"India seeks $143M over immigrant ship Canada rejected in 1914"

[mariomike]

National Post
July 3, 2010

"The Punjab state government in India is seeking close to $150-million from Canada for turning back a shipload of South Asians, mostly Sikhs, from Vancouver nearly a century ago.":
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/India%20seeks%20143M%20over%20immigrant%20ship%20Canada%20rejected%201914/3233129/story.html

 

[Colin Parkinson]

Maybe Canada should sue over them over the Air India bombings.

 

[missing1]

For those interested

http://www.vancouverhistory.ca/archives_komagatamaru.htm][url]http://www.vancouverhistory.ca/archives_komagatamaru.htm[/url]

 

[Dennis Ruhl]

$143 million for 350 people?  Holy crap at that rate how much does India owe Pakistan for displacing 7 million Muslims and killing hundreds of thousands during partition.  How much do they historically owe their untouchables for enslaving them in unbearable lives.  Sure we were prejudiced a hundred years ago.  So what - we aren't now.  Getting a lesson in tolerance from India is a bit rich.

 

[OldSolduer]

Face it guys,  our recent history of apologizing and compensating any disgruntled group is coming back to bite us in the posterior.

Its time to start saying "NO"

 

[Fishbone Jones]

Any one of the original group that wants to step up to the wicket on their own power gets paid in cash, on the spot.

 

[gillbates]

Well... if the $15,000 / head immigration fee is what's at issue here...

$15000 * 350 pax = $5,250,000 (total amount paid by Punjabi immigrants)

143,000,000 - 5250000 = 137,750,000  (difference between amount Punjabi state gov't is suing for and orig. amount)

137750000 / 52500000= 26.24

26.24 * 100 = 2624% total return over 96 years

2624/96 = 27.33% per year return.. seems a bit optimistic, isn't it?

    * STOCKS around the world brought home an annualized gain of 9.2% a year in U.S. dollars from 1900-2000, including dividends. (It’s important to mention dividends, because dividends made up almost half of your investment return in the 20th century.) The U.S. did better, returning 10.1% a year.
    * GOVERNMENT BONDS around the world returned 4.4%. Again the U.S. did better, up 4.8%.
    * And CASH (as measured by short-term Treasuries) returned 4.1%.

http://www.investmentu.com/2002/December/20021219.html

 

[Dennis Ruhl]

I am by no means an expert in historical immigration matters but wasn't the $500 head tax charged under the Chinese Immigration Act.  As there was no law in place to collect the tax, I suspect some Japanese ship's captain was a little richer from the experience.  Now that is interesting.  Somebody isn't doing their homework.

 

[HavokFour]

The levels of ridiculous are astounding.

Also:

Maybe Canada should sue over them over the Air India bombings.

THIS x1000.

 

[Dennis Ruhl]

All Canada did was turn the ship around.  All the grief that befell the would be immigrants was at the hands of Indian authorities on their return home.  I would highly recommend the Punjabi government make their claim against the Indian government and I wish them luck on that one.

 

[57Chevy]

Seems like everyone is jumping on the "get rich quick" scheme of things. ;D

 

[Nostix]

Well... if the $15,000 / head immigration fee is what's at issue here...

$15000 * 350 pax = $5,250,000 (total amount paid by Punjabi immigrants)

143,000,000 - 5250000 = 137,750,000  (difference between amount Punjabi state gov't is suing for and orig. amount)

137750000 / 52500000= 26.24

26.24 * 100 = 2624% total return over 96 years

2624/96 = 27.33% per year return.. seems a bit optimistic, isn't it?

If you do the math for compound interest for 96 years:

5,250,000 * x^96 = 143,000,000

x^96 = 27.23

X = 1.035

Meaning that in reality, they're getting a 3.5% annual rate of return on the investment, not the 27% you come up with, which is actually pretty close to what you would get with a conservative guaranteed investment like a GIC.

Just as an aside.

 

[Dennis Ruhl]

I believe the total claimed for 350 people was $15,000.  If any individual had $15,000 they would have sailed first class and had judges and politicians shining their shoes.  We may have been racist but we weren't stupid.

 

[Kat Stevens]

In related news; 12 million Canadian Bell customers sue India over infuriating and inept customer service call centres.

 

[Nostix]

I believe the total claimed for 350 people was $15,000.  If any individual had $15,000 they would have sailed first class and had judges and politicians shining their shoes.  We may have been racist but we weren't stupid.

Since I apparently can't get enough math, for reference that would make the average annual return about 10% per year on a claim of $15,000.