THE CHINESE QUESTION IN HAWAII.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9161, 17 September 1888, Page 6

THE CHINESE QUESTION IN HAWAII.

[from our own correspondent.] Honolulu, August 31. While the " Chinese question" has been

agitating the colonies it has here been growing into the most important social and political problem of the day. In Australia they are endeavouring to close the door in time to prevent mischief. Here we have waited until immense mischief has been done before attempting to do anything. The old proverb about shutting the stable door after the horse was stolen is very apglicabta to the case of Hawaii and the hinesei,, At first they were brought here and hailed as a wonderful aid to the development of the country, being, under their labour contracts, little better than slaves to the planters. When their contracts were out, however, numbers of them would work no more on plantations, and others had to be imported to fill their places. They swarmed into Honolulu and the minor port towns of the group, and became domestic servants, peddlers, washermen, coffee-shop keepers, and gardeners. Always thrifty, and generally industrious, they acquired what were, to men of their class, fortunes. They invaded the ranks of the storekeepers, builders, and cabinetmakers ; they began to manufacture shoes and clothing. They ousted the native from his one national industry, the growth of taro, and the making from it of the paste called pot', which is the staple article of food with Hawaiians, and with large numbers of the people of foreign birth who are domiciled hero. They have got into their hands a large proportion of the fisheries. The sea within the reef, or a mile from shore, being the property, so far as fishing rights go, of the private individuals who own the shore; they have leased these rights at rentals which the improvident native could not pay. Furthermore, they have now entirely in their hands the second great agricultural industry of the kingdom—the production of rice. They have so thriven that there long ago ceased to be any need of sending _ for laborers. They come every spring in swarms, of their own accord, until, by an arbitrary act of power the late Government put a check upon them, adopting first one expedient and then another to prevent any labourers coming who would not take contracts to labour on the plantations. These measures abated the influx, but were powerless to secure labour for the planters except in a few instances, where the latter took the trouble to get the men to contract before they left China. The revolutionary Government made the regulations more stringent still, and they were embodied in an Act of the Legislature so as to put away all doubts as to their legality. Theselatestruleshave actually stopped all new immigration, but there ■ore still numbers arriving from time to time on passports issued to Chinamen who went away. In most cases the same dodge has been used as that which they have been fighting against in San Francisco —new men, who have never been in the country before, are coming in on these return permits. Beyond those who steal into the country in this way, no Chinaman can enter the kingdom, be his occupation what it may, unless he be a former resident above the rank of labourer, artisan, or domestic servant.

But the attainment of this long-desired condition of affairs is far from satisfying the popular demand. It is now desired to deal in some drastic way with the Chinese who are here. There are a great many people here who would like to drive every Chinaman, who is not working under contract on a plantation, out of the country. There are a great many more who, whilst they see the folly of talking of such extreme measures, and the impracticability of carrying them out, still heartily sympathise with this idea, and are prepared to abet any measure which will drive the Chinese out of their present business pursuits, and harry them into voluntarily betaking themselves to some place where they are better liked. When the new Constitution was promulgated last year care was taken to exclude them from all political rights. Now, a Constitutional amendment is before the Legislature, the object of which is to make it legal to legislate about the Chinese as a class, and to put restrictions on their trading and holding property, which will not apply to people of any other nationality. It was proposed, pending the time (two years), which it requires to amend the Constitution to make all the common labourers in the country register themselves. Nothing could more vividly show the stress of public feeling, and the great perplexity which the attempt to deal with the Chinese problem produces in the minds of those who wish to be at the same time just and effectual in the legislation they propose, than that such an extraordinary proposition should have been soberly presented by a committee of the Legislature in a Bill which they recommended the House to pass. Every common labourer .was to obtain a certificate of registration, paying a fee of one dollar for it, and at the same time presenting his photograph, to be placed on. file at the registration office, where* also the name and residence of his employer was to be recorded ; he to give notice when ho changed his employ. Without such a certificate no man was to be allowed to work, and at same time the lack of it was to be prima facie evidence that he was a vagrant, and so punishable with imprisonment at hard labour. So far as the people at a distance can gather, the Chinese question is viewed with some indifference by a great many people in New Zealand. It should help those who are thus minded, and who profess surprise at the fuss which their fellow-colonists in Australia have made about this matter, to a clearer view of what is fundamental to the question, and what the possibilities are which lie before any country which permits unrestricted Chinese immigration, if they ! will try to conceive what must be the actual condition of things here when half-a-dozen sober, intelligent, well educated men, the flower of the Legislature, could present to the House this scheme, which looks so silly, preposterous, and tyrannical, as the result of a, long and earnest, consideration of the difficulty to be contended with, and the remedies that might be expected to enable the country to cope with it. The impropriety of imposing such a law on all labourers merely to get at the vagrant Chinese was too evident for there to be any chance of the Bill passing in the shape in which it was presented. Numerous amendments were proposed with the view of securing some legislation which would put the Chinese under control and yet not be, on the one hand, class legislation, which the constitution forbids, or, on the other, an imposition of hardship on the community generally. The Bill and the amendments were referred to another committee, which recommended that the Bill be dropped. This, however, did not satisfy the House, and ; ,'j discussion is not yet ended, althouj . as the session is nearly over, nothing is likely to bo done until 1890, when under cover of the constitutional amendment, some stringent laws are sure to be passed, if the party at present in power remain so, with the deliberate intention of making the Chinaman weary of life in the Hawaiian Islands. .Meanwhile the Assembly has found an indirect method of smiting on the hip the trading classes among the Chinese. They have passed an Act rendering it imperative that all licensed traders shall keep their books in the English or Hawaiian languages, or the language cf any European nation with whom the country has treaty relations. Something of this sorb has long been demanded by the importing merchants, who necessarily deal largely with the Chinese, and who find it impossible to come at the truth of things when their customers become insolvent. This law has caused consternation among the Chinese engaged in business. Their name is legion, for a very small business is preferred by a Chinaman to any kind o f labour. It may be doubted whether the whole annual profit of three-fourths of the businesses carried on by ihese thrifty souls would pay the salary of a clerk competent to keep the books in Hawaiian or English. Although most Chinamen who have been here any time can chatter away in Hawaiian, few can write in Roman letters and figures, and ib is doubtful whether a tenth part of the book-keepers that will be needed can bo found in the islands. The leading Chinese merchants circulated a petition to the King asking him to veto the Bill. This they took to all the foreign houses with whom they have ' dealings, and a great many of these, afraid I of overtly unending good customers, were I cowardly enough to sign it, although it was at their own instigation thab* the measure lat their own instigation thatf the measure was brought forward. Some, however,

