CHINESE AND SAMOA

Dominion, Volume 15, Issue 42, 12 November 1921, Page 8

CHINESE AND SAMOA

Sir.— Reading The Dominion th© other day I was very much amused at Air. 11. Holland, M.P.’s, remarks in the House regarding the Chinese labourers in Samoa. Mr. Holland need not shed any tears over those Chinamen. For this reason; He is infinitely beHer I ,, oft J^ r i ‘‘ ing on a plantation either in t'he Straits Settlements. Sumatra, Java, or Samoa, than ho would bei m the struggle foi ox Mence which obtains in his native villages up the West River or at Swatow or Amoy, wherever he. happens to hail 'from in the Southern Provinces. The Chinaman, in common with the rest of the human race, knows when he bon good wicket, and is quite anxious to be “indentured.” He knows that l e is then absolutely certain of three meala per dav, and can save some of Ins w<L,«s Lvidv for his return to Ins native countn whe ihe docs return. In tho Straits Settlements very often he does not return He prefers just to remain wffieie he is in many cases, and bournes a Useful and Staits bloated capitalists of the btiaivs started their carecre by being simply in. dentured labourers. I peisonally >n Singapore and at Bataya. The' climatic conditions under which works at Samoa are simply 1 aradi. e compared to Para, whore malam» bad. 3- know, as it settled my earthly career. No, Air. Ho - land the Chinaman at Samoa, I don t believe, would care to return to. Chinauntil ho has been several year?i in constant employment. Peiffiaps a little « bit of travel would bo of some benefit to Mr. Holland and others like him. it would certainly broaden their somewhat narrow outlook.-I am, etc.