from above is necessarily unpopular and suspect, and that in any case the circumstances when the actual transfer is made are very likely to render the schedule valueless. But the fundamental error lies in seeking to surrender control to responsible government, and yet to make conditions of the exercise of that control.

CHAPTER IX

COLOURED IMMIGRATION

No problem of the present day presents more serious difficulties than the question of the immigration of coloured races into the self-governing Dominions. The cause of the difficulty lies in the fundamentally different aspects from which the people of the United Kingdom and of the Dominions must view the question, and the resulting inability to make full allowance for the attitude of the other party to the controversy. The inhabitant of the United Kingdom sees the oriental immigrant in the form of students seeking knowledge of law, or medicine, or business, and of European culture: he hardly ever comes across any representatives of the lower classes, unless it be an occasional lascar seaman: the inhabitant of a Dominion rarely comes in contact with an Indian of superior education or rank, and sees either the Indian of the pedlar and petty trader species or the agriculturist, who has been introduced under indenture, or is descended from such an immigrant. Moreover, it must be admitted that a certain lack of culture and good breeding on the part of the average inhabitant of a Dominion renders him incapable of appreciating the fact that oriental civilization, however different from that of Europe, is not therefore inferior eo facto, and that it is ludicrous to classify, as mentally he often does, every kind of man of colour as a coolie. Unfortunately the existence of this ignorance and prejudice on the part of the people of the Dominions diminishes the possibility of their learning to know better the people of the East, since it is not to be expected that men of high rank, princes, who in Europe will be treated with distinction at every court, will visit countries where they will certainly, if they obtain entrance at all, find hardly any one who understands their true position.

At the same time it is fair to remember that this attitude of contempt in the case of Australia and New Zealand covers a considerable amount of uneasiness, especially in connexion with the development of the Empire of Japan, which manifested itself in the almost ludicrous affection of the greeting shown in both Dominions to the fleet of the United States on its famous voyage of intimidation to Japan. The fear of China, which was so marked a feature of the end of the second last decade of the nineteenth century, has in the twentieth developed into a much more rational fear of Japanese expansion, a fear which has spread to Western Canada, though hardly yet in the East, and to the Pacific coast of the United States. This fear has doubtless encouraged the feeling of objection to the entry even of coloured British subjects, and has intensified the devotion to the ideal of white Australia. Nor is it in the slightest degree remarkable that this ideal should be held with increasing vigour as time goes on, for the fact is patent that nothing but the rigorous exclusion policy which is now followed would have any effect in preserving Australia for the European race. Nor is it, again, possible to deny that the exclusion is based on racial grounds, pure and simple. It is, of course, common to assert that the objection to oriental labour is that it is cheap, and that it brings down the wages of European workers, and lowers their standard of living, or that it defies the laws of sanitation, and spreads disease. But both these things apply to many of the lower-class foreign emigrants like the Lithuanians and Galicians, who have for many years been welcomed into their land by Canadians, despite the aberrations of the Dukhobors, whom an ordinary judgement would put down as very undesirable aliens, and there has been no determination to exclude these nations wholesale on the ground of nationality alone. Nor is it obvious from any standpoint of morality that it is fair to blame a worker if he demands less wages when his subsistence, owing to his temperate habits and his abstention from beef and beer, costs

1 Cf. Parl. Pap., Cd. 7507, pp. 56, 57; Mitchell, Western Canada before the War, pp. 11, 12, 133 sq.

him far less than his European rival. But these considerations do not invalidate the view that as it is clear that Indian and Japanese workers would speedily oust British workers on an equal field of competition in such climates as those of Australia, and as they are dangerous competitors even in Canada, the European workers are entitled, in obedience to the law of self-preservation, and the desire to perpetuate the type, to secure that they shall be left in free occupation of the territory they have. This fact, of course, means that Australia and New Zealand must hold firmly to the Imperial connexion, since otherwise they could have not the slightest chance of remaining in possession of land which they have not the men to keep, and which they cannot hope adequately to people for many years to come, especially as the birth-rate in both countries is regrettably low for newly settled lands.

The difficulty has of course been enhanced in recent years by the growing national consciousness of India, and by the power of India to express her feeling through the elective members on her legislatures. The position is at once rendered more easy and more difficult for the Imperial Government. It has, on the one hand, the consciousness that it is supported not merely by vague theories but by local public opinion, while on the other it suffers in India the grave charge of being unwilling to remedy the unfair treatment meted out to British Indians in the self-governing Dominions. There is no more cogent reason than this for pressing for the representation of India at the next Imperial Conference : it is desirable on every ground that the statesmen of the Dominions should learn direct from those who can express for India the feelings of India on this point. Nor, indeed, would it be a bad lesson for Dominion statesmen to meet as equals in a great assembly of the Empire the representatives of a race whom they are accustomed to regard as undesirable immigrants.

The difficulty of oriental immigration seemed to be disposed of for a time by the adoption, on the suggestion of Mr. Chamberlain and with the concurrence of the Government of

India and of the Government of Japan,1 of the device of exclusion of oriental migration by means of a language test. Thus the Acts of New South Wales, South Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand, which were passed in 1896 but not allowed to come into operation, were superseded after the Colonial Conference of 1897,2 when Mr. Chamberlain enforced the principle of adopting the Natal Act as a model, by legislation which left the exclusion to be carried out by the device of a language test, and the Cape of Good Hope adopted this principle also in 1903. Nor has the principle been without value for some years it certainly sufficed well enough for the purpose it sought to attain, but there are abundant signs that it is falling into disrepute, and that the exclusion is being felt bitterly by those against whom it was directed.

The case of Canada has presented recently special features of its own, thanks to the desire of the Dominion to take advantage of the terms of the treaty with Japan. The acceptance of this measure necessitated the free entry of Japanese into Canada, and the accidental circumstance of events in Hawaii, which encouraged an exodus of Japanese thence, produced a serious crisis in the Dominion, culminating in riots in British Columbia in 1907.3 This episode brought the question of oriental immigration to a head, and it was decided, after a careful investigation of the whole question by the Dominion Government, to seek an understanding with Japan, which was happily brought about, with the aid of the British representative at Tokio, by Mr. Lemieux and Sir Joseph Pope. The result of this arrangement was to secure the entry to Canada of every Japanese immigrant who came with a passport in proper form from the Japanese Government, while that Government gave a pledge that the total number of passports issued to persons going to settle in Canada. for the first time should be confined to a definite number a year the figure being unofficially put at 400 annually. The arrangement has worked satisfactorily, and has been

1 See Commonwealth Parl. Pap., No. 41 of 1901.

2 Parl. Pap., C. 8596.

3 Parl. Pap., Cd. 4118.