A WHITE NEW ZEALAND.

Clutha Leader, Volume XLVII, Issue 52, 31 December 1920, Page 8

A WHITE NEW ZEALAND.

i■■ V . j The Asiatic menace, to the residents of this district, seems a very distant and .vijiouarj-i-pJFdWein. -.'This is maiiif lv ; becaus-e tb,e :sigM .of->the John Chinaman and the 'Uiiuju 'bottle gatherer is not familiar to us. [ll the seaport towns of our Dominion ■ and more es< peciallv in Auckland tlve problem- has assumed very serious .proportions and it is : ; i>eing: gradually forced upon our minds that ere long the influx of Asiatics to these shores will-have a marked effect upon the virility of our race. ;There are three possible solutions to th(.> .problem:— (1) Not. to .allow any more to land; (2) to allow a, certain iiun.'oo!• (say 100 a year) to laud; (.;) to I;oip the ratio between Asiatics anil N't w Zealandeis a constant ratio.

Hio problem received the consideration of the Dominion Executive of the.; U.S.,A. at its last meeting when it was decided to support the last which seems the most feasible plan. The present population of : Chineso is 3,500, and Hindus 1,500, total 5,000. The population of New Zealand at present is 1/200,000. So tliat the ration of Asiatics to Xew Zealanders is .42%. Allowing for immigrants on- the water this might be made Ao%. Of the 45% of Asiatics, there are,.at present aibout 3% Chinese and 15% of Hindus. The number allowed to land would be determined by this constant ratio of the population as- determined' iby the census. Suppose tho census in' 192*2 1 showed the population of New Zealand to be 1,210,500, then the number of Asiatics allowed to 'be in New Zealand would 'be .45%—i.e.j 5.445. Thus if there aie 5,000 here now, 445 (less children •bom) 'Would 'be allowed to land in the next, three years. The whole question is, what is to 'be the ratio? The returned soldiers of the, Dominion are perhaps more entitled than anyone to demand that New Zealand be kept: a- white man's country, and is this question they have given a very decided lead to the 'Government by asking for the total exclusion of all 'Asiatics, failing that, that the number admitted be small enough to have no appreciable effect upon our own people.