UNDESIRABLE IMMIGRANTS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXV, Issue 236, 3 October 1894, Page 8

UNDESIRABLE IMMIGRANTS.

AN INTERESTING BILL

(by telegraph.— parliamentary re

PORTER.)

Wellington, this day. Last night the talk of lobbies waß a measure jueb circulated by the Minister of Labour under the title of the Undesirable Immigrants Exclusion Bill. The first thing that strikes oho in the Bill is the number of unfortunates whom the Minister proposes to exclude from these shores. Should this, measure ever become law in ita present form, .the door of the colony shall be closed to every contract workman, imbecile, idiot, insane person, cripple, pauper, habitual drunkard, and every person likely from any'cause to become a charge on the public funds, every person' suffering from tuberculosis or leprosy, and every person who has been adjudged guilty in any country of any offence involving' (if such offence were committed in New Zealand) imprisonment for not -less than twelve months. A "contract 1' worker is explained in tho Bill as one coming' to New Zealand for the purpose of carrying on any occupation or calling parauanb to any agreement or engagement made wholly or partly with any person in New Zealand, but it does not apply to anyone who, coming for the above purpose, is going to begin a new industry or an industry for which, suitable workmen cannot be obtained in the colony, nor does it apply to artists or those who are to teach any science or art, nor the other classes which . the Governor may from time to . time specify by Order -in - Council. No one will object to the definition of " cripple" as one who is so disabled as to be unable to earn his or her own living, but a good many people will question whether a strong healthy man, having most of his capital in his iron muscles, should be included in the definition, " pauper," if, in addition to his goods and chattels, he has nob in his pocket when he lands at least £20 if he is unmarried, and £30 if he is married, with £10 in respect of every child he may havei So very fearful is the measure that the germs of disease should be introduced into the colony that eren tourists are not to be admitted in all cases. Those suffering from tuberculosisand leprosy who come to the colony to benefit by our climate or our-famed mineral waters are expressly excluded by tne Bill from this land* where so many suffering from those diseasea have been restored to health. This will appear to many a very unkind provision indeed to exclude these sufferers fr6W""'w'hiit is, perhaps, their only chance of life. The same feeling will, at first sight, nob be entertained with regard to the exclusion of those adjudged ■guilty in another country of an offence which would bo Duniehed in New Zealand by iraprisonmenc for twelve months, for, aa we believe we are not draconion in our laws, we. miturally think it would be very advisable to oxclndo from our shores those who have been so bad as to merit a year's acquaintance with tho interior of our prisons ; but when it is considered that a man who has been guilty .of criminal libel will bo among those excluded, opinion of the wisdom of the exclusion of persons who have been in prison for a year is likely to be considerably changed. If Air Reeves lias hia way, the tourist who, entranced with the beauties of our colony, lingers for some considerable titno here, may find bimaelf subjected to annoyance, which will remind him rather of Thibet than of free Australasia. By the Bill it is provided that h,e, too, shall become a prohibited person at tho expiration of six months after his landing in New Zealand, unless ho makes application to be allowed to stay longer and is granted it. In clause sixteen of tho Bill, Chinese and other alien immigrations are dealt with. It is there laid down that if any ship shall arrive in the colony, having on board a greater number of Chinese or other Asiatic passengers than one to every hundred tons of the ship's tonnage, the master of vessel shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding £100 for each Chinese or other Asiatic passenger in excess. Again, before he can land any of these foreigners ho is required to pay £50 for each of them to the authorities, and should Chinese or other Asiatic enter or attempt to enter tho colony without paying or having paid for him that sum, he shall be liable to a peualty of £10, or imprisonment for twelve month?. This imprisonment shall in no way discharge his liability for poll tax, for on his coming out of prison he may be again committed to ib.

unless be pays the £50. Of coarse, all Chinese or Asiatics, duly accredited to this colony by their Governments, or the officers or crews of ships shall be exempt from the tax. Ib may be mentioned here that, in addition to a penalty nob'exceeding £50 which the master of a ship incure through allowing Chinese or other Asiatics to land in the colony without payment of poll tax, be shall be liable to have his ship forfeited, seized and condemned, and disposed of in the same "manner as ships forfeited for breach of any law relating to the Customs of this colony. The term " other Asiatics," which occurs several times in the Bill, is explained fco mean "any native of any part of Asia or of the adjacent Archipelagos, or of Islands in bbc Asiatic Seas, or the descendants of any such natives, bub doea not^ include Chinese as herein defined, nor Asiatic, nor those naturalised in New Zealand as British subjects. In clause 27 we have provision agaiasb the Syrian hawker nuisance. Ib provides thao every Asiatic (being a British subject, bub nob a Chinese) coining to Now Zealand shall before landing sign a declaration in a prescribed form that he will nob carry on the business of a hawker or pedlar in New Zealand, and every aaiabic who ignores this ia to be liable to a penalty of £50, and a further penalty of £10 for every day sifter during which he continues to carry on business.

Part 2 of the Bill deals with regulations for the prevention of undesirable immigrants being landed in the colony, and ib is distinctly stated that no ships shall be cleared out of New Zealand till all the provisions required by the act affecbing a ship or its master or owners shall have been complied with, nay more, it is provided that if within twelve months of his landing in New Zealand any person shall, on the ground that he is destitute, apply for work or assistance to any local body, Charitable Aid Board, or other public institution, or shall become a charge on the public funds, the owner of the ship from which such person is landed in New Zealand shall forthwith, on written notice to do ao, take such person" to the porb from whence he came, and shall pay to the immigration officer the cost of maintenance of such person which has bean borne " by any public instittftion, and any expenses incurred by the general Government in respect of such person, unless such owner can prove to the satisfaction of a Stipendiary Magistrate the necessities of such person aB aforesaid have not- arisen from causes existing at the time of his landing in New Zealand.

I may state that no one supposes anything will be done with the measures this session, and ib is the opinion of every one I have consulted that if it is introduced next session ib will require to be very considerably amended before it meets with the approval of the House.