CHINESE SETTLERS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXI, 16 April 1928, Page 8

CHINESE SETTLERS

POSITION IN. THE DOMINION TWO POLITICAL GROUPS

DAIKY FACTORY PIONEEK j For the prosaic in.itter-of-faet Wes,t there is always p6me.thin.2 of glamour nnd of mvsterv about tin- East; and even when the East is represented only bv a group of Ch'imve one ran scarcely help 'beinj,' interested. From what. homes have they come? What induced them x<> venture m> far to this alien land'.' Under what kind of condition.,

do they live here': Will they stay or | Return to their native land? In Auckland (says the ''Herald!.] while there* arc about 01)0 Chinese In-;

ing in the city, there i> properly speak- | nig no Chinese quarter. | There are t.jvo main political ejubs among the Auckland Chinese, .'and iibout" half '•.{ them belong to tho Nationalist Club, which represents the . more impressive element. Ihe others mostlv bclollfl to the Masonic -roup benevolent and social in character?, and these, generally speaking: »*>: o? the more conservative type.

All tho Chinor.fi in the Dominion arc Cantonese, coining from certain well-

derincd groups of villages in the Kwangtung provinee. The original lure whs the hope of winning wealth oil the goldiields, but in thai most were disappointed, At first they wen- nearly iai! in Utago, Smit liliiutl and West laud. but now more than three-i|uarter.» id them are in the North Island, mostly

about. Auckland and Wellington. They com- from the country and are well acquainted with the intensive methods of farming necessary on their i- in ill

allot niPiits. The women adapt themselvr.; to :\'e>< Zealand condition: with remarkable rapidity, and learn quickly to keep a home under condition? very new in them. The standard of comfort in their homes ha; shown a steady tendency to rise, and there are cliildren in near-

jv e\ery home. I'll'' average ill 111 families' of which particular'- « recently noted in Auckland ua- :*.:>. Strange as it may seem to sonic, the Chinese entertain in-' a • -i rung a

prejudice against intcrniarryin;: with Europeans as Europeans do a-am-t intermarrying with them.

THE CHILDREN'S EDUCATION There i- some tendency mining

Chinese father- to -end their wives and children home to China, largely |

I that the children may be thoroughly i instructed in Chinese reading and : writing and also because the cost i'i living in rhi- country is so very much

highei. In Ni •: Zealand tho parents are keen to take advantage! of the educational facilities offered, and the children u :■!.:■.■ take good places in their classf am! mix well with the

j other children In one Auckland school I for three .ie she year.- three dif- ' fere lit ( hillese hoc; captained the ; ..-houi , ricli.'t ream. The Chiii".,.. here do not readily turn f " the ,•••.;'. s.-rl religion of their

' adopted countr • but on the other hand they in. bur to fall away from 'their own reli {ioiis observances. They I have no tempie or shrine in the Do- | mini in. and '':•:' .. <en little Hi be j seen of the rite and ciis"tonis of their

nnt i\ e count r; Everybody kno«-. tlie Chine-e mostj]\ take to imtik-t gardening, the fruit I trade or laundry vork. '"it soiuetiiues rhey > nit err into ..t her ai ':' it ies. At the'i tit iubdei lehrations at Stratford iTomineuci w.is uiven to the fact 'that t!;.. oionecr ot the dairy factory inductrv in Tartiuaki wa- a Ciiiue-e.

: Mr Chew thong. «ho Parted ai El- j ih.im the lir-i dairy factory in the j province. There is now in Tarauaki ( iil IcaM one Chille-e ,l;iir\ fii rinci*. aud hit New Plymouth one ;> occupied as a ' iisherma n. !