THE CHINESE BAND.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXVII, Issue 5483, 11 January 1905, Page 7

THE CHINESE BAND.

THE WHiTE LEAGUE. AX F/MTSSAR V rx WKIjLIXG'TOX. Tlki wliitn colonists of South Africa aro not going to allow the (liinose question I o go hy (h-fauit. 'I hough I hero ji i-€! now over twenty thon.s.md •! 'hinoso hihonrinfc in tin- Kami mines, amt I In' ordinance lor their admisnon s promulgated hcynml dieputi'. the whites are not .standing quietly hy. Two years ago a White Teague was lornied at Johanrmshnrg. It has progressed in the face of every Mirl. of ooycotl and diseonragement. .and today the honorary secretary is in M eliinelon. Ho is on his way to Kngland to lake part in the general elections, which ho is confident will prove a .success to the Liberal parly on the Chinese question alone. Interviewed by a ‘‘Times' 1 reporter yesterday, this gentleman mentioned Unit Oswestry was represented hv a Conservative tor over* seventy years. At lire recent hy-eleelion the C hine-e rjnestion was brought prominent iy forward, I;lii> secretary of 1 lie Hague taking an active part in the campaern and the Liberal candidate wen. That election tin* White League regards as the turning point of Liberalism, and, as a sequence, of the anti-C iiine-e campaign. HOW THIS T/KAGt’K WAS DORN. When the White League was iormed the movement, was remarkable tor its spontaneity. .Ml the services arc voluntary. and the officers pay their own expenses, believing that the best: results can he obtained hy unpaid men. Soon after its inception, the league held large meetings in different towns in the Transvaal, and resolutions were forwarded to I'hu .Acting High Commissioner. Xo reply was received, and i 1. was thus evident at once in what direction the sympathies of tin' authorities were. A ’draft law was prepared, and a nnrneronsly-sigmed petition was presented to.the Acting High Commissioner asking that a referendum should he taken before Hie ordinance was sanctioned. The reply was that to take such a step would he “a slight to the Conned at. Pretoria,'’ which Council consisted partly of the heads of departments and partly of representatives nominated by the Commissioner. In the event of representative government being granted to the Transvaal, the league has no doubt whatever as to being able to carry tlio elections. The fight was .soon a, grimly real one. One after another the Hand newspapers, formerly the organs of the people, passed under the aegis of the groat controlling companies. The latter wore determined to carry out their policy. Cape Colony would nol allow i he Chinese to pass through its ports; so the controlling houses set to work In establish what was to all intents and purposes a boycott; to divert trade to Durban or Delagoa Kay. The -same system was adopted within the Transvaal Colony. For a long time past anyone in .Johannesburg who opposed the Chinese policy has been boycotted. This means ruin. Consequently, it is not surprising to hear that one of the lending anti-Chinese- agitators in .Johannesburg has fallen away from the cause. He is lying low, for fear ot further injuring his business. He has not been heard on the public platform since Tunc.” AX ASIATIC DK PFX DIOXCV. Tho object of the Chinese policy is thus referred to hy a prominent member of the Capo Parliament, writing to the secretary of the league:—‘’You have no doubt seen the significant remarks of Dr Jameson, who has entirely gone hack on his election declarations, and no doubt carries the capitalistic wing of his party with him. 'Hie end, Hie attainment of wealth. jn.slilies the means in the eyes of most people. Tho trno end, the creatioit.of an Asiatic dependency, will come later.” Any such 'establishment of an Asiatic dependency in South Africa, the White League is convinced, must reflect its injurious effects on tho other colonies of the F.mpire. The .secretary expresses it thus-succinctly :• —-“The Asiatics do not require any of your produce, butter, or foodstuffs of any description. The ricti, dhull, and condiments they consumo are naturally obtained, from India or China. In this way an injury will be done to all tho coitmies.” HOW TO OFST JOHN. The visitor aptly applies the proposition of Chinese competition to the case of Xcw Zealand and Wellington. Assuming, ho said, that Chinese living on from 10s to liOs per month displaced Fnropeans earning say £lO per month, ifc was a matter of easy calculation to arrive at a period within which they could repay tho poll tax of £IOO. When this tax and interest had been repaid tothe controlling company in China which advanced the money, tho Chinaman was at liberty to continue making his £lO ■i month and more on limited expenses. Ho ,nob‘ only displaced whites, but tho movey he saved .went to enable others to come out who would willingly pay a polltax of £2OO. If the cry was put I forth that tho prohibition of Chinese would do away with the fruit trade, the reply was that a syndicate could be formed to open shops and supply vegetables and fruit. Then there might bo tho cry; "Where were tho vegetables to come from unless tho Chinese grew them ? Ho had seen vegetables growing in profusion in many parts of Wellington. Surely tho Government could allocate, say, fifty acres for workmens gardens, or to bo cub up into sections for market gardens. There wore endless possibilities for fruit-growers’ and farmers’ associations to establish distributing shops and obtain tho profit that was duo to them. Hand laundries could also bo established to provide employment for young girls. PUBLIC OPINION THROTTLED. Tho league, knowing too well the terrible wrong that had been done to South Africa by a few men whom it had made wealthy and who were desirous of becoming richer, was now putting forth its best effort to stay tlie evil, and would not rest until its efforts wore successful. Public opinion in Johannesburg and the Transvaal had been crushed and boycotted into sullen silence. The Chinese and Indians would have to be taught to develop their own* countries. Mauritius had been practically given over to them. Natal was overrun with Asiatics, and a similar doom would overtake. sooner or later, tho colonies that listened to the fleeting charms of introducing coloured races. The Indians at public meetings had putfforthi r th the claim for equal rights as British subjects, but the South Africans were not pro- 1 pared to s;ell the heritage of the white'

