THE CHOW CURSE.

NZ Truth, Issue 156, 13 June 1908, Page 4

THE CHOW CURSE.

The chief engineer of the s.s. Hanley, which is now m New Zealand waters pitches an eulogistic yarn | about the qualities of his Chow nrern'en who, he states, are most industrious and energetic and their sobriety unimpeachable. In his own particular ga-ng of eleven Chows, the ohief engineer, who rejoices m the name of Fairer, states that ten Europeans m<ight do the work, but repudiates the idea of the .ratio benvg greater. The Chinese are paid from £3 10s to £3 15s a month, European labor would cost £4 10s. In that I ease, says the engineer, the saving of wages makes little difference, but he is emphatic m the assertion, "that their reliability and rood faith Is far m advance of the other. It is wonderful what a lot of virtue the employer of cheap labor sees m his Ghow servants and how he lauds the Chimkee to the skies and makes' a veritable god of the Asiatic alien. The wander is > that, seeing the employer of the Chow is so convinced of his many redeeming features, that -he does not marry his daughter- or -sister to one of these ostiiniable and virtuous coolies from, China : but no, that's a tale of a different complexion altogether, and m his private life, and m the sanctity of his house, the employer of the alien Chowwould <no mo-re think of entertaining him or uniting him m unholy wedlock to his daughter than he would (think of entertaining his Satanic majesty to an oyster supper. It is admitted, even by "Truth," which religious organ has ordinarily no time for the stinking Chow, that 'the Mjon'gol does certainly perform some mential duties m a passable manner, but at what a cost ? At the cost of the white man all over the world. The Chow \ works for a sweating waige Which a white man could not exist on, and though m the case under notice the difference m wages is stated to be only about fifteen shillings per month, that is not the whole crux of the question, as the prdbaTriMty is that the agent who en-gaged the Chows gets the bigger share of the stipulated payment. But the Hanley's chief engineer asserts that a Ohow is equal m his task of firing to about ten-elevenths of a white" man, but the engineer fails to state how many hours per day the Chow fireman puts m, • and without the necessary figures it is safe to | assume that the Chow is putting m Ms usual hours of about 18 per day m the stoke hell, a period that no j self-respecting man would submit, or should be expected to submit, to. The crucial iquestion, . however, is not howl much coal a Chow can shovel into the furnaces m a given timje, ■bait as to what reliability can be placed on him m the time of trial. To the sea traveller first and to the shipper who has his goods on, the vessel secondly, this is the paramount Question of the manning of any vessel, and a lesson was taught the New Zealand and Australian public recently when . a large vessel manned largely by Chows (the sober, industrious yellow mien) foundered on the coast of Western Australia. It was then that the, relative values of the Chow and the white m«an were gauged ; the white man was observed as he always is m time of danger , working vigorously under his officers' instructions m an attem.pt to save the vessel and afterwards m rendering assistance to passengers. And what did the noble Chows do ? They •■ left their posts and pounded piteOusly on the deck with their fists whilst they made vain and futile appeals to their Josses to save them from the tempest. . And what cared ' they for the lives which had been entrusted to their care ? They cared nothing, and the passengers might go to hell and damnation before they would move a finger m the direction of the .practical application of prayer by placing their energies to the use for which they weres paid. That single lesson is an object one to Australians and New Zealanders alike, and will serve to unite the feeling between the two countries to prohibit the influx of the scum of Asia, and notwithstanding that King Ned has refused his assent to the Chinese Immigration Act which Joe Ward put through the Ktouse. last session, the people of New Zealand will vet demand the right to say what class of alien [shall enter the Dominion.