THE CHOW CURSE.

NZ Truth, Issue 99, 11 May 1907, Page 4

THE CHOW CURSE.

HOW HE IS BEING BEATEN.

Pitiless Police Persecution of Hawkers.

Mow the Chow Fared at Petone.

There is no denying the fact that m New Zealand there, are many white men and' women whose love for the cheap and nasty polecat Chow, stamps • them as a disgrace to a country, which has everything to fear frpm a>n invasion of a yellow leprous horde. That the Chow fruiterer m New Zealand, particularly dn Wellington, has prospered is due, m the words of the Chow-lover, that he sells cheap, that his shop is clean, and his fruit is good and wholesome. Now these are lies, the white fruit-seller if he had but half the patronage faestawed on him that is given the alien Asiatic could afford to sell even cheaper than the Ohow, and as for cleanliness and quality of fruit '"Truth" will not insult the intelligence of its readers by dwelling on. tihose matters. Here m Wellington the Chow has been put on the grid-iron and the result, is interesting. The street hawker of fruit has come into rapid prominence and is under-selling the Chow and is further malting a good and above all honest livelihood. It is a wholesome sight to vwitness crowds of men and women gathered round the handbarrows of these pushing young fellows a-iwl -is'svying as fast as they oa<n sell. But there is one great drawback an<d '•Truth" wants to know the reason why the police are displaying such persistency m bullying and bouncing- these young fellows and hounding them off the streets. Its an old and useless cry that the street hawker is a nuisance, but m this iinstajnee he < IS A NECESSARY EVIL, and it Iqjoks as if the police are hard pushed for something to do, when they even go so far as to step m among a .crowd of customers and order the hawker to move \on and not "impede" the traffic. This police persecution is becoming damnable amd only lends color to the su^estion that it is the police who manufacture (Criminals , by their 'blind i-nd zealous officiousness. These young I awkers are hard-workdug industrious -meh, who place frwic within the reach of all, and there are many m Wellington who prefer to do without fruit rather than purchase it from the leprous alien. There should be a line drawn at this ruthless police persecution. These young fellows may 1 occasionally offend against municipal fiy-laws, but those offences are trivial compared with the offences of nearly every Chow fruit-shop keep** er m. Wellington ; but against whom for some unknown reason action is seldom taken. . Petone, too; is making its stand a-rainst the Chow fruit-seller, as the following from the "Petone Chronicle" indicates :-"A couple of months ago Mr. Walter Steer started the, European' fruit shop dn Petone, a few doors away flrom the leading Chinese establishment. The proprietor of the latter calmly walked into his rival's shop one afternoon, and naively remarked, 'No good you start ; me give ' you three months close up !' Mr. Steer smiled an ang.eliCL .smile, and ..^proo^eded -to. dress his window with the? season's choicest frudts. He put m his window price tickets bearing the same figures as his neighbour's. Then 'Jchn' came along, topk careful note, and reduced his prices one penny all round. But the European had his emissaries at work, and they promptly acquainted him of the proceedings. Then down came Mr. Steer's prices with a hang, and his rival immediately went one better. THIS GUERILLA WARFARE was carried on every; day, until with both it became a matter of 'Blucher, or night ! ' But as the little Corsican was defeated at Waterloo, ,so was the cunning Celestial beaten at Petone, and a British victory was .acknowledged by the Chinese fruiterer hauline: down his colours—or rather putting up his shutters—last Thursday afternoon., God save the King !" It is indeed a sorry commentary on our boasted white civilisation when the fact that a white man br men has succeeded m quelehing a \ Chow m somp business or other, has to be published as truly startling information. Yet such it is. The Chow has a;ot such a hold m [New Zealand that the fact of the whiteman going under is so common that it passes without comment, but when the position is reversed the whole community is set wondering whether" a miracle has happened or not. ' It is a happy sign when suoh. instances of white men succeeding can be v recorded. The Chow is bound to go under if decent white Christian folk will but continue to boycott the bastard yellow brood. The boycott is set m m Wellington and Petone, and the example set oueht to be emulated right throughout New Zealand.