THE CHINESE QUESTION.

Auckland Star, Volume XIX, Issue 113, 14 May 1888, Page 2

THE CHINESE QUESTION.

(To tlio Editor.)

Sm,—l. do not intend to be drawn into a controversy on this subject, but as your correspondent W. E. Hay is pleased to call the Chinese my proteges, I may as well state my convictions. In tho first place, I am not in favour of Chinese immigration, becauso I think wo require a community of enlightenod workers in order to work out political problems. Hero 1 must confess that I know very little of the Chinoso, and I question if W. E. Day knows much more, although he may have seen a hundred Chinamen congregated together with all the attendant filth, stench, and debauchery. I havo never been in China, although I 'havo visited tho four quartors of tho globe. If I had been in China, I likely should not be able to givo an opinion on the race.ttsl probablyshould havo mixed with the lower classes of society. It would be interesting to hear tho opinion of some gentleman that has lived in China and had the advantages of forming a dispassionate opinion of tho race. lam of opinion that they aro a race far above tho level at wliich thoy aro placed by most, of us. They could never havo preserved thoir civilisation so many years if thero wore not somo good points in them. They havo not had a chance to show their good qualities when competing with white workers, as thoy are generally poor and despised. I am fully persuaded that the Chinese have not bscn the cause of tho bad times in Auckland or on tho Pacific slope, and if J. had the united testimony of all the white workers in tho world, I should still be of the samo opinion and say that tho white workers were deceived. lam not afraid of Chinese competition, becauso it is impossible for the Chinamen to make it worse for us than wo mako it for ourselves or each other. Do not Europeans take contracts at prices that would starve a Chinaman ? Do they not obtain goods on credit and sell them at prices that yield no return for their labour, and cheat tho person from whom they obtain the goods ? In short, are wo not a bad let ?

As for W. E. Hay's assertion that the Chinamen indirectly drive tho girls on the streets, I may say that I don't believe that a young girl over went on tho streets because sho could not get a respectable living. With all the poverty of Ireland, her daughters are virtuous, in many cases, particularly in tho colonies, tho girls go on the town becauso the mothers are no better ; it is in tho breed.

If the times do not mend, there is no danger of tho Chineso coming here, as they must starve in tho face of such fierce competition and roguery practised by the whites. If wo get over the " yellow agony " without making fools of ourselves and enemies of the Chineso nation, tho object I had in viow when I wrote my divine will, Providence, etc., letter, will have been attained. I again say if our politics are not based on brotherly love wo shall be wiped out by those who do right, as right must win and good overcome evil if we are to attain to that nobler civilisation which all should have in view.—l am, etc., Robinson Crusoe.

(To the Editor.) Sir,—lt is a paramount duty wo owe to ourselves to preserve our respectable national individuality and our national liberal conservatism, and the Chinoso question lies within the circlo of this broad principle which we have so utterly neglected that thoso hero have been demoralised to the extent of hindering them from attempting to lift themselves up to even a bad imitation of our level.

As you justly observed in one of your late articles, "England, that is the people of the United Kingdom, cannot and do not know the curse the influx of Chinese is to tho colonies." They are a people among us, movin"- so much on the centripetal law of self, tliat the country is damaged in every sense for the freedom and protection enjoyed by them, and which are not a jot less than those we ourselves enjoy. Would the people of the United Kingdom, or indeed any other people, succumb to this state of affairs?

The only justifiable querulousness that both the Imperial and the Chinese Governments can with decency exhibit for any preservative measures wo may take, will be our dilatoriness in not dealing earlier with the matter. It is our innate national liberality to all people with whom we are brought into contact that is entirely to blame, that neither writers nor the Government have taken action until positively compelled to do so, but now that our national self-respect and preservation are called to the front, it becomes us to stand to our colours.—Yours, John Scribe.