CHINESE IMMIGRATION.

Patea Mail, Volume V, Issue 440, 2 July 1879, Page 2

CHINESE IMMIGRATION.

(From the Auckland Weekly News )• The question of Chinese immigration is one which sooner or later will, no doubt, come before our Legislature for settlement, as it has already done in most of the Australian colonies. It is not, indeed, probable that the question will ever assume such large proportions in the case of New Zealand as it has done in some of these. There are many causes which will tend to prevent this, amongst which may be mentioned our climate, especially in the and the fact that the Australian coloniesopen without restriction to Chinese immigration, as most of them now are—afford at least as attractive, and a much nearer field of enterprise. But in spite of these things there are already a considerable number of Chinese in New Zealand —quite enough to learn and widely to make known the advantages of the colony, which are at least sufficiently great to prove a subject of attraction to many. The redundant population of the Mongolian -Empire is, as is well known, a subject of great anxiety to Chinese statesmen, who, urged by the horrible experiences of recent famines, are certainly desirous ot encouraging emigration to any promising locality. The great tide which Set in years ago to the Pacific States of America has, it seems, roused a very serious amount of local opposition, and there can be no doubt that for a long time to come California will not offer so many inducements to tempt Chinese immigration as it has done. The consequence can scarcely fail to be an increased current ©f emigration from China towards the colo®!® 8 °( the Australasian Groups and our high opinion of the capabilities of our,, own colonies leads naturally to the couclnsion that New Zealand will share in that current.

The history of Chinese emigratioii into the United States and into the Australian colonies, is both interesting and instructive, but it isj of course, impossible to give it at any length within the limits of an article. Several main features, however, may be noticed, which appear worthy of consideration, in case this colony also should be brought face to face with the problem. The main feature of this particularimmigration, which, is dreaded, is, it appears, not so much its actual as its possible dimensions. Even in California,-where fefeling is most excited, and where it has been made a parly in polities—a process sure to exaggerate matters in the telling,—it is not so much the actual amount of the Chinese population that is objected to, although, of course, it is strongly objected to by many, as the expected flood Of the same population. It is not the thousands of Chinese actually in the country that cause alarm, so much as the four millions remaining behind, who are all looked upon as more dr less ready to follow, if inducement offers. This is even more' true in the ‘Australian colonies, in none of which has the influx been at all sd important as it has been in California. In each of these, with one or two exceptions, however, repressive measures have at one time or other been adopted by local the Legislature. The latest example is that of Queensland, which, two years, ago became alarmed at, the large immigration of low-class Chinemen mainly seeking the goldfields. This action has ; . been canvassed with considerable heat in many quarters, the rather because" Queensland is the Colony of all others in the Australian group in which both the advantages and disadvantages of such an immigration would be most strongly felt, owing to natural causes. On the other hand, a large part of that colony, if not indeed the whole of it, may be considered tropical in its climate and natural productions, and as such, less fitted for European than for Asiatic labour to develop its resources. The work of cultivating the richest part of that colony cannot, in fact, be performed by European labour, at all events to any very great extent, perhaps not at fdl so as to produce a profit. This would seem to be a strong argument in favor of introducing Coolie labour. On the other hand, this very fact would seem to have partly caused the alarm which led to the restrictive enactment whiclv we have referred to, as it was evidently feared' that the country would prove so attractive to Chinese immigrants that they would swamp the English colonists, and render Queensland rather a Chinese dependency than a British colony. It is said that there are 30,000 Chinese in Queensland, and that there would soon' be ton times the number if no steps' were taken to check the stream of immigration, and so the colony has ; endeavoured to stop it by imposing taxation, and by various tne'aspres calculated to deter these people from coming.

There seems every reason to suppose that those measures will be quite successful, and that the stream of population will cither be stopped or turned aside. The question is, are the Queensland people wise in doing this ? Is the evil which they fear really impending, and,if so, is it so great an evil as they suppose ? * So far as the risk of a vast immigration of Mongolian immigrants is concerned, it would appear that nothing is wanting to produce this except the promise of prosperity, and fair facilitiesfor transit. Any one of these colonies holds out a prospect, compared with which any prospect offered to the Chinaman at home must seem a poor one indeed. This is true, perhaps, of Queensland more than most of these colonies, because of its soil and climate, and its nearness to the Flowery Land; but, it is true of all to an extent which on’y some acquaintance with the condition of a large part of the population of China can enable ns t© estimate. And, where vast numbers of intending passengers are concerned, the problem of facility of transit ceases to be a difficult one. It may safely be assumed that cither to Australia or New Zealand Chinese immigrants could be conveyed on very easy terms if only a sufficient nuinbpr were likely to embark. The problem, therefore, will come to this—whenever the current of immigration has once fairly, set in, is the existence of a large Chinese population necessarily an evil, or can it be so managed as to make it an the colony? On this, as on all subjects, there must of necessity be much difference of opinion, and it would be rash dogmatically to express a view as though it must certainly be correct. For our own part,we should hesitate to do more lhan to suggust for consideration what appear to us to be arguments for and against either conclusion. The question, as we have already said, is one of large colonial interest, and it is one upon which New Zealand may at any time be called npon to judge. We shall, therefore, take an early opportunity of referring to the matter again, and pointing out what appears to be the principal considerations in favour of a hostile and an extensive Mongolian immigration to this colony.