AGAINST THE CHINESE.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIV, Issue 25, 29 July 1907, Page 3

AGAINST THE CHINESE.

OPEN-AIR ORATORS. MEETING IN MERCER-STREET.

John Chinaman was scourged and scarified in Morcer-strest on Saturady night. And his coai-tails were' trailed in the mud of contumely- But the thing that flagellated him was only a> whip of words, and he smiled the inscrutable, mirthless smile of tho East as the shrill wind shrieked its monotonous chorus through the crannies and chimneys of Haining-street. i The sea of language that flowed from the open-air White New Zealand orators disturbed him no more than would the cry of the jackdaw of Rheims; but it soothed and relieved tho crowd of listeners. It was not a jocund crowd ; gloom brooded over its collective countenance like a black shadow. For it had apparently mostly been to tho races, and had mostly put its hard-earned coin on the brigade that "also started." Consequently it was glad of the chance to salve its selfesteem, and it followed the vivisection

of John Chinaman with avidity. That the bulk of it would have Chinese vegetables with its Sunday dinner, because they were cheaper than the white men's, was an immaterial trifle. v The first to mount the discarded soap box that stood for platform was Mr. D. M'Laren,. secretary of the Waterside Workers' Conference, and city councillor. Amongst other things "keep your country white," the Premier's warning to Australia, was the burden of his message, and he urged it with a strongvoiced earnestness that knew no mincing of'niatters. He had no faith in an educational test, no nuulcr how rigorous; the wily Asiatic was far too cunning to be stopped by such half -measures. Total exclusion was the only remedy. "As a councillor I visited the Chinese quarters at 11 o'clock in the morning, and I found that one-half of these industrious Chinamen were in bed ; no doubt a good many of thorn had been up the best part of the previous night. The speaker went on to point the remedy, which lay in combined action. All the trades unions in the country ought to federate, and not rest content until they had crushed out the Chinese and forced legislation absolutely prohibiting Asiatic immigration. Mr. Way, of Auckland, was the next to mount the soap box. He speedily showed that he was an old hand at this game. Flinging aside hat and coat, he jumped away with a flying start, so to speak. His voice rose in shrill defiance above the roar of rushing trams and clanging bells, and his clenched fists committed a frenzied assault on the atmosphere as though it were the yellow face of an Asiatic. ; He was given an attentive hearing, with only an occasional irrelevant interruption to ovoke tho quick, rough-and-ready retort. "It's tho outcome o* Christianity," interposed' a thin, pale voice, while he was in the middle of a scorching harangue on tho Asiatic evil ; "outcome of my grandmother's cat," rapped back the orator; "it's the outcome of you miserable fei<lows who are not true to your white blood — who go to the Chinaman becauso he is a halfpenny cheaper," and tho crowd cheered. But it was rather a shame-faced cheer. Sunday's dinner / was suddenly recollected. After a§sault'ing the Asiatic with all the, barbed ad- , jectives in his armoury, Mr. Way wandered off into Socialisln,- and prophesied that the happy days would never arrive until Labour sat on the soft benches of authority. ' Mr. M'Laren added a parting word, and 'the meeting, with a half-frozen cheer, wandered away to get thawed.