THE DAILY PROVINCE
NOVEMBER 24, 1908

p.6

W.C. NICHOL
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1908
THE HINDU SITUATION.
If Professor Tejah Singh spoke for the East Indian residents of British
Columbia on Sunday, when he said that the proposal to settle them in British
Honduras would be absolutely rejected, then we have a situation confronting
us which is not without its alarming features. Looking at it simply form the
local standpoint it seems to us that the white population of the province have
a grievance, no less than the Hindus. We find ourselves to the conditions, and
who by reason of that fact are, in the vast majority of cases, unable to obtain
work. The winter season is at hand. What will the result be? Unless they
receive assistance they will endure misery and suffering to which in this age
and country human beings should not be subjected.
But how, it is reasonable to ask, can adequate assistance be furnished
such a number of destitute to tide them over the next four or five months?
How can it be furnished by the local community? Many of our own fellow
countrymen here are also in serious straits for lack of money and
employment. The public will say, and who can blame them for saying it, that
our destitute white population must be our first care. And the probibility(Sic)
is that to provide for them will exhaust our available means of supplying help.
With this situation staring us in the face we can realize very fully the
injustice which was done by the government in permitting, or to put it more
accurately, in encouraging the immense influx of the Japanese. Work which
the Hindus might have done, is being done by the Japanese, and the Japanese
will continue to do it because they do it better than the Hindus can do it.
Through the immigration policy of the Dominion government we are saddled
with a burden which it is unfair to ask us to bear, but which if not borne will
be a sin against humanity.

THE DAILY PROVINCE
NOVEMBER 24, 1908

p.6

Under the circumstances is it not reasonable to place upon the federal
authorities the onus of providing for these East Indians who, without aid, are
bound during the months of cold and rain to starve and freeze? It will not do
to say that their refusal to go to British Honduras places them outside the pale
of sympathy. If the report which their delegates are alleged to have made of
what awaits them there should they go, is true, they are not to be blamed for
refusing.
It is impossible that we as a people should consciously doom any human
beings, much less fellow subjects, to what is no better than serfdom.
Existence, no matter how devoid of comfort is better when coupled with
freedom, than life, such as Tejah Singh pictured that of his countrymen in
Jamaica and British Honduras. But the question for us is what is the solution
of the difficulty here. The federal government has the right to deport those
out of work, and who therefore are a public charge. Will it do so? It has done
so in the case of Englishmen both in Eastern and Western Canada who could
not support themselves. But those were isolated cases. Will it undertake to
deport 1500 or 2000 Indians?
Tejah Singh speaks of his people settling on farms in British Columbia
and says that they hope to obtain money from an Indian bank to enable them
to purchase land. There is nothing definite about this scheme and it is to be
feared that the speaker was carried away by his enthusiasm when he spoke so
confidently. It is a vision and a vague one at that. It is “up to” the Ottawa
government to take steps in the matter, to provide against the wretchedness
which is bound to result if the Hindus remain here this winter and are unable,
as they will be unable, to find employment.
The charge made by Tejah Singh that the official interpreter attempted
to bribe the Indian delegates to report favorably on British Honduras as a
place for settlement should be regarded with caution. It is a serious accusation
and one which properly enough should entail a heavy punishment on the
persons making it, if it is not true. And how are we to credit it? Who would be
so interested in sending these Indians to British Honduras that he would
spend $3000 in deluding them? Certainly not the interpreter. Nor can we

THE DAILY PROVINCE
NOVEMBER 24, 1908

p.6

credit the Dominion government with any such improper design. Is it likely
the governor of Honduras or any of his officials would permit such a crime to
be attempted? We think not. It is to be hoped that the charge has not been
concocted to stir the Hindu popularion(Sic) here and make it a ready
instrument in the hands of men whose designs not only are inimical to this
country and the empire, but are hos- (rest of article not on newspaper copy)