TAHSIL locations are indicated by the following abbreviations: Firozpur District

Village and town locations have been determined in accordance with the district and tahsil boundaries which applied at the time of the 1971 Census. For lists of village names grouped according to district and tahsil see :

1.    List of Villages in the Districts of the Punjab. 2 vols. Lahore :

n.p. 1892. (Copy in India Office Library.)

2.  Census of India 1971. Series 17-Punjab, Part IX-A, Administrative

Atlas, ed. P.L. Sondhi and H.S. Kwatra.    Delhi : Controller

of Publications, 1979. The latter also includes detailed  maps for  each tahsil showing the precise location of each village.

The three-part number which follows the tahsil abbreviation is the official location number for each village. These location numbers appear in the 1971 Census. The first of the three numbers desi­gnates the district; the second the tahsil; and the third the actual village.

NONE of the four biographies briefly outlined in this appendix can claim to be representative of the typical Punjabi career in New Zealand. They have been included because for various reasons all four can claim to be interesting.

1. Phuman Singh Gill

      Phuman Singh was the son of Bela Singh Gill, a Jat farmer of Chirak village near Moga.¹ His elder brother, Bir Singh, had migrated to Australia and had evidently failed to communicate with the family after his departure. Phuman Singh was accordingly despatched to bring him home.² He duly located Bir Singh who was working as a hawker, but instead of escorting him back to the Punjab decided to remain with him. It is not known how long Phuman Singh stayed in Australia with Bir Singh, but as we have already seen it must have been in 1890 or soon after that the two brothers crossed the Tasman to New Zealand.³ Although it is possible that they were preceded by one or two Punjabi Muslims these two men from Chirak were the first identifiable Punjabis to reach New Zealand.
Bir Singh and Phuman Singh soon went their separate ways. After learning how to make sweets from a Muslim in Auckland Phuman Singh moved to Wellington where he hawked sweets, curries and chutnies from door to door. During this period he lived in a boarding-house and there met his future wife, an English nurse named Margaret. They were eventually married in the Wellington registry office, shortly after Phuman Singh had moved to Wanganui.

      Ganda Singh belonged to a family of Khangura Jats who lived in the village of Bhaini Baringan, situated in Jagraon tahsil of Ludhiana District, a short distance from the town of Raikot According to his son, Mr Vram Singh of Vancouver, he was 'restless, adventurous...... very inquisitive'. This rather than economic necessity prompted him to travel. He was not in fact poor, for the family possessed sufficient land to provide Ganda Singh with an adequate if unexciting living.

      Having travelled by train as far as Calcutta Ganda Singh worked there as a night watchman in order to earn his fare to Singapore. In Singapore and Malaya he continued to work as a night watchman before proceeding on to Australia. There he worked 'for a lengthy period' in Queensland clearing land and hawking. The actual year of his arrival in New Zealand is not known, but it was probably in 1899 or perhaps 1900. No report survives of his activities during the first period which he spent in New Zealand. In 1906/07 he returned to India and brought back his wife Daya Kaur together with his newly-born nephew Kehar Singh (known as Kaira in New Zealand). He worked for Phuman Singh Gill in his Wanganui confectionery business for a number of years before deciding to move to Westland in South Island. His son Varyam Singh (Vram) was born in Wanganui in 1908 and his daughter Tej Kaur (Annie) was born in Runanga in 1913. The move to the South Island was thus made between these two births.

       Before taking up residence in Runanga the family lived for a time at the neighbouring settlement known as Middle Camp. It was, writes Mr. Bob Unwin, 'a little area that had been formed by some of the railway gangs and had later got work at the mines and lived on there...... There would be about 20
to 30 homes in the settlement if you could call them homes. Shacks would be more appropriate. They were canvas-roofed with a 2 ft. side of corrugated iron or logs for the walls but at that time about 80% of the houses around the Dunollie area were of similar construction. The Singh family lived in one of these dwellings about 60 yards below the first tunnel on the Rewanui line...... During this time Ganda was clearing and

      The Te Henui cemetery in New Plymouth contains a most unusual tomb, a domed structure with a minaret at each corner. The interior has a terrazo floor and walls lined with agate vitrolite. Around the walls runs a vitrolite shelf bearing a hermetically-sealed casket, a copy of Rodwell's English version of the Qu'ran, and a pair of spectacles belonging to the deceased occupant of the casket. In the centre of the tomb stands a granite table bearing some faded flowers and two candlesticks. An inscription on the exterior reads 'Mohammed Islam Salaman Tomb'. The burial record gives the name of the occupant as 'Abraham Walley Mohammed Salaman' who died on 14 February 1941 at the age of 59. His obituary in the Taranaki Daily News for 17 February 1941 notes that Mr Salaman had the mausoleum constructed prior to his death at a cost of £2000. At 1941 prices £2000 would have purchased a respectable house.

