THE DAILY PROVINCE
APRIL 30, 1912

HINDU WOMEN TO SAIL ON LINER

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Deportation Order Was Received from Ottawa
Today by Inspector Reid.

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Case Has Excited Much Interest All Over Canada.

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The two Hindu women and two children, who have been the subject of
much discussion since their arrival here on January 21, are to be deported.
Mr. Malcolm R. J. Reid, chief inspector of immigration, was notified this
morning by the department at Ottawa that the cases of the women and
children have been taken into consideration, but that the statutes must be
complied with.
The result is that the women and their children will be deported on the
Monteagle, scheduled to sail tomorrow.
When Inspector MacGill was examining passengers on the Monteagle,
when she reached here on January 21 last from the Orient, he found two Sikhs
who had previously resided in Canada and who had brought their wives with
them. They were Bhag Singh, secretary of the Guru Nanak Mining & Trust
Company, and Balwant Singh, priest of the Sikh temple here. Bhag Singh had
been in Canada four and a half years and in May, 1910, decided to revisit India.
When the time came for him to return to British Columbia he decided to bring
his wife and child along. They took passage in a Chinese steamer from
Calcutta to Hongkong and remained at the latter port three mnths(Sic).
Balwant Singh returned to India in 1905 and also brought his wife and child to
Vancouver. They came back by the same route as Bhag Singh, only stopped at
Hongkong six months.
There was a great excitement among the local Sikh colony and many
white people took up the cudgels on behalf of the Oriental women. It was

THE DAILY PROVINCE
APRIL 30, 1912

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pointed out in this direction that the Sikhs should be allowed to bring their
wives in and this view gained many adherent. Opponents took the ground
that the encouragement of Sikhs was a dangerous principle and that their
women should be rigidly excluded. The stand of the immigration authorities,
of course, was based on the regulation that all immigrants must come to
Canada direct from the land of their birth or citizenship. The stop-over in
Hongkong infringed this rule. The Sikhs replied by pointed out that direct
travel from India to Canada was impossible because no lines operate and that
the Hongkong route was the only one available. They also claimed that they
were British subjects and that Hongkong was British territory; therefore they
had come from the land of their citizenship.
The Ministerial Association took the matter up and after a heated
session on Jan. 26 passed a resolution which declared in effect that the
admission of Hindu women would create a Hindu colony which was “an
undesirable situation.”

On Jan. 29 a mass-meeting of Sikhs was held at Pender Hall and a
delegation headed by Professor Teja Singh, M. A., appointed to go to Ottawa
and interview the immigration department direct. Toronto was much worked
up in favor of the Hindus. In the meantime the women and children had been
released on bonds and are with their husbands here.
Today the last phase of the drama, from the immigration point of view,
is…(illegible word). The women will be deported on the Monteagle. But it is
believed in some quarters that the Sikhs here will strongly resent the edict
which has broken up two families.