Chinese as Colonists.

Cromwell Argus, Volume V, Issue 268, 17 November 1874, Page 7

Chinese as Colonists.

VICTORIAN EXPERIENCES. A correspondent writing to a Melbourne contemporary remarks : Some most inaccurate statements regarding Chinamen have been put in circulation recently. He has been represented as a marrying man. Nothing is further from the truth. In 1871 there were 18,000 Chinamen in the Colony, and thirty-six Chinawomen, all of whom had been born in China. In the same year only thirty-three Chinamen got married, twelve of whose wives were Victorian born, six of the wives did not know their birthplace, eight of the wives were English born, and only three of the wives were Irish. The respectability of a few Chinamen's wives in Victoria is beyond all question, but, as a rule, John marries the larrikiness to assist him in his unlawful calling about little Bourkestreet. It has been erroneously asserted also that the Chinaman settles down. Quite untrue. Only thirty-four took out letters of naturalisation during the last ten years. Out of the 18,000, .500 are now in the gaols of the Colony, 250 for the crime of felony. What becomes of John ? it may be asked. The fact is, he shares one characteristic in common with what we call the elite of Victorian society. He is a most shameless absentee. Fifty or sixty leave our shores every month for the Flowery Land, abstracting all the plunder they have come by through fossicking and prigging, brothel-keeping and gambling. About an equal number arrive.