CHINESE IMMIGRATIGN.

Grey River Argus, Volume XI, Issue 1022, 4 November 1871, Page 2

CHINESE IMMIGRATIGN.

Below we give two extracts from the evidence taken before the Chinese Immigration Committee of the House of Representatives, showing both sides of the question. The first is the evidence of C. E. Haughton, Esq., M.H.R. , who is strongly opposed to the introduction of Chinese immigrants, and who from a long residence, in Victoria and New .Zealand must be considered a good authority. "He says :— •" The Chinese have scouts who watch -the proceedings of European miners; and when they auapeet the Europeans to be working good or fair ground, they 'peg them off' — i.e., they peg off the ground all round, putting on a man or two to satisfy the regulations. Should the Europeans strike gold, a large Chinese party immediately set into work in the direction of 'the run.' The result is that the Europeans are clearing out of the district, selling out chiefly to the Chinese themselves; and I have no doubt, if some check is not put on Chinese immigration, that in the Wakatipu district, at all events, there will not be 100 European miners in three years. There is another point also of great importance, considering that the Europeans and Chinese are working together under the same mining laws. Frequent conflicts arise in regard to the boundaries of claims and other matters, which have to be dealt with by the Wardens' Courts. Now, I find, from personal experience, that the Chinese have not the slightest idea of truth; and consequently, when their interests are brought into conflict, the property of the European is not safe. I shall give an example of a case which j occurred at Cardrona in February last. A Chinese party and a European party were working in the same gully. The European party, who were above the Chinese, struck gold ; upon this the Chinese appealed to the Warden's Court agaimt the Europeans for encroaching upon their ground. The Chinese got up their case exceedingly well, and regardless of expense. A professional man was brought from fifty miles distant, and came into Court armed with surveyors' plans. Of course these plans were practically ouly illuminated parallelograms, there being no possibility of fixing the locality with base lines. During. the cross-examination, the gentleman who represented the Europeans, and who had visited the ground, exposed tte whole case by putting one simple question, and completely fixed the Chinamen. After asking the particulars of pegging-off, and where they put their pegp, taking as an additional point a spot well known in the gully, where an old hut and the stump of a tree stood, he said — ' How far was your upper peg from the root and stump 1' The Chinaman, quite unprepared, answered truthfully, •From foity-eight to fifty feet.' This answer put them out of Court, because it was fclear from the other side that the lower peg of the Europeans was nearly 600 feet from the hut. The case was decided against them with costs. They then appealed to the District Court. As this involved really a new trial, the whole case was gone into afresh; and, before Mr Wilson Gray, the Chinese all swore that their upper peg was, 497 feet from the hut and stump of the tree. The Warden produced his notes on behalf of the other side. One witness also swore that the Chinese had endeavored to bribe the Interpreter, and, in fact, tried to bribe everybody connected with the business. The Judge decided the case against them, merely remarking that perhaps the course they pursued, was considered the correct thing in China. I have, called your attention to one case affec. ing property. I will mention another affecting criminal law. A Chinaman of most supernatural ugliness — a most frightful- looking being— had been convicted of indecently exposing his person before a married woman. He appealed to the District Court ; and this is another instance of bur beautiful appeal law. By the mere payment of LlO into Court he was set free, and in due course the case was gone into in the District Court de now. Eight Chinese witnesses then swore an alibi, ' that the man was two miles off at the time,' and he was consequently discharged. A few days before the trial came off, a Chinese storekeeper with whom I was acquainted came to me and asked me who was the best lawyer, but without telling me any particulars. I recommended Mr Brough. 1 told the Chinaman who spoke to me that it would be necessary to let Mr Brough see the witnesses before the trial. He replied, 'How many witnesses do you think will be wanted ? Wo can bring half a dozen or a dozen.' I told him I thought Mr Brough would probably be quite satisfied with half a dozen. With these facts fresh in my mind, and seeing that the Chinese are rapidly superseding Europeans in my district, I hold strong views, even looking at the subject from a business point of view." We now give the evidence of G. B. Parker, Esq., M.H.R., who is an advocate for Chinese immigration. He says : — " I wa3 at Tahiti about two years ago. I was on a visit to the estate of a gentleman named Stewart, the manager of, and a large shareholder in, a cotton plantation, for the possession. of which arrangements had been made with the French Government. The enterprise was a very large one, and my friend went to China and brought out several cargoes of Chinamen — about 1000 altogether. He did it in this way : He made arrangements with a head man to run the Chinamen there at his own expense : then he would give him fifty dollars a year for each Chinaman. If at the end of that period they were satisfied to remain on the place, he would hire them for another couple of years at the same wages, and afterwards, at the expiration, send them back home ; but at the end of the first term they were free' to go if they choose. The practical result of this was, that he soon exported some 70,0001bs of cotton, and had Chinamen working machines of considerable intracacy under supervision of a European engineer ; and they displayed a great deal of ingenuity and general intelligence, with the additional advantage that they only cost him LlO a year, while European laborers would have cost L4O, besides being quite equal in other respects as laborers for cotton cultivation. He had tried the South Sea Islanders, but like all natives where the bread-fruit grows, they could not be got to do a day's work. He had some difficulty at first from the gambling propensities of the Chinese, and though orderly in every respect to the outside world, amongst themselves they

gambled desperately. In one case they got to knives, and one man was killed. The murderer was handed over to the authorities, tried, and guillotined, and that had the effect of preventing any further difficulty from the same cause. Another difficulty arose through Chinamen hanging themselves after they had lost their all by gambUng. As each case, of this kind represented thT loss of a hundred dollars, Mr Stewart said to the head man, 'We must have no more of this ; hanging ; I shall hold you responsible^for the hundred dollars.' The result was, that when one of them was suspected of any such intention, he was watched so closely by the others that it became a matter of impossibility for him to make I away with himself, and there were no more exits of that kind. I noticed that the Chinese made themselves very comfortable on the plantation. They had very pretty gardens, and their houses were tastefully ornamented. Many, of them also took native women to live with them; and although the marriage might not be of the orthodox kind, they seemed to have made up their minds to live there altogether with these women. Although they had joss- houses, they were not much frequented, and I considered them rather irreligious, or, if they ever had any religion, they seemed to have left it behind them. .Nor were the efforts of our missionaries attended with any success amongst them. They were employed not only on the plantation, but also as house servants,' and in every other capacity. - At cooking they were uncommonly good, and, indeed, as domestic servants of every kind. One of them, who was told off specially to wait upon myself during my visit, was so handy and thoughtful that I took quite a liking to him." This evidence is all very good as far as it goes, but the gist of it is contained in the following questions put by Mr Macandrew, and the answers given :— One thousand was a very large number. Was the experiment not dangerous from that cause ? — My friend was under no alarm on that account, as he had provided himself with a most efficient police, and as ingenious as it was efficient. He procured forty savages from Kingsmill group, who were all accompanied by their wives, and they all settled themselves in a camp, apart from the quarters ,of,the Chinamen. I should inform you of a peculiarity of these men. They carry out their orders literally, and have the tenacity of a bull dog. It they are* tpld jfc : knock a man down, they fly at him aa furiously as a bull dog would obeVthe command " Seize him, Towser." When the Chinese become troublesome, and use their knives amongst each other, the savages are turned in amongst them with their clubs, and without inflicting any very serious injury, they are able to quell the disturbance ad effectually as constables with their staffs. One such lestidn proves sufficient, and the Chinese after that were kept in submission by the threat,* " Oh, if you cannot conduct yourselves, we shall have to send the savages amongst you!" -