POSTSCRIPT. 251 



be able to do remunerative work. The misery is 

 that many men who profess to be willing to turn 

 their hands to anything, know nothing to which 

 they can usefully turn their hands. The normal 

 rate of wages is five shillings for Chinamen, and 

 in Victoria eight shillings for white men. Below 

 that rate, no white man, even if penniless and 

 starving, is willing to engage upon any work or 

 service whatever. Skilled artisans, carpenters, 

 masons, blacksmiths, ask from twelve to twenty 

 shillings a day. Board is advertised at many 

 hotels at sixteen shillings a week, so I suppose 

 eight shillings a day is remunerative to the work- 

 man/ etc. 



This was written, of course, in 1885 written 

 by a man whom his worst enemy could not 

 accuse of trying to advertise British Columbia, 

 or striving to induce immigration by sanguine 

 representations of the benefits to be obtained by 

 the incomers, and by a man, moreover, who knows 

 and has known British Columbia since the very 

 early days as few others know or have known it. 

 That, at least, is his reputation in the island which 

 is his home. When Sir Matthew wrote the 

 above, British Columbians were beginning to 

 tremble at the competition of cheap Chinese 

 labour. In the recent Budget speech, the 

 Finance Minister of British Columbia said : 



