THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 3, 1907. THE RACE PROBLEM.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8391, 3 April 1907, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 3, 1907. THE RACE PROBLEM.

Why there should be different races of men in this world is a , problem which has not yet been solved, and it is all the more remarkable when we are authoritatively informed that all the sons of mankind are descended from one and the same father, namely, a gentleman bearing the somewhat prosaic cognomen of Adam. Differences of race have probably caused more trouble than anything else in this world. Certainly, again and again racial hatred has brought about wars, revolts, massacres, and bloodshed in every shape and form;,and brutalities, horrors and excesses of every description, and innumerable in number. Why should all thishave been in the past? Why should it be going on now in different quarters of the globe? Why should it, as we feel assured will prove the case, continue in the future? It would be just as easy to answer these questions as it would be to solve that seemingly simple little problem "why are we bom?" We know, however, that there ai-i different breeds of men, we know 1 certain facts about these races, and we know that if certain'breeds (Britishers and Chinese for instance) come into close contact with one another that the nobler race invariably suffers. Our standard of nobility, of course, is based upon ideals which for many hundreds of years have been common throughout the Occident, and we know that our permanency as a nation depends upon

the maintenance and cultivation of ," pure ideals and the encouragement of noble aims. History, admittedly, provides countless examples of races that havo mingled with each other to advantage, and there is, possibly, no such thing as a pure race, but where fusion of race's has occurred with satisfactory results, it might bo said, generally speaking, that the differences between the uniting nations were more fanciful than real. The difference in such cases was one of false sentiment, or prejudice, rather than of a vital national character. These remarks bring to one's mind the correspondence that has recently been published in these columns on the Asiatic question. In a previous article, we pointed out that the question should be discussed I dispassionately, if possible, and from a national standpoint. We, also, urged that those who wished to contribute letters upon the question should keep to the point. A good deal of irrelevant matter has been introduced by different writers —and it would have been better if some of it had never been written the Chinese apologists being t'.ie worse offenders in the respect mentioned. We have used the term Chinese apologists, and we have used it advisedly, because we do not think there is any British-New Zealander, worthy of the name, who, upon calm reflection, would, for a single moment, express the opinion that it was , desirable to allow Chinese and other Asiatics to settle in this colony in just such great hordes as might wish to come. We are. ; of course, fully acquainted v;?th tho proper namss of the Chinese apologists to whom we refer, and we commit no breach of confidence when we say that it did not seem to us that a single anonymous correspondent had any good reason why he shoulld refrain from signing his proper name to his letter. 'No. good reason, yet reason enough, | for w-3 have no doubt that every ■' writer was ashamed to sign his letter. He would, indeed, be a shameless individual who would openly acknowledge that he was willing to encourage Asiatic colonization in New Zealand. There appears ever to be a certain amount of cantankerousness and hypocrisy in human nature, and we suppose it was due to the said cantankerousness and hypocrisy that no sooner was it proposed that Asiatics should be entirely excluded from this country than objections to the contrary were raised. Very curious, indeed, have been some of the arguments—so-called—-of the

Chinese apologists. The "argument'. has been advanced with all seriousness, apparently, that because the most dreadful poverty exists side by side with immense wealth in the Old Country that, therefore, no attempt should be made to discourage Asiatic immigration into this colony. It would be just as rational to urge that because Australia periodically suffers from drought, that, therefore, rinderpest should be most assiduously cultivated in New Zealand. Then, again, in such vices as Europeans are, unfortunatsly, somewhat addicted to, there are those who see a reason why the Clhinaman and other Asiatics should be allowed to diseminate their peculiar and beastly vices in this "precious gem set in the silver sea." For those who thus argue we are genuinely sorry, for it cannot ever have occurred to their minds that our efforts should tend in the direction of mastering and eradicating our vices instead ct increasing the number of them by inviting pagans of vile habits, and of a very low standard of morality, to teach us how to do it. Bracken happily described New Zealand as "God's Own Country," and the late Mr,Seddon was never tired of using Bracken's phrase. We have an ' enlightened, democratic, and progressive Government, and He can be no Zealander at all who does not know that the great aim of our democracy for years past has been to lay the foundation of this young-country so securely that those terrible social problems which are so common in older countries shall never face the New Zealanders of the future—the Britona of the South. How much more, then, should our determination be fixed, and our will steadfast, on this question of excluding the Asiatic? Physical suffering, brought about through mis-government, is said; unfortunate, and bad, but moral corruption is infinitely worse. Of the two evils it would be better that men should suffer any hardship than that they should be destroyed nationally and morally through contamination with the Asiatic. So far as the Chinese are concerned, it is admitted by the Government that it is undesirable to allow them into the country—the existence of the poll-tax is proof of the contention. Since we have a poll-tax that is clearly insufficient to achieve the object with which it is imposed, it is beyond question that the Government should adopt, some other measure that will prove effective. The Chinaman's best friend, always providing that he is a Britisher, cannot contend that it is' desirable that Chinese should settle in the country. Limited space forbids our dealing further with the question on this occasion, though we should like to refer to many instances that different places on the globe furnish to-day of existing evils, and of future horrors which will certainly develop, where there are races, living side by side, which

cannot become mixed without bringing about the degradation of the nobler or more highly-civilized races.