THE IMPORTATION OF CHINESE TO NEW ZEALAND.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5273, 16 February 1878, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE IMPORTATION OF CHINESE TO NEW ZEALAND.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE NEW ZEALAND TIMES, Sir,— You stated yesterday, among your items of news, that the Wakatipu had arrived from Sydney, bringing nearly 200 Chinese en route for the Otago goldfields, who were brought over to New Zealand by one of their enterprising fellow-countrymen now resident at Dunedin. Sir, knowing a little of “ John’s” character, permit me to say that I would always prefer to see him folding his tent and quietly stealing away from New Zealand than coming to it .in such numbers ; for, depend upon it, he will be found to be no acquisition wherever he goes, but, on the contrary, a complete human pest, especially where congregated in large numbers. If ever a swarm of locusts devastated a rich and beautiful country, then the locust-eating “ heathen Chinee” may be said to have swept and laid bare the rich and fertile lands of California. At one period one of the most flourishing States of America, and one of the best markets in the world for the British or American laborer or artisan to seek work in, California is at this very hour cursed by the withering, blighting presence of 30,000 Chinese. Sir, not only has “John” succeeded in monopolising all branches of female labor in San Francisco (a white female servant there being almost a ruva avis), but he is fast beginning to monopolise othei branches of trade, while thousands of American workmen are out of employment and bordering on starvation. “John” not only works cheaply for his employer, but lives cheaply too. “ John” is content with his dollar or half-a-dollar a day, or less, as the case may be. He never minds bow the white man fares ; he, seif-like, works and grows fat on sixpennyworth of rice a day, for his soul, mind, sir, never rises above chopsticks while he “save shilling to go back to China,” never spending a penny in luxuries. Of course. “John” saves up all he earns, lessjthe rice, and hies with his treasure to the “ Flowery Land.” Sir, my object in writing is to show up some of the objectionable qualities of the “ Heathen Chinee.” San Francisco is now suffering from the spurious cry raised there some years ago of “ John and cheap labor !” and the people of California are devising means to get rid of “ John ” as quickly as possible, otherwise the country will be ruined by him, notwithstanding “his smile so child like and bland.” The Chinese quarter of San Francisco, with its thousands of Chinese inhabitants, confers little or no commercial advantages upon the white business portion of the city ; for the Chinese, as a rule, deal among themselves, and the money circulates through them until it reaches the hands of their headmen—whom you will And wherever Chinese congregate in lar<m numbers —and by these headmen, again, the cash is sent to China (never finding its way into European pockets if it is at all possible) to Chinese agents, who send in return rice, tea, and other Chinese notions ! This, then, is the manner in which a large Chinese population would operate upon the purse-strings of any European community who would be so unwise to their own social and commercial interests as to permit “John” to live and dwell among them, as is the case now in San Francisco.

But, air, one of the most objectionable qualities of the Chinese is their habit of establishing, wherever they go, a species of imptrium in imperio, by means of which the Chinese are kept under the headmen of the secret societies, instead of under the police. This has been a fruitful source of dissatisfaction in San Francisco, for it has been found that the Chinese are nominally under foreign rule, and it will always cause special difficulties in dealing with them and treating them as upon an equality with other citizens.—l am, &c., James Bain. Molesworth-street, February 12.