The Manawatu Times. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 28, 1878.

Manawatu Times, Volume III, Issue 92, 28 August 1878, Page 2

The Manawatu Times. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 28, 1878.

It is very easy to profess to bo brave, when one's bravery is not likely to be put to the test ; and the self-confident reply mado to Mr Reeves by the At-torney-General, as to the intended action of the Government with regard to the threatened Chinese influx, is far from reassuring. With the frightful example of California before us, and the difficulties against which Queensland is now contending through shutting her eyes until too late to fche dangers which beset her, want of precaution becomes foolhardiness, and culpable m the extreme. At the present time New Zealand is happily free from the calamity 1 whicli has wrecked tho prosperity of j San Francisco, and left that once-prom-j ising city afc the mercy of a horde of barbarians ; and yet the time is within our own remembrance when a Caii fornian ! legislator might have replied after the 1 manner of Mr Stout. There is au old saying that "curses like chickens, come homo to roost," and there are very few crimes but sooner or later bring with them their own punishments, which recoil upon the heads of the perpetrators. The present appalling slate of society m the Golden City is the outcome of that heartless selfishness, and the anri sacra fames by which tho pooplo of San Francisco and Sacramento have been actuated. When the Californiau ports first became free to John Chinaman ho passed through the portals of its oi ties m the most submissive spirit, and was well satisfied to be a " hewer of wood, and drawor of water." He was meek and mild, worked hard and for little, and was satisfied to fill the most lowly offices. His services could be obtained for tho most menial duties for the most, meagro pay, and people had almost become to bless the advent; of the almon-eyed stranger. Slowly but surely the wheel went round ; and when John commenced to invade certain of the lower ranks of labor and camo into competition as cook, and laundress, iione but those whoso walks had been trenched upon saw anything at all wrong m the matter. Those whom the shoe did not pinch were not aware that they had corns. They vainly imagined that they stood upon a height where the 1 wavo of yellow skinned humanity could I never reach them, ancl their caro for I others was small m tho extreme. But i a day of reckoning was at hand. Rung after rung of the ladder did tho insinuating stranger mount, to the vory great; danger of sending his former patrons to the ground. As time rolled on ifc was found that John had a soul abovo drudgery, and that as tradesmen, and dealers, and merchants, he could afford to uuderwork, and undersell his white competitors, and the howl of indignation was re-echoed on every side ; but it was too late. The evil had taken too strong a root to be easily remedied, and the aid of tho Legislature was invoked to stem the flood of humanity which flowed m one continuous stream from the Chinese shores. By this time tho Mongolian reigned supreme m every walk of life. Without family ties, or domestic expenses competition with him was futile, and opposition a farce. Coming nearer home, and looking to tho youngest, and afc ono time the most promising, of all the Australian Colonies, what do wo see ? The people and the Parliament almost going to the length of defiance to all law and order m the determination to be rid of the incubus with which they were saddled, while, spiie of all, like birds of prey who feed upon ono another, Chinese had not only driven the Whitemen away from the field, but thoy had swarmed m m such a degree thatthey haddriven away those of their own raco and color. The Chinaman is alien m blood and alien m habits; there can bo no connecting link between him and tho European, but such as creates loathing and con to nipt and despite his admitted gentleness, " childlike, and bland," ho by no moans makes a desirable colonist. Ho docs not wish to live all his days amongst us, and should death overtake him ere he has returned to the Flowery Land with his spoil, his last wish is, to have his bones transported to the home of his fathers. The stringent restrictive measures now being taken by both San Francisco and Queensland will have its effect upon New Zealand, and the tido of immigration once turned to the Britain of the South, with a source numbering one-third of the population of tho entire globe from whence to draw, there would be no further need of free immigration. The Mongolian can never be a colonist m the true sense of the word ; he does not seek to have a vested interest m the land, becauso his object lias no further reach them to be provided with means to leave for ever the place from whence he has drained tho means of living elsewhere. He is essentially a drainer and sucker of the life-blood of the land m which he lives ; taking all from, and contributing nothing to its wealth, and the sharpest thorn inthe path of the honest, legitimate, worker of the soil. We know that there are some who will hold views different to ours — persons who will assert that the Colony should be free to all, and that restrictive legislation would be a violation of that freedom m which Englishmen so much glory. To any such such we will merely reply that experience is a hard teacher, and the folly of the course has been sadly exemplified by the history of California and Queensland.