Chinese Immigration Committee.

Cromwell Argus, Volume II, Issue 101, 17 October 1871, Page 6

Chinese Immigration Committee.

{Daily Times' Wellington Correspondent)

The Chinese Immigration Committee is accumulating a groat mas 3of evidence. Mr Haugliton was examined at great length, and, as may be supposed, went in strong against the Celestials. The chief points which lie urged were as follows :—First, the danger arising from the not unjustifiably bitter feeling entertained by the European miners towards the Chinese, and which ai*ose, he said, to some extent, from the practice of the latter to employ scouts to watch the European miners, and as soon as gold was struck a horde of Chinese immediately came, surrounding and pegging off the original prospectors. The European diggers were so annoyed and pressed that lie declared, if the encroachment of the Chinese were not checked there would not be 100 European miners left in the Wakatip district throe years hence. Secondly, that the Chinese and Europeans being necessarily under the same code of laws, and the Chinese not having the least idea of truth, the property of the Europeans was always in clanger when cases between the two i\ices came into Court, the Chinese beingready to swear to anything, and to procure anynumber of witnesses. This assertion Mr Haugliton amusingly illustrated by several anecdotes regarding matters which had fallen under his own personal observation:. The storekeepers he said, were a class not distinguished for high feelings in respect of political matters, and being anxious to make money as fast as possible, they had at first encouraged the Chinese to come, but now even they were turning, for they found thai the Chinese digger did not spend one-quarter as much as the European one. The Chinese were, in fact, making a clean sweep, devastating the country leiving nothing b3hincl them, and then re. turning to their own country with the spoilTo propose any special tax or duty on them would, he thought, be absurd, and never be assented to by the homo Government. The only way he saw of remedving the evil was to insert a clause in the Goldlields Acts, absolutely prohibiting a Chinaman acquiring armmining property in his own right except l lj* purchase of the freehold. He had no objections to a few Chinese coming to act as servants and gardeners, but did not think they would be employed as labourers on the Goldfiehls, as public opinion was so much against them. Where they were numerous, and tho Europeans wore not, they behaved with great insolence and rudeness even using force to carry ont tho r point. Mr Haugliton was examined on several points by Mr Macandrew, the object being to show that the Chinese contributed largely to the revenue. This Mr Haugliton admitted, but thought tho con-' tributionn in this way were not equal to tho harm they did in other ways.