Our Wellington Letter

Feilding Star, Volume XI, Issue 3, 22 June 1889, Page 3

Our Wellington Letter

((FROM OUB.OWN co-respondent.) Wellington, June 20. The Chinese question that has been ithe cause of so much trouble both in America and Australia, is bidding xfair to become as great a nuisance in ♦our fair New Zealand. In Wellington alone the Chinese are quietly but purely driving the Europeans out of the market in many ways, and with the object of checking the onward anarch of the oriental, a meeting was iheld a few evenings ago when it was £hown that ohinamen were in the iabit of renting shops for say 30s per week and taking in five or Bix of their <couutrynien aB lodgers at the rate of •5s per week, which enabled the tenant to live rent free, the meeting considered that it would be against the *girit of British fair-play to resort to but as our almond eyed iriends are not *' good citizens," in -that they spent but little money, and •what little they save is sent away to the flowery land, and also that their presenoe has a deteriorating affect -upon adjacent property, a resolution ■was proposed to the effect that Parliament should be asked to legislate with the object of having a " Chinese Quarter" provided, and out of which the Chinese should not be allowed to live. Tbe question naturally arises, if the chinamen can seU so cheap and make a profit, why cannot the Eurojeans. The sequel is found in the iact that "John" has no wife and iamily to provide for, and poverbially speaking ** he can live on the smell of a boiled rag," whereas the European is bound to a certain extent to keep iup a respectable position, and secondly the chinaman buys for cash, receives _2£ per cent discount and also sells for •cash. The European on the other hand •cannot always do either of these things, and the result is that he is "being quietly run to earth by the son of the flowery land. Matters political are again on the move. The Government by the result of the Ohristchurch North election, liave secured another supporter, and in addition "have lost a bitter opponent in Ytgel. The session is expected to be a short one, though there is sure j to 'be some warm work over the Commissioners appointments, the judgeship and Mr Fisher's secession. It is pretty certain that -ministers will be able to pull through this session at least. The notorious A erne w couple have Ibeen consigned to Mount Cook for a month on a e'harge of vagrancy, so that members of parliament may be •sure Of a little peace for part of the session. CJheims is still on trial for the naurderof Hawkins but atpresent the <chain of circumstantial evidence is wery incomplete, the only link that seems to have any weight being the fad that portions of a newspaper found blown into deceaseu*-. body correspond with a paper found in the house of the accused.