THE AFGHAN AT MELBOURNE.

Auckland Star, Volume XIX, Issue 113, 14 May 1888, Page 5

THE AFGHAN AT MELBOURNE.

AN UNDESIRABLE LOT.

A great deal of excitement was caused by the arrival in the Bay of tho steamer Afghan, carrying no less than 268 Chinese, 67 of whom desiro to land in Melbourne. A large number of them claimed the right to enter Victoria on the ground that they were naturalised British subjects, and others professed their willingness to pay poll tax to obtain the privilege. The Government, acting it- comformity with the law, and apparently in sympathy with tho antiChinese sentiment of the community, took ull justifiable action to prevent these Chinese from carrying out their purpose, Two Customs officers and a couple of constables were placed on board to preclude the possibility of escape, and the captain was held responsible in a line of £100 per head for every Chinese who eluded these precautions. At the same time communication from tho shore was debarred by the effectual method of placing the vessel in quarantine. It is made clear that the disposition to believe that Australia is threatened with a considerable Mongolian invasion is no shadowy delusion by the passenger list of the Afghan, which shows that 89 Chinese are to be delivered at Sydney, 105 in New Zealand, 2 in Tasmania and 5 in Queensland, whilst her record shows that 448 have been landed in Borneo, another British possession. Their object in going to that island is evidently to settle upon the newly discovered goldiields there. The " Age " of 30th April said regarding the Chinese on board the s.s. Afghan : — The fore part of the Afghan is commodious, but it is not large enough to decently accommodate 268 Chinese. On deck there is barely room for ohem to walk about without treading on each others dainty toes, whilst below existence must be a perpetual stew. Very few people, however eager to acquire knowledge, would care to venture between decks. It is all very well if you're a Salvation Army captain or a philanthropist to penetrate into the fcetid dens of Little Bourkc-street wibh the object of converting some of the abandoned, but nevertheless pretty, young women are often to be found there, but on the Chinese immigrant steamer dirb has no femininegraces, and the would be benefactor of his species pauses at the open hatchway as he would ab the mouth of the Tartarian caves, appalled even by the smell which emanates therefrom. The well defined and separate stinks which are said to pervade the fair city of Cologne may here be found in one concenbrabed vapour. During the short time which it takes to realise the fact ope's eyea nee<* Pot necessarily he

idle, and, peering down the ladder-way, one may obtain a fair impression of the interior. From that impression it would appear that the Mongolians are herded together as slaves are pent on the piratical dhows which cruise off the coaso of Africa, There are very few raised bunks, and the generality of the sleeping quarters are more in the form of cattle stalls than in any other shape, being only sufficiently railed off to distinguish between the claim of one individual and the run of another. The ship provides no bedding, and the passengers possess very little. Within their small enclosures they perform every domestic detail, without feeling the least diffidence, smoke opium, play fan tan, and make friends with the ship's rats to replenish their scanty larder. Life must indeed be a hideous dream amongst them, oven in sight of day beneath the open hatches ; but in tho remote corners of r 'the hold, where darkness is only made visible by the feeble ray of a murky deadlight, existence must be insufferable indeed. To see them in the open air only assists one to better appreciate the horrors of their association below. Such a smoky, yellow, angular-featured and illfavoured crowd could not easily bo matched. Not only are they generally foul in appearance, but some ot them are absolutely grotesque, being one-eyed, lop-eared or otherwise disfigured. One Chinaman, who was naturally not too handsome, and was certainly most unclean, had accentuated the truculent appearance of his physiognomy by plutrgin^ up one of his nostrils with a wad of paper and leaving the ragged end to protrude downwards over his upper lip. A POSSIBLE MASSACRE. Discussing the possibilities of an embargo being placed upon him, which will compel him to take his Chinese passengers away from these shores, Captain Roy makes no doubt that Messrs Gellatly, Hankey and Sewell, of Leadenliall-sbreeb, London, directors of the Great Mogul Steamship Company, by whom the Afghan is owned, will not quietly submit to the loss which would bo incurred in taking these people back to China and refunding to them their passage money, notwithstanding the fact that this firm is already prosecuting one of the heaviest seafaring actions at law which has yet arisen against two other influential companies for "boycotting" their interests in the China seas. He gives credit to his owners for having tho power to make a very considerable disturbance, even in the field of j Imperial politics, if they ore driven to do so. Personally, whilst he feels that he must do his duty at all hazards, he nevertheless pertinently asks who is to compensate relatives of the nine Europeans on board the Afghan if the returning Chinese infuriated at his failure bo land them in Australia, were, subsequent to his departure from the colonies, to seize the ship and murder them ? At present, he says, they are only quiet, because they don't understand the object of their detention. They think there is merely some temporary delay, owing to port regulations, and they are likely to be very disagreeable when they know the actual facts.