The Akaroa Mail. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 7.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume 3, Issue 267, 7 February 1879, Page 2

The Akaroa Mail. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 7.

The Chinese Question is fast assuming immense proportions in the neighboring colonies of Australia. It is becoming one of the problems of the day whose solution is imperatively demanded. ; It is averred that the Chinese are in every sense undesirable colpnists—that they are filthy in , their habits, addicted to degrading views'—that' their quarters form hot-beds whence radiate disease and vice—that they do not become permanent settlers—and last,' though ;by no means least, that they compete with* European Tabor greatly to the" disadvantage of the latter. • It is true that: as j yet this question has not assumed proportions t of. any magnitude" in? this but it. must be remembered, first ihat/we form . part and parcel of Atrstralasia, and cannot afford to ignore anything • which/) is of moment to bur' 1 fellow-colonists oyer the water, and. secondly that, ..though,,not. very, nu-; iiierous as ; yet, John Chinaman lias made good his footing amongst us, and if circumstances-should render it expedient for hiniftO'leave Australia in numbers, it is quite possible that ,he may betake himself in which case we shouldat once be* brought with the problem:iifhich is', forcing 'Itself so strongly ! on the attention of our Australian neighbors; :: | .. Under these; circumstances we'offer no apology for introducing to our readers'" notice a pamphlet lately ."published in Melbourne on this question, a copy of which has been forwarded to us. is entitled ",The. Chinese ;Question in Australia, , 1878-79, edited by L. Kong Meng, Cheok Hong, Cheong,, Loujs Ah Mong. As the names of its editors would naturally lead us to expect,thei pamphlet deals with the question from the Chinese point of' view, and there is no'doubt that very considerable ability is',,displayed in the manner in which the matter is dealt'with.

The author or authors commence as follows :•—'.' ■■'- l

MVIn the present grave emergency, we appeal, as natives of China, and as citizens of Victoria, to the reason, the justice, the right feeling, and the calm good sense of the British population of Australia, not to sanction an outrage' upon the law of nations, and not to violate the treaty engagements entered into between the Government of Great Britain and the Emperor of China."

They then remind their readers of the circumstances under which emigration from China commenced. "Up to the year 1842," say the authors, "we lived in contented isolation from the rest of the world." They then relate truthfully enough how England, France, and the United States have successively extorted treaties from the Government of China, guaranteeing to the people of those nations the utmost freedom of ingress and egress, and" which reciprocally bestowed upon the Chinese freedom as regarded their territories. The pamphlet then proceeds :—

"And we beg it to be particularly remembered that this outflow of our population was never sought for by us. Western powers, armed with the formidable artillsry with which modern science has supplied them, battered down the portals of the empire ; and, having done so, insisted upon keeping them open. They said, in effect, 'We must cotiie in, and* you shall come out.. We will not suffer you to shut yourselves up from the rest of the world. We want to inoculate you with our enterprise, and to. bring you inside the great family of nations. We wish you to read our Scriptures, which say, ''God hath made of one blood all nations of men, for to'dwell oh all the face of the earth." We are allliis children... Let us draw together the ties of commurcial amity, and live and do business/ together like friends arid brethren. Throw down the barriers which have separated you for so many ages from the Aryan race; adopt our, habits and profit by our examples.'

''Well, we did so. We learned that there were vast portions of the earth's surface which were almost destitute qf inhabitants, and which were capable of supporting the redundant millions of Europe and Asia. Your missionaries came among us, and read from yourl Scriptures beautiful precepts like of Confucius and Mencius. They spoke to us of the brotherhood of man, and told us that the foundation principle of the social religion of Englishmen was this- ." Ye shall do unto others as ye would they should do unto you.." And thi3, also, is the sentiment of our own Great Teachef. Therefore, when we heard, about five and twenty years ago, that there was a great continent'nearly half as large, again as China, and containing only a few hundreds of thousands of civilized people thinly scattered around the coast; that it was : rich in the precious metals and very fer-'