      Salaman was the first of the identifiable Punjabi Muslims to reach New Zealand. The name by which he was known is a corruption of Suliman (the Qu'ranic form of Solomon) and he is still remembered in the Punjabi community as Suliman Hakim or Suliman the Herbalist.  According to the 1941 obituary notice he arrived in New Zealand '37 years ago'. If this is correct he must have arrived in 1904 or possibly 1903. The obituary describes him as 'a member of a prominent Indian family... grandson of a former mayor of Amritsar..and related to the late Sir Mahomed Shiffi (sic Shafi)'. This information must be treated with caution as it presumably derives from Suliman's own account of his antecedents. Whoever his grandfather may have been he certainly was not 'mayor' of Amritsar. (There was no such office.) Suliman's widow, Mrs Simpson,

has confirmed that he belonged to an Amritsar family, adding that the family name was Chaudhuri⁸. It may well have been a prominent family. Suliman's father is said to have been a herbalist and Suliman eventually took up the same profession.

      The obituary reports that Suliman travelled widely in Europe and the East before arriving in Wellington. He evidently settled in Wellington where he traded as a merchant and manufactured analine dye, supplying khaki dyes for army uniforms during World War I. 0wing to health problems he moved to Auckland where he became a herbalist, and in or about 1929 he transferred his business to New Plymouth. He also imported Indian silks and according to the obituary was 'an expert on precious stones'.

      Suliman's herb treatments were evidently very popular for his daughter remembers a waiting-room regularly crowded with patients, some of whom came to New Plymouth from as far away as the Wairarapa district. As a result he prospered handsomely and purchased three farms.⁹ In 1930, however, his reputation and practice suffered a serious blow when he was charged with improper medical treatment, unlawfully accelerating the death of a diabetic boy aged 6}. Declaring him to be 'plainly a charlatan' the judge sentenced him to a year of hard labour.¹⁰ Suliman and his business evidently survived the disgrace. The obituary, avoiding all mention of his trial and conviction, clearly indicates that he was a prominent New Plymouth citizen and implies that he was an honourable one. It is, however, possible that he comtemplated a permanent, return to India following his release from prison. In 1932 he visited Amritsar with his family and their built himself a large house.11 If in fact it had been his intention to retire there he must have changed his mind, for he returned to new Zealand and eventually gave the house to an educational institution.¹²

      Suliman had three wives, all of them New Zealanders. A daughter called Asher was born of the first marriage in or about 1917. This marriage was evidently terminated because of the wife's failure to produce a son and Suliman then married Gladys Richards of Nelson. Two more daughters followed before this marriage was terminated for the same reason as the first.¹³

      No children were born to the third marriage, The third wife survived her husband and perpetuated both his name and his herbalist business. She subsequently married a Chinese man called Simpson and with him continued to operate the business under the name of Salaman Simpson.¹⁴

4. Dr. Baldev Singh Share

      None of my informants would talk about Dr. Baldev Singh Share. At first this seemed surprising, for Baldev Singh was the son of Giani Dit Singh, a prominent leader in the Singh Sabha movement and one of the most famous Sikhs of modern times.¹⁵ He was also the only Punjabi of the pre-1940 generation who possessed professional qualifications and during the mid-1920s he had been an acknowledged leader of the Indian community in New Zealand. It soon became clear, however, that there was a reason for the reticence.

      Baldev Singh was born in Lahore on 1 January 1883, the only son of Giani Dit Singh. (A daughter, Vidya, died young.) Dit Singh had already earned notice as a Ramdasia Sikh of ardent spirit and a powerful pen, a man who was to win a considerable reputation as an organiser and a polemicist. Closely associated with stalwarts such as Gurmukh Singh and Takhat Singh he emerged as one of the most creative leaders of the Singh Sabha movement. Baldev Singh himself described his father as 'the acknowledged Luther of the Sikhs and Milton of the Punjab'. His mother, Dit Singh's wife, had been 'the first Punjab lady to qualify and be a teacher'.¹⁶

