Hawke's Bay Herald. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1898. RESTRICTION OF IMMIGRATION.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 11044, 13 October 1898, Page 2

Hawke's Bay Herald. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1898. RESTRICTION OF IMMIGRATION.

The Alien* Restriction BUI now before Patllwnent 1b a very dlffarent meaiure to the Undesirable Immigrants BUI of past yean. It is founded on the Natal Aob, •whloh was Indloated by Mr Chamberlain at the Jnbllee Conferenoa of Premlera as one to whloh no Imperial objeoilon would be raised. Except In so far at la otherwise provided, it is deolared not to be lawful for any perion of any of the following olaaae>, lnoluded under the head ■ log of " prohibited Immigrant," to land In New Zealand :-(lj Any person who, when aiked to do so by an offioer appointed under the Aot, falls to himself writs ont and ilgn In the oharaoters of any languags of Europe an applioatlon In the prescribed form. (2) Any Idiot or Inaane peraon. (3) Any peraon suffering from a contagious disease which ia loath, aome and dangerona. (4) Any person who, not having received a fiee pardon, baa within two years next preoedlng the date on whloh be lands been oonvloted in any ooantry of any offence Involving moral turpitude, whioh, If committed la New Zealand, would be punishable |by Imprisonment for two yeara and npwarda, not being a mere poliiloal offence. The Aot la not to apply to any penon posseaaed of and named In a oertltioata In a form preaorlbed In the sohednle, rigned by the Colonial Seorelory or any offiser, whether In or outalde of New Zealand, whom the GovernoMnCouncil may authorise to grant anon oertlfioatei. In regard to this proviilon the Hon. Mr Walker, in Introducing the bill in the Legislative Council, stated that there was no deiire to make any racial exolualon of peraona who viilt New Zealand from any motivei whatever. "From the point of view of tourist, or from the point of view of negotiator from Oriental States, or from aoy point of view what' ever— all may be admitted under the olanse. In the caie of any of these gentlemen who visit our shores the Governor-in-ConnoU will be able to give them an exemption paper and treat them as If the bill did not exist." Her Majesty's land and sea forces, the offioer. and orew of any foreign ship of war of any Government, and of any mercantile i vessel, provided they are not dUobarged Id the ootony, are also exempt from the operation of the Aot. We may all be men and brothers— Id theory. In praotloe eaon nation thinks Itself anperlor to others, and all over the world we see a movement In the dlreotlon of regulating the Immigration of aliens, Evon suoh a orußted Conservative organ as the Spectator approves this reatriotlon, and can see in it aomething higher than mere selfishness. It traces the growth of I nations who have freely admitted aliens, or have been ooßqnered and have admixed with the conquerors. Naturally it takes Great Britain and the United States as , the two prominent examples of modern days, and It traces muoh of the strength of the national oharaoter to this raolal mixture. It says :— One wonld have supposed that In America, the land where the blending of peoples Is more marked than it has ever been elsewhere lv history, the prejudloe against the alien would have died away, especially as not a elogle family has bßen In poueßiion for three oontarleu, and in moat parta the heterogeneous population Is only a thing of yesterday. But in point of fact the Italian Immigrant who takes up an abandoned farm, or the Frenoh.Canadlan who works In a cotton mill, Is qulie outalde the dominant polltloal, religions, and soolal life of the piaoe. Toe almost oontamptuous referenoe by an American oltlzen whoie father peihapa peddled shellfish at Cork, to an Italian whose father sold ohestnuta at Naples, as a "Dago," revealß the feeling of exclusive pride as having already taken root, and no mere political theories about equality or "natural rights" avail against it. So far as one oan see, it Is (at all events In the present stage of the world's history) a final, permanent fact, born oat of those natural Instincts which Sohopenbaner has charao- I terlsed as the " will to live." That I pnrely Individual will is transferred to the I race or nationality to which one belongs, and the assumed right of that nationality to expreas Ita life as against all foreign lnfineoaea Is regarded as an axiom. How far Is tbls feeling justified ? How far 1b It safe to aot npon It In national sQalrs ! It seems to ns that nothing OBn be dearer than the faot that the nations whloh have been able to absorb widely, whloh have been, as Baoon aays, liberal In naturallaatlon, have been Immenaely strengthened thereby. Rome conferred right* of citizenship far and wide, just as she introduced Into her Pantheon the deltlea of halt the natlona upon earth. That she gained lmmemely by that polloy Is a faot not open-to dispute. In oar own days the United States have become great and powerful by the blending of many elements In one vast whole. Had North America been entirely peopled by Puritan NewEnglanders life there would have been thinner, far leas interesting and atrone than It Is to-day. What we In England owe to the alien is a matte ol plain history. Had it not been fo* the sueoesslve Immigration of Norman lawyers and architects, of Italian and Jewish moneylenders and discounters, of Flemish weavers and serious Huguenot merchants and manufacturers, England could never have been the ooantry shs Is to-day. Her wealth would have been far leu, her Ufa

poorer, her intelligence more stunted. Z i hB !.?.* l ? etl wwy'wy by welcoming both .killed woiketi and political and religions reiogeeß, and ber moral power m an asylum lor (he peneonted has, to •»y the leait, seonred ber an enviable exemption from iome ol (he orlmes ol vlolenoe with wbloh bo many Continental oountrles are palnfnlly familiar. We do not cay (bat beoatuewe welocmed Hngne- ™* »' n ««w «'ter the revocation of tbo Edict of Nwatiflß, therefore we Bhoald welcome swarmi of poor Polish Jewi today. Tbe qneitlon fi one of times and seaiODß. Bat looking at oar pan? hlitory, we do say that tbe presumption Is In favor of free admittance. ' Bat, the Spectator goes on to say, modern olreamotanoes and tbe instinct of self-preremtlon oall for a limit to be drawn. Civilised nations can afford to let a few Chinamen In bere and there, bat we aoald not afford, ai even the United States, with their glgantlo resources, could not afford, to let In Chinese lodliorlminately, for there are nearly 400,000,000 of them, and they could absolutely swamp our civilisation. We may not cherish feelings 6f IIU will against them, or against Malays or Nubians, but we believe that we have a great Inheritance to hand down unimpaired, and that tbe sharing in onr social and political life of multitudes of black, yellow, and brown people would be fatal to great ideals whloh we mast uphold at all coats, Bat the great London review wonld draw the line oloier than that. Speaking of the prejudice and Bnspltion with wbloh the lower olats of foreigners aie regarded In England, It says: "Tbo suspicion is direoted at bis possible lack of preparation for what is conceived as a great trnst or privilege; the hesitation follows naturally, It being conceived that, however well disposed to as, the alien oaa never f ally share oar life. For an Antonio Panlzzl or Max Mailer exceptions will be made; bat as regards the ran of immtgr«nts the prejudice Is honest, and to some degree founded In faot. We may, therefore, say that the feeling against the aliens is, Id spite of Its frequently Irrational nature, a kind of guarantee for the maintenance of national life In Its purity and virility. But though we feel this, we would always maintain the right of the persecuted, be he Jew or Christian, to seek asylum here, and we would mak« very Bure that he would prove an undesirable and Injurious oltlzen before we exclnded even the poor Polish Jew who flies to England an a land where be will be allowed to live In peace and freedom." When an old-fasblooed journal like the Speotator can come to snoh a oonolaalon after a dltpatslonate study of past history and preient conditions, it Is no wonder that young and demooratlo communities shonld agree to restriot tho Immigration of aliens, and tbe bill now before onr Parliament is a reasanable solution of tbe problem,