For the next seven or eight months Chinese coolies will be passing through this port on their way home from France.
Every effort is being made to return the men as rapidly as possible, but the scarcity of ships has made it a very lengthy job.
On the termination of hostilities it was decided to send 80,000 coolies through this port and there is not steamship capacity to handle more than 8,000 each month, so that the Chinamen will be moving westward until about May of next year.
Arrangements have been made to have the Chinese carried by the C.P.R. and Blue Funnel liners. Each of the latter ships is fitted out to carry 4,000 coolies, but there is only one of these ships sailing each month.
The large Empresses are capable of handling up to 2,500 coolies and the Empress of Japan and Monteagle can each carry about 1,000. Difficulty is being experienced in handling the coolies on the Atlantic, owing to most of the transports being employed in bringing home the Canadian and American troops.
However, the demand for these ships has slackened off in the last two months and the coolies are being packed aboard. All the Chinese are being handled through the port of Halifax and brought over the C.P.R. and C.N.R. to Vancouver from where they are taken to William Head and placed under canvas.
The steamer Princess Royal is bringing a large number of coolies across from Vancouver this afternoon.
