NEW SOUTH WALES AND THE CHINESE.

Globe, Volume XX, Issue 1600, 5 April 1879, Page 3

NEW SOUTH WALES AND THE CHINESE.

[“Sydney Morning Herald.”] It is not difficult to discover, the general principles by which the Legislature should bo guioed in d aling with the Chinese question, whatever dispute there may be over details. The broad ground of justification for any regulating law at all is to be found in the principle of self-defence. If the Chinese were to take up arms and attack Australia, wii h a view of annexing it and making it a second China, we should be justified, by all lav.-, except that of the Quakers, in resisting. If the Chinese Government were to make an organised attempt to flood the country with Chinamen, even though the process were peaceful, resistance would bo justified. If, without any action at all on the part of the Government, this result was brought about, or even threatened, resistance would still bo proper. Every country has a right to protect its own existence. Suli/.s pcpvli su previa lex. If any one w«re to ask whether it would be right to aliow r a million Chinamen to come into the country during next year, the universal answer would be “No.” If any one were to ask whether it would bo proper to legislate against the arrival of ten, all but a few fanatics, who may be disregarded, would again say “No.” These two answers imply (lie fact that the question is one of limits. The danger, the probabilities, the cause of the. movement of population, must be estimated, and the provisions made should bo in due proportion. But while self-protection is justifiable, and while reasonable apprehensions may bo guarded against in advance, it is necessary also to have regard to certain great principles with which the interest of the country, as well as of the human race, is identified. Great Britain has distinguished itself us the exponent of principles which condemn slavery, which assert tho equality of all men b'fore the law, and which decree justice irrespective of color or of creed. Whatever a few reckless orators may urge, a community like New South Wales cannot turn its back on doctrines which have been the boast of the ago without doing ilsolf an injury; and it is for the Legislature to see that it is not hurried into any false position, or, tempted by a passing popular cry, to make it act inconsistently with permanent popular doctrines. I n taking reasonable precautions to preserve Australians from a possible danger, it must also take reasonable precautions to prevent this country turning tail on modern civilisation.

Apart from these two general guiding principles, the question as to the Chinese is complicated by a consideration which does not apply to other Oriental races, namely the Treaty. Without splitting hairs over the exact words of the Treaty, no one with a spark of conscience will deny that it was intended to be one of reciprocity. The conse quences of this reciprocity were not fully foreseen, but England was determined to grt into China, and was willing to let the Chinese out. It is because the question is an Imperial as well as a colonial one, that the proper course would be, as we have previously intimated, to open communications with the Imperial Government, to ascertain whether the Treaty does oppose any hindrance to the sort of regulations it is desired to make here, and in that case to urge the removal of those difficulties by the opening of fresh negotiations.

Even in that case, however, we have, either by Bill or otherwise, to state the case of the colony, and to justify it. Australia lies very near to China, and immense masses of population could easily bo moved from one country info the other. Hitherto, however, the principal inducement for Chinese to come down has been the gold diggings, and this inducement seems to have operated fitfully according as certain auriferous localities became suddenly attractive. There is also an inducement for Chinese to be deliberately imported on account of the greater cheapness of their labor. Until quite recently this cause has scarcely operated at all. That Chinese have not been moved to come of their own accord in large numbers is sufficiently evidenced by the fact that their numbers have diminished from 20,000 twenty years ago to less than 9000 now. But that in is possible to introduce them by from 200 to 300 at a time for special service, and that there is a temptation to do so, has also been shown by recent experience. ' Queensland lately became a land of promise to Chinamen in virtue of its goldfields. That, and not a coolie importation by employers, was the particular diflioulty which Queensland had-to deal with. New South Wales is not in the same situation,, and not having the same sorb of difficulty to deal with, does not necessarily find the Queensland law a model for imitation, There can be no doubt that, objectionable as a poll-tax is, it is efficacious as against Chinatnen whd’come to the goldfields. It arrested the immigration to the goldfields of Yictoria. • Is stopped it in New South Wales at the time of the Lambing Flat riots. and,j,t has recently had a similar operation in Queensland. Those coming to a goldfield come in search of prospective,,hut doubtful gain, and they come because they are poor. A heavy charge at the outset constitutes a practical difficulty and discouragement, and stops the speculation. But the same sort of check is not an equally effective remedy against the importation of coolies to take definite service. During recent discussions there have been the usual tirades against the greed of capitalists, bub, if employers in Australia had thought of nothing but. their gains, they would long ago have imported Chinamen by the thousand. That they have not done so is a proof that there are restraining influences at work altogether irrespective of the laws. But it is at any time possible that these restraining influences may be overborne, and that the law alone may be the only hindrance. In such a case would the proposed law be adequate, and is a polltax the right sort of remedy ? Although our ardent democrats do not seem to appreciate the fact, it is nevertheless true, that a polltax on a human being, for the purpose of preventing him from bettering his condition in the world, is about as odious an impost as can well bo devised ; and if the tax is inefficacious as well as objectionable, that is an additional reason why the Legislature should pause before sullying the statute-book with such a provision. If in the fierce competition of mechanical trades, and in consequence of the very high rate of artisan labour, any one employer or company imports Chinese labour, cithers must either do the same, or work at an immense disadvantage, or close their establishments altogether. And so great is the difference between the cost of Chinese and European labor in these colonies, that a polltax of £lO will not neutralise the difference. Chinese labour, taking its efficiency into account, is about the cheapest in the world, and in New South Wales at the present time labor is more highly remunerated than anywhere else. The two places exhibiting such a striking contrast to each oilier are within a month’s journey by steam, A shilling a day in the rate of wages is about £TS a year, and that will bring an English artiz m from Europe. The same amount will bring three Chinamen from Ho g Kong, who would be thankful to work for wages very much Fss than a shilling a day below the Australian s and.a'd. Under these circumstuae's it must bo obvious to every one who carefully studies the subject, that a p-11 tax of £l', apirt from being objectionable per se % does notroaliv meet the difficulty the Bill is purporting to dea! wh h.

