ESTABLISHED 1866. The Marlborough Express PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. THURSDAY, JULY 16, 1903. THE CHINESE QUESTION.

Marlborough Express, Volume XXXVII, Issue 167, 16 July 1903, Page 2

ESTABLISHED 1866. The Marlborough Express PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. THURSDAY, JULY 16, 1903. THE CHINESE QUESTION.

A Wellington Chinaman has been sent to the Somes' Island quarantine station on suspicion of being a leper. There is no need for any scare, for cases of leprosy have occurred before, and given prompt isolation and watchful supervision by local health officers there is no great danger of any spread of this awful disease. At the same time, were the public of Wellington to be seriously frightened, and come to the conclusion that a grave danger is risked in allowing the presence of Chinese in the city and patronising tbeir shops, we believe much indirect benefit might ensue. Indeed we should not be sorry were a leprosy scare to spread all over the colony and result in an agitation for the total prohibition of Chinese immigration. For a time, it is true, there might be some difficulty in householders in the larger centres procuring regular supplies of vegetables, but it would not be long before market gardening, a most profitable occupation when conducted on economical and business lines, would be carried on by Europeans. There was a time when the Chinese undersold European producers and vendors of vegetables, but we have been told by Wellington residents that of late years the enterprising and industrious "John" now charges prices fully as high as those charged by the few Europeans who venture upon competition with him. Were the small farmers living near towns to tackle this business of vegetable growing in real earnest they would, we feel convinced, soon be able to supply all requirements at a reasonable rate. Outside the production of vegetables it is difficult to find any good reasons for tolerating a Chinese population amongst us. In Wellington and other places the Chinese sell groceries as well as vegetables, and the conditions under which they are willing to live renders tbeir competition a standing menace to the prosperity of the European dealer in groceries. For the rigid exclusion of all Chinese from the colony scores of good reasons could easily be set forth. They herd together in filthy hovels, breeding dirt and disease ; and too often their bouses are the haunts of vicious Europeans of both sexes. They contribute in no way adequate to their earnings to the colonial exchequer, and when they have made their small " pile" they return to China. Sentimentalists and advocates of cheap labour may defend their presence, but in the interests of public health, public decency, and the material prosperity of the European traders with whom they carry on what is a most unfair competition, they should, in our opinion, be permanently excluded.