rO THE HONOURABLE THE SPEAKEE AND MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES IN PABLIAMENT ASSEMBLED. Thb Humbl* Petition of ihs Und«k- ! BIGNBD CHINESE R«<-IDENTS OF THE q CITT OP WELLINGTON ON B«HALV OF o Thimselveb and Fillow Countut- Z MBN £ SHEWETH— 1. That by the treaty entered into be- f tween Groat Britain and China provision la 8 made for the subjects of the Chinese Nation t to enter, Bettle, and trade in t.ny colony or dependency of Great Britain. ' 2. That pursuant to tbe terms of suoh I treaty a small number of the Chinese race « have settled in different parts of this Colony, < md are principally engaged in the gold- 1 nining industry, and some few ate engaged is market gardeners and storekeepers. ] 3. That the Chinese do consume suoh ' irtioles as bread, meat, groceries, and other 1 ood similar to that consumed by Europeans, ' tnd do wear clothing and other artioles ' similar to that worn by Europeans ; and to ' isaert the oontrary is untrue. 4. That the Chinese are not guilty of immorality with young girls ; and to assert the sontrary ia untruo, and can be proved to be untrue by reference to the records of the Law Courts of the Colony. 5. That foreigners from other nations are permitted to come to and settle in New Zealand without being compelled to pay the unjust poll tax of .£lO, whioh your petitioners »re now obliged to pay j and your petitioners consider it will be moat unjust and unfair to your petitioners to compel them to pay any higher tax than that whioh your petitioners now have to pay. 6. That yonr petitioners claim that the Chinese are quite as benevolent as any of the residents of the Colony, and when any of their countrymen get 6ld and have not the means to maintain themselves, the Chinese residents subscribe the necessary funds to pay their passages home to China. 7. That your petitioners p_ay taxes, rateß, and rents equal to those paid by any other inhabitants of this Colony, and they claim that they make their payments promptly and without dedaotions. 8. That your petitioners in no way compete to lower wages, neither do they enter into competition in the boot, cabinetmaking, or other trades. 9. That nearly the whole of the articles of food and wearing apparel conaumed and worn by your petitioners are purchased by them from the producers, manufacturers, or importers in the Colony. 10. That before the Chinese came to New Zealand, the working olasaes and poor people in the oentres of population had great difficulty in procuring vegetables and fruit for their consumption, and they could only prooure the same by the payment of exorbitant, excessive, and prohibitive prices ; but since the Chinese oame to New Zealand and have commenced the business of market gardeners and vendors of fruit, a plentiful supply of fruit and vegetables can at all times be obtained at a cheap rate, thereby finding cheap vegetables and fruit for the working classes and poor people in the different oentres of population.11. That your petitioners are a lawabiding, steady, sober, industrious people. 12. That it is unfair to oharge the Chinese race with living in dwellings that are not kept clean, beoanee tbe Chinese are subject to the same sanitary laws as other inhabitants; and if the Chinese do not comply with these laws they are liable to be prosecuted; and if those whose duty it is to enforce the sanitary laws neglect that duty it is unfair to use that neglect of duty' as an argument against allowing the Chinese to reside in the colony. 13. That on the goldfields the Chinese take up and work principally the ground that has been abandoned by the European miners, and fonnd to be too poor for them to work, and the Chinese in this way turn to profit ground that otherwise never would be worked. 14. That the Chinese are wrongly blamed for committing many offences whioh they do not commit; and if an enquiry were made by the Government it would be found that most of the complaints whioh are made against the Chinese as a rule do not exist except in the imaginative brains of those who for interested motives, or for the sake of popularity, or to gain some end or personal advantage, make them. 15. That the Chinese do not enter into competition with other colonists who wish to enter the Government sernae, or become shop assistants ; neither do they swell tbe ranks of the unemployed, or seek relief from the Charitable Aid Boards. 16. That the inhabitants of this Colony profess to be a Christian people, and if those professions are true your petitioners claim that the'eame spirit of Christian charity and forgivenness should be extended to the Chinese, that they (the inhabitants of the Colony) would wish to sje extended to themselveß if they were resident in a. foreign land. 17. That the number of Chinese in the Colony is steadily decreasing and in the opinion of your petitioners instead of increasing the amount of the poll tax it should, for the reasons set out in this petition, be reduced. Tour petitioners therefore humbly pray that your Honourable Houße will not pass any further prohibitive or oppressive legislation against the Chinese who now reside or those who wish to oome to and reside in this Colony. And your petitioners as in duty bound will ever pray, &o. SUN KWONG LEE TEE CHONG W. HONG KEW 4 CO. SUE GEE CHOW FONG WONG SHE SING KEE CHOW LIM. THE