AN IDOL IN PERIL.

Globe, Volume XX, Issue 1499, 5 December 1878, Page 3

AN IDOL IN PERIL.

It will be seen from the following extract that the " Bay of Plenty Times," a journal which candidly avows that it has regarded Sir George Grey as "our idol," is likely to need a new object of devotion before long : Had a bombshell dropped into the Court House and exploded, it could hardly have created a greater sensation than occurred on Monday last, when the extraordinary telegram to Judge Wilson about the confiscated lands became known. At first we were disposed to treat the matter as a sorry joke. It seemed incredible that Sir George Grey, the most unselfish of statesmen, the great pro-consul, and the father of his people, should deliberately have confirmed a recommendation calculated to ruin one of the most promising districts in the colony. Upon enquiry, however, the message was shown to us. Here it is : " Wellington, November Bth, 5 p.m. "J. A. Wilson, Esq., Tauranga,—l am desired by the Hon. the Premier to request you to be good enough, as Commissioner of Tauranga Lands, to inform the natives that all the lands returned to them in the Tauranga district, the titles to which you arc now investigating, including Otawa and Waitaha blocks, are inalienable. The Native Affairs Committee has advised that the natives should not ho allowed to dispose of these lands. That should they desire to lease them, they must do so by auction or public tender. —H. T. ClaekEj Under Secretary." After carefully considering t«0 meaning of this precious document, wo hitvo come to the conclusion that whilst the whole district will be blighted if the decree contained therein is oarried out, only one person —viz., Captain Morris —can possibly he benefitted. Now it has always been understood that tho Premier and tho member for the East Coast were not on the best of terms, so that unless the Ministry are anxious to propitiate and make a eonvertof that gentleman, it cannot be to cnhanco tho value of Poeke, the decision has been arrived at. The most feasible, and yet tho most shocking, explanation seems to be that the Premier, in his anxiety to injure certain personal enemies who are negotiating for the lands in question, has forgotten how the matter will affect his qunndavi L>e Captain Morris. If this should turn out to be so, our idol is broken. again can we think of Sir George Grey with the same respect as heretofore. There are some faults of which a statesman may bo guilty without any groat derogation of dignity, but to ruin a flourishing town and promising district merely to gratify a personal emte would be unforgivcable indeed."

" 1. That the Chinese are, as a class, industrious and inoffensive.

"2. That, where they are congregated together in large numbers, especially in cities such as Sydney and Newcastle, they are immoral in their habits, and having no women of their own country with them, their intercourse with European women is degrading to the latter, and socially pernicious. "3. That tho Chinese are almost invariably inveterate gamblers. " 4. That a largo number of the Chinese are opium smokers, though the habit does not appear to have been adopted to any great extent by European women living with them. " 5. That, when the Chinese are employed singly, or in small numbers, scattered over a district, either on their own account or in service, their characteristic is more favorable, and the example of their patient industry in gardening and other occupations, might be followed with advantage by Europeans. " My own observations and the result of my inquiries when travelling in the interior, confirm the reports now made, and the only suggestion which occurs to me to make is, that the Chinese and their dwelliugs should be placed under more stringent official observation and control, when, no doubt, any habits socially injurious to the community at large would be more rigorously exposed and checked than at present. " It is unnecessary to add, that there are many Chinese of a superior class engaged in business in Sydney and elsewhere, who are highly respectable citizens. " I may mention that the number of Chinese in the colony when the last census was taken, in 1871, was 7220; and, according to the statistics of the Registrar-General, that number has been diminished by 358 since that date by the excess of departures over arrivals seaward ; but t aking into consideration the arrivals overland, I am disposed to think the number returned by the police approximately correct. —I have, &c, " Edmund Fosbeby, " Inspector-General of Police. " The Principal Under-Secretary." The results of tho return referred to by the Inspector-General are as follows : " No. of Chinese resident, 9616. How employed —Mining, 4073 ; storekeepers and employes, 627; shepherds, cooks and other occupations, 4916. " No. of European women living with Chinese—Married, 181 ; not married, 171. " No. of children living with Chinese— Europeans, 26 male and 12 female; halfbreeds, 300 male and 286 female. " No. of such children of fit age not attending school, 154. " No. of reputed opium smokers, 4406 Chinese and 46 women."