TO THE EDITOR.

Sir,— l read- your sub-editorial m \ last evenings issue with a feeling | et extreme pleasxue, not to say ad- j

miration— admiration 'for your courage m speaking a few homely truths about our local Chinese po- . pul&tiqn when they are fe.eing unjustly arraigned m common with undesirable members of tlieir race .m other parts of the colony. Whatever evils have been' justly attributable to the Chinamen m different parts of New Zealand, people in -this, town .have very little mischief to lay at the door of the yellow population. We have had Chinese m Masterton. for very many years • now— probably earlier than manyi larger centres, and ameng . them .we have known individual Chinamen who, for . benevolence and public 1 spiritedness, have set a good many whites an example. . Going back* to some twenty years ago, .many residents may remember a. . character named Too Long. Now,. Too, Long was never happier than when 'he .was i doj^xg s6meone a good turn. His birweekly visits, on his • vegetable round were welcome alike • to customers and .children— for he was extraordinarily fond of children. At the Christmas season the old . fellow's generosity had wide 1 .limits, and when at last he returned to dhina to spend the evening . of his days m his native town, it was with the universal good wishes of the public of Masterton who 'knew him. At a later, date came : /another party named Wong You. /Wong had for several years: a grocer's business m Masterton, having at one time twe, shops m Queen- '■-.., street. 1 i. ' can personally vouch 1 for .this Chinaman's kindly, qualities, . as..yl' well remeniber seeing, a, child g©; into his ■ shop for / vegetables, and, tender hinK. payment, which he .refused. I asked, him why, and he ■ Tsaid). "Oh, too poor." Wong You's benevolent characteristics eventually 'compelled' him to "shut up shop," and if the history of his downfall had been disclosed I believe it would . have; been conclusively shown that giving credit to poor people who? wer^e quite unable to pay, ended m his. irisolyenpyi .The , ; . other Chinese who have resided, , and are now residing, here nave .;■ shown the satne spirit, if nptinthe same idegree, and Vtb observe the ■i . way they, liaye adapted themselves , : .to the, social.' conditions, of a coiipt , try so' radically different from their i own is surely remarkable. We, as „; a • communijty, have certainly ho de;sire to' see any colpred race whatsoever „ assume any ' aggressive prbportion, but, as you rightly observe, -the general sentiment m this town is decidedly not' unfavorable jta^the^CMnteseViiopulatibn. There 'may" "be heed fdf regulation of the yellow^ immigration, but the means jtWhich should be: adopted, to achieve 'that end" are ! certainly not to commence a crusade m a town; whose inhabitants, as a community, can Tiave np just cause to say a word disparaging "to the Chinese population, as judged toy those of that* ' race who have lived, and are now ' living, within its boundaries.- Pro\bably the experiences of no town m, Niew Zealand have been more fa- . . yorabhV to the sometimes despised .and ofteji uh justly treated Mongo^ i liah .than pilose of Masterton. Let .','., the agitator, if he is so patriotic . as he fishes i;o appear, go to the /cities and towns where the police records may assist hjs arguments, fpr m Masterton be will aspuredly , find, that . the balance' "kicks the ... ,; beam": m favor of an industrious .; and ' la-^-aWding class.— l *.:■ am, pic., ' ;. . ' .-' - . / JUSTITIA. Masterton, 6th March. . •Is it %Hy wonder that "Justitia" declined to ' disclose his identity. Too Long was, extraordinarily fond of children, was h,e ? Alligators are fond of children, but we don't allow our children to play with alligators. ;Why did .not "Justitia," if he is' •telling .the truth, ' say whether the •children, were male or female. The probability is. they were the latter, and it, is just this '/fondness" for white children on the part of THE STINKING YELLOW , '. \ . BRUTES that makes the - Chinaman the inenr ace he is to the purity of bur race. But "Justitia" is -beneath argument. He is-a lover of- the Chow beyond all dou:bt an^ he is at liberty to go on loving his leprous pets till he becomes a leper himself. As a white man, if he is one, "Justitia" is a •disgraoe to his race, and perhaps he feels it; otherwise he would have signed his name to his . Impudent and ignorant ink-slinging effort. Notwithstanding the puny; puerile efforts of the "Wairarapa Daily Times" the anti-Chinese agitation has succeeded m Masterton, as an Anti-Asiatic League has been' founded, and the two following very sensible resolutions were carried r- , That the Government be approached by deputation, petition, or otherwise, m the matter of bringing down an amendment of the Immigration Restriction Act, 1899, and of the Chinese Immigrants Act Amendment, 1901, raising the poll tax to £1000. That the Asiatic Restriction Act, 1896, with necessary "amendments be again brought down, and that the Government bp asked to use ( every means m their power to place the measure on the Statute Book before the expiry of the present , Parliament. There was a very large attendance of the Wairarapa public at the meeting and it shows, at any rate, that' the "Times" has not much influence ! m moulding public opiuion m Mas- j terton. The anti-Chinese feeling is i growing. It is proper that it should ; i be. so'; because there is much to be; Ko.ml from the alien, within and I without. Such societies as that formed at Mastertnn should be found- ; i ed m every township that is threat- : ened by the Choxv:. Some years airo a similar society was fonnpd at Gh-ri<?l-«»i: f rcli, and ihe result is that the Cftow has not capture.l every. | feu*' -,C5 U m thah. city,