'ear,-i ago, by tar the rm st crit ca 1 ta9K it hud to face was to decide upon a definitive plan of river improvement. Everything depended upon this, as all lesser works must necessarily hinge upon it. But the commissioners would not agree upon it, and the majority did not choose to take upon itself the responsibility of overruling the minority on a point so very important that if any mistake were made in regard to it the ill effects would be felt throughout all time. So they called in an export; in the person of Sir John Goode, 0.E., about the highest authority on harbor engineering that was to he found. This gentleman visit d the place, made a most careful examination of the river and bay, and then sailed away for England without giving any indication o ( ' his view of the case. At last, however, his report has been received, and his opinion is found to be the one that has always been held here by all sensible people, viz. that direct canal schemes are foolish, and that the only practicable and safe way to improve the navigation of the Yarra is to retain its present mouth, deepen it, and straighten and shorten it by cutting off a certain projecting p. int. All this can he be done for £476,200, and will give ue a channel to Melbourne 22ft. at low water. This will practically be to bring the sea up to to Princes bridge, and will enable ships of 1500 to 2000 tons to load in the centre of Melbourne and discharge in the centre of London. It is impossible to over-estimate the benefits that the river improvement now to be undertaken under the sanction of 3ir John’s opinion will confer upon the commerce of the colony when completed. For one thing it will lessen the coni, of loading and discharging merchandise by about 5s per ton, besides hastening the operation, while it will bring our sea borne traffic into direct contact w : !,h orr great railway system, and in course of time vrwhtbe general railway system of the whole Australian continent.

Nothing could show more clearly than the proceedings of our Harbor Trust the superiority of purely business and non political over Parli mentary Government in cases to which the termer properly applies. For than twenty years successive Gover- menls (Parliamentary) made a pretence of improving the Yarra, hut there was scare !y any perceptible result. But no sooner was the Trust in existence than wharves began to grow, the bottom of the river rec< ded to a greater distance under the ships’ keels, new approaches to the wharves were provided, and in fact every piece of improvement work that could be safely undertaken before the ultimate course of the river had been finally determined, was vigorously pushed on, and all this in the face of an insidious opposition by the Berry Government, which docs not love the Trust, because it was created while another Ministry was in power. Yesterday afternoon there was an illustration of the dangers which attend the navigation of the Yarra in its present condition. The Dawn, coming up the river, touched with her keel and swung round across stream, when the Macedon going down ran into and sunk her. A dead lock in the river was narrowly escaped, and if it had occurred you would not have had your mails, for the Arawata was behind the Macedon at the time of the accident, moving down to the Sandridge pier. Our new Governor is making a most favorable impression on our public mind. His first public appearance was at a dinner given by the MC.O. to Lord Harris’ team, and his second at Ballarat, which great inland city he visited within a few days of his arrival, ostensibly to witness a regatta on Lake Wendowrie, but,'really for that the enterprising folks of that quarter cleverly managed to have him among them thus early that their district might thereby gain a little prestige or eclat. Since then he has made other public appearances, and on all occasions the sobriety and gravity of his speech was almost ludicrously in contrast with the effusive exuberance of his predecessor’s deliverance on similar occasions. Lord Nornamby said all that was nrooer to be said in each case, and the total omission of persiflage and soft-sawder from his speeches was a distinct and marked novelty. Men who listened to them looked knowingly at each other, and the remark was frequent—“ Now we have got a Man among us.” But besides being a man, our new Governor is also a Marquis, and that accident is in no danger of being overlooked nr too slightly regarded. For it is something to hob and nob with a Marquis, or to dance with him. The Hon. Mr MeNab, and Kitty, his wife, certainly never could have dreamt in their early life that any such favorable distinctions would ever befal them, yet they are now both in a fair way to enjoy them to their hearts’ content. For a Highland shepherd and a Tipperary peasant girl, neither of whom was ever subjected to the restraint of shoe leather until full grown, to entertain lords and ladies at,their own table, is a jump up in life which almost eclipses the feats of the hero of “ Monte Christo,” but such things are now possible in Yictoria, to the great delight of no inconsiderable per centage of our community.

