EASY ACCESS.

Press, Volume LIX, Issue 17937, 4 December 1923, Page 3

EASY ACCESS.

BRINGING CHINESE INTO SOW THE SYNDICATES WORK., .For"some time ari v ' undercurrent of gossip in -.thp„ north has' been whispered that at various spots on the unprotected coastline ! of Australia prohibited immigrants are finding easy means of access to the Commonwealth, unknown to the authorities, .whose duty it is to guard the couhtry against .such intrusions. ... ...... v .- • . '• .

It bag; been openly stated' 1 in. towns like Cairns and Cook town, a : number of Chinese/all in the one batch/ made a successful landing on the southern • extremity of, Cape York about a year ago, while, according to" other accounts, a considerable party was brought across by schooner from ,'one 'of th.e smaller, islands of Torres Straits, and ; set ashore at a-place from which > they were able to drift, unnoticed, and unobserved, into the, nearest bij» town, which, like, •most, of its' kind in the north,- includes ' a fairly large .Chinese element amongst its population. Later, states the-Syd-ney '' Sun,'' they were able to their way, one by one, to the capitals in the south, 'where,, unless some' untoward incident occurred to tiring, them into the range of the official vision, they were safe from all probability of'detection. Mating all allowances for the gos6ip of a tropical, port, there would seem from the evidence available to be little doubt that unlawful immigrants do'.filter rapidly into the Commonwealth by the unguarded back door of the north, subsequently, to travel by an organised route to Brisbane- and Sydney, arid perhaps even further Probably there' no other country in ¥ ihe world which, possesses so long, a littoral as Australia. nor one with so many unprotected points' of * vantage for the smuggled of men or goods. One factor which, no 'doubt, contributes greatly to .. the possibility of "Chinese being smuggled into the Commonwealth is" that the average inhabitant'?of • the .coastal provinces in China is usually consumed with an intense desire to come to Australia, whieh, from the stories that he has heard and the ocular proof-of .them .in the form of compatriots who Jiave returned with pockets full of wealth, is a very El Dorado, where one may qrnckIv become a Chinese.millionaire. * It. ia not to be wondered at, therefore, that he is genei-ally ready to pay all he owns to anybody who will guarantee to get him in, and, moreover, to enter into a bond to work for them for five or six years afterwards.

Islands as Bases. ' Wherever,"there is" money to be mad©: simply by running-a risk, there, is Bare to be'somebody prepared to do so—not that the risk amounts to much in this particular case. There are long, deserted stretches of the northern coast where "one may travel for -weeks without seeing anybody- but the nomadic bands of aboriginals who- inhabit them, and some of these natives have never seen a white m?in. By nr.tnro such lonely areas are weir adapted to smuggling, for only just across, a few miles of intervening water are small and seldom visited islands,, which can be used as bases. The geographical situation is such that, in spite of the isolation by sea, it is not such a great distance to some of the larger inland towns in those parts. It would not be a very difficult or dangerous enterprise for a small vessel,' bent upon ah unlawful mission, to coms across from'Ofie of the lesser-known Dutch ports of the Straits to the creat Gulf of Carpeptaria, and

.there, f after having • moored ■ in the quiet backwaters of-some little creek, land her cargo of huinan freight without the slightest chance' of interruption.

. The rest would be easier still, for it would be the simplest matter for the prohibited immigrants ta.move unostentatiously—and nobody can be more unostentatious or retiring than the Chinese when it suits him to*be soover to one of the towns on the other side of Cape York, Peninsula .and there to mingle, unnoticed by. Europeans., who seldom concern themselves with the business of with their own countrymen.' ;Hundreds of opportunities would present themselves < fotf embarking southwards latery 'wifn the chances 'of • ■ detection, daily growing smaller -is the ' distance . travelled : increased . It has already been done, and. is probably, being done at the present- moment. The of overland travel through uninhabited bush holds ho terrors f6r the hardy Chinese, .often accustomed from the day of 'his birth to live' under conditions which would be unbearable to "the European.; _Onoe that ihe more densely-populat-ed'disonote of Southfera Australia havebeen; reached, safe haven, aw.aits the adventurer amosigst his own race, from, whom he can always depend on receivi aid.. If his coming happens to have been arranged by a syndicate operating , in'smuggled Chineee, he is assigned to some employer, such as the .owner of , a market-garden or the proprietor of a laundry'. Then Ee starts .to work •, without* wages for several years, until; he wipes off the cost of his importation, together with something for, the- syndicate iti return for - it» kindness in arranging all the necessary details.-' After this he te'fre© to emhark- upon the real' object which has brought- him to ; of acoumUlating. as quickly, as • possible, a, fortune, to support him in affluence in China,for the ; -.remainder of his days. Any tendency to desert from his serfdom in order to work for somebody' who. will .pay . him. real wages—of necessity not another Chinese, for it is in the very worst taste-,in-Celestial circle?' to employ a-deserter whose arrears have not been, expunged from the, elate—is checked bv * his inability to speak English. This in itself is a shortcoming calculated to arouse the .most profound suspicion, for .the Federal law. presumes every Chinese at large in . the Commonwealth-to have been here since the passing of the Alien Immigration Exclusion Act, & period • more than sufs ciehtly long enough, in.- which to have aoquired at the least a smattering of the language,

* Everybody Pleased,

In thia way everybody is eeirvedi The employer obtains a certain amount of practically free labour, which cosfca him nothing but the meagre expenses of board -and lodging. The newcomer gains entry to th<j land of promise to- ] wards which hundreds of thousands of. less fortunate fellow-coilntrymen axe still turning their' longing eyee, arid the syndicate makes a fat ttad substantial monetary profit out of the transaction. And, lest any sceptical person might be inclined to doubt that such things afe going on. it might be mentionedTthat; not very long ago the Customs Department picked up accidentally a clue, which, when its tangled skein had been unravelled, resulted in''the despatch to China of an officer of the Department, who, while there, acquired such information, as to bring, to an end the efforts of one syndicate, which had been < operating in such a 'manlier on-jm unusually large scale. There is, however, yet another way by which the persistent and efficient Chinese may with luck enter- the, land where gold grows on every hush, namely, by coming in on an. exemption" oectijficate pttrchased from , somebody who hsis no farther'use. for it. Should; .ft -Chrnege who is legally . ~a resident, of Australia desire' to. visit his 'homeland he is gjveaa cerfcj£cat« ia; tttdeif r

to identify him oh his returh, this being, V : because of a clause in the Act granting exemption from its exclusion provisions to all Chinese who were in the country when it. was passed. Sometimes it happens that the original holder of « the oertificate is. an old man who: wishes to remain in China,; and end his daya where his bories may be' laid, to wit with those of his and in , this case his commercial instincts lead :r to him disposing of the paper to somebody who nan nb right to it. v This oh- ' tails a good deal of labour and _ much , risk of detection, because the identification marks on it must be altered to comply with the purchases description. Lately thp; practice Jam fallett \ Wf somewhat onV&ccount of th® diffi- ;; culty ericQUhterea in ': changing the , -fingerprints afrti officii! stamps. Still, attempts are', occasionally made, only fl for most of tp end in fauaxe*