THE DAILY PROVINCE
NOVEMBER 19, 1906

p.15

HINDUS WISH TO JOIN THE MILITIA
------------------WILL MAKE APPLICATION.
------------------Ex-Soldiers Have Been Drilling at Millside, and Now
Want to Be Admitted to Sixth Regiment--Propose that
Sikh Company Be Formed--White Soldiers Protesting.

------------------New Westminster, Nov. 19.--(Special.)--Complications of an
altogether unexpected order have arisen from the invasion of this province by
the Hindus. A number of the Sikhs have stated their intention of applying for
admission to the local militia regiment.
A great many of the swarthy newcomers have seen service, having been
previously in the ranks of the cavalry regiments of Punjab or in the native
infantry regiments of the Indian army. The late arrivals are in too miserable
conditions to indulge their martial aspirations, but those who have been
longer here and have in a measure settled down, have found opportunity to
take stock of the institutions of the country. With prosperity the blood of
generations of fighting ancestors has made itself felt, and to satisfy their
ambitions for martial glory, the descendants of Aurangzeb are turning to the
ranks of the militia regiments.
The most prosperous community of the East Indians in this province is
probaboly[Sic] that at Millside, and it is among these men that the scheme for
application for admission to the militia has originated. The men are Sikhs, tall,
broad-shouldered, bushy-whiskered fellows, who hold the puny, thin-legged
Mohammendans[Sic] in contempt. Many of them have served in the army in
India, and know the infantry drill. With the old soldiers as drill sergeants,
numbers of the Millside Sikhs have for the last five or six weeks been drilling
steadily. They think that by now they are quite fitted to take a place in the

THE DAILY PROVINCE
NOVEMBER 19, 1906

p.15

ranks of the Canadian militia alongside of their fellow-British subjects, whose
skin is a little whiter and whose whiskers are a little less fierce than their own.
What will be the outcome when these Sikhs do apply for admission it is
hard to foresee. Many of the militia-men would consider it an indignity to drill
with Sikhs, and some have stated their intention of withdrawing from the
ranks if the East Indians are admitted. That the Sikhs have a perfect right to
enter the ranks is the opinion of those who ought to know. Lawyers state that
any one[Sic] who is a British subject may serve in the militia.
Should it become evident, however, that the admission of the Sikhs
would mean the disorganization of the regiment, the medical examination, to
which all men have to submit before being admitted to the ranks, offers a
loophole of escape, and an unwritten law also gives the commanding officer
the right to refuse admission to any man whose presence in the ranks would
be hurtful to the regiment.
Meanwhile the Sikhs state that if they are not admitted to the ranks with
the white militiamen, they will apply to Ottawa for permission to form a
separate company.