THE AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS MONDAY, JULY 13, 1914. INDUSTRIAL JAPAN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15659, 13 July 1914, Page 6

THE AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS MONDAY, JULY 13, 1914. INDUSTRIAL JAPAN.

Every comparison of the standards of living in New Zealand With Asiatic standards must result in approval of the diplomatic and farreaching clauso in the. Immigration Restriction Amendment Bill designed to exclude " any person or class of persons deemed by the Minister on economic grounds or on account of standard or habits of life to be unsuitcd to the requirements of New Zealand." New Zealand has set herself economic standards which are surpassed by no country in the world, if indeed they arc equalled outside Australasia. To our economic standards we attach the utmost importance, not merely' because they produce a high general level of comfort, but because their removal would lower the morality and humanity of our people and our national life. They have to exist against the pressure of the lower standards of other countries, and if wo admitted without restriction people unaccustomed to our level of living, indifferent to our ideals, and ready to undercut our workmen, we should find it impossible to maintain conditions which arc desired by employers no less than by employed. An English writer has said that "the anti-Asiatic prejudice of Australasia has its origin in nothing more respectable than the jealousy of the labouring classes," but it really has its origin in the regard of the whole community for Western civilisation as wo have applied it, and for the national life itself. The amending Immigration Restriction Bill, introduced by Mr. Fisher, makes no specific reference to nationality. This is not only a diplomatic discretion, but it is logical. Our objection to . the Chinaman or Hindoo is not to the colour of his skin. Englishmen whose standard of living was on the average Chinese or Hindoo level would be equally unacceptable and under the amending Bill the State would have the right to deny them entry.

It is only necessary to consider the economic condition of Japan to realise what demoralisation and deterioration would follow an industrial invasion of Asiatics. The poverty of the masses in Japan is appalling. The most intense cultivation scarce suffices to produce enough rice, which is" the staple food of the people. Although there arc great tracts of' rich alluvial plain, the country in general character is mountainous, and only fifteen million acres out of a total area of 89 million acres arc cultivated. On this area a population of 53 million people is dependent for rice. Every pocket of soil has been utilised, and the rice terraces stretch up the hillside. Little is grown but rice and the failure of the crop means the starvation of whole districts. The population is rapidly outgrowing its supply of home-produced rice, and so this cheapest of all foods is rising in price. Whereas the market value was 5s 5d per bushel in 1901, it rose in 1006 to 6s 9d. Every appreciable increase in price tends to place rice beyond the reach of millions of Japanese, and the results of a jump in price due to a large increase in the demand from Europe would be terrible indeed. The dire poverty of Japan involves the Japanese women in factory, geisha house, or the deeper degradation of the Yoshiwara. The conditions on which Japanese women engage in industry are essentially servile. Females working in the cotton trade arc usually indentured for three years and live in compounds at-' tached to the factory. Moreover, Japanese industry is being built up on the exploitation of children and women. The total industrial population of Japan is as yet only 703,885, but according to the figures published by the Department of Finance in 1913, 427,676 women are employed and 12,192 males and 48,821 females under the age of fourteen. The average daily wage of the female silk spinner is said to be 30 sen (about 7d) and of the female weaver 25 sen. From these wages a daily deduction of 9 sen is made for food. Although a Factory Act was passed in 1911 it has not been put into force and factories are not subject to inspection.' Some a,re conducted on modern principles and with consideration for the health of employees, but the conditions in many are such as would not be tolerated by a Western State. There is no minimum of wages, no limitation of hours, no weekly day of rest. The cotton factories work day and night on shifts of twelve hours oach, and there arc two holidays in the month.

The industrial conditions of Japan arc forcing her people abroad, and from her 53,000,000 she could well spare enough to make New Zealand an Asiatic country. The enmity, amounting to race hatred, with which British Columbia and. California regard the Asiatic is based on no theoretical consideration. It has been developed by the experience that white workers cannot compete in the labour market against Asiatics, and that European standards of living cannot be maintawfid

against a competitive standard which is much lower. Factory Acts, labour laws, Arbitration Courts would be ineffective to guard the economic conditions of New Zealand against a considerable immigration of Asiatics. The Asiatic modes would be imposed on the European population, and the Dominion would cease to be a home for Anglo-Saxons. The magnitude of the industrial invasion to which New Zealand is exposod by Asiatic resources in serf labour makes total exclusion the only safe policy.