THE CHINESE IMMIGRATION BILL.

Globe, Volume XXI, Issue 1691, 22 July 1879, Page 3

THE CHINESE IMMIGRATION BILL.

[By Tblegbaph.] WELLINGTON, July 21. The Chinese Immigration Bill, introduced by Mr Gisborne, provides that sections 14 and 15 shall come into force on the passing of the Act, but that the other parts of the Act shall not come into operation till July Ist, 1880. “ Chinese” is defined to bo a male person born of Chinese parents, and any male native of China or its dependencies, or any island in Chinese waters, not born of British parents. The owner, chirle.er, or master of any British ship is li-ible to a penalty not exceeding .£lO for each Chinese passenger carried in excess of one to every ten tons of tonnage of the vessel, according to British regulations or measurement. The master on arrival of a vessel with Chinese is, immediately on arrival at any port of the colony, to deliver a list of his passengers to the Customs, under a penalty not exceeding .£'2oo, and before making the Customs ent-y no Chinese are permitted to land. The master is to pay to the officer of Customs =C 10 for every Chinese, but this does not apply to Cninese who may compose the crew, unless landing with the intention of remaining in the colony. Neglecting to pay such tax, evading payment, or permitting Chinese to land before payment, renders the master liable to a penalty not exceeding .£2O for each Chinese so landed. In addition to -CIO per head, al-.0, in addition to such penalty, the vessel may he seized, condemned, and sold by the Customs. Certificates of sums paid sro to be supplied to each Chinese immigrant, and be conclusive evidence of payment. Payments thus made arc to go to the consolidated fund. Chinese entering or attempting to enter the colony without payment of -£;0 are liable to apprehension, and fine sot exceeding £lO each in addition to the poll tax, but the Government may remit the penalties. The justices may fix a time for payment not exceeding two months on security being given in cases of conviction of Chinese. The penalties and sums payable under the Act are recoverable immediately. Every Chinese within the Colony of New Zealand, on or before 4be first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and eighty is to apply to the Resident Magistrate’s Court nearest to his place of abode foe a certificate of exemption from payments under this Act. Any Resident Magistrate exercising jurisdiction in such court shall deliver to tho Chinese so applying a certificate which shall bear on the face of it the name of such Chinese, and tb ■ signature of the magistrate granting such certificate ; and such other matters us maybe proscribed in the regulations, and tho holder of snch certificate shall be exempted from payments under this Act. For the purpose of this section the term “Resident Magistrate” shall include a warden having jurisdiction within any goldfield proclaimed under any Act for the time being in force relating to goldfields. The Governor in Council may, from time to time, make such regulation as he shall deem necessary for giving effect to this Act, and all such regulations are to be gazetted.