      Although Dit Singh died in 1901 his son's interests were not neglected. A group called the Giani Dit Singh Memorial Fund Committee was formed, part of its purpose being to help Baldev Singh complete his education. Financial help was also received from the Maharaja of Nabha, enabling him to travel to Europe and there secure an impressive string of medical qualifications¹⁷ According to Baldev Singh's own account he earned the following degrees and diplomas : 'MD (Hons) Brux— stood 1st, got "Grande Distinction", DPH (Edin & Glasg),

      CTM (Liverp), LRCP (Edin), LRCS (Edin), LRFPS (Glasg)'. The official Justice Department record merely states that he held an MD with honours from Brussels and the DPH of Edinburgh and Glasgow. He secured medical registration in the United Kingdom on 15 July 1910 and was subsequently registered in both New Zealand (6 June 1921) and Fiji (20 June 1928). After returning to India he became personal physician to his patron the Maharaja of Nabha. This was a significant appointment. Maharaja Ripudaman Singh was well disposed towards the Singh Sabha movement and later showed signs of supporting the Akali Sikhs in their campaign for gurdwara reform.¹⁸
Baldev Singh was back in India by 1911 as it was in that year that he published from Lahore a uniform edition of fourteen of his father's works. His address, as publisher, is given as Kucha Chabak Savaran, Lahore. In 1913 he appears as joint secretary of the Singh Sabha in Lahore. The Isemonger and Slattery report on the Ghadar conspiracy names him as one of the Sikh leaders contacted by three Vancouver Sikhs who visited India in that year to publicise Canadian treatment of Indian immigrants.¹⁹ Sardar Nahar Singh, editor of the Isemonger and Slattery report, subsequently added the following information :

      Dr. Baldev Singh was his [Dit Singh's] only son. After Bhai Dit Singh's death [in 1901] Dr. Baldev Singh became an active member of the Lahore Singh Sabha and the Lahore Khalsa Dewan. He was a good writer and wrote several pamphlets in Punjabi. He belonged to the party or say faction of Maharaja Ripadaman Singh, at that time Tikka Sahib [heir apparent to the Nabha title], and was a great friend of the late Bhai Kahn Singh of Nabha. He practised medicine in Lahore and also took part in Sikh socio-religious work. After the death of Maharaja Hira Singh, Maharaj Ripadaman Singh took him in Nabha State Service. Soon after the Maharaja grew angry with Dr. Baldev Singh. Dr. Baldev Singh then left India and went to Fiji and New Zealand. Nothing was known about him in India till the late forties when he came back and settled in Hoshiarpur.²⁰

     It was actually in late 1931 that Baldev Singh returned to India, though it is scarcely surprising that his arrival attracted no attention. He lived thereafter in anonymity and died at Solan of a heart attack on 16 June 1940.²¹

      Dr Baldev Singh's career thus consisted of four distinct periods. The first two comprised his education in Europe and medical practice in India; and the fourth was a decade of secluded retirement. It was a retirement spent in loneliness and disgrace. The third period, a decade spent in New Zealand, explains why this was so. It is, however, far from certain that Baldev Singh deserved the ignominy which befell him, or that his New Zealand experience should have so decisively terminated his medical career. As we shall see, he was convicted in 1929 of a serious and humiliating offence. He spent two years in New Zealand gaols and was deported to India in December 1931. The nature of his offence ensured that his disgrace should be total and it explains why the older members of the Punjabi community in New Zealand have ever since been unwilling to mention his name or discuss his career The charge was certainly one which necessarily involved deregistration and disgrace if sustained by a conviction. What is less certain is that Dr Baldev Singh deserved to be convicted.
One of the issues which remains unclear is Baldev Singh's reason for emigrating to New Zealand in 1920. According to The Medical Directory he remained in the employment of Nabha State until at least 1916. No entries appear under his name for the years 1917-19 and when he reappears in 1920 (now as Dr Share) he is listed as Health Officer in Bassein, Burma. The 1921 entry, which places him in Auckland, notes that he had served as Medical Officer of Health in Patna as well as in Bassein. The Patna appointment presumably intervened between Nabha and Bassein.²² Whatever his reasons the move to New Zealand in mid-1920 was evidently intended to be a permanent one. His arrival in Auckland was reported as follows by the Evening Post of Wellington :

