The Manawatu Times. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 1879.

Manawatu Times, Volume III, Issue 25, 5 February 1879, Page 2

The Manawatu Times. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 1879.

We have received, a pamphlet from Mr. P. P. lifiLMEKE, printer m ordinary/to tiie Victorian ; Government, entitled, '* The Chinese question m Australia m '1878-79," whicli claims attention not onljfr on account of the subject upon which it treats, but the source from whence it has emanated. Ib lias been edited by JLoxa Mejkj/Chbok Hoxa Cheong* and Louis Ah Mour, three wealthy Chinese merchants resident m Melbourne. The views of such men, more particularly those of J£on&.Meng, who is not only one of the millionaires of Victoria, but semi-English m education and associations, are certainly worthy of respect and .considerationj, and it must be admitted that he (we allude to the first-named, who we feel certain is de facto the authbr) takes up the cudgels for his countrymeu m a calm, temperate, and argumentative spirit. The appeal is made on behalf ot the natives'uf. China and also citizens of Victoria, to., the reason, the justice, the right feeling, and the calm good sense of the British population-of Australia, not to sanction; an biitfage upon the law of nations, and not to-vioiate the treatyrehga'geuiehts entered into between the Government of Great Britain and the Emperor, of China,. What this treaty is, perhaps, we had better let the authors say m their own words : — " Let us remind the people of these colonies qf the circumstanced- under which emigration from Chiua^commenced. Up to the •year 1812, we lived m contented isolation from the reat of the world. The nations of Western Europe— England more especially—said, "This shall not be."- By force of arms a treaty wa3 extorted from the Government of Pekin, m which a certain number of Ohinedeportij were thrown open to Urftish commerce, In 1814. the United StateiTo^emanded.and obtained similar privileges. In 1860, the English and French Governments, acting m concert overcame the resistance whicli his Imperial Majesty, and the Chief mandarins of the country offered' to an •extension of these extorted rights and they dictated a second treaty at Pekin,, which guaranteed to the people of both nations the_utmpXt. freedom of ingress and egrejs, and which !f reciprocally bestowed upon the (Jhinese a aitailar freedoih as regards the territories of Franco and of the 4*ritish Empire. In 1868, tbe Government of the. united states concluded with the Emperor of China what is known as the " JBtirlingame Treaty, " which assured to .Americans the same access to our country .which was already enjoyed by tao French and English, and which, as was only just and equitable— opened the United tjfcates to Chinese;^ 11 These /are the claims upon which the Chinese base their riglit to enter and settle m colonies belonging to the British Empire ; and it is moreover pointed out by the writer of the pamphlet that the outflow of their population was never sought by them, on the contrary .\Vesteru Jt'owers, armed with the formidable artillery with which modern si-ieiiuc had supplied them, battered down ihe portals of the Empire, and having' done so, insisted upon, keeping them open. They said m eifect: " We must come m, and you shall corao out//' Having thus stated their legal right* to become colonists, th.c following souistirring appeal is made tc the honorable iiJßtincis of Englishmen: — If you renounce it jitif you say, "niight is. right, and treaties are not worth the parchment they are written on j " if you assert that this large and ' compardtiveiy unoccupied portion of tho earth's surface is to be fenced oil from a race of people who are geographhicaliy so near to it, und who are do well adapted 'by nature and'temperament for. the ; cultivation of extensive regions of it, from which Europeans will gradually wither away ; if you substitute arbitrary violence, hatred, and jealousy, for justice, legality, and riglit ; it may be that will succeed iv canning your point ; it may be that a grait wrong will be accomplished by the exorcise of sheer force, and the weight of super or ( .ntt.mbers ; biit your reputation •among the nations of thp earth will be irretrievaole injured and" debased, and the 'flag of which you. ai*ty so ju<tly. pruud wi\l no longer bej the 'standard i of frcodom and,! .the hope of fcbe/pppr<j«oJ, but it wiit be associated -Sfith doefts of f.ilso.hbocVand ; treachery, w|th bTokeu f aith, witu a vidU\tod euty, with the pit-f dtl triumph ,of strength over weakne-js, of E.ui'Qpoan guile and selliski rie^a over Asiatic pineonty aud confidence, and with eo.nduct which no sop,Uistr/ can rocounile with. 'the procepta of yo.U.r religion, with the canons ot v your moralifcy, witu fciio >pirit of your laws.,, with tlio pjlicy of your statesmen, with tbe vofce of cpnscien je and with tho char icter and tr*dition4of the nOQ^lp cfGyeat E*ita,in,, .

