8 Ed. 7 Correspondence re Chapter 21a of 1907. D 45
RETURN
To an Order of the House for copies of correspondence between the Deputy Minister
of Justice and the Hon. Attorney-General re Chapter 2lA of 1907, intituled "An
Act to Regulate Immigration into British Columbia."
W. J. BOWSER,
Attorney-General.
Attorney-General's Department,
29th January, 1908.
Ottawa,  19th October, 1907.
The Honourable the Attorney-General of British Columbia.
Victoria, B. C.
Dear Sir,—In reviewing the legislation of British Columbia for 1907 for the purpose of
reporting thereon to His Excellency in Council, I observe that the Act to regulate Immigration
into British Columbia, Chapter 21a, has been re-enacted with some provisions additional to
those that were contained in the corresponding Acts which were a few years ago enacted and
re-enacted and as frequently disallowed, but there is this important difference in the text, that
in the previous Acts the immigration of certain persons into the Province was declared to be
unlawful, while by section 4 of the present Act it is provided that the immigration of these
persons into the Province shall be lawful. I cannot help thinking that this may have been a
printer's mistake, and that the original roll uses the word unlawful, and as this would make a
very great difference in the effect of the Act, and possibly in the action which the Minister
would advise the Government to take with regard to it, I would be much obliged if you would
inform me whether the printed text is correct, or whether by the original roll it is provided
that the immigration of these people shall be unlawful.
Yours truly,
E. L. Newcombe,
Deputy Minister of Justice.
Victoria, B. C,  11th November, 1908.
E. L. Neiocombe, Esq.,
Minister of Justice, Ottawa.
Dear Sir,—I am in receipt of your letter of the 19th ultimo, asking for information as
to Chapter 21a of our Statutes of last session, being an Act to regulate Immigration into
British Columbia, and stating that in section 4 of the Act as printed the word lawful is
used, and wanting to know whether that is correct or not. I was the author of this Bill
when a private member of the House, and, therefore, know how it left my hands when
drafted and before sending it to the King's Printer, and I have refreshed my memory on that
point by procuring the originals as well as the copies of the Bill in its different stages as it
went through the House. I may say that in this Province we have no such thing as an
original roll as you have at Ottawa and in some of the other Provinces of the Dominion. The
printed Bill, as certified to by the Clerk of the House and signed by the Speaker, is the one
that goes to the King's Printer and is printed in our yearly Statutes. When I drafted the
Bill, section 4 of the Act made it unlawful for immigrants to enter the Province who could
not pass the test required by this section. Apparently by a mistake in setting up the type in
the printing office, the Bill as it came back for the first reading had the word lawful instead of D 46 Correspondence re Chapter 21a of 1907. 1908
unlawful, and the bill went through the House in its various stages without this mistake being
detected. There was considerable debate on the Bill and it passed the House unanimously,
with the idea, of course, that we were restraining the immigration of these foreigners, as we
have done on a great many occasions before in our Legislature. There is no question of what
my intention was, or the unanimous opinion of the House was, that the word in the Bill
should have been unlawful, but this Bill, so far as I can find now, passed the House with the
word lawful in it and was in that state when presented to His Honour the Governor to be
assented to. You will notice in reading paragraph four of this Act the language is very
involved, and unless it was read over perhaps once or twice the mistake would not have been
noticed.
Yours truly,
W. J. Bowser,
A ttorney-General.
VICTORIA, b. c.:
Printed by Richard Wolfenden, I.S.O., V.D., Printer to the King's Most Excellent Majesty