THE DAILY PROVINCE
APRIL 17, 1914

RIGHT OF HINDUS TO RESIDE IN
CANADA

------------------Will Be Insisted On by Wealthy East Indian Who Is
Sending Four Hundred of His Fellow Countrymen
to Vancouver.
------------------(Special Copyright Cable to The Vancouver Daily Province and Montreal Star.)

London, April 17.—Although Indian immigration to Canada and the
other dominions has long engaged the anxious attention of the India office, the
German cablegram announcing the departure of 400 East Indians from
Shanghai for Vancouver was the first intimation received at the London
official quarters of this embarrassing development. The reply of the India
office officials to my enquiries was:
“We know nothing of it and can make no statement. Of course, you
know how frequently rumors originating in Shanghai prove false.”
This announcement, as received in Berlin from Shanghai seems,
however, too circumstantial to admit of doubt. Assuming that the news is
correct, the situation, obviously, has most awkward possibilities when the
steamship Komagata Maru reaches Vancouver and the Indians, fortified with
Curdit Singh’s money, insist on landing under the authority of the law as
recently interpreted by the British Columbia courts. Moreover, this is
announced as the first move in an organized emigration service supported by
a patriotic and wealthy Indian who claims for the King’s Indian subjects the
same rights of residence in Canada as Canadians enjoy in India.
One Canadian here with whom I discussed the subject remarked:

THE DAILY PROVINCE
APRIL 17, 1914

“We may find another General Botha in the British Columbia
government. Botha made short work of legal technicalities when it was a case
of ridding this country of men he regarded as undesirable.”
WINDERMERE.

------------------Ottawa, April 17.—In the House of Commons this afternoon Mr. H. H. Stevens
asked the minister of the interior if he had received any information that 400
Hindus are on their way from Shanghai and Hongkong to Vancouver, and that
their intention is to test the regulations passed by the government regarding
the admission of Orientals and others. He asked what steps the government
proposed to take in regard to the matter.
Dr. Roche said that the government had been advised by the Vancouver
immigration agent of this movement, and that he had been instructed that if
the Hindus are coming in contravention of the new regulations they are not to
be permitted to land.

-------------------

Following the decision of Chief Justice Hunter last November that the
order-in-council restricting the immigration of Hindus conferred wider
powers than the original regulations, the authorities at Ottawa met the critical
situation thus created by passing an order-in-council prohibiting the
admission of laborers and certain classes. The ostensible reason for the new
regulation was on general economic grounds, the industrial and labor
conditions making it necessary to restrict immigration for the time being. The
order covered a period from last November to March.
It is understood that the order-in-council will be extended to meet the
present exigency, pending the passage of changes in the immigration laws
which will permanently solve the problem. The situation is regarded as most
delicate at this time as the Dominion Government has been in communication
for several months with the Indian and Imperial governments with a view to
an effective and at the same time diplomatic solution. It is reported that an

THE DAILY PROVINCE
APRIL 17, 1914

agent of the Imperial and Indian governments is now in Ottawa conferring
with the Dominion Government relative to the situation.