MR WAKEFIELD AND THE CHINESE.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1801, 11 October 1888, Page 2

MR WAKEFIELD AND THE CHINESE.

(From the London Time*.) The Time* of August 22nd contains a latter by Mr Ed ward Waksfield, of Wellington, who combats the idea that Australasia >« Buffering from "mrms of Chinese,” or that there is any panic in the colonies on the subject. The following are extracts from ir;—

“Just think for u moment (says Mr Wakefield) what Australia is. It is a continent half as large again as the Chinese Empire proper, nearly as large as the continent of Europe—and it only contains 51,000 Chinese throughout its whole are* of 3,000,000 square nailos. One poor, solitary pigtail to sixty squire milts of country ! If I remember rightly, the are < of Scotland is 30,000 square miles, and the population is about the same as that of Australia. Now, supposing there were 500 Chinese in Scotland, would yon say they swarm there I I think not. Yet that wou d be exactly the camber there would bo if they were as thick in Scotland .as they are in Australia. As to their having ‘ spread over well nigh the whole country,’ it is only necessary to mention that the total population—Europeans, Chinese, aborigine* and all—ire scarcely more thin one to ths square mile, and the Europeans outnumber the Chines* by rather more thsn sixty to one. The truth is, throe-fourths of Australia ere oninhabited, nnd in the inhabited fourth the Chinese are but a fraction of the community- snd would not be an appreciable fraction but for their oonspicneus appearance and their still more conspicuous industry and usefulness. The only parts of Anstra'ia where they are really numerous, in proportion to the Europeans, are those parts whsre Europeans cannot work acd can barely live. In the northern territory of bouth Australia there are about 6000 Chinese, and only about 600 Europeans. The Chinese were brought there to construct public works, grow sugar, and do other things which Europeans cannot do in that climate—and without them the t rritory must relapse ,into wilderness. In the torrid regions of Northern Queensland a somewhat similar sta'e of affairs exists, and there may be townships there, min ng camps, or plantations, where the Chinese outnumber the whites, just as the Indian colonies outnumber the whites in Mauritius, and for the same reason. But in #ll those parts of Australia which are inhabited by Europeans in the ordinary sense of the word the Chinese form but an infinitesimal minority of the population. As a curious instance of how the number of Chinese is exaggerated by prejudice or misconception, I may tell you that in this little city of Wellington, ths capital of New Zealand, where 1 live, there was some time ago an outcry that the Chinese were * swarming' into the tewn and threatening to crowd out European tradesmen. I made inquiries and found that there were only ' seventy-two Chinese in Wellington out of a population of nearly 30,000. It is liko the story of the little boy who rushed terrified into the bouse and shrieked to hi* mother that there were 100 black monkeys in the back garden. It turned out that it wits only the marmoset which had come over the wall from nsxt door in a friendly way. That is literally no more ridiculous than the stories which are told here, and are evidently believed at Home, about the * hordes of Mongolian barbarians swarming into the colonies ’ and * threatening,’ as yon put it, 1 to transform them into a Chinese annexe.’ Bat I have surely said enough to satiefy you on this point, 1 repeat (he figures, They are unmistakable and very striking. The Chinese in Australia, and throughout all Australasia, are one to sixty square miles, and in the proportion of on* Chinaman to sixty Europeans. Ido not know bow many Chinese there are in London, but I am inclined to think that down in Wapping or Limehouse way they 'swarm’ more than they do bore—and here, as I have shown, they are decreasing, while in London they are not. But, it may well be asked, if these fsets and figures are accurate, and there seems to be no denying them, how is it that inch ' a fuss has been made about the alleged ■- influx of Chinese into the colonies, and why have the Governments of some of them resorted to snch violent measures to keep them ou l , and assailed the Imperial ! Government so furiously for not quarrelling with China off-hand about the matter I The answer is quite simple, and is perfectly well understood in the colonies. My object in writing this letter is to make it belter understood in England. The anti-Chinese #gitat : on has been delibarately got up by the Governments who have made all the fuss ; the said 1 Governments ’ consisting of a few politicians bo'ding a little brief authority—generally very brief—to whom (he votes of the working men, or of men who never do a stroke of work, especially the latter, are of great importance at election times. The Chinese question always comes to the fore whenever a general election is at hand, and remains to the fore till the polls are closed ; after which it rapidly retires, and is, no more heard of till the politicians want it again. The people as a whole care not a farthing about it, but are dia- •' gusted by the violence and foolishness of the agitators. It never fails, nevertheless, when well handled, to arouse enormous among that class of free and independent electors who detest industry, ‘ thrift, sobriety, and respect for the laws, whether in Europeans or Chinese, but who are afraid to show their detestation of (hose qualities in a practical manner except against the inoffensive and unresisting minority. The demagogues have a great deal to say about the vices of the Chinese ; but that is well understood to be a /aeon d« purler. There is no prejudice in the colonies against the vices of the Chinese, But the most vicious classes of Europeans have a most tremendous prejudice against their virtues.”

In conclusion, Mr Wakefield says t( To conclude a letter which ia already too long, let me repeat that the pretence of any panic in the colonies on account of a Chinese invasion is the veriest imposture, solely employed for political purposes. But let me add that I am as firmly con nncsd as I am of anything in this uncertain life, that the time will come when at least half of Australasia, continental and insular the tropcal half—will bo peopled by Chinese, under imperial British rule, to the iac tlcutable advantage of all the dependencies of the Empire and their European inhabitants in this quarter of the globe. It is monstrous to suppose that the destiny of a vast territory, transcending in area and in potential wealth and splendour the

mightiest States of the old woild, is to be dictated to by the disorderly c asses of the little communities now clustered down in the south-east corner of Australia. Ihe Empire surely has a higher responsibility lhan to consult the prejudices or the sordid interests of these totally irresponsible people upon such a question. The day must come, and at no very distant date, when ths Empire will be compelled to recognise its responsibility for the future davelopement of the illimitable resources of the magnificent land which now lies desert under the Tropic of Capricorn. And when that day comes, then the day of the Chinese in Australasia will have come too.”