G
THE
In
his work is of a manifestly inferior character. consequence of this and of the cheapness of bis scant living, his wage suffers in comparison with that of the European. This last reason explains in a measure why the Hindu finds employment so readily in the lumber camps, sawmills and wood- yards. His services are cheap-that is his chief re- commendation in these aerial dividend-earning days. His capacity for labor is not so closely scruti- nized; thus he is proving a menace to the European laborer, hundreds of whom are today walking the streets of Vancouver in a more or less destitute con- dition, the while our Hindu friend is pursuing the even tenor of his way, serene in the consciousness that he can underbid the white man at every turn of the tide in the labor market. The European, al- though of necessity demanding a higher wage to meet the expenses of his decent mode of living, gives to his employer service of a vastly inferior character.
Our
Not only is the lindu a menace as at present placed in our midst but, provided entrance is finally granted to his wife and family, a state of affairs is bound to arise which in a few years would become a serious blot on our national escutcheon. whole social system will stand in danger of cor- ruption. The Hindu and other Asiatic races would never assimilate with white people. Their habits, morals, caste system and mode of living conspire to defeat this end. Sikh customs are of a very low standard. A religious sanction in some degree still attaches to infant or child marriage, also to the se- clusion of women. Polygamy is still practised, al- though confined of necessity to those who are able to support more than one wife.
The caste system is a potent factor in their national life, the religious sanction of which still applies. The restrictions in respect of food and drink (water) in the caste system are most severe and narrow. Caste is lost by any of the infringe- ments that are inevitable in foreign intercourse. So elastic is the system, however, that restoration to caste, though often expensive is sufficiently facile.
ARYAN
The Sikh faith, as practised right here in the city of Vancouver, is really but an offshoot of Hinduism. Deep attachment to the ancestral religion usurps with them the place of patriotism. A critical survey
of the different Indian sects will show how little the
character of their worship is calculated to exert that elevating and spiritualising influence so character- istic of true religious devotion. In all but a few of the minor aspects religious fervor is only too apt to degenerate into that very state of immoral excita- tion which devotional exercises should surely tend to repress and subdue.
The
Added to the repeated protests made by the Pro- vincial Government of British Columbia, headed by Premier McBride, there have been presented to the Dominion Government strong resolutions passed by the Vancouver Ministerial Association recognizing the gravity of the situation, and its bearing upon the future of our natonal life, and protesting against the proposed change in the regulations covering the admission of the wives of resident Hindus. National Council of Women have also upraised their voice in protest against the proposed innova- tion. Eburne also has joined in the general protest. It is time for us to be up and doing if we are to preserve this broad Dominion of ours in a decently clean state. In a new country such as Canada is we have many difficulties and dangers to contend with, both as regards social and business relations. Surely it is unnecessary and near-sighted on the part of the Dominion Government to add to the difficulties which we are now so bravely surmounting one after another. Let every one do his or her utmost to bring pressure to bear upon the Dominion Govern- ment with a view to the rigid exclusion of the Asiatic.
What will be the verdict of the expert who was sent to the Pacific Coast to study the question we do not know, but it is sincerely the hope of every true Britisher that it will be a direct and straight- forward condemnation of the proposed change. In this, and in this only, lies our national, and even political safety as a British nation.-A. Fraser Reid in "Opportunities."
NEWS AND NOTES.
THE
ARYAN
VICTORIA City authorities will not authorize the issuance of a building permit to the Sikhs who have applied for the erection on the Smith's Hill reservoir hill of a Sikh Temple.
At a meet-
7
great part in the anti-Hindu campaign, has been retired from the service.
*
THE Hon'ble Mr. Enthoven, replying to the Hon- 'bie Mr. Sachchidananda Sinha's question in the In- dia Legislative Council regarding the dissibilities of Hindus, said on 27th February, 1912—No further information has been received from the Secretary of State since the reply on the same subject, which gave to the Hon'ble member on the 22nd Sept. last. We wish that our other Congress friends took a little more interest in our countrymen settled inCan- ada. We hope that the India National Congress will take a little more active interest in the Hindu set-
I
ing of the Council, a petition signed by ninety property owners interested was submitted protest- ing against the issue of the permit, the petition be- ing strongly supported by Alderman Cuthbert, who was applauded by a large number of the petition- ers present in the Council. Aldermen Gleason and Baker advocated laying the matter over for a week. as in all likelihood arrangements for the acquisition of the property on which is contemplated erecting tlers of Canada. the temple could be made by adjoining owners.
* * *
MR. C. E. TISDALL, Member of the B. C. Pro- vincial Parliament from Vancouver, urged that the government should maintain the firm stand it has always taken in oposition to Asiatic immigration, and he opposed in vigorous manner the plea of the Hindus in the province that they be allowed to bring their wives into this country.
* * *
AT a protest meeting of Sikhs held on April 1st in the Sikh Temple. Second Avenue, the follow- ing telegram was authorized to be sent to the Pre- mier of Canada:
"Honored Premier, In the name of humanity, and being the subjects of the common sovereign, I strongly urge upon you to remove the racial preju- dice from the Dominion. You are going to copy Australia and South Africa and tear our wives from us, but we are not to suffer such gross injustice."
* *
*
HINDUS are being engaged for work on the farms of Montana, U.S.A.
*
DURING the last year the arrivals of Asiatics in British Columbia included 5254 Chinese, 436 Japan- ese and only one Hindu.
*
MR. J. H. McGILL, the Dominion Immigration Agent at Vancouver, B.C., and who has taken a
* *
Premier Richard McBride, speaking about the Hindus in the B. C. Legislature, said: "It has been shown conclusively that the Hindu cannot assimi- late with the people of this country and enjoy that full measure of citizenship which we wish all the people of this country to enjoy for all time to come.”
* * *
THE well-known magazine, the Modern Review of Calcutta, writing on Hindu immigration, which we recommend to the notice of Canadian statesmen,
says:
"There cannot be a satisfactory solution of the immigration question until the inhabitants of India are allowed to emigrate to the British colonies as freely as the British colonists are allowed to emi- grate to India. The only real reason why these colonists dare to shut out Hindus is that they think India is weak and cannot retaliate. All the other
T reasons. generally given are arrant nonsense. these colonists claim to shut out Hindus because they are a foreign stock, and introduce an unassim- ilable element in the population, why did these colonists themselves take possession of and settle in the lands of the "coloured" men? Surely the colonists, too, were foreigners; surely, they, too. have not formed one people with the aborigines by intermarriage and the resultant racial fusion. Of course, the one solid and real argument in the back- ground which the colonists would do well to adduce with brutal frankness is, "We are strong and can do
614
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.