CHINESE LAUNDRIES'. EAST AND WEST COMBINE.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 135, 4 December 1909, Page 5

CHINESE LAUNDRIES'. EAST AND WEST COMBINE.

A POLITE REQUEST. One of the most interesting documents, apart from politics, laid before Parliament this session is a petition from Chinese residents of Wellington, presented yesterday by Mr. A. L. Herdman. Louis Lock and a number of other Chinese are the signatories, and they sign not only in English, but in the characters of their own language. Politeness is evidently one of their distinguished characteristics. "Your petitioners," they say, "attracted by the world-spread fa\ne of New Zealand as a country where a working man could find employment at a reasonable reward, paid the heavy premium demanded by the Dominion.' from those persons whose parentage indicated that they are honest men and hard workers. Your petitioners willingly paid the premium aloresaid, believing that they would be allowed to pursue their avocations on even terms and in friendly rivalry with the other factors of the brotherhood of man, and that they would be able to earn the money necessary in many cases for the maintenance and support of aged parents, who are no longer able to fight their own way in life." They go on to say that they found a great number of the people of Wellington were unable to spare the time to wash their own clothes, and complained that when they- sent their clothes to a steam laundry to be washed the clothes were returned with edges frayed and buttonholes torn, besides which tha cost was too great for persons of moderate means. Therefore they (the Chinese) established laundries, where washing could be done I at a reasonable price, and now they were faced with the limitation of hours of labour laid down by the Factories Amendment Bill. They protest that legislation which is designed to discriminate between Chinese and people of other nationalities is inconsistent with the "open door" policy which has been thrust upon the Chinese nation by the Western nations. Therefore they ask that the Bill be amended, to allow them to work at least fifty-four hours a week, and to allow washing to be received and delivered up to 10 p.m. on Saturday, and up to 9 p.m. on other days. Another petition on the same subject was also presented by Mr. Herdman. The petitioners state that ,they are wageearning men who have a desire to preserve bodily cleanliness, "both for their own sakes and for the sake of those with whom they come in contact." They view with alarm, they say, the provisions of the Factories Bill, which, they urge, will tend to increase the cost of procuring the washing of clothes, and thereby make personal cleanliness an expen!l Ve J^ XXX F- , Therefore they urge that the Bill should not be passed.