      Some opinions from the Hindu point of view regarding the Asiatic question were expressed in an interview with a Star representative by Dr. B. S. Share, who arrived from India

     last week. He is a high-caste Sikh, born in Lahore and educated there and in Europe, being the possessor of medical degrees from the Universities of Brussels and Edinburgh. He is accompanied by his mother, who for many years was a teacher in the Indian colleges for women; his wife who is a teacher and a qualified nurse; and their small son. It is their intention to make their home in New Zealand. Dr. Share has been for some time medical superintendent of a body of Imperial service troops, and was at the same time sanitary commissioner of Patna, capital of Behar. His work has of necessity brought him into touch with people of prominence and he speaks enthusiastically of the loyalty of the Hindus to the British Government. 'Believe me," he said, "there is but a discontented few dissatisfied with British rule; the vast majority would not change for all the world. But we must remember that Hindus are an intensely faithful, sentimental and emotional race, and they cling very much to the sentimental attributes of the Government; the affection of the retainer for his master and confidence of master in the retainer. The masses of India crave for a deeper trust to be placed in them by the authorities, and I feel sure that it would not be misplaced."

      On the subject of the Asiatic influx, Dr. Share had no hesitation in speaking. "See that the Hindus whom you allow into your country are of the decent and law-abiding class, and of a class that will remain here and eventually become reputable citizens. I have no sympathy with those who make the land a mere treasure ground, and return to India to spend your money. As for me, I have come here to stay. All my dependents have come to New Zealand with me, and I have now no ties in India. I should like to send my son to an European school, where he will have the benefits of a sound European education. After all, we are all members of the Aryan family, in spite of the fact that Hindus come after the general classification of Asiatics, but we are not akin to the Mongolian, Chinese, and Japanese, who infuse an

entirely alien strain of blood into the countries in which they settle.^"23

     On 17 December 1920 Baldev Singh changed his name by deed poll to Baldev Singh Share²⁴ and at some stage between 1920 and 1929 he acquired New Zealand citizenship.
The press report of Dr Baldev Singh's interview evidently caused some resentment among the Punjabis already in New Zealand because it seemed to suggest that he alone of the Punjabi community was entitled to live and work in New Zealand. Hakim Singh Jhooti of Khushalpur sent him a letter of protest expressing views which many shared. The specific points of criticism were Dr Baldev Singh's opinion that immigrants should be married, the reference to taking 'your money', the statement that he no longer had ties with India, and the claim that he belonged to a high caste. He was in fact a Ramdasia by caste and the sundering of India ties was held to be singularly inappropriate in the case of one who owed his expensive education to the generosity of the Panth.²⁵ Dr Baldev Singh evidently apologised and for several years thereafter was recognised as a leader of the Indian community in Auckland A 1922 photo of a well-attended Indian welcome to V.S. Srinivasa Sastri shows him in pride of place as chief spokesman,²⁶ and in 1926 he was chosen to lead the delegation which visited the Minister of Internal Affairs to protest about the activities of the White New Zealand League.²⁷ Meanwhile he continued to develop his medical practice in Schmidt's Building on Queen Street in the centre of Auckland. According to a report published in 1924 he had 'attained to a position of prosperity' and enjoyed 'the confidence of the European public'.²⁸

      All this came suddenly and tragically to an end when a female patient accused Dr Share of having committed indecent assault. The offence, she claimed, took place on 26 September 1929. Dr Share was duly arraigned and predictably the trial attracted considerable attention. Evidence was heard on November 7th. According to the complainant Dr Share had inserted into her vagina what she had thought was his finger

but that later she felt her bloomers to be damp. He had also shown her some photographs which the prosecution claimed to be lewd. The prosecution case depended on the traces of spermatazoa which allegedly had been found on the complainant's bloomers. Medical opinion varied, some claiming that in the absence of 'whole spermatazoa' it was impossible to affirm their presence. Another medical witness claimed to have found eight spermatazoa, but added that they could have been on the garment for a considerable period. Yet another declared that the complainant was still a virgin.

      The complainant herself did little to assist the case for the prosecution, agreeing that she and Dr Share had parted good friends. Having earlier said that she had been 'horrified' by his photographs she subsequently withdrew the statement. Dr Share denied the charge of indecent assault. He acknowledged possessing 'rude pictures', but denied having shown them to the complainant. They were, he claimed, on loan to a friend at the time of the alleged incident and he latter produced a witness who confirmed this. The police testified that the door of Dr Share's surgery could not be shut. Later witnesses confirmed that it had been open at the time the offence was allegedly committed and one of them added that he could actually see Dr Share in a mirror from outside the room. Dr Share's nurse testified that he was 'always a gentleman in every way when attending to women'.

