MELBOURNE AS A SOCIAL STUDY.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 72, 18 December 1907, Page 3

MELBOURNE AS A SOCIAL STUDY.

THE CHINESE QUESTION. (Ill" TEI.EGBAPK—SPEOIAn CORRESPONDENT.) Melbourne, November 29. The Chinese question still looms large, racially and industrially, in the eyes of a great many Victorian people. The Chinese first began to arrive in Victoria in 1803, and ill 1853 there were 42,000 of them in the State, the highest number on record. Since that time they have continued to decrease until in 1901 there were only 7349, the falling off being mainly due to various acts of the Legislature imposing severe restrictions on Chinese immigration. The Chinese population, according to the last census consisted of 6236 males, and 111 females, in addition to 504 half-caste males and 498 half-caste females. Within the last six or eight months rigorous measures have heeii adopted by the police to put down gambling and opium smoking, and to a large extent they have been successful. Opium smoking is, however, a vice which cannot be entirely eradicated by Act of Parliament, and from time tc time comparatively larg;e quantities of the drug are smuggled into the State. Only last week an extensive seizure of contrabrand opium was made by the police, nearly 2 cwt. being seized of a total value of some £800 or £900. In view of such occurrences as this one feels inclined to think that the police assurances with regard to the extermination of opium dens in Melbourne paint a somewhat rosy view of. the situation. It is, of course, perfectly 'true that opiuin is not smoked openly, and even /this is a matter for congratulation. In discussing' the question with a city mission worker, a. woman of very wide and varied experience, was told that even now fan-tan and opium smoking and general immorality were largely prevalent in the Chinese quarter. On the last score it seems only fair to say that there is a concensus of opinion that in the majority of cases it is not the Chinaman, but "the white woman who is most blameable. As a matter of racial purity, however, it is not of the slightest eonsequcncc whether the Chinese or the white women are responsible for the alliances made between them, the fact remains that in Victoria there are over a thousand half-caste Chinese, and it is little, if any, off-set to contend that the Chinese population is slowly dwindling. On this aspect of the question one of the Queensland Senators (Senator Chataway) recently made some pertinent observations in Parliament. 'The Victorians," said Senator Chataway, "had a great deal to say about the Kanakas in Queensland, and how wo were polluting the racial stream by retaining these men there, As a matter of fact the total number of half-caste Kanakas in Queensland at tho last census vvas\only 43. forming'less than 2 per cent, of the half-caste population. Tho remainder of Queensland's half-caste population is 29 per cent Chinese, and about 68 per cent. Aborigines. Half-caste Aborigines in one way do not count for they are almost entirely born on the outskirts of civilisation, and are the children of prospectors and pioneers who aro temporarily residing in close proximity to black women. The Chinese question in Victoria from'tho racial point of view is of far greater moment than that of the comparatively few Islanders from tho South- Seas, who were introduced solely for tho purposo of enabling the white population to get a footing in tho tropics." AN INDUSTRIAL MENACE. ■From the industrial point of view the Chinese constitute a menace to the Australian workmen. A very large number of them aro market gardeners and fruit dealers, though in Melbourne they have not obtained the same hold as in Wellington, largely owing to the presence of Assyrian. Greek and Italian shopkeepers. Still one visit to thb market reveals tho fact that a large amount of tho growing, buying and selling of fruit and vegetables is in the hands of the Chinese. In the furniture trade they have also obtained a very serious hold, and those who Hvo near tho Chinese quarter know that, there are .unfortunately several Melbourne furniture dealers who do not hesitate to. get their wares from the Chinese. It is ■ very difficult, however, to get actual figures to" prove that the Chinese are guilty of "cutting the rates." In his 'last report,, Mr. Harrison Ord, the Chief Inspector ot Factories, states that ho places no reliance whatever on the statistics supplied by the Chinese, which indicate a. minimum wage as being paid in all cases, whereas it is notorious tliat tlioy are paid at piecc-work rates. "It seems to me to bo quite clear," says Mr. Harrison' Ord, •"that to compete with the furniture made by Europeans it is absolutely necessary for the Chinese to produce an article a good deal cheaper than the European worker. I have never heard it' alleged that they aro much better or quicker workmen. On the contrary, tho European is admittedly the better, aiul generally is also tho quicker worker. The working' hours of tho Chinese are limited by law, and are the same as those of 1 European workers. The only way now open to the Chinese to cut prices is to work at less than legal rates. If they did not produce the furniture very much below tho European manufacturer, I do liot think they would secure any orders. From the Chinese point of view, it means either giving up. tho manufacture of furniture or evading' tho minimum wage. Under these.circumstances, I am unable to get any reliable information from the Chinese workmen as to the wages, they receive; and I have once more to admit I know of no way of compelling the employers to pay the legal rates."' .IN THE CHINESE QUARTER. In order, to ascertain the general condition of tho Chinese quarter in Melbourne, I went round, some of the worst of the streets with two . plain-clothes. detectives. Presumably the Chinese quarter in Melbourno is little different from the Chinese quarter in any other town. It is none the better for that. Even now most of the houses are simply warrens and hovels into which men and women are herded together with littlo regard for decency and less for cleanliness. To a European it was infinitely, sad to visit house after house and find it cohabited by one or more Chinamen and a woman, who, no matter how low her. moral and physical standard was, was still a white woman in whoso veins ran the blood of tho AngloSaxon race. Many of these'houses had apparently no back entrance at all, although there was probably a means of escape in case of need. In the front a dozen or more of them face on to a common courtyard rough and uneven, and, often without even a blade of grass showing. Usually tho front windows woro in utter darkness, but in one case a film of light struggled thrqugh tho dirty window from the naif-open door of the back room. Going up to the front door quietly tho detective turned tho handle and looked in. A smell of opium penetrated the wliolo building, and the nrst flash of vision showed tho figuro of a Chinaman reclining on a couch. Instantly as he heard tho detective's voice ho blew out the lamp, and by tho time the detective had struck a match ho was wrapped, in tho arms of slumber. Picking up an opium pipe which was lying near, tho detcctivo found it quite cold, and rousing the "slumberer" ho demanded where was the other pipe. Yawning" most innocently tho "hoathon phineo" endeavoured to' make it quite clear that he had not been smoking opium, that he would not do such a tiling. Whilst a search was being made under the pillows of his couch and round about the room until the offending pipe was'drawn-forth, hot and glowing, lie fluttered round in a half-disconcerted, half childish way, and looked more sad than shamefaced as the detective dashed the bowl into a dozen pieces on the hard concrete floor.

While, therefore, it may l)e perfectly true that tile Chinese quarter is not nearly so bad as it used to bo and that gambling and opium smoking dp not take place openly now; still, the Chinese quarter from the health and the moral standpoints is unspeakably undesirable. Even if no moro Chinese arc allowed to enter Victoria, and it is true, as the statistics prove, that the Chinese population is gradually dwindling, one visit to the Chinese quarter will convince the most unintelligent that the dark, dark trail of the Oriental will long continue to be seen in the national life of Vic■"""ia,