The Embassy has been received by the Secretary for the Colonies, has been heard, and has been asked to dinner. That is all. No answer has been vouchsafed to Mr Berry’s demands —that was to be given in writing after due consideration. But our loyal Liberal press is exultant over the fact that our ambassadors were invited to dine with the Minister, as if any English gentleman would refrain from requesting a visitor from a distant land to sample his venison. It is in their blood to act so, and if thr Michael Hicks-Beach proffered to Messrs Berry and Pearson the ordinary civility of an invitation to dine he simply followed the lead of his natural instinct, flow he would feel when the trial was over, and the ambassadois had been bowed out, is a different matter altogether.

The great Berry loan commenced at eight millions sterling as a proposition. It was sanctioned by Parliament at five millions. It lias been floated at three millions at and above £9B 18s fid, with three months’ int erest already accrued. Though the transaction is really a very unprofitable one for the colony, the interest on the loan being at the rate of 41 per cent., still the price obtained is better than was expected. The British capitalist must have given the general Victorian community credit for better sense than their rulers exhibit, and he knew that however we may squabble among ourselves we always honorably meet our liabilities. The most interesting point is this. Three millions will be of no use whatever to the Ministry, which will he left in the position of the impecunious gentleman whose brother left him £IO,OOO, with a set off of £20,000, winch he had advanced him during his (the testator’s) life. The only effect of the legacy was to reduce the beneficiare’s indebtedness by one half. A large proportion of the three million loan will go to pay for the Hobson’s Bay and suburban railways, and another largo portion to pay off liabilities to the banks and other outstanding debts. There will bo scarcely anything left to subsidise supporting members or to corrupt constituencies. Ministers will be absolutely without resources, threadbare and forlorn. It really seems as if by and bye things would resort to natural and normal conditions, when right would prevail and every man be able to get and keep his own, through •ho comparative failure of our grand attack ~pon John Bull’s purse.

In connection with this loan business a singular complication has arisen. A member ul the Ministry, speaking (witli gross impropriety) in favor of a Ministerial candidate at an election meeting, denounced the banks and accused them of falsely and maliciously disparaging the colony’s credit for political reasons. The united banks have asked the acting Premier to repudiate the accusation, on the part of toe Administration, or accept it, and Sir Bryan O’Loghlan has returned an evasive, not to say shuilUng, reply. He has referred the matter to Uio Minister immediately concerned, and so on. It is a contemptible business all round. The fact is that the Melbourne bankers were most anxious to see the loan lloatod, because it would bring money into the country, which is badly wanted, and give an impetus to

business, which, even it' only temporary > would probably enable them to got safely out of certain transactions that- are now' douotuil as to their issue. The banks no more disparaged the credit of the colony than did the “ Argus” newspaper ; but, like it, they refused to corroborate Ministerial and loval Liberal taradiddles, and hence their denouncement.

Just before the close or the last session of Parliament, an amending Land Bill was passed, which has proved abortive in semn respects, and mischievous in others. The ostensible aim of our land legislation during many years past has been to settle the country, but its object has been, in the first place to “settle” the settlers (as the pastoral tenants used to be called), and then to settle the free selectors who were induced to take up land, and endeavor to make an honest living by cultivating it. This numerous class has been very unfortunate. Misled byempyrical legislation in part, and in other jwt by that longing to possess land which is unquestionably a ruling sentiment in the human breast, they selected land without having either the capital or the skill necessary to its profitable occupation, and a large per contage of them have been in a sorry plight ever since, chained to land that will not support them, in dread to the local storekeeper, in the bonds of some hank or money-lender. This year great numbers of them have asked and obtained from the Government a postponement of the rent day, hut it will bo the same next year, and every year. Here farming barely pays under the most advantageous circumstances —under such circumstances as the struggling selector has to face it is mere slavery, and offers no better prospect in the future. On the other hand/ the scheming selector who merely held his lend until he could legally assign it has done pretty well, but lie has cleared out with his gains and gone to Now South Wales to repeat the operation. The amending Act just referred to pretended to offer facilities for selection by pers ms who could not for the present reside on their selections, and an honest measure of this kind would no doubt work most beneficially, since it would Convert the public estate into a kind of savings bank, in which people at present profitably employed in towns Could put what money they could spare, in ths shape of improvements, and time prepare a snug retreat for themselves in after years, or for those they r may leave after them. But our rulers, always punderh-g to the evil passions arid selfishness of the ignorant, professed to see in the arrangement some savour of showing favor io capital, and the Act as passed compelled the mere resident Selector to pay twice a? much for hia land as the resident, and lay out twice as much in improvements. Consequently there has been no non-residential selection, and the poor selector is deprived of the wagee he expected to earn by fencing in and grubbing his richer neighbour’s ground. This is the back-handed way that our people’s Ministry is always benefiting the people! Again, before the amending Act was passed, selectors could select a second time within limits i.s to >'T a and distance, without being compelled to reside on both selections at once, and that privilege has been taken away from him. Truly a paternal Government!