CHINESE IMMIGRATION

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 250, 16 July 1920, Page 10

CHINESE IMMIGRATION

(To the Editor.) Bir,~-To attempt to deal conclusively with the. question of Chinese immigration, which involves such great issues in the future, calls for so much knowledge and strength that I am tempted to say that. P am excused lest any attempt by a man in my position to try and help 6olve it savours of impertinence. But the need is so urgent and the matter so neglected that cannot, leavo it alone without a feeling of guiltyeowardice which I cannot swallow. Our public machino is built on the principlo of equal privileges and equal responsibilities. That means tliat even foreign affairs, which used to bo decided by tho King and those very near him, to-day are weighed and influenced by tho voting power of we commoners. The question of Chinese immigration is seldom publicly referred to except very shyly by politicians, very sweepingly by oxtreme Labour who fear Chinese competition and yot talk warmly of international brotherhood, Tory selfishly by those who nre unable to find labour for the work they have in hand. / At this time, when the future of the Pacific is being anxiously studied by our leaders, when they aro estimating how many pounds a .year an average New Zealander can be asked to pay towards naval defence, the question calls for 6uch gravo public'consideration that no apology is called for in asking for space in your columns in which to set out the views of a middle-class man in the hope of helping forward that naand good-wij l which you 60 pointedly appealed for in your leading article of June 11 i

We have lately been saying a grear. deal about our loyalty to the British flag in the past, and in the futuro; and I am glad to think this means more than mere flag-waving. That it expresses a deep-rooted belief that the high ideals which Britishers "have, tried to uphold are worth 6oyio sacrifice on our part. Under the crash of war we found money »r.d rren ( who gave—all they had. But that fino impulsive action cannot bear its full fruit unless we carry on our Statecraft with the studious care which most of ua find more irksome than to cciry a gun. In. discussing tlio Chineso question, we are apt to forget that the Chinese labourers and small, tradesmen with whom we are fanliliar here, with all thejr industry, are not to be taken as fairly _ representative ■of their great nation. It is well to remember that the ' vast Chinese Empire, with its pome MO.ODOiOOO inhabitants, possessed a" literature arid woven silk apparel dt a time when our British ancestors had : no written language and no clothes beyond skins and paint. Centuries after the teaching of their great idealist,. Confuc.ias, they settled down to a placid existence (beyond 'our comprehension) with a reverence for parentage and emperor which became , their religion. Ifyrly in our 19tTi century the Chinese Empire was. populous and self-con-tained. It wished for no immigrants and was especially anxious to keep out traders who brought opium to their people. Their entreaties and placid resistance wero overcorno by British ships bombarding and taking possession of a port and compelling the Chineso to sign a commercial treaty. Other nations followed suit, until at last, China woke up to the fact that the nations of the West were taking possession of ' China , and disinheriting the "Chinese. During these years, hundreds of Chinese students navo been nUrond, stuflying Western ideas and coining to the conclusion that Western invasion must be met by Western wayß. And so has' evolved tlis new Republic of China—still incompletely established, but capable, as "General Gordon showed, of being moulded into an invincible military machine.

In the meantime, in 1894, tho Treaty be+.weon England and China was revised by a. Convention which an agreement having ris clause XVll'the following words:—"lt is «greed that * subjects of the two Powers shall each, within l.lio territories of the other, enjoy nil tlio privileges, immunities, and advantages that may have been, or may hereafter be, accorded to the subjects of any other nation!." .

""Our placid laziness has left-us to acquiesce in the British foreign policy over wliich wo have had little control (for want of an Imperial Parliament), but which, nevertheless, is binding on us in tho meantime. And we, an isolated outpost- of tho Empire, have allowed ourselves and been allowed to ignore tho abovo convention, and to do so 'in n manner which shows a strange lack of wisdom Or fair play.- Let us wako up before it is too late and "play the e'luie." The thumb-print and poll-tax which we impose on Chinese immigrants is not a fair deal applied on one side only. China considers she cannot apply them to us under her convention with England. 3f New Zealand wants no Chinese labourers or tradesmen here, she can banish them by doing no business with them. 1 am told that we cannot resist the halfpennies invqlved— a dreadful admission of ignorance and weakness, which cits for teachers who will discipline 4s. Lut there is another wav. Let New: Zealand signify to' Britain that with regard tn Clause XVII, New Zealand wishes to annul all right of entry into (Jhina or N>tv Zealand, excejjk'in,regard to Government officials, tourists, and wholesale iner. chants. „ China would probably agree to. that as an equitable_ and friendly prbposition, and so wo might cense to irritate, without need, 400,000,000 peaceable fellows. Or if'wo feci the need of their help a3 gardeners, laundrymen, cooks, etc., let us limit th« number of immigrants each year to a specified number 1 from each country to the other.

An alteration of the present position is imperatively called for, if ive arc to do justice to a great ally whose pewer and dignity we have been Ignoring. And I' am in hopes that a growing! sense of our injustice to China will toko shapeduring next session- of Patfiament in a wise alteration of our present law. This important, question is only a prelude to those of Pacific defence and countity of sacrifice. Though of vital importance to our futuro. such questions seem to have less thought Riven them by our ruling class, i.e., tlfb voting- public, than is given to a great football match or race meeting— I am, etc.. WILL B. MATHESON. Eketahuna.