With regard to the charge that they do not bring their wives and sisters with them, the answer is the barbarous treatment which the Chinese have re* eeived upon the Buckland, Lambing FJafc, and other Victorian diggings, and it is asked, when the news of such atrocities went liom© to China, could any woman of average self-respect expose herself to he chased through the country by bands of infuriated ruffians, to see her children burnt to death perhaps, m her husßand's flaming tent. It is held that treated as they have been m the past as pariahs and outcasts, the Chinamen have hitherto had but scanty encouragement to invite their wives to accompany or follow them. The charges of immorality and wretchedness and filth which have been levelled at the Chinaman are stated t<v be overstrained, and Sir Walter Mkd>hubst is quoted to prove that a most material improvement has taken place m the social position of the Chinese m Shanghai and other large centres, a testimony which is further endorsed by the NineteenthCCenturyy y which says i " Vast communities exist m China's thousand cities — person and property secure, peace, happiuesss. and plenty universal, 'education encouraged, ' local and general trade flourishing, business, contracts sacred, poverty exceptional* and vice only to be found if sought out, m. its own special haunts.^" This, certainly is a most enticing picture, which, if true, would go far to prove that John Chinaman at home is an intelligent, patient, hard-working, frugal, temperate, domestic, peace-loving; and lawabiding ereaturs* Koxg. Mesq here does not rest satisfied with having vindicated .the character o£ his countrymen, but carries the war into his accuser's camp, and from the pen of Miss Harriet Martineaf gives a most revolting description of the state of society and morality m England during the Thirty Years' Peace. In 1842, he urges, the newspapers tee mod with murders, horrible poisonings, thefts, and numberless deeds of violence, while m the large manufacturing towns the druggists employed their spare minutes throughout the week m making up penny or twopenuy packets ef opium for sale on Saturdays, when hundreds of poor creatures would come to receive, the packets which were to give them stupor until the miserable Monday morning. These reports are brought forward to show the absurdity of branding a whole nation because of the faults of the few, and it is put forward as a reason why English colonists should not be prejudiced against the Chinese nation, that had the Emperor of China beea aware of the state of English society, as related above, he would never have opened his porte to them, and so done the whole nation a great injustice. The grave charge against the Chinaman of working at a starvation price is denied m the pamphlet, for while it is admitted that the "rate of wages of the Chiuese laborer is inconsiderable m his native land m comparison with the rate current m Australia, it is asserted that human nature is human nature all over the world, and the Chinaman is just a,s eager to earn as much as he can us the most grasping of his^ competitors. In support of this assert! en '.the example of the Irish laborers is brought forward, and it is alleged that while at home they would b<j content to work for four or five shillings a week, m the Colonies they are not satisfied to toil for lesser wages than, other farm hands receive. In dealing with the pamphlet we feel called upon to extract largely from it, so as to ;place the matter before the public as much as possible from a Chinese point of view, still there are very many , passages of exceeding interest which we are compelled to omit. In considering the case as made out by Kong Meng and his confreres, we will, as m duty bound, refer . first to the treaty upon which he bases his :claini for a foothold m the Colony. Granted that the treaty was forced at the point of the bayonet, we imagine that since the signatures were attached the proportion of departures from Chinese ports is considerably m excess of arrivals, so that they have got considerably the better part of the bargain ; and if the number of; Chinaman scattered over the United States and the Australian Colonies be taken into consideration, we imagine it will be found that the privileges of the treaty have been very liberally taken advantage of by them. We hold that it was never contemplated to allow an unlimited exodus from a population of 4')O,OOU,aQ0 i an. A.tom of which would swamp the whole of Australasia ; and notwithstanding the very high eulogiuhis passed upon them b,y Hatter m his-*' Statistics of Crime amongst the Chinese," we still maintain they are not desi able colonists. They may be superior to the average Englishman m filial affection, m respect for the aged, m honesty, cheerfulness, and m patient, plodding industry. Th--y may be free from inoroseness and discontent, very good-tempered, grateful for kindness, faithful to their employers, quick to le^rn a clever to imitate, peaceful, orderly, sober, and methodical, but they never can and never will be colonists m the true sense of the word. Much as we respect the actions of the Mother Country, there are times when we have to kick over the traces and repudiate her sponsor-ship ; and without desiring lo be contumacious or presumptuous toward the parent from whence we sprung, we are bound to declare that there are some matters upon whwh We will judge for- ourselves— and the Chinese question is one of them. Some doaen or fifteen ye&rs ago, the British Government were very anxious to pe.n.d. us a constant supply of first-class criminals, but a bold stand was made, and the consequence was that Australia escaped the scourge intended for- it. .Now we are threatened with another calamity, and it must be met m an equally determined manner. Kong Me#&, would wish' us to believe that the reason no Chinese women migrate to these shores is on account of the brutalities perpetrated at Buckland And elsewhere j hut he seems to forget, first, that nearly twenty years have elapsed since then, and although Johx has invaded all walks of life, he has never been molested •, and it is rather odd that the tradition of the Auckland affair should act as. such a deterrent upon one sex, when' the other- should j p.our into the country m thousands. Then Again, m reply to the charge of working undor^wages, the answer given is by no means 'satisfactory, for notwithstanding his past experience the