tile; and that it was only a few weeks sail from our own country, numbers of Chinese immigrants set out for this land of promise. They came to work, not to Jbeg or to steal. They relied upiui the friendliness and the protection of the Government of the British Empire, because ttie convention signed at Tien-Tsin' solemnly guaranteed our countrymen frea admission to all parts of the territory of Her Britannic Majesty. But the new comers relied also on the Christian principles of European settlers in Australia. .... Judge, then, of our painful disappointment, our astonishment, and our sorrow at what followed. An encampment of, Chinese was formed on a newly-found goldfield in the Ovens district, known as ;tl(e Bu6l^land. ; 'They.were laborious and 'inoffensive -mem. who --wished to live at. peace with their British neighbors, and to pursue their avocation as gold miners J quietly and orderly7'like good citizens ari3" law-fearing colonists. But whatioUowed ?- They were set upon by the other" diggers, chased from their claims, cruelly beaten and maltreated,, their tents plundered and then bjioitiown.. We do not think this was doingras you > would be done by. "If such a 'tiling",had' happened in China—if a number of English miners had beeji subjected to such a cruel and wanton newspaper, in Great Britian would have,been aflame with indignation ; your envqyat Pekin' would have demanded prompt reparation l ahd adequate compensation ; and if tliis had not been acceded to, some men-of-war would have been ordered up to the mouth of the Pei-Ho. Our Emperor and his Mandarins would haye been reminded of the, solemn obligation they were under to'be faithful to their treaty engagements,: arid they would probably.,have been lectured on the bar find scandalous conduct of those who had insulted, despoiled, and maltreated peaceful, and industrious foreigners. Yet no atonement was offered ltd" the' poor Chinese diggers who wete "violently ex- . polled from the Buckland, ( wbo were plundered ,by the.stronger, and more numerous race ; and ,who .income instances lost their lives owing to the injuries they received.. We cannot help saying that proceedings of this kind are very disagreeable evidenoes. of. that brotherly love which is inculcated by your teachers of religion, and' your moralists, .and "which is also taught by our own Confucius."

■ / (The,,writers go : on then to contend •j that, the strictly legal aspect of, the, question, are desirable immigrants! As s nation .tbey„ " had reached a very high stage of civilization when Britain .was, peopled Sby naked- savages.?', .That they are well educated, all " education among them being based on religion and morality. Admitting that immorality does exist among the Chinese residents, they main- ■ tainj and appeal to ; statistics - to prove, that man for man,: the Chinese are . as free,. from vice and crime as any other nationality. ' Space will not permit us; to follow the writers through all the branches of their subjecjfc, which is ably handled; and we will conclude by quoting their perorationVreserving any remarks of our own for a future occasion.

:'. ~<' Thisj.fthen, is the • position of _ the Chinese in Australia relatively to British colonists. By a treaty forced upon his Imperial Majesty, our august master, your nation! compelled him to throw open the gates of his empire to the people of Western Europe. In return, you bound yourselves to reciprocity. The freedom to come and go, to trade and settle, which you insisted upon claiming for yourselves, you also accorded to the subjects of his Imperial Majesty. He has fulfilled the first part of the compact, and the trade of Great Britain with China has trebled during the last fourteen years, to say nothing of the indirect commerce trailsacted with that country via Singapore and Hong Kong. Well, our countrymen begin to emigrate to these colonies, and to seek employment on board of Australian vessels, in the fullest confidence that the second portion of the compact will be carried out, and they are astounded to find that its fulfilment i 3 resisted by the subjects of her Majesty Queen. Victoria in Australia, and that we are routed and hunted down as if we were as many wild beasts. Chinamen are told—"You must not work in Australian ships or in Australian factories; you must not earn a livelihood by hawking or by < handicrafts in these colonies. "You must leave off cultivating gardens, and fabricating furniture, and following the industrial employments you have adopted; and you must either starve, beg, steal, or vanish."

"In the name of heaven, we ask, where is your jnstice? Where your religion ? Where your morality ? Where your sense of right and wrong ? Where your enlightenment? Where your love of liberty? Where your respect of international lawi ? Which are the "pagans"—you or-: we? And what has become of those sublime and lofty sentiments of human brotherhood and cosmopolitan friendship and sympathy which are so often on your lips, and are proclaimed bo wisely from pulpit press and platform ?

