CHINESE COOKS.

NZ Truth, Issue 89, 2 March 1907, Page 4

CHINESE COOKS.

Were it not that there is a. vita) principle at stake, the efforts of more than one Chinese-employing hotelk«eper m Wellington to keep their cheap aliens to their employment at the expense of the Cooks' and Waiters' Union would be regarded aa amusing. Having been punished by the Arbitration Court for employing Chinese cooks who are non-unionists one hotel-keeper, probably the tool of others, is endeavoring to place his interpretation on the preference clause in 1 the Union's constitution, which, if read on those lines, will mean that the Union, whether it likes it or not, must admit into its ranks Chinamen and other Asiatics, otherwise the Union itself will be penalised and the Arbitration Court award rendered a dead letter. Naturally the membefs of the Union, whose existence is threatened by 1 this pu<blic-4w>use proposal, are up m arms, and it is no wonder that the secretary and members of the -union express their desire to see the Union dispersed and defunct rather than be 'forced to admit Chows and other Asiatics into their ranks. The preference clause reads something to the effect that the only qualification for admission to fcho Union is good character— of course, obedience to the rules and Arbitration Court Awards is understood, and the point is • therefore raised that a Chinaman or Asiatic of good character may be eligible for membership. This paper, at anyrate, has yet to learn that m any European community, an Asiatic of any kind, color, or creed is to be placed on the same plane as any European of either respectability or status. Workers form unions to protect themselves from and against employers. In Australia, at any rate, a trades union exists, to enable its

members to successfully Contend against outside and alien competition. What would be the result if the carpenters' and cabinet-makers' unions, m any of thej ■■iA.ustralian States or m New; Z.eo^riir-, were forced to admit Chinamen- :-tb; membership ? Disastrous as have oe&n the effects of cheap Chinese competition on those trades t the result would be the practical annihilatton of the white-worker, to, afford some protection to whom . several States Parliaments have compelled. Chinese cabinet-makers to label their work "Asiatio labor." It js ah old cry that if "the Chinese are admitted to a union they are raised to the white's status, and wj 11 earn a white man's, wage ; and, • all things being equal, the white . will. in, /the long run have the best .-^f deal. There is something, m thfe cty, of course, but we know top -well, and the white European cooks ; of the Union are well aware thit if Chinese were admitted, the Chow as a ; ; unionist, would be exploited : and worked as cheap as ever. : Preference would be given to the Ciiinamah because he would not be so. strong m his- insistence on being paid v . Union rates. That is one of the dangers of admitting Chinese to membership. There is no law, \frfltt.eh or unwritten, which places -the Asiatic on the level of- the European, m<a European, or, more to the jioint, an Australasian community. 'It fe against his advance that, the Union ; exists and it will be a sorry dayk ,forj.,.jLabor m Australasia when tbe tiaw> is interpreted to mean-vinat °a Chinamati, naturalised or otherwise, is the social or working eqitel of the white native. This public-house proposal will no doubt be dealt with by the Arbitration Court; The Union has declined to admit, Chinamen as mem* bers and it will be interesting to note the attitude of the Arbitration Court when a case comes before it. It is all very well for Sir , Joseph Ward to advise Australians to make. Australia white ; and keep it white ; Sir J oseph seems to> have forgotten that New Zealand exists and that her people are threatened, on every side by an Asiatic Alien advance.