Irishman makes a very different eqlonist; but even supposing that the Chinaman should demand a like wage as his European rivals-^which is not the fact— only one half of the evil is disposed of. In the oiio case,, families are reared,, the country . is settled; and the proceeds of labor circulates through the district aiid addj» to its prosperity m the other it is hOavded wp, and the larger the wage.earned the greater the loss ta the country* the savings of toil being carefully put away to be finally transf erred to, the Flowery Land. It is somewhat singular that this most weighty objection to the- Chinaman as a colonist is one upon which the pamphlet is entirely silent — an objection which m r itself would be quite sufficient to. cause exclusion. We notice the author writes with some bitterness upon the very different reception given by tfeeColonies, to, -the Dane* the Dutchman' and various other European nations; but we imagine had he fully considered the question he himself would have furnished the reply. The one is a bird of pßssage ; the other comes to be a stone m the national edifice ; he brings his. home, his strength* and his wealth with him, and becomes a permanent member of the community .■ Looking upon the matter with the most lenient eye, if Chinamen ore not actually bad colonists* it canne'l-be claimed that they are good ones * and while under ordinary circumstances, they might be admitted on sufferance,, such a proceeding becomes e-riminul when they usurp the places of those, who are good members of the community. Taking all the arguments brought forward m defence by the pamphlet, the only one worthy of consideration is the matter of the treaty* and notwithstanding the grand peroration about '• falsehood, treachery, and broken faith,." we would leave the keeping of the compact ta the actual signers. Let China send her hundreds of thousands to^Engla,nd* and those who are thus crowded out we will gladly open, our arms to receive. We want bone and sinew,,, skill and strength ; but let it be of &uch a nature as w.i 1.1 add to our wt'alth and prosperity ; not vampires which.. yri.ll drain us of our lifeblood* and when they have sucked us dry, tako their/ departure to live m ease and luxury upon that of which we have been robbed." '""