tal exclusion; but, thanks to the
diffusion of the Chinese throughout the Dominion, their lack of
assertiveness and their employment for the most part in industries
which did not compete with union men or the smaller merchants, the
agitation did not reach great proportions.

It was otherwise with the newcomers from Japan. Their competition was
more serious. Aggressive and enterprising, filled with a due sense of
the greatness of Japan, aspiring to not merely menial but controlling
posts, they took firmer root in the country than did the migratory
Chinaman. At the same time Japan's rising power, her obvious
sensitiveness, and her alliance with Great Britain made it {254}
expedient to treat her subjects more warily than those of quiescent
China. There was practically no Japanese immigration until 1904-5,
when three hundred entered. In 1905 the Dominion Government decided to
adhere to the Anglo-Japanese treaty in order to secure favourable terms
in Japan's market. A clause of this treaty provided for the free
entrance of each country's subjects into the other country. When asked
by the colonial secretary whether they wished to reserve the right to
restrict immigration, as Queensland had done, the Dominion authorities
declared that they would accept the treaty as it stood, relying upon
semi-official Japanese assurances of willingness to stop the flow in
Japan itself. Then suddenly, in 1906 and 1907, a large influx began,
amounting to seven thousand in a single year. This immigration, which
was prompted by Canadian mining and railway companies acting in
co-operation with Japanese societies, came via the Hawaiian Islands.
Alarm rose rapidly in British Columbia, and was encouraged by agitators
from the United States. The climax came in September 1907, when mobs
attacked first the Chinese and later the Japanese quarters in
Vancouver, doing much damage for a time, but {255} being at last routed
by Banzai-shouting bands of angry Japanese. The Dominion Government at
once expressed its regret and in due time compensated the sufferers
from the riot. To solve the larger question, Mr Lemieux was sent to
Japan as a special envoy. Cordially supported by the British
ambassador at Tokio, he succeeded in reaching a very satisfactory
agreement. The Japanese Government itself agreed to restrict
immigration direct from Japan, and to raise no objection to Canadian
prohibition of immigration by way of Hawaii. This method was much