CHINESE IN WEST OF CANADA.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 19268, 24 March 1928, Page 15

CHINESE IN WEST OF CANADA.

ALARMING INCREASE. DANGER OF THE FUTURE. From l Srzcut Correspondent. VANCOUVER., February 22. The grave declaration of the Attor-ney-General of British Columbia «l tho recent conference of Provincial Premiers at Ottawa that the assured destiny of the Pacific Coaßt province is to be a "British-Oriental" community has moved the white race to mako tho most determined stand in its history to deal with tho Asiatic penetration. The fight is to ho carried -to Ottawa, beyond it to London, to Tokio, and to whatever diplomatio capital China may have chosen by the time the tide of protest reaches there. To state that one male in six among the people of British Columbia is n" Asiatic is to set out the problem in its naked truth at the beginning _ 1928. An estimate of the population of the province is 600,000, of, whom 43,000 are Orientals. The female white population is small —about 270,000. Deduct juveniles attending school, college,, the university, amt the propoition of Asiatics to the male, producing population of whites is one in six. Or the Oriental population : 26,000 ire Chinese, 17,000 Japaneso v # * , Unassimilable, antagonistic, cofopotttivc, and self-centred, this growing army ofi Orientals is ramifying outward until its "peaceful penetratiop is now felt in every avenue of activity. Its natural increase is three times' greater than the natural increase of the whitep. Statisticians asßert that, in the year 1978, with two new generations grown to mattirity v , assuming the.continuance ( of the present birth, death, and migrant rate* among whites, Orientals will be th« dominent race, in a province thftt, fifty years ago, was quoted as being, .the most British of'the with such a prospect assured for them by those in a position to forecast the future, the people are becoming lew alarmed at the prospect of being absorbed by the United States, as was suggested last week in Congress ~ Washington by the representative for Al&skftt i An influential delegation of businessmen from Vancouver and Victoria has urged the Government to take some steps to deal with the Oriental invasion in the business activities of ttya two chief cities in the province. Ninety, per cent, of the landowners of the lower mainland hate' pledged themselves. under a penalty clause in their organisation, not to lease land in future to Orientals. The minimum wage law in the lumber industry, introduced a little over a year ago to curb Oriental employment, is to be extended to other industries. The maiketing legislation, passed last year to stabilise production and export, litis it* chief administrative difficulty in the success witli which Orientals evade its provisions, to the detriment of the white producers of fruit and vegetables. The law is to be amended! to prescribe that all books must be kept in tha English language. Almost every pieco of new legislation before the Provincial Parliament has its Oriental clauses, and existing legislation and administrative machinery are to be made Orientalprocf. Police are active in tho main cities in endeavouring to closo the Chinese gambling dens, and law-abiding Chinese merchants have asked Uie Government to _ weed them out. Ihe chaos in China is reflected by two outbreaks between tho Chinese Nationalists and the old monarchical group in Vancouver end Victoria. The increase of tho poll-tax from £lO to £SOO hadl little or no effect in retarding Chinese immigration to Canada, owing to the great wealth of Chinese associations which finance every activity of their countrymen from passagemoney to marketing of commodities and the purchase of land. Under the "gentleman's agreement" with Japan the immigration of Japanese is restricted to 444 a year. The decisinn to appoint a Canadian Minister to TokiJ is believed to be inspired by British Columbia's determination, expressed at the Premiers' Conference, tn use every effort known to dijilomarv to check any further influx, in order to fient with the situation as it stands nt present.