“Defying the Law”

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 213, 28 November 1927, Page 8

“Defying the Law”

CHINESE AND PERMIT SYSTEM Suspected by Officials I IMPRISONMENT, the climax to a series of fines, was imposed at Wellington on Saturday on a Chinese, one Lran On, who had overstayed his time in New Zealand. An observation made during the proceedings by the Wellington Collector of Customs, who said there was evidently an organised system to defy the law, is of interest to Auckland, because in this neighbourhood there are still about one hundred trespassing Celestials to be rounded up and deported.

£JHINESE enter New Zealand, ostensibly on holiday, under the temporary permit system, which allows any alien to spend six months in the country, provided that he puts down a deposit of £lO, to be forfeited if be does not leave on time. Since November 1 the conditions of entry have been tightened by regulations authorising the Customs officials to demand from some friend or relative, resident in New Zealand, an ife & rK rit & rK & Si * % % 5R * * *

undertaking to be responsible for any hospital, Court, or deportation fees incurred bv the visitor. M aunganui’s Passengers

Apparently this provision has had little effect in checking the flow of Chinese trippers, as they continue to arrive on every inter-colonial steamer. Last -week the Maunganui brought twenty, the largest batch landed in Auckland for some time.

Many of these new arrivals, whose excuse for entering New Zealand is that they are anxious to visit relatives or have a look at the country, are of an Illiterate type, frequently speaking very little English. Most of them appear to he labourers, though a number who appeared before an Auckland magistrate, who fined them for outstaying the time specified in their permits, described themselves as students.

Nearly dll of them have a certain sum of money when they arrive. They must, of course, have £ 10 to pay in as a bond, and an excuse made on behalf of those who have failed to depart is that they have spent all their money, and cannot buy a return fare. Nevertheless it Is a fact that some of those who have appeared at the Auckland Police Court are moderately opulent. One recent delinquent peeled the amount of his fine from a roll of notes to the value of £4O or £SO. Further, if it is true that most of the Celestial tourists spend all their money, and are unable to buy return passages, they may be

classified as extremely improvident holiday-makers, not over-eager to gel back to the land of their fathers. Auckland Collector’s View The opinion expressed by the Wellington Collector of' Customs, iu pro senting the case of Lum On, was thi> morning referred to Mr. W. Pen* Collector at Auckland, who said that himself had had occasion to believe that individuals were defying the lav. At the same time, he thought defv might hardly be the right word. “They resist to the last ditch,’’ said Mr. Penn “and then when they have to gp, thev go without trouble. The difficulty seems to be caused more by some peculiakink in the Chinese mind than bv any deliberate system. It is very hard to understand why they persist iu overstaying their permits, when thev know they are bound to be caugln sooner or later." Mr. Penn said a number of Chinesiwho had landed at Auckland were still unaccounted for, and many of them were difficult to trace, though others came and gave themselves up as soon as they heard they were wanted It would be a good thing if they could round up all the trespassers at once and get rid of them. Stiff fines and imprisonment might act as a deterrent and already the authorites had been compelled to adopt the policy of detaining delinquents, even after thev had been fined, to make certain that they obeyed the deportation order The Chinese who landed from the Maunganui, said Mr. Penn, had pro bably not heard, before they came to New Zealand, of the latest developments. Tl- f had all been compelled to comply with the latest regulations before they were permitted to land, but the Customs officials had power to waive some of the conditions if it were Chinese of good repute, such as Sydney or Melbourne merchants, who were landing. What Chinese Say

Leading Auckland Chinese this morning discounted the talk of an organised system, and they insisted that the men who were overstaying their time were simply either ignorant or irresponsible individuals, perhaps without money to buy return passages, but in any case no connection with the settled Chinese community in New Zealand.

Mr. T. W. Doo, Chinese importer, of Victoria Street, attributed most of the trouble to the fact that the visitors spent all their mc>:ey. A lot of them were young men, and spent their money improvidently. They came to New Zealand for a holiday, and when they were fined, and forfeited their deposit, as well as paying solicitors’ fees, it was a hard ending to their holiday.

Another Chinese resident said there was no reason at all to assume the existence of an organised system. The trouble was largely caused through ignorance, and the fact that the Chinese entering under temporary permits did not understand the significance of the permits, and were unfamiliar with the European calendar. “They spend their money, and often cannot get work while they are here, so do not have enough for return passages,” said another Auckland Chinese. Mr. Ah *Chee, the prominent local merchant, declined to comment on the subject.