THE MONGOLIAN MENACE.

NZ Truth, Issue 215, 7 August 1909, Page 5

THE MONGOLIAN MENACE.

WHITE SUNDRY-KEEPERS liSH OUT,

A Deputation To Minister Millar.'

AN AMENDING BILL PROMISED.

Chinese' competition m the laundry tratle was the grievance airetl to \he Hon. Jas. Millar, minister ' for Labor and Railways, at the Railway Department's offices at noon, last Wednesday. The deputation, headed by Mr F. M. B. Fisher, D. McLaren, R. A. Wright, and i v . M. Wilford, M.P.'s, represented European laundry proprietors throughout the Dominion,, and the following letter, which had been signed by almost every European laundry proprietor m Hevr 'Zealand, set forth the White Man's case :— Wellington, 3rd August, JL&Oa. Sir, — We, the .European Launarymefl of Wellington, representing the trade generally throughout the 1 Dommldri:, respectfully wish to bring to your notice the unfair competition under the existing FaGtdf y Act- with those wbo> do not cofiie under the provisions of the Act, although doing the s%me cfass" Of Work, namely, Laundry Work". . Laundry work, thtotfgiioirf the fifftish Empire, is looked upon as being" essentially women's Work, ft tnerffore follows that we, as laundr-y proprietors rri'ust employ female labof , the result being" that ftiey come under the; Factory Act. Under" fee regulation's of the Factory Act our businesses must be 1 carried on during such fiours of the day and week 1 as' stipulated, and our violating tn'e laws of our" own country subjects us to a heavy penalty, while the Chinaman, an entire alien, comes into our country and starts m the laundry trade. fi& is allowed to work at any hour and as many hours as he pleases,, uses unsanitary methods, and works m premises unsuited for the purposes of a. laundry, both of which being highly, injurious to public health. From the foregoing you will see that gross injustice exists In the fact that white men are bound down by 1 their owr Government to work their emptdf€€§ at certain hours only, allow Holidays and pray 1 them for same, for WKicTi we get no return. We have also to hive Giif premises made, suitable for tfie Dttsiness" and to keep these thoroughly cfea'rt, consequently having a heavy expenditure ; Whereas the Chinese, our competitors, whose mode Of living is wen-known, do not incur one fraction of the same expenditure m the conduct of their ' business, • What we earnestly ask for, sir, is that there be a clause inserted m our Factory Act as follows :— , "All the' provisions of the Fac"tdry Act .applying to females . "shall apply to alt alien male "persons engaged irt dr m cdn"nectidri with a laundry as owh"er, partner, or employee at work "which is usually performed by females m a laundry." During the past seven or eight years the European laundry trade has not increased ; .m fact, there is always a id go back. Whereas the number of Chinese laundries' has greatly increased to the detriment of the European laundry trade. The very fact di the Chinamen being allowed to keep f heir places of business open and Working dufirig* all hours', puts them ' m a position to easily 6dtnpete and take the lailndry Work away from Us at low prici&s. ; An obje'e'S lesson to us has been the Way the' Chinamen have captilted the Vegetable arid Fