A DANGEROUS SPEECH.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1188, 25 July 1911, Page 9

A DANGEROUS SPEECH.

Sir,—By yours of the 12th hist., in reporting a meeting hold at Poruell in which tho. Mayor is credited with the following statement in regard to the inspection of premises occupied by soms Chinese:—"lf I had (ho power I would let Mr. Terry out of the asylum, and. would arm him, not with a revolver, hut a Gatling gun." I presume the idea is that Terry could then murder inoffensive Chinamen promiscuously. The case of Tahi ICaka, who paid the extreme penalty for his crime is still fresh in tho memory of all, and yet a man in the position of a Mayor—assuming the report is correct—is allowed to make a public statement which practically means that Terry was justified in taking the life of that poor old Chinaman some years ago. In these days of sensationalism, and the bitter feeling which is being evinced in the colonies against Chinamen, anyone making such a statement as reported ought to be debarred from holding any public position. "While being no champion for Chinese, and fully realising the necessity of strict sanitary inspection of their shops and dwellings, etc., they ought in fairness to receive the same consideration as Europeans, and anyone murdering a Chinaman should receive the fullest penalty of the law, instead of being kept in an n*ylnm for a few years, and then petitions boinu circulated tn obtain his release. In conclusion, I trust some further notice will be taken of the reported statement I hove referred to, as the evil so caused may be far-reaching in its effect on boys growing up, and all such temperaments as Terry's in inciting them against Chinamen.—l am, etc., H. HUNT. ludgelands, July 14.