THOSE CHINAMEN.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 292, 10 December 1929, Page 6

THOSE CHINAMEN.

The report in the "Star" on Friday las t of four Takapuna Chinamen being fined £1 and 10/ costs each for doing on a Sunday the ssline class of work that they had been doing on tl)e other six days seems strange seeing that the police, who prosecute, work on Sundays ew also on the other six days. The same appliejs to the dairy farmers, the milkmen, the railway servants and tramway employees and a thou* sand and one other classes of 'workers. Gfii to any of the bays around Auckland at tha present time on a Sunday and you can hear hammers and saws galore going. A lot of tb». users have been using hammers and saws every day in the week. I have no fault to find with any of those people; they arc doing their best to make things more comfortable for themselves and by ,so doing will leave the world better than they found it. That is beyond dispute. The chances are that ten thousand men in New Zealand do some work on a Sunday in addition to what they do on the other six days and to prosecute'four out of that vast number is ridiculous. Let us see the Chinaman's side of the question. He lias prepared his garden and planted a lot of vegetables, but during the last eight weeks there has been a phenomenal growth in weed 6. These are smothering his vegetables, or, in other words, are robbing him of his living. So he takes' hold of his hoc and goes for the weeds. Then the long arm of the law takes the Chinaman to task and says he must not kill weeds, slimy slugs or snails on Sunday, and straight away takes six pounds off four, of him. We can fancy the slimy slugs and snails and other crawling vermin grinning like Cheshire cats at the way the law pro- .. tects them, while as a sequel in a few months' time helpless children will be sick for the want of vegetables which their mothers cannot buy because of the fancy prices the few that are in the market are fetching, and the lawwill take no responsibility although it Ui helped to bring the thing about. K.M, ANDREWS,.