SIATIC COMPETITION.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVII, Issue 73, 26 March 1906, Page 3

SIATIC COMPETITION.

AGITATION AGAINST CHINESE. INCREASED POLL TAX PROPOSED. fßy Telegraph.—Otvn Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, this day. It is a notorious fact that the Asiatic has captured the fruit and greengrocery trade here. He has his hand on dry goods, his iron is on the white shirt, collar, and cuff, and it is believed that ""John," copying the example of his brethren in Australia, is "dabbling" in the furniture trade here. His attention to woodwork is already in evidence, according to a member of the Trades Council, who says that he has seen some Chinese carving in a building in Kent Terrace. The Chiuaman r .s invasion of the realm and furniture is regarded "with apprehension, because his operations in Australia, owing to his ability to exist on comparatively nothing, has proved disastrous to European tradesmen, who require more of the world's goods to make their existence tolerable. This industrial aspect, however, has been brought into prominence (says the "Post"), not because Wellington has roused itself from its customary lethargy on the subject, but because the Auckland Trades and Labour Council has forwarded a remit for the Easter Labour Conference, ostensibly with the aim of preventing the sweating of Chinamen in New Zealand by Lndenturers. While New Zealand has been protesting against the continuance of coolie slavery in South Africa, some sympathisers apparently convinced that similar servitude, though in a milder form, prevails here, have submitted a remedial proposal. The Auckland remit reads: "That the present poll tax ot £ 100 per head on Chinese immigrants is not sufficient to prevent large numbers of Chinamen from coming into the colony, tied hand and foot to Chinese employers, who have advanced the amount of their poll tax. This conference is of the opinion that the tax should be increased to not less than £200 per head. ,. Approving the general tenor of the remit, the Wellington Trades and Labour Council has decided to urge that the poll tax should be not le"ss than £ 1000, with an education test as well. The Council favours the general principle of excluding the Chinese whether they are slaves or not.