THE CHOW IMMIGRANT AND PERSONICAL COERCION.

NZ Truth, Issue 127, 23 November 1907, Page 1

THE CHOW IMMIGRANT AND PERSONICAL COERCION.

ANt) PARSONtCAL COERCION.

The long-promised Anti-Chinese legislation has at last been realised, and when all is said and done the Ward G-dvernmeht is.ndt to 1 be congratulated either for its promptitude and fulfillment of promises or for the satisfactory nature of the enactments. The Chinese immigrants' <Amendment Bill, which has gone through ,bojth legislative chambers ,with little amendment provides that m addition to the £100 jpoll-tax, it shall be Unlawful for a Chinese to enter this country until it has been proved td I;he . satisfaction of ' the Customs officer that, such Chinese is able to read a printed/ passage of not less than one hundred wowis of the English language. This is the educational test, and power is given to rejected immigrants to appeal to our Courts and a Magistrate is empowered to re-administer this test-, and the Magistrate's test ' shall be •final. Moreover, it is also enacted that any. master of any ship who lands or permits to land m New Zealand any Chinaman who has not fulfilled the requirements of the Act, shall be fined, while any Chinaman who lands m New Zealand m den% ance of the Law will be punished. It -is with .the .-question of Chinese . immigration that "Truth" wishes to deal. It was attempted m both Chambfirs to raise the poll-tax, and every attempt failed, and it is significant to note the utterances both of the Premier and the Attorney-General. Both declared that if any such amendment was .carriexl it would be impossible to obtain Royal Assent. This shows more than ever that the. white racfes of the British Empire are forever doomed to play the part of an inftnitesimal minority. : The British Empire is black, brown, brindle and •white, and the white being m a minority must, perforce, play the part oi the tail, and ' not the tail jthat wags the dog.

New Zealand, therefore, like the Commonwealth of Australia, must be thankful for small mercies. To impose, an educational test is the legislative limit allowed her, To .erect a barTier, such as raising the poll-tax to £200 or £500 is impossible, simply because it violates a. treaty that the Imperial Government have entered iiito with "that of the Chinese. The educational test is an- ineffectual barrier, and this is shown by the almost daily proceedings m the Australian Commonwealth. The .cunning .Oriental has metaphorically, •driven a coach and six through the Act ',,. and educational test notwithstanding, the Chow is smuggled m right under the aose of the Customs. If the New 'Zealand Customs can match itself with Oriental cunning and chicanery, then indeed does New Zealand legislation augur for good. There is not a word m this amended Act which aims at? the suppression of the close Chinese Corporation 1 which imports Chow coolies and planks, down. £100 poll-tax., These slaves, for such they are, are shanghaied from Canton and HorigKong and are sent out to Australia and New Zealand to slave m laundries and gardens. False declarations are made that these • wretched liybrids are partners. All laws are" derided by the Boss Chow, and the country is invited to do its worst. Against all these evils there is no remedy. The '£100 poll-tax is promptly paid. . Now Chinese immterants are to pass .an educational test*— 'a test, as "Truth", has observed, that' has failed ignonrinioiisly m Australia,; a test the futility of which m New? Zealand has yet to be proved.

A fatal mistake has been. made by. Sir Joseph Ward, m consenting to any exception being made as to Chinese missionaries, ' The Chow mouther of the Methodist or other brand of religion is to be admitted free bf poH-tax or free. of. any test whatever. The -possib>ility,. i is that m future Chinese slave coolies will be dumped down m , our midst as a special brand of colored wowser. jsfow we are told .that Sir Joseph was 'highly indignant when member Hornsby, very rightly resenting _the dictation' of a parson named Don, who is- some sort of Chow-loving missioner, declared that it would be a sorry day for this country if clerics were allowed;' to come into .the House and intertere, an the Legislation. According to newspaper account the Prime Minister administered' a rebuke to the ton. member. He gave his statement a flat contradiction* He did not even know,

Mr Don, but he had been told that he was behind the chair. Notwithstanding all these contradictions and rebukes, we find that this parson Don, who seems to have "a rat" on the Chinese question, did actually have hold of the Ministerial lug, and it looks very much as if the "wowser" told the Premier to admit Chinese missionaries free of cost. Why should Chinese wowsers be admitted to this country ? 3s it because they have "ratted" on Confucious, and have embraced Christ, that this Dominion should open her arms and. receive them to her. bosom V: "Truth" only knows m . its wide experience of one Chinese missicner all the. ,w ay f rota China. His name was Dins. Son, ° r 'something like it. He came out to preach the "word" to the Chow, of Queensland. Whether an accredited Chow missioner or not, he wore the sombre -garb of the cleric. He gained admission to Australia on that ground. Instead of preaching the word, he soon started a gambling den. He gambled nix days, on the seventh ho prayed. The sort of desirable Chinese rnir-rioner Ding Son is, or was, can be better - gauged by a reference to the Queensland police reports, if they arc available m New Zealand.

"Truth," Sir Joseph Ward notwithstanding, litters its protest against parsons of the Don type dictating to the Government the policy it shall pursue towards the undesirable Chow immigrant. There is no call for Chow missioners m this country ; the people of this country do not waat the Chow m any shape or form. His presence is abominable. He incites peacefully-inclined folk to deeds of lawlessness. No matter what ■the Chow is,, merchant or missionary, slave or student, his presence i'n .this country does (not make for good.. Sir , Jqsep<h\ Ward has spoken emphatically . against the Ohow, and it is a sorry spectacle to witness a Chow-loving ' Ifresbytepian Modarator snugly seated behind the Speaker's chair, practically, telling the representatives of -New Zealand what they shall and . shall hot do with anti-Chinese legislation— the legislation that the people, of rtiris, country has asked for so long. Why does Sir Joseph Ward pander so; much to the black-coated brigade of New Zealand ? Is it a matter of religion.' Everybody- knows the fact of Sir Joseph Ward being a Roman Catholic malies Mm ' distasteful to the hysterical, ranting, bloodthirsty helots of God's : Own Country. Oh the slightest provocation they will attempt his political assassination. That: these blood-thirsty barrackers of Blessed Billy of -the Boyne are deterred from creating a " sectarian stink is because the force of public opinion is against them. . Aitenip^ts have been made, unsuccessfully . fortunately, ■to stir up the stencjftul ■mud p.f sectarian strife, and . none know" better than the Premier himself that the clerical crowd to which he seems to always give a ready ear, will be the first to hoivnd him out of political life. If Sir Joseph Ward imagines that lie is pursuing a wise policy m giving his ear' to every turbulent tub-thumper that hoyers around the political hori26n, he is making a sail and "sorry mistake. It might be a game of bluff, but it is a lamentable spectacle to the average being. Th« priest and parson m politics is ah undesirable element m New Zealand, and : "Sir Joseph Ward should, even at the risk of being involved In a savage ' sectarian upheaval, play the game manfully. The people are behind, i him., Roman Catholic though he.._.be.: [Thus strengthened, the Premier ! should not hesitate to metaphorically consign to Hades every blackcoated, and black-hearted, cleric that attempts, directly or indirectly, hostilely or friendly, to poke a finger into the political pie.

Under the Prohibition law, whick becomes operative m Georgia m January 1 next, . it is 1 made unlawful to administer wine m the celebration of the Holy Communion. As the law is at present interpreted, every minister or deacon who hands sacramental wine to the members of his church makes himself liable to ' indictment.- Many protests have been made, and grand juries all over the State have' passed' resolutions petitioning- the Legislature to amend the law. That sort of prohibition wOuld not do New Zealand parsons. Oh, dear, no I