CHINESE IN EUROPE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13390, 19 January 1907, Page 1 (Supplement)

CHINESE IN EUROPE.

QUAINT CUSTOMS

LtVKßrooi, has its little Chinatown, less in

extent than those in San Francisco and New ' York, but organised on very much the same lines. The Chinamen of Liverpool do not hold much intercourse, except of course in the way of business, with the people of Liverpool. They take to themselves white wives, it is true, just like the Chinamen . of San Francisco and New York, but these ! white women become almost more Chinese ' than their husband*. Missionary workers who are familiar wit!) the lives of the white i wives of Chinamen in New York declare that the Chinamen make kind and generous j husbands. j

There aie about ''10.000 persons in San j Francisco's Chinatown, and about 7000 in : that at New York, and these two settle- ■ ments are veritable cities within cities. Each lias its own "mayor," who mles over it without reference to the laws of the land, but who manages to maintain order much more successfully than the white mayor and his police do in their territories. FEW BUSINESS DISPUTES. No Chinaman ever seeks the aid of the American courts. He has few business disputes, for the Chinaman is noted for his honesty as a trader. Commercial "paper" is unknown among them. The Chinaman is the one man in business whose word is accepted even by white merchants as being as good as his bond. If misfortune overtakes him and he cannot pay lie commits suicide, and bequeaths all that remains of his property to his creditor. Personal disputes are always .settled before the "mayor" of Chinatown, or if the case is too grave lor him to decide, it is taken before the Chinese General at New York or Sau Francisco. The edicts of these informal courts are very strictly enforced. Death is the penalty for disobedience, and the sentence is carried out by members of an organisation known as the " Highbinders." Occasionally a dead Chinaman is found in the street with a knife or bullet wound to tell how he came by his death. the white police take charge of the body and make the usual inquiries, but they never discover anything. At the sight of a policeman or detective Chinatown becomes dumb, but those who have the confidence of the Chinaman can easily learn that Wing Sing was a man without respect for the Emperor or his ancestors, who neglected to obey the most excellent commands of the '•mayor.'' Till-; "SIX COMPANIES." The "Highbinders," who have been mentioned, are .supposed to till another function as well as that of an unofficial police. They are said to be maintained by the Six Companies, that mysterious trading organisation with headquarters in China which controls nearly every Chinaman in America. The great Chinese laundry business in most of the cities of America is controlled by them, as. are the Chinese grocery and supply shops and the curio shops where Oriental articles are sold to the white man at astonishingly low prices. The "Highbinders" carry out the will of their masters, the Six Companies, sternly suppress any revolt against their authority, and wreak vengeance on any man who is so careless of his life as to deal dishonestly with his masters.

. Oji very rare occasions the American police secure evidence enough to justify an arrest on the charge of assault or manslaughter against a Chinaman who is supposed to he one of these mysterious secret police. 'the man no soonrr appears in the police court than one of the ablest criminal lawyers available appeals to defend him, and a cloud of witnesses is produced to swear that he was a thousand miles away when the crime was committed. UNLIMITED POWER. The power of the Six Companies is said to extend even to China. They can wreak, their vengeance on the relatives of the man who offends them in America should he succeed in escaping, and so great is the family affection which is characteristic of the Chinaman that he seldom makes any effort to escape, preferring to suffer the consequences of his wrong-doing in his own person. Roth in New York and San Francisco, the Chinatowns are self-contained cities. They are, not even dependent on the white man for their food supply. Dozens of quaint grocery shops filled with all sorts of weird-looking tilings to eat are. to be found in the Chinese quarters. Chinese cloths and silks are. imported from China for clothing, and Chinese furniture and utensils for the household. Even the fresh vegetables are grown by Chinese market gardeners in the suburbs of the cities, and the poultry which forms so large a part of the Chinaman's food is bred by Chinese poultry-fanners. Eggs are imported from China., and are considered a great delicacy when they have attained the age' of two years. In spite of their mysterious organisation and the quarrels which they sometimes fight out among themselves, they are popular with I lie police and the governing authorities of the American cities. The police find that the. Chinamen give them very little trouble. As has been already said, they settle their own quarrels, and they seldom violate any of the municipal by-laws or ordinances. The health authorities tind them cleanly and remarkably free from disease and amen able to discipline, The greatest source of complaint is that they have introduced their characteristic vice of opium smoking, and that some Cihnamen maintain opium "joints" for the patronage of white men. And the white man seems to succumb to the deadly influence of the drug far more rapidly than the yellow man.