refused, and were threatened with a "boycott," and that modern instrument of tyranny was actually brought to bear upon one firm who had a large auction sale advertised for the following day, which had to be postponed because no Chinamen would bid at it. More prudent and conciliatory measures subsequently prevailed, and—probably chiefly for their own convenience— the Chinese declared the boycott to be " off." The King did veto the Bill, and was at once openly accused of having accepted a bribe to do so. " Give a dog a bad name and you may as well hang him.' Kalakaua will rest under suspicion of being influenced by bribes, whatever he does, for the rest of his natural life. The Assembly is very indignant about this veto question, and passed the Bill over the veto by'4o to 2 (32 being the lowest necessary number for the purpose) several opponents of the Bill voting with the 40, not for the Bill but against the veto. So the measure has become law, but it only operates in each individual case as the business licence falls in for renewal, so that it will be some time before its full effect is felt. It should be said that a licence is needed in this happy country to enable one to carry on any sort of trading, or any business like carpentering, snoemaking, etc. The Chinese are a very peaceable, lawabiding people, but they do not seem disposed "to sit down and let themselves be legislated out of house and home without a protest. They cannot expect much help from thoir Government. With China Hawaii has no treaty, and when, a few years ago, proposals for one were made through the ambassador at Washington, who has some sort of diplomatic supervision of these islands, and who was hi ghly favourable to the idea, they were treated with contempt, the special importance of the Hawaiian Kingdom in the affairs of the civilised world being evidently not known at Peking. But it their Government will not even send one of her new ironclads to overawe the truculent white men, who, having captured the government of the islands from the native, now propose to lord it with a high hand over the Chinamen; they are themselves quite strong enough, if they knew their strength, to make trouble for those who propose to oppress them. In a count of the adult males on the islands, it is almost certain that the Chinese would be found to be a majority. In any measures taken with the view of overthrowing the present revolutionary government, they I would have the sympathy of most of the I datives, and the help of many of them. In point of fact, the natives would be better off if the white men were swept out of the countrv. They can get on very well with the Chinese, and like their ways better than those of the white man. It is, however, little likely that any violent measures will be taken by thu Chinese at the present time. They may prove to have good stuff in them if driven to extremities, i but they are far from being a fighting | crowd. Having begun their agitation after the western manner, by a petition to the Legislature against the Constitutional amendment, they followed it up last night in orthodox fashion with a mass meeting, which was conducted in the true American style, and made lively by some truly American declamation. John Chinaman has always been celebrated for his imitative abilities, and these are evidently not confined to the copying of industrial products. The speakers dilated on their long residence, the large area of useless land which Chinese had converted into fertile ricefields, the fact that of the annual tax levy of 1,200,000 dollars, they pay half a million dollars, and on their exemplary obedience to the laws. They also let it be known that they had not failed to reckon up their own strength. "We are over 20,000 strong ; let us unite and stand firm, said one of the speakers at last night's meeting, whilst another had a good deal to say about the Imperial Chinese navy, and the millions annually spent " on ships and war material for the protection of the

people." Besides these steps in the line of constitutional agitation the Chinese have sent memorials to the Ambassador of their country at Washington, and to the Viceroy of the province of Canton, from which part of the Empire they mostly come. Evidently they will leave no stone unturned to maintain their position, and the rights and privileges they have been accustomed to enjoy. " And since they are, by nature, so much more pertinacious and painstaking than such white men as they have to contend with here, and will certainly have the goodwill of a lav ?o section of the natives with diem, it is a pretty safe bet that they will win the day. The planters, almost to a man, would side with them if they dared, but they are afraid of public opinion in California, which is intensely anti-Chinese, and could revenge itself on Hawaiian planters by influencing the reduction of sugar duties in the States, and so rendering the Reciprocity Treaty a worthless document-. They are also at the present time afraid to run counter to the hot opinions of their fellow white men here, through whom they desire to keep a hold on political power. But in secret they are sure to help the Chinese for the sake of the labour they want. Besides the surreptitious help of the planters, the Chinese nave resources of their own, notwithstanding that the political franchise has been denied them. They are postmasters in the art of corruption, and have unbounded faith in its application to all the affairs of life. It is quite on the cards that they may, by corrupt influences, obtain the return of a Legislature at the next elections which will reject the Constitutional amendment even if it be passed this session. Two-thirds of the House has to be re-elected before every regular session, and what with those who really think their case a good one, and those whom dollars will convert to that view, it is not at all unlikely that the Legislature of 1890 may be in no humour to worry the Chinese. Thus in one way or another it seems highly probable that the white folks who have captured the Government of Hawaii, may rind that "shutting the stable-door when the horse is stolen" is rather a useless proceeding. They may, in fact, find that they have to make fight to maintain their own political ascendancy, and had better themselves " make friends with the mammon of unrighteousness," lest they also be " crowded out" by the patient, supple, and indefatigable Chinaman.