people to a race whose conditions ol living were admittedly insanitary and bounded by tlie ••spendi 1 nrr* of ten shilling's per month. In Zealand ho believed we bad a magnificently prosperous country; therefore, we had the greater need lo zealously guard the in-ti-resis of the people. He cam'- here parfieniarly lo express tin* gratitude oi the people ol .Sooth Aiiiua for the le-ip-litl part, that New Zealand had taken in tlio argument- on the Chinese question. and to interview All - Seddon, who-e name appeared in the South Alriean pic-s in connection. \v;t)i the resolutions of the Xew Zealand Parliament. TMK ('MINKS!-: IN BEING.

Speaking of tie- actual arrivals of Chinese on the Hand, the secretary of the h-agne said:—•’(in my return I rum Kngland last September I found the ( liine'-e already installed in the 'lransvaal. There are now between 23.0 bf) and 253!.'/) in South Africa, and from two 1 o throe thousand are arriving by each steamer. They are all being landed at Durban, bocaioe Cape Colony absolutely refused to allow them to lam! at. Capetown, Port Elizabeth, or hast London, fn deference to the wish of I the Archbishop of Canterbury, a danse | was inserted in the ordinance prov.dmg <• ha I. Chinese women should accompany i heir husbands but net one Chinese woman has yet arrived. Consequently, the Chinese, whose tendency is towards bestiality, are depraving the Kaffir women, im-nlting while women, ami bringing degradation upon tho coun(r v.' ’ JO HA NX KSIH’R G TO-DAY. The position in Johannesburg at present makes an nnedifying narrative. For a period of nine months the Worn-lier-l/S'it-Kckstein combine made a- total profit of £2,173,15-1- out of the Hand mines ami other interests, while five other controlling coni panic's during the same period made £1,507,013 profit. Vet these great companies, making raich tremendous profits, were unable to pay white men’s wages. "’When I left Johannesburg at tho end 'of November,” said the secretary of the league, ‘‘there were thousands of white men unemployed, walking about the streets. Public meetings were being Judd, and an appeal was being made to the Government for assistance. Many of the men were discharged volunteers; others had been working on the mines, and had been discharged as no longer wanted.” ■‘Yes, they could get any number of -blacks. The late Commissioner of Natives stdl Judds the opinion that wc have* ample native labour for the mines if they will only go the right way to get it. As it is, there arc thousands of Kaffirs living in their kraals in idleness, because the conditions tho controlling companies make for the Chinese are very much better than they wdl allow the Kaffirs. They build special houses for the accommodation of the Chinese, and provide them with special food. One of the newspaper correspondents in Johannesburg graphically described what he saw amongst the Chinese—the tasty food, meat, and condiments, and white bread—whdo the Kaffirs had greatly interior accomin od all on. and often wore fed on inferior monlie meal (Indian corn). And the Kaffirs have received little or no protection from the Commissioner. In spite of the introduction cf Chinese, there are over eighty thousand blacks employed in the mines.” CHINESE AS WORKMEN. Questioned particularly as to how tho Chinese wore succeeding in the* mines, the visitor replied; “I answered that same question put by the editor of ono of the papers iu the Transvaal. The reply is they are as great a success as they would be if employed in tho dockyards in Kngland, in the warehouses, on the railways perhaps driving an engine. and in other spheres of life. They would work, moreover, at a third of (lie wages tile white people are now earning. But Mien comes tho problem we are trying to grapple with: AVhat are we do with tho white people? In Johannesburg alone there were two years ago over three thousand licensed Asiatic tradesmen. We. took up the coolie question years ago, because in Natal and other parts of South Africa there were coolies living iu a manner opposed to all European ideas, at,a cost ranging from ten to twenty shillings per month. In Natal, coolies were acting as signalmen and firemen on the railways, and taking the places of white men in offices.” It was only at a later date that the Chinese question appeared on tho horizon, and made the league tight more strongly than before.