THE CHINESE SHOPKEEPER.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 54, 25 August 1911, Page 4

THE CHINESE SHOPKEEPER.

A DIFFICULT PROBLEM. Wellington has many Chinese who combine the fruit and grocery business. Just as the bat in the fable could claim to be both a bird and a four-footed animal, according to the promptings of *elf-iu-terest, the unnaturalised Chinaman has been in the position of being a. grocer or non-grocer, to suit his own purposes (says the Post). The unfair advantages which Chinese were able to enjoy were brought under the notice of the Minister of Labor, and the Hon. J. A. Millar -has apparently found a solution of the difficulty. Discussing the requisition regarding grocers' closing hours, the Minister states that when it is brought into operation it will apply to all shops in the city in which groceries are sold, whether groceries comprise the principal business or not, and unnaturalLsed Chinese will be bound to observe the conditions specified in the order. It is possible that the departmental reading of the law will be questioned, for it is not long since the Minister confessed his perplexity in dealing with shops in which the principal business was not done in the line of groceries. However, whether the Minister is able to maintain himself in his present position or not, public opinion will insist on a cessation of preferential treatment of Chinese whose methods and standard of living enable them to under-cut their white competitors. Their capture of the fruit trade was by gradual stages, and they have been making enough progress in the grocery business to cause some alarm. Experience has proved here and in other English-speaking countries that when Chinese get a grip of any industry or trade they steadily make headway unless strict care is taken to prevent them from enjoying undue advantages.