§ 19. Mr. KINGasked whether a petition has been received from Sikhs in British Columbia protesting that they and their families are under graver disabilities, political, social, and educational, than the Chinese and Japanese settlers in that Colony; and whether any reply has been returned?
§ Mr. MONTAGUA petition of this character was received by the Secretary of State for India in 1911, and was the subject of correspondence with the Colonial Office and of discussion at the last Imperial Conference. I would refer the hon. 680 Member to the reply given to his question on the 21st November last by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Colonies. No more recent petition of the kind has been received. I may point out that in cases in which British subjects resident in one of the Dominions address a petition regarding the laws of that Dominion to the Secretary of State for India the only possible course is to ask the Colonial Office to invite the attention of the Government of the Dominion to the matter.