CO885-(20-21) — Page 138

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

C.O. 885

20 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

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such mistakes brought to their notice and to correct them as far as it may be possible to do so, but they claim with great assurance that cases in which there has been any miscarriage of justice must be extremely rare. to judge from so hurried a visit, I feel that their belief is justified.

So far as it is possible

EXPENSES OF IMMIGRANTS DETAINED ON LANDING.

At Ottawa and at Quebec I made special reference to the question of the expenses of immigrants detained at the Government Immigration Hospital at Quebec. The Hospital is used for the accommodation not only of immigrants whose health is not satisfactory, but also of others whose entry is, for the moment, for- bidden on such grounds as lack of necessary funds. before the Emigrants' Information Office in the case of a British immigrant, John The question was brought Driscoll, whose wife and family on going out to join him incurred what appeared to be very large expenses while detained in the Hospital because one of the children had ringworm. The present charges are 75 cents a day for each immigrant who requires medical attention, and 50 cents a day for each person accompanying such an immigrant, or detained on other than medical grounds. The Hospital is run - on business lines; no free accommodation of any kind is given, and the charges are intended to cover the expenses. The present charges do not meet expenses, and it is proposed shortly to raise them to $1.25 a day for an immigrant requiring medical attention and 75 cents a day for anyone else. When an immigrant's state of health is such that he cannot be allowed to "land" in Canada in the technical sense, if there is any reasonable prospect of his ultimately improving to such an extent as to gain entrance, the Government gives the shipping company who brought him the option of taking him back forthwith or of making themselves liable for his expenses in the Hospital during the period necessary for the recovery of his health. The shipping company can please themselves whether they make themselves responsible for the expenses or give the man a free passage home again at once. the Government has no dealings in the matter with the immigrant himself. He In any case is not liable to the Government for his expenses. It is entirely a matter between the shipping company and the immigrant, and if any recovery of the expenses is eventually made from him it is made by the shipping company. The Govern- ment do not enquire whether the shipping company take steps to recover the money from the immigrant, and hold that it is no concern of theirs. This was the situation in the Driscoll case. It was the shipping company, as is evident from a close perusal of the papers, who told John Driscoll that his wife and family would be sent back to England if he did not pay the bill for their expenses. It was the shipping company who arranged, entirely on their own initiative, for the special and expensive X-Ray treatment outside the hospital, no doubt in the hope of shortening the period of detention and keeping down the expenses for which they had made themselves liable. It was, therefore, no great generosity on their part to contribute something towards, the payment of the bill, as they did eventually under pressure from the East End Emigration Fund.

THE ENGLISHMAN IN CANADA.

One great disappointment awaited me in my visit to Canada. A great deal has been heard during the last few years of the unpopularity of the Englishman in Canada. I went out in the hope that I should find that the talk on this subject had been greatly exaggerated or that, in any case, the alleged feeling was a thing of the past. It would be rash to say that either anticipation was fulfilled. It will be apparent from the record of conversations appended to this report that there is a very widespread feeling in Canada that the English immigrant is not as useful a member of Canadian society as might be expected, and that he compares unfavour- ably in some respects with immigrants from the United States and even from certain Continental countries. Of the many individuals, both official and unofficial, in all grades of society, to whom I spoke, there was hardly one who did not make some spontaneous reference to this question, generally at a very early stage of the conversation. The trend of the remarks will be seen by reference to the notes at the end of this report. It is difficult to find a word to describe accurately the feeling which seems to exist. Unpopularity" is almost too harsh a term to apply. "Unadaptability," if there is such a word, comes nearest to describing the quality or defect which is the object of remark. The state of mind of those to whom

spoke seemed to be a blend of disappointment and resentment that the English immigrant is not more to their taste.

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(In speaking of this subject, the term "British generally showed that "English

was often used. Enquiry was made between Englishmen and other immigrants from the United Kingdom. was really meant, and that a clear distinction In a few cases Scotchmen were included in the condemnation.)

A certain amount of confusion of thought was clearly discernible. Some of the people who gave utterance to the sentiment referred to were clearly thinking not so much of the ordinary English immigrant as of the more or less undesirable class of immigrants with whom Canada was undoubtedly overburdened about three years ago, viz., city-bred people who, even if they were willing, were unable to take up work on the land or the other rough manual labour which is all that Canada offers in any considerable volume. So far as the feeling was due to recollections of this class of immigrant, it was easy to secure the admission that the quality of the immi- grants has greatly improved during the last two years, and that it could not be expected that immigrants of this class, at least in any considerable number, would again find entrance into Canada. This admission was generally given at once and without reserve. But, after making all due allowance for feelings derived from this source, it may be said unhesitatingly that there is a remarkably wide- spread feeling in Canada that many English immigrants either cannot or will not adapt themselves completely to the conditions which they find in Canada, or at any rate are very slow to do so. was caused by the defects of the minority and that the reputation of the majority It was pretty generally admitted that the feeling suffered in consequence. Wherever I went it was said that the really good English- man was, after all, the best of immigrants. This remark was always made by way of concession, the implication plainly being that very many Englishmen were not "really good." The conversations recorded teem with allusions to the superior adaptability shown by immigrants of other nationalities and of all classes. It is not a question of previous experience. Even the experienced English farmer or farm labourer, or the skilled mechanic, does not escape the imputation. This seems to point to some national characteristic which is independent of class or employ- ment. Many Canadians hinted, not very definitely or convincingly, at defects in English methods of education and upbringing.

It was, I think, to be discerned that this feeling about the English immigrant is on the downward grade. Those who expressed it gave the impression that they spoke of it as a feeling which was in process of passing, and which would, in the lapse of time and with improved conditions, disappear. It is much to be hoped that this may be so. It is quite impossible for a single observer in the course of a hurried visit to secure any strong first hand evidence in justification or in criticism of a sentiment of this kind. But of the existence of the feeling there cannot be the slightest doubt, and one can hardly refrain from theorising a little on the subject. As compared with the American immigrant from the Western States, who has been accustomed to almost precisely similar conditions of climate and work, the English immigrant, even of the best type, must always be at some disadvantage. But it is painful to think that he should be so in comparison with Swedes, French, and Germans. It is probable that there is something in the fact that the English immigrant comes to a country in which he finds the same language and, to a very great extent, the same institutions and habits of thought. He, consequently, does not realise that he is in an environment widely different in other very important respects from that to which he has been accustomed, and that it may be necessary for him to revolutionise lifelong habits of thought and conduet and ingrained methods of doing familiar work. A foreigner going to Canada realises before he starts and throughout his stay there that he is a stranger in a strange land, and he is, therefore, more or less consciously prepared to make the effort to adapt himself to the new conditions. There may, too, be something in the fact that the Continental immigrant is, generally speaking, more disciplined than the average Englishman. Compulsory military service is bound to engender greater readiness to obey the word of command and to subordinate personal inclinations to the superior authority, not only of individuals, but of circumstances. The Canadian,

on the other hand, probably expects too much from one whose language, history, and allegiance appear to mark him out as predestined to fit smoothly into Canadian conditions. The Canadian has all the self-confidence of a young and successful nation and all the impatience of a busy man eager to prosper quickly. He is dis- turbed by any impediment, and is not disposed to make allowances for and to try