AKTI-CHINESE MOVEMENT. TO THS BDITOB. hIR — I notice in your valuable paper of the sth inst. a report of a meeting convened by those interested in the AntiChineae movement. In that report I also notice that those interested required the services of Jupp's Band in order to Beoure an attendance of such a small minority of the citizens of Wellington. What a deplorable state of things ! What an interest the large majority of people in the oity took in the movement ! Now, Bir, in Wellington it is a case of " jealousy of a few," that few being the fruiterers. Judging from hearsay, the townspeople are only too anxious that the fruit trade in the oity should be carried on by the Chinese, as they are able to supply a superior artiole at a mnoh lower price. Of course we can understand the Hon. W. P. Reeveß' interest in the movement. It is a matter of gaining popularity in Welling ton. He says that he has received letters from gentlemen of learning sympathising with him in the movement. Perhaps so. I wonder who those gentlemen are. Why do not those gentlemen in their reßpeotive centres convene similar meetings, and head their processions by brass bands ? I dare say they might possibly get together the Bmall few who are afraid that the poor Chinaman making his paltry 10s per week will be robbing them of their bread and butter. What a sad look-out for the hundreds of unemployed in New Zealand! Some Mrs. Tasker or other states that the "Undesirable Immigrants Bill has been the best measure that had ever been introduced into Parliament, and that the unemployed difficulty could not be solved without suoh a measure." What has that got to do with the Anti-Chinese movement ? Can she prove that the Chinese are undesirable immigrants f Pnir bodie. My own opinion is that if the Government has done so more good for the oountry than introduce such » measure, it Bays very little for the representatives of the people. In the case of the Chinese the Bill is absolutely unnecessary, inasmuch as the Chinese population in New Zealand has deoreaied by 600 or 700 during the past six years, and now it totals considerably less than 2000. The Hon. (in his own oountry) Mr. Reeves states that last year the ingress of Chinese exceeded the egress by a few. Now, sir, that was owing to the faot that the majority of Chinese arriving in the oolony every year are only returning to New Zealand after a visit to their own oountry. (t is absurd to say that the exclusion of the Chinese from New Zealand would solve the unemployed difficulty. The Hon. Mr. Reeves e*ys that " every vaoanoy created by a Chinaman going out of the country will be gladly, promptly, and thankfully filled by an industrious white labourer." Where in New Zealand do you find the Chinese labour interfering with that of the English, except in Wellington, as in the case of a few fruiterers P In almost all parts of New Zealand the Chinese are engaged in the mining indnstry. Moreover, the land that they work would not satisfy even the unemployed. As a rule, the ground they turn over in searoh of gold has generally been gone over by Europeans. Furthermore, the Chinese never were nor never will be a bnrden to this country. Although they contribute towards the revenue of the oolony and looal bodies the same as any Europeans do, yet, no matter how low a position they may be in, they do not seek support from oharitable aid, nor ask tbe Government to find them work. Again, tfie present law in New Zealand restricting the Chinese is contrary to the treaties between England and China, and is therefore unjust. Great Britain boasts that "every man rerident in her oolonies and abiding by the law shall receive justioe irrespective of nation and colour." Why deny the ' Chinese justioeP In Amerioa, where there are tens of thousands of Chinese, the law there only restricts Chinese male labourers, whilst females and other classes of the raoe have free ingress, egress, and regress. In New Zealand no suoh provision is made; the present law is most unjust. As to their not settling in the oolony, there is good reason for their not doing 10. If they wish to bring their wives and ohildren here they have to pay that abominable tax of .£lO per head on every one of them. In faot, they are treated as dogs, and as suoh it v a wonder they are not compelled to wear a oollar with a stamp affixed. What a law for a Christian oountry! What a poor speoimen of humanity Mrs. P must be. Now that she has got - her franohiie, she wants to see the tax on Chinese raised to J2lOO ; and no more letters of naturalisation granted to them, and thereby would pioveuj; them from having the franchise -for only naturalised Bubjeots are allowed to vote at a general eleotion. Surely it is more than unjust to restrict their entering into the oountry; and furthermore, to raise the tax and to dis. enfranchise those already in tbe oolony would be a most cowardly aot. No doubt the worked hard for her franchise. Why not let the poor Chinamen have their freedom? If I were to write at length, I am afraid my reply to the groundless attaok on the Chinese by the Anti-Chinese League would be trespassing too muoh on your valuable space, and therefore I have been reluctantly obliged to aurtail it. By insert-, ing the above few remarks you will greatly oblige. I am, &c, CHINEBE RESIDENT. Greymouth, 12th Auguit, 18J».