MR. HWANG QUITE INTERESTING

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1002, 17 December 1910, Page 4

MR. HWANG QUITE INTERESTING

CHINESE QUERIES AND OTHER - 1 MATTERS: . (By Telegraph.—Special OoriesnondenU Chrlstcliurch, December 16. ' The Chinese Consul in New Zealand Mr. Yung Liang Hivang, arrived in; Christcliurch this evening from the We6fc Coast. This is the first visit which' Mr. Hwang has paid to that part of the Dominion. His object was d doubl&barrelled one, the first idea being toi meet those of bis countrymen who arej on the coast, and liis second to see thaw part of New Zealand for himself. Mr. Hwang told a "Press" reporters that he had visited Greymouth, Hoki-i tika, Kumara, Reefton, and Marsden,i and, at each place, he had a meeting-: with his countrymen, and addressed l them. "I found," he said, "that bo ma aro industrious, and others are not/ Quite a few are idle. I told them to' be a little alert, and not to be too conservative. I advised them to cut off their queues, and some of tiiem did so'j They did not know what had takeis place in China until I told them that,* as the Emperor had sent out an order! commanding the naval and militaiyi officers and ministers to cut off their 1 ' hair while abroad, they wcra not required to keep their queues. China ha# become progressive, and gave up' thq conservative idea about 1900, but ouj! men here know very little."' "When in Rome do as the Romans do" was the advice Mr. Hwang gave his countrymen on the Coast. "I told them," he said, "that, while they are in an English country, they ought to adopt English ways, and methods o£ work. Some of our gardeners work very, well, but they don't make much moneys Vegetables (this with ■ a humorous twinkle) are too cheap. Some of .our men are mining in the gold districts* There are quite a few of them there, and they work together harmoniously. Someone told me thit there used to be- about a thousand Chinese miners on the coast, but, as less gold was found, their numbers decreased very, rapidly. There are four or five Chinese shopkeepers in Greymouth all very intelligent men." It was inevitable that Mr. _ Hwang should be asked what impression the West Coast had made on him. Ha said that he found th.e people very nice indeed, but he hesitated to expressany opinion' of the country after a visit of only a few days. "One thing was that I found more bars tliero than in any other place, and hotels—so many hotels."

The Consul was glad to Temark that' ho did not find that there was much prejudice against the Chinese on tha West Coast. There were about 350 in that part of. the country. He added; somewhat regretfully, _ that ■ it seemed that the number of Chinese in the Dominion was decreasing. There were several reasons 1 for this. "Some ol them become old, and want to go home; a few others have found that their work here is not so successful as before, and they are getting out on account of the stringent Immigration Restriction Act of 190 S. ' No new ones are coming in; only three have come in since thai year."

Do you receive any letters from China from prospective immigrants? Mr. Hwang was asked.

"Not' Dne," he replied smiling. "A great many of our people don't know that there is such a place. They ; ar< not so well—what shall I say?—goo. graphically, educated as New Zealand* ers." •