      The jury duly retired and returned with the verdict : 'Guilty as a menace to society.' The judge refused to accept this, pointing out that there was no such offence on which a man could be convicted. After retiring again the jury returned with a fresh verdict : 'Guilty, with a recommendation to mercy because we think the prisoner is a sexual pervert.' This was accepted by the judge who sentenced Dr Share to three years hard labour.
Why was the case brought against Dr Share, and why did the jury find him guilty on such unconvincing evidence? The correspondence in the Justice Department file includes a letter from one of Dr Share's friends who alleged that a vindictive

medical rival had been responsible for his plight. (The rival is actually named.) This may perhaps explain why the complainant, who acknowledged that she and the accused had parted 'good friends', should have been persuaded to lay the charge. It is, however, no more than a plausible possibility. A final answer to the first question will presumably never be known.

      The answer to the second question obviously has something to do with the 'rude pictures' which Dr Share acknowledged possessing. It is also possible that it reflected attitudes developed or strengthened by the recent controversy concerning Indian immigration. The jury was composed entirely of Europeans and the trial was held in the shadow of the White New Zealand League's unsavoury campaign to have Indians repatriated²⁹ Once again, however, we are unable to offer a definitive explanation. All one can say is that in retrospect it is inconceivable that Dr Share would be charged, much less convicted, if evidence of this kind were to be offered today.

      The two years which followed the trial added further misery to the Share family's suffering and humiliation. Dr Share was despatched to Hautu Camp prison near Tokaanu in the central North Island and from a prison photograph taken during the period of his sentence it is clear that he was a thoroughly broken man. His wife and son were left destitute apart from a small maintenance payment from the state. Inevitably be was deregis-tered, their house was repossessed and the son, having contracted tuberculosis, died at the age of 19 in early January 1931. Dr Share was permitted to travel up to Auckland under escort shortly before the boy died (he was required to pay his own expenses from his tiny prison wage) and was thereafter confined in the Auckland Prison at Mount Eden. It was acknowledged that he was an 'exemplary prisoner' but applications for an early release submitted by friends and other concerned for his condition were refused. One of these applications drew from the Controller-General of Prisons the answer that he had been convicted on 'incontrovertible evidence'. A petition dated 29/4/31 from Dr Share himself notes that he has 'a weak chest and a broken arm'. It adds that he is 'prepared to leave NZ immediately for

India where petitioner is anxious to see through press his 15 years' labour of research into Indian music which is also intended to be a moral text-book'.30

      In July 1931 the Minister of Justice finally agreed that Dr Share should be released on probation in December of the same year. Appeals for an immediate release continued, one of them from Sir George Fowlds stressing that the situation had become critical because money collected for Mrs Share's return fare to India was having to be used to keep her alive.31 The Minister, however, adhered to his decision. On 2 December 1931 Dr Baldev Singh Share was released on probation. He left New Zealand for India two days later.

1. The principal source for Phuman Singh Gill and his brother Bir Singh was the former's daughter Mrs Madge Singh of Blockhouse Bay, Auckland. Ints. 33.1-2 and correspondence.
2. A third brother, Thaman Singh remained permanently in India.
3. See Section 3.2.
4. Madge married Santa Singh of Jandiala in 1928 and moved to Auckland with her husband. The couple had met while she was living with her parents in Marton.
5. I owe these details concerning his death to Mr I.W. Malcolm, City Librarian, Palmerston North (letter 11/6/76).
6. The principal source for Ganda Singh's career is the oral testimony of his son, Mr Varyam (Vram) Singh of Vancouver, who was born in Wanganui in 1908 and educated in Runanga on the west coast of the South Island. Mr Vram Singh's report has been supplemented by Mrs Madge Singh (daughter of Ganda Singh's employer, Phuman Singh Gill), by Colonel H.B. Singh of Ludhiana, and by the following residents or former residents of Runanga : Mrs Beat Carson, Mrs E. Francis, Mrs Pattison, Mr H.J. Hart, Mr J.A. Mann, and Mr Bob Unwin. Thanks are also due to my former student Mr Paul O'Connor who twice interviewed Mr Vram Singh on my behalf in 1977. I was able to visit and interview Mr Vram Singh myself in April 1979 (Ints. 60, 1-3).
7. The principal source for the life of Suliman is the lengthy obituary which appeared (with a photograph) in the Taranaki Daily News for 17/2/41. My copy of this obituary was supplied by Mrs Joyce Edlin of New Plymouth who also visited the tomb and consulted the burial record on my behalf.

LIST OF INTERVIEWS