; " Tsze Kung, one of the disciples of Confucius, asked the latter on a certain occasion,«' Is there one word which may serve as a rule of practice for all one's life? The master answered, "Is not reciprocity such- a word," meaning thereby what was sought by your own Great Teacher, f All things whatsoever ye would that men should; do tbllybu, do you evenjso to them.' Upon this reciprocity we take our stand. If you renounce it; if you say, ' might is right, arid treaties are not worth the parchment they are written on ; if you assert that this large and comparatively] unoccupied portion of tlie earth's surface* is to be fenced off from a race of people who are geographically so near to it, and who are so well adapted by nature and temperament for. the cultivation of extensive regions of it, from which Europeans will gradually wither away; if you substitute arbitrary, hatred, and jealousy, for justice, legality, and right; it may be that you will succeed in carrying your point; it may be that a great wrong will be accomplished by the exercise of sheer force, and* the weight of superior numbers; but your reputation among the nations of the earth will be irretrievably injured arid debased, and the flag of which you are so justly proud will no longer be the standard of freedom and the hope of the oppressed, * but it will be associated with deeds of falsehood and treachery, with broken faith, with a violated treaty, with the pitiful triumph of strength over weakness, of

European guile and selfishness over Asiatic sincerity and confidence, and with conduct which no sophistry can reconcile with the precepts of, your religion, with the canons of your'morality, with the spirit of your laws', with the policy at A your wisest statesmen, with the voice of-'. conscience, and with' M& §\wwtep%gim;, of '-the of ifew'" ■Britain." - ( " Ofy V/ |- i r .'' } "v\'i\\ ort We havareceived.4 of the, Little;. was held at their office, on the 3rd inst. We very much regret that we are unable to find room for it in this issue, but must hold it oveT for ou/nekt. i.* ~'**■ : i'•-•.'■,- «•. iX V ■• , •

Elsewhere will be found an obituary notice of one whose pecease will, we are "sure; be -heartily regretted ;by a very numerous circle. Mrs J. D. Garwood

pasßed away from artffjugsit us on Tuesday last. The deceaeed_JadyL had been in a bad state of healths for some years past,' but the end was somewhat sudden and unexpected* by* her nearest] friends. Mrs Garwood had resided nearly twenty-seven years in Canterbury,, the greater part of which time she^faaased'in. Akaroa. Sh§" came out to Lyttelton in the landing in that port on July 31, 1852Jhe'wag then a. Miss Hftringtoii, and was accompanied by a married brother and married'flister. • Shf ftent to reside in the" family of Captain .Simeon, which she left to become the wise ,of Mr Garwood, who was then employed, mi the office of the Lyttelton Times, at that time published in Lyttelton. In 1856 she and her husband came to manage White's store, which was on the site of the present esstablishment of Garwood and Co/s. They have resided here- ever since." Her loss will be widely felfci as she was remarkable forkindness and unobtrusive generosity. Having.no family of her own, she acted the part of a mpflier to several children, who received'by tfer means education, and in some were maintained en-* tirely at her cost. She had also by-various-acts of kindnaasJ&aiite 'friends of .'some of our Maori cousins, who were quite overcome with- grief ---on—learning of -her de- - cease. We feel sure that ehr Jreaders will, all join in heartfelt sympathy for our re-„ spected fallow-xjituan Mr Garwood, in the bereavement he has-sWained. The funeral took place yesterday afternoon; the cortege leaving .the residence of Mr Garwood t shortly after three o'clock. A very large number of persons testified their respect by following the Temains* to 'their ljtst resting place,, certainly ,j»nqre.s than two hundred. Among them were some relatives of the deceased whb had come'from a distance to be present on : the melancholy occasion. There, were,,, also a number of friends from other parts of r the Province, including Mr Montgomery L an"d -the Hon. John Hall. The Burial Service was conducted by the Revs. P. G. Anderson and W. Aylmer.