CHINESE labor.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 266, 16 November 1878, Page 5

CHINESE labor.

The San Francisco correspondent of the " Chronicle " writing on the j Chinese question says:— And this rotruuds me of what has ju3t happened in British Columbia. An anti-Chinese law was passed by the provincial Parliament, of which the following is a synopsis ; — " First,, a tax

of 60 dollars per annum i» imposed upon each Chinaman, the tas to be paid in advance, and certificate iaauad therefor. Second — If he faila to pay the tas, his effects may bo seized. Third — If he has no goods of his own, his employer's or neighbor's goods may be taken instead. Fourth— lf he hold* a fraudulent certificate, his employer it made responsible to the extent of 100 dollars. Sixth — In case the Chinese person wbo has no license is not too possessor of goods and chattels of his own, and who has neither goods nor chattels of his own, and has neither employer nor friends who have any goods, he is to be set to work on the roads to the exclusion of white labor, and his services shall be rated at 4sO cents a day, with deductions for board. , And Seventh — The employer is made responsible for the payment of the tax on his servant, upon whose continuance in his employ from one hour to another he has no security. The provincial officers distrained upon the goods of the Chinese, as they refused to pay, and the constitutionality of the tax wai tested in an action of replevin, and . decided adversely to the Government. Meantime the goods were sold by auction. But the Chinese, having monopolised nearly all the avenues of labor in Victoria, the capital of British Columbia, as they have done hare, thought they would bring the Colonials to their senses, and by a concerted movement they all dropped work together, clearing out of workshop, kitchen, and garret. Over 200 cooks and domestic servants were in demand at from 25 to 300 dollars a month in, Yictoria alone. Having remained oat on strike for a week as a protest, and to show how helpless an American or European community is which, from sheer greed, makes itself dependent upon servile alien labor, they returned to their employment. This experiment has been watched with much interest here. It is felt that the Chinese have strength enough to disturb the industrial machinery of this coast, precisely aa they did in the neighboring British province, but I think they would not be permitted to resume work here if they went out on a general strike, whether their employers were willing or not. California has arrived at tba stage when it must either be run in tha interest of a few rich meo, by Chinese servile labor, organised by Chinese capitalists, and governed by eheir secret tribunals, having the power of life and death, or " the Chinese tnuafi go," and with their withdrawal comes an equitable system of taxation and the breakiag up of corporate and land monopolies, which are the curas of this State. BuJ the corporate and land rings will die hard. They are linked together all over the continent, although the labor revolt in California against competition is likely to prove tbair ultimate deathblow. The working classsa must fight the btttle of universal redemption on American soil. Here the forces of organised capital, backed by purchase laws and corrupt legislatures, and sustained by the servile labor power of China, is arrayed fairly and squarely against the working classes. There is neither respite nor quarter given, or asked in such a quarrel. Organised capital demands that free American labor shall occupy no higher sociat place than the social place of Chinese alien labor. That is its naked and avowed object; and free American labor having remained quiet uotil brought to the very briuk of starvation, puts down its foot resolutely, and refuses to descend to a worse social condition than that occupied by the recently emancipated African slaves. It demands more than this. It demands an equitable distribution of the profits of labor; and in this demand it gives voice to the working classes all over tha world. Defeat of the industrial army in America means defeat all tha world over, and " Caaod come again." Victory in America means the emancipa* tioa of labor, a fair distribution of wealth as the result of an equitable industrial system; the gradual disappearance of pauperism; and the general progress in intelligence and moral culture of the whole human race. There is no human being so insolently vulgar and offensive as your American, millionaire; he is usually the embodiment of aordid meanness and raactlity, and is w.fcbout in those qualities a rival, save it be among his female cjnsoris and their vulgar belongings. It is tbia class which is forciug the labor issue in the United States, their European allies proceeding with more circumspection and respect for sppearaacss. The

Chinese an are important factor in this battle; they will neceesaiily become an equally important one in New Zealand when tbe conflict between organised capital and disorganised labor begins there, unless the coloniata stop their coining, end take steps to compel their gradual withdrawal. The Chinese are a moral, social, and industrial blight wherever they appear. Cheap vegetables und servile labor are not compensation adequate for the lowering tendency of their presence.