The Influx of Chinese.

Cromwell Argus, Volume 2, Issue 92, 15 August 1871, Page 3

The Influx of Chinese.

(From the Brace Standard. } To the many difficulties in which New Zealand is placed, Otago has a special difficulty, that is now attracting very general attention. We refer to the continued influx of Chinese, and their presumed interference with the so-called rights and pi'ospects of miners from other countries. We certainly disapproved of our Government giving any encouragement to immigrants of this class some years ago, but when it is proposed to put a stop to their coming here by legislative enactments or prohibitory imposes, we must demur to the justice or policy of any such measures. We presume that it would be possible to make the country " too hot" for the '' Heathen Chinee" by imposing a polltax or some other tax ; but so long as Great Britain is at peace with China, we cannot altogether prevent them from coming to our shores. We remember, in our youth, that the absurdity of the Chinese excluding Englishmen from proceeding into the interior of the Celestial Empire was strongly impressed upon us ; and are we now, at this advanced period of the nineteenth century, to take up such a position as we so self-complacently condemn when acted on by other countries I We hope not. That they are not desirable colonists we freely admit, but we cannot concur in many of the objections that are so strongly urged against them. The great benefit which the working of the goldfields confers on the community, has always been attributed to the increased consuming power created by the miners. Now, although the Chinese deal principally with their own countrymen, and, as a rule, they do not consume dutiable goods to the same extent as Europeans, yet they, as many storekeepers on the goldfields can testify, are by no means bad customers. They are also large cash purchasers of pigs and poultry from the farmers, and in some districts the sum spent in this way is very considerable, which, if John Chinaman was banished, would be felt as a positive loss by the settlers. But what, after all, does this agitation against the Chinese amount to ? Is it not an acknowledgment that our boasted Anglo-Saxon enterprise, pluck, and skill are no match for the perseverance and organisation of Chinamen. In fact, it is simply an indication of that protective principle which is and will be the bane and ruin of every country that resorts to it. It is founded upon such a miserable doctrine as was feebly hinted at by Mr Vogel in last session of Assembly, that farmers required protection of grain, when it is well known that so long as we export grain, grain cannot be protected or increased in price, however desirable it might be. Experience and private information have also clearly revealed to us that any other immigration save that of poor needy individuals, brought out by a paternal Government, need not be looked for in the present and prospective condition of the Province and Colony. No tenant farmers of Scotland or England, with more or less of capital, will ever think of coming to this country until our taxation be (reduced, our system of Government be econo"Arqed, and our land laws be permanently settled on a liberal basis. We do not think iiuwjse to refuse under these circumstances

kind of immigrants we are likely \to: have without taxing ourselves to introjdneie them. With all the drawbacks attending!'ifctie continued arrival of Mongolians, thofee'who would attempt to stop them should reflecithat they largely contribute by indirect rtSxfttion to the maintenance of Government, ■andjithat in Otago each of them, by the capitation allowance, contributes £2 to the Pro vijwiial revenue. If by a foolish and reckless course .of Government we brought this Province rrito a position which repels other and h inpr[e ; eligible countrymen from coming into i|jjjspall we perpetrate the mistake of exclud.,ing;J iji- 'industrious class of miners, which so, greatly to the necessities of rata f impecunious Government that cannot iiwetsfra"current liabilities? We trust that : it never will go forth to the world that we are frightened by the Chinese in works of peaceful industry. This would indeed be a disgrace, equal to the confession that John Bull could not hold his own against the i " Heathen Chinee" in a fair stand up fight. :As the Star says, so say we—" they are I better than none."

Mr Miller, who recently delivered a lecture at Arrowtown, spoke as follows : That the Government in dealing with the Chinese question is being led astray by a will-o'-thc-wisp is apparent. They have decided to push the Colony ahead on hot-house principles ; for this purpose they have borrowed a large amount of money, to make which reproductive, a certain amount of men are required, who, by giving their labour, receive as an equivalent a share of the borrowed money. The Chinese, though they confine themselves at present to mining, will eventually issuo forth as general labourers, and also compete with the Europeans in many trades and professions ; that is, should they be allowed to increase as they have done. We have the example of settlements where Mongolian labour has been introduced to prove that there the European workman's occupation is gone ; and we find that these places through this are in a stationary and miserablo condition. If we compare them witlfthoso Colonies that have been settled and arc occupied exclusively by Europeans, we find a far healthier and happier state of things. Canada, for instance, Avithout Chinese immigration, has reached a state of prosperity vhich in truly wonderful, and han at-

taincd it without the allurement of goldfields. In our advantages as a field for European immigration, we approach nearer to Canada than any other Colony, and the Government i by their new immigration scheme enter into i still closer competition with her, in so far | that they try to equalise the passage money. But the immigrant must have immunity from I the encroachments of a race who threaten to upset the state of things in more ways than | one ; and this he enjoys in Canada, m com-! mon with many advantages which New Zealand cannot hold forth, such as facility in ac- j quiring land, low cost of living, light taxes, j &c. A correspondent writes as follows : Fresh arrivals of Chinamen, although small, indicate that the popularity of our ' district as a field for operations has not de- ! creased among those devastating hordes of olive-eyed, pig-tailed, two-legged human locusts. The problem of how to deal with the | Chinese question is still open for solution t< "all the world." International treaties have J been quoted as regards their landing on oiir j shores ; but nothing seems to have been ad- ! vanced by their abettors about our obliga-1 tions to oblige them with miners' rights. Monster petitions, as proposed, to stop the j issue e>f the latter, can hardly be expected to j be attended with sxiccess, while would-be merchant-princes who fatten on every set of,! ; teeth imported have such" an influence ; audi; where there is a hard-up Government who,jj i with a largely overdrawn account, would not) j lonly issue a miner's right to the "old gen- j j tleman" himself for the sake of his pound,] but to a whole plantation of gorillas,—without even making it a condition that they should bring their wives with them, niixj with other people, settle down, and become! desirable colonists. i