i : sending-away those Indians who have n I cently invaded the Auckland province.