Wairarapa Daily Times. [ESTABLISHED 1878] THURSDAY, MARCH 17, 1892. THE CHINESE INVASION.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XIII, Issue 4065, 17 March 1892, Page 2

Wairarapa Daily Times. [ESTABLISHED 1878]

THURSDAY, MARCH 17, 1892. THE CHINESE INVASION.

Being the extended title of the Wairarapa Daily, with which it is identical.

Probably the Anii-C 11111630 Aasociation just formed ia Masterton Wl "> after experience, find that its greatest strength will lie in its power to make representations through tho proper channels to Parliament, The subject is of far more than local importance, although the present activity on the part of our residents has been solely brought about by the spectacle of increased Chinese competition in Masterton. Possibly at a very early period this important matter may have most serious deliberation in the House of Representatives—it certainly should have. An older Colony than New Zealand—Viotoria to wit—lias found it desirable to impose a polltax of £IOO on every Chinese who reaches its shores, and there the outlet for that class of immigration is considerably wider than ours, the diggings and other fields of occupation much relieving the rivalry with European tradespeople from an extreme keenness, Still, grave is the position, and incisive is the step takea to afford relief. The Chinese have to a great extent obtained a footing in this district by their successful monopolising of the fruit trade, and they have hitherto I I managed this withoulanun.dufl lowering of prices, Very recently though '■■ b slightly "cut-throat" policy has been adopted; but prior to that the fruit they sold was usually ticketed i at a very considerable advance on ■ : Wellington prices, JJyen then i.twas ) cheaper than similar products could be sold by our own shopkeepers, and 1 was very frequently much better in [ quality—that is, the imported fruits { were finer. There was a reason for r this latter advantage. Whereas the ; European tradesmen had, in buying i from a Wellington fruit merchant, 1 to take almost what was sent him, : the Chinaman invariably possessed a "brudder" in tlie metropolis who, , when purchasing for city shops. perI sonally, selected fruit for his country I relative and snapped up all the barI gains of tho auction marts. ' ' ' Now, in th,e pf this coin- ' petition in the fruit trade, it is proposed by the local Association to, establish a fruit market where the grower aiijd {he purchaser, being brought into .direct contact, effect busjpess at first cost and .therefore at Jnw enough to attract and '- 'he tf&dgof the pub}ifl now Soi retain... '-»fluono'mipj reasons, freely given, iw. " v -«f afrujti to the Chinese. The idea „_ market is undoubtedly a good one, and anything which tends to convert fruit from a luxury to an article of every-day consumption-to a staple of food, in fact-is to be encouraged, But still we question whether Masterton is a large enough town to support a market devoted sololy to the sale of one class of provision, and whether its promoters will not find themselves forced to face the prospect of. a proposal to extend the market to one which shall include the sale of produce and poultry, and where, for a small sum,' a farmer or an orchardist shall be able to hire a stall for a day, for a week, for a month, or for a year as pleases him, and so dispose of all his products. A course of this kind would lead to the establishment of a market much on tho lines of those in England, where in the older towns, Nottingham for instance, and even in some of the villages, the market day is a great institution, and the ■ open square of , ground is brisk with its busy tenants , of the time. There aro fruit markets, pure and i simple, in some of the larger towns, '

both at Home'and in the Colonies, oE which Oovf nt Garden may be cited in London, and tho Central Fruit Mar- ' ketiu Sydney, ftew South Wales. But in neither of these, and certainly 1 not in the latter is fruit particularly ' ohM| It is decidedly not so in corqpsoii with the rates at which \ it obtained m other quarters ', in those cities, As a matter-of-faot, frujyaarkots as large as these are bee W occupied for the most part by prewpous retailing firms rather than ' by the growers themselves. It might be noted that in speaking of Masterton and then of these large towns we have chosen the two extremes. This possibly only indicates that in a place of moderate siza like Wellington, where the population is numerous enough to ensure a considerable con" sumption, a plentiiul supply oi cheap fruit might be very successfully posed- of in an established market where prices would be established by the fair competition of supply and demand. But Masterton, on the contrary, miy be found not sufficient to support a fruit market, for it must be remembered that a considerable proportion of the stock would need to be imported fruit, and that its sellers would still be at the mercy of Wellington fruit merchants. It might here bo mentioned, in parenthesis, that the market-places in the Old Country are usually owned by the Corporation and are by it leased to the various stall-holders. No! to fight the Chinese in the fruit trade is a very difficult matter, and, as we stated at the outset, the Association will probably be wiser in using its power mainly in the direction of inlluencing legislative action. There was, we noticed, one line of policy not referred to at the meeting on Tuesday evening which is generally suggested on such occasions, and that was that the tradesmen should boycot Ibe merchant firms who supply Chinese storekeepers with goods, In this connection it is interesting to study the remark made by some of tbe Wellington fruit merchants that they " do not know what they would do without the Chinese,as they are the best customers they bave: they buy largely and pay cash !"

Tuesday's meeting took one other seep, and that was to decide to write to the Knights of Labour and invite their co-operation in the movement affecting the Chinese, Who the Knights of Labour are, and why they, of the various organisations existing, should be specially selected for joint action in this matter, are equally mysterious but we will hope that their aid will be of service and that the assistance of ptber bodies may also be gradually enlisted. It here strikes our memory that the only markets we ever rememberseeing at which fruit of allkinds was really so cheap as to make its purchase and consumption within reach of even the very poorest were in Oriental countrieg.p'tioularly in Ceylon, where a trifling sum would purchase a huge hamper, which would tax two peri sons to carry, filled with the most luscious fruits of all kinds. But possibly in Italy and in other countries equally adapted for fruit growing, but of which we have slighter knowledge, the conditions may be equally favourable.