Manawatu Herald FRIDAY, JULY .16, 1880. CHINESE IMMIGRAION.

Manawatu Herald, Volume II, Issue 93, 16 July 1880, Page 2

Manawatu Herald FRIDAY, JULY .16, 1880. CHINESE IMMIGRAION.

♦■ Mr Wm. Hutchison, of Wellington, is known as a toady to the section of the community known as " working men." A speech is seldom made by him in the House without his " working man " being dragged in either by the heels or the hair,— it matters little which to Mr Hutchison, provided he is got in and paraded. The latest fad Mr Hutchison has taken up is the Chinese Immigration question, and in carrying out his toadyism to the " working man " Mr Hutchison would prohibit all Chinese from landing in the Colony in the future, excepting on payment of a penalty of £10. He has introduced a Bill into the Lower House, of which the above is the principal provision. The question suggests itself, ought the Chinese to be prohibited from entering the country? Hitherto nothing has occurred, in New Zealand at least, to lead to the adoption of such a course. There were in the Colony at last census 4,424 male Chinese, and 9 females, and their conduct has been uniformly good. There have, of course, been isolated cases of crime, but these have been the exception rather than the rule. Taking the last statistics published, we find that during the year 1878 only 24 Chinese were confined in the Gaols of the Colony, viz., for felonies, 4 ; for misdemeanours, 10 ; for minor offences, 4 ; for debt or lunacy, 6. It will therefore be seen that only 6 Chinese out of every 1000 in New Zealand were during the year 1878 sent to the Gaols of the Colony; whilst, though the comparison is rather humiliating, truth impels us to state that of the remainder of the population 4,900 were confined in tiie Gaols, or about 1% in every 1000, which proves that with all his defects John Chinaman has behaved himself far better than the average European. The Chinese already in the Colony reside principally on the gold fields of Westland and Otago, wbere»they work in bodies as miners. In those districts the characteristic frugality, industry, and patience of their race have found full play. The Chinaman has no enterprise. He will not "prospect." Hence he is disliked by Europeans. He will wait until the European opens a gold field, and when the miners begin to leave it, perhaps discouraged and disgusted, the Chinaman will begin. With indomitable patience he will toil patiently on in a claim a European has left, and owing to the plain character of his " bill of fare " he can live and make a profit from a claim which would scarcely be .worth' " salt " to a European. He earns money that would otherwise remain in the ground, and though his consumption of dutiable goods is small, that' cannot "be" urged as an argument against him. The Chinese

residing in other parts of the Colony — we mean in districts other than

gold fiej.ds, — have as a rule devoted themselves to market gardening, or taken positions as servants, and have not in any sense made themselves obnoxious. It may therefore he asserted that our experience of Chinese in this Colony is rather favourable to *uem than otherwise. Of coui'oc objections may be taken ' 'o 7ie Chinee on the ground 1 , o their exclusivene.^s, as tlicy uevn become generally merged amongst people with whom they live ; also, that their women are not allowed to leave China, and that when they have saved money it is not left in the Colony, but is taken away to China. TTliese objections, however, are certainly not sufficient to justify the severe course proposed by Mr Hutchison. The extreme pictures that have been drawn of Chinese degradation are to a great extent imaginary. What this Colony should do is, allow Chinese to immigrate, but give the Borough Councils very large powers as to supervision of their houses, &c, also enabling them to prevent any lnrge congregation of the Chinese in a particular quarter of any one of the large cities. By such means the evils that have been allowed to grow up in connection with them in other countries would be prevented.