PROTECTION OF IMMIGRANTS. Under the Canadian system the official interest of the government in the immigrant continues until he has secured employment or reached his final destination in Canada. At many points in the districts to which immigrants go the immigration department maintains agencies which assist the newcomers, and so-called immigration halls for the free accommodation of newly arrived immigrants have been established at various places. The Dominion government also maintains free information or employment bureaus in the principal centers for the benefit of employers of labor as well as persons seeking employment. Through these bureaus the immigration department and its agents abroad are kept informed as to the demand for labor in various parts of the country, and so are enabled to, in part, direct immigrants to points where assured employment awaits them. In many cases the agents abroad advise the employment bureaus of the coming of inmigrants in order that arrangements for their employment may be completed by the time they reach Canada. The Canadian department seeks to protect newly arrived immigrants from all kinds of imposition and exploitation. Hotels and boarding houses patronized by immigrants are regulated by law, and generally the newcomers are treated as wards of the government until they are finally established. An instance of Canada's care of the immigrant appears in the cooperation of the department with the various churches. The Canadian steamship manifest contains among other inquiries a question relative to the religion of the immigrant. The immigration authorities state that officials of the department are instructed not to insist upon an answer to this question if any objection to answering it is raised by the immigrant. The information, it is stated, is gathered not because the government lays any stress upon religious belief or makes it in any sense a test of the admissibility of the immigrant, but largely in order to assist the churches in work among those newly arrived. A list of arriving immigrants, classified by their religious belief, and their destinations, is furnished to the head of any religious denomination requesting the same. Such church officials are enabled in this way to notify church authorities in different localities of the arrival of such immigrants, and it is said that much good results, not merely in putting the new immigrants into better social surroundings, but also in the way of helping them to secure work. ORIENTAL IMMIGRATION TO CANADA. The Commission report on the immigration to Canada of Chinese, Japanese, and Hindus consists largely of extracts from reports of Hon. W. L. Mackenzie King, now the Canadian minister of labor, who made a thorough investigation of the subject. Report of the Royal Commission appointed to inquire into the methods by which oriental laborers have been induced to come to Canada. W. L. Mackenzie King, C. M. G., commissioner, Ottawa, 1908. Report by W. L. Mackenzie King, C. M. G., deputy minister of labor on mission to England to confer with the British authorities on the subject of immigration to Canada from the Orient and immigration from India in particular, Ottawa, 1908, Canada, in common with other colonial possessions of Great Britain and with the United States, has adopted a policy which practically excludes Asiatic laborers. As in the United States, oriental immigration was for a considerable period confined almost exclusively to the Chinese. Later the Japanese came, and, finally, the Hindus, or East Indians. These immigrants, for the most part, settled on the Pacific coast, and the Province of British Columbia led the movement for their exclusion. In 1900 the legislative assembly of this Province adopted what was known as the "British Columbia immigration act." This act was framed to exclude Asiatics primarily, but by its terms all illiterates might also be denied admission to the Province. The "British Columbia immigration act" was disallowed by Earl Minto, governor-general of Canada, in 1901. Similar acts were passed by the legislative assembly of British Columbia in 1902, 1903, 1904, and 1905, but all were disallowed. In each of these acts the immigrant's admission to British Columbia was conditioned upon his ability to "write in the characters of some language of Europe." The acts of 1902 and 1903 proposed a reading test also, and the acts of 1904 and 1905 required that the immigrant write at dictation "in the characters of some language of Europe," and sign "a passage of 50 words in length in an European language. Although British Columbia was unable to legislate effectively against Asiatic immigration, the agitation for restriction continued until the Canadian government adopted measures which resulted in practically excluding such immigrants from the Dominion. CHINESE. Canada, like the United States, dealt with the Chinese situation through special legislation, but sought to prevent their coming by means of a prohibitive head tax rather than by absolute restriction. At first the tax was fixed at $50, but evidently this did not have the desired effect, for the amount was increased from time to time until at present every Chinaman, except those belonging to a limited exempt class, is required to pay $500 for the privilege of entering Canada. JAPANESE. Statistics are available relative to Japanese immigration to Canada beginning with the fiscal year 1905, and the movement since that time has been as follows: " 1904-5 1905-6 1906-7 (9 months). 1907-8 1908-9 April 1-August 31, 1909 Total a Chap. 11, Revised Statutes, British Columbia, 1900. f Chap. 28, Revised Statutes, British Columbia, 1905. Statistical tables furnished by Canadian immigration department. 354 1, 922 2, 042 7, 601 495 147 12, 561 It appears that the restriction of Japanese immigration to the United States in 1907 resulted in a large movement of this race from Hawaii to Canada, this destination being chosen because, under the United States regulation, they were not admissible to the latter country. During that year a large number of Portuguese immigrants were brought from the Azores and Madeira to Hawaii on ships chartered for that purpose. When the Portuguese were landed, the ships were immediately loaded with Japanese laborers, who had become dissatisfied in Hawaii, and proceeded to Canada. This influx aroused determined opposition to Japanese immigration and resulted in an agreement between Canada and Japan, whereby the issue of passports for Japanese coming to Canada is limited to 400 annually. The great decrease in Japanese immigration in 1908, as above shown, indicates that the agreement between the two Governments is effective. HINDU. Hindu, or East Indian, immigrants were the latest to become a factor in Canada's oriental immigration problem, but owing to quick and vigorous action on the part of the Dominion the movement was of brief duration. The following statement of arrivals during recent years illustrates the rise and fall, as well as the extent, of Hindu immigration to Canada: Canada, and particularly British Columbia, did not want the Hindus as immigrants, but the fact that citizens of Canada and India were alike British subjects made the problem a delicate one. Consequently Mr. King was, in 1908, sent on a mission to England "to confer with the British authorities on the subject of immigration to Canada from the Orient, and immigration from India in particular." That the desired end was attained is indicated by the fact that in the fiscal year 1909 following Mr. King's conference with the British authorities only 6 Hindu immigrants were admitted to Canada, whereas the number for the previous year was 2,623. The practical exclusion of Hindus from Canada was accomplished under the Canadian immigration law, which, as previously explained, is peculiarly adapted to meet emergencies of this nature. While Hindus are not specifically excluded, or, in fact, even mentioned in the Canadian immigration act or orders of the governor in council relative thereto, practically insurmountable barriers have been erected against them. It is required that such immigrants shall possess at least $200 on landing; but the most effective barrier is the section of the law which provides that any immigrants who have come to Canada otherwise than by continuous journey from the country of which they are natives or citizens, and upon through tickets purchased in that country, may be excluded. PART II. AUSTRALIA. There has been a steady immigration movement to the British colonies in Australasia since the earliest days of their settlement. It is impossible to determine the extent of the movement from other countries, except in recent years, for the records prior to 1901 do not distinguish between transoceanic immigration and that from one Australasian colony to another; but it is well known that during the entire history of the colonies by far the greater part of the transoceanic immigration originated in the United Kingdom, and consequently the white population is very largely of British origin. With the federation, in 1901, of the colonies of New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia, and Tasmania into the Commonwealth of Australia, the regulation of immigration came within the province of the Commonwealth Parliament. Australia's immigration problem is the problem of a vast, undeveloped land, and the chief concern of the Commonwealth in this respect is to secure British and other white settlers and to exclude Asiatics and certain Pacific Islanders who are attracted there by the opportunity for highly remunerative labor. IMMIGRATION ENCOURAGED. The only districts of Australia which are at all well populated by whites are in a fringe of country along the coast. With an area of 2,974,581 square miles, the Commonwealth in 1907 had a population of only 4,197,022, exclusive of aborigines; while the continental United States, with a land area of 2,974,159 square miles, had a population in 1900 of about 76,000,000. Of the total area of the Australian Commonwealth, 52.7 per cent remained unoccupied in 1907. Only 4.7 per cent of the land has been entirely alienated, 1.9 per cent being in process of alienation and 40.7 per cent being leased or licensed. In order to induce settlers to take up the unoccupied land, the government allows the purchase of freeholds by payment of small installments, while allowances to settlers for improving holdings are made in all the States except Tasmania. Even with such inducements, voluntary immigration is not sufficiently large to be satisfactory, and some of the States continue to induce immigration by paying the passage wholly or in part of persons from the United Kingdom whose purpose it is to settle on the land or to engage in farming or other work of a similar nature. Assistance is also offered to domestic servants and other persons who can satisfy the representative of the Commonwealth in London that they would make desirable settlers in Australia. |