NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2208, 22 July 1914, Page 6

NOTES OF THE DAY.

The bellicose, attitude of tho Hindus whoso determination to land at Vancouver is being resisted •by the Canadian authorities is an unexpectedly startling development. The incident has further emphasised tho need of formulating some definite line of policy for tho regulation of Asiatic immigration within the Empire. The whole problem will no doubt bo fully gone into at the next Imperial Conference. It appears that the immigrants on tho steamer Komagata Maru, now in Canadian waters, did not know when they left India of the existence of an Order-in-Council prohibiting artisans and labourers from landing in British Columbia. They thought that the only obstacle they would have to surmount would be the question whether they had come by a continuous journey from their country _of origin. The Courts have decided against their right to come ashore, but they will not abide by the judgment, and refuse to allow the vessel they are on to be taken out of Vancouver Harbour. The trip was deliberately orejaaiised for .the purpose of testing the validity of the anti-Asiatic laws of British' Columbia, and the leader of the immigrants has declared that he is prepared to carry the matter to its extreme limit if the.v are deported. They claim that as British subiccts they have tho right to migrate from one part of the Empire to- another. This raises a very serious nroblem, in which the whole of the self-govern-ing Dominions are interested, and it will have to be resolutely faced sooner or later. . The Dominions do not want to increase the difficulties of British rule in India, but thsy must do something to retaliate the influx of immigrants who differ from their own people in : raee, colour, religion, and national ideals.

The discussion in the House of Representatives last evening 'on the Second Beading of the Bill to amend the licensing law was very one-sided. As a matter of tactics, those members who are in favour of a 55 per cent., instead of the existing 60per cent., majority necessary to carry the Local Option and National Prohibition polls had decided on a campaign of silence. ' That is to say, believing it hopeless to attempt to convert their opponents, they preferred to remain silent, and by this means minimiso the risk of a protracted debate. There is something to be said for this course where wiiful and ■ deliberate obstruction is threatened, but it is not always wise to allow the contentions of one side to an important issue of this nature to go out to the world unchallenged. The Bill seems to-have been accepted by all parties- as a. non-pkrty measure, which is merely • following the precedent 'set' for. years past, but the Leader of the Opposition sailed as near to the line as pos-sible-in endeavouring in a very confused fashion to saddle the Phi he Minister with blame for not calling it a policy - measure.! What Sir. Joseph "Ward really meant, it is impossible to say, but it was plain that he was endeavouring to convey the impression that Mr. Massey was in some way to blame, although in this instance he has merely followed the precedent of Sir Joseph Ward's own party. The second reading of the Bill was carried by the narrow majority of two votes, which may be taken to indicate that it is very unlikely to pass this session, owing to the difficulties which will confront it in Committee. The division list shows that the voting was on nonparty lines. Tho Prime-'Minister and the Leader of the .Opposition both voted for the Bill, while several Cabinet Ministers and several■ of Sir Joseph Ward's lieutenants voted against 'it.

There is always much to stimulate thought in the reviews of farming progress contained, in Mr. J. G. Wilsons presidential addresses t-o the Farmers' Union. This year Mr. Wilson has dwelt, among other things, on : the relative prospects of dairying and sheep-farming, and pointed out that in rnany oases only a slight drop in the prices for dairy produce was needed to turn the soale with many farmers, and cause them to go in for sheep. Butter has a serious riva,! in margarine, and according to the local papers, efforts have been made to introduce that article of commerce even into the shops in Stratford, the home of the dairy industry. No one has yet discovered an effective substitute for mutton, and the demand for meat from abroad is steadily increasing in different European countries. Large areas of the Dominion suitable for sheep-farming are Btill far from being fully stocked, and the future will probably show that the production of wool and meat is as yet a long wa.y from reaching its maximum. as is sometimes popularly supposed to be. the case. The truth is that in ho branch of the farming in the Dominion is thnro not room for peat expansion. The vacant Crown lands have sunk to a comparatively small area, but much land that is nominally occupied is yielding next to nothing and practically the whole of the farming lands could by the adoption of better methods of 'wok'kins be made to return far more than is the case at nresent. One the nroblems in this connection that will call for attention before lone is the best method of deal in-r with the 1)1 s stretches of miniice country i.n the centre of this Island.'