The Dominion. THURSDAY, AUGUST 21, 1913. THE .WHITE NEW ZEALAND POLICY.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1833, 21 August 1913, Page 6

The Dominion. THURSDAY, AUGUST 21, 1913. THE .WHITE NEW ZEALAND POLICY.

The difficult' problem of Asiatic immigration was briefly discussed in the House of Representatives yesterday afternoon, attentioh having been drawn to the matter by Sir Walter Buchanan, who had a question on the Order Paper suggesting that the Government should guard more efficiently against the admission of Indian coolies into New Zealand from the South Sea Islauds and Fiji. The printed reply of the Minister for Customs was that the matter is now being dealt with,' and he supplemented'this answer with a statement in which he strongly supported the policy of a white New Zealand. At the same time ho pointed out that coolies, or Asiatics, who have complied with the tests and other restrictive, measures, and have therefore been admitted into the Dominion in a lawful manner, could not be denied the right to live and to find employment here. The proper remedy,, however, was to make the barriers against their entry into New Zealand more effective. To do this is, however, not so easy as some people imagine, for there aro many ways _of evading without actually breaking these immigration .laws. For instance, it was 'stated in the House yesterday that there is a school in Fiji at which coolies receive sufficient instruction for a comparatively small sum to enable them to pass the alien immigration tests, and it was also declared that syndicates exist for the purpose of advancing to Chinamen the sum required to pay the poll tax on the understanding that those who avail themselves of this help shall repay the amount from their earnings after they settle in the country. There can be no doubt whatever that the great majority of the people of New Zealand are desirous of keeping this Dominion a white man's country, the only exception being the Maori race who were in possession of the land' when the first British colonists arrived; and if there "is any real danger of an influx of coolies from Fiji or elsewhere there can be no room for doubt on the part of the Government as to the view the country holds on the question.

The difficulty of an awkward situation is increased by -the fact that the British Empire contains a very large Asiatic element-, and the Parliaments of the self-governing Dominions have no desire to embarrass the Imperial Government in its relations with the people of India. Neither do they want to create friction sith other nations such jwl

China and Japan. It. is therefore imperative that any legislation having for its object the restriction of alien immigration should receive the most careful consideration, and every possible precaution should be taken in its enforcement against hurting the national self-respect of those people whom we may, for what we consider good reasons, think fit to exclude from our shores. We do not say that the Asiatic races are degraded beings or even inferior to ourselves. There is much that we could learn with advantage from the people of India and from the Chinese and Japanese. Still, we feel that as regards colour, methods of living, national ideals, education, and other things there is a great gulf fixed between them and ourselves, and .we desire to maintain the purity of our own race and to preserve our own standards of life. This cannot be done unless measures are taken to prevent a large Asiatic element from establishing itself in the country, and every self-govern-ing community has a perfect right to prevent the development of its national life and racial characteristics in directions that it may think undesirable. The means adopted for controlling immigration should be effective, but not offensive; and it should always be borne in mind that New Zealand forms part of a great Empire and therefore has Imperial, .as well as local, responsibilities. This fact will no doubt be kept in view when the Government brings down legislation, as indicated by the Prime Minister yesterday, to deal with the matter to whioii Sir Walter' Buchanan has drawn attention. It will no doubt be necessary to obtain the Royal Assent before any such measure can be put into operation; but we can rest assured that our desires in this matter will receive the sympathetic consideration of the Imperial authorities, and it is not at all likely that a veto will be plaosd on any reasonable proposals for' checking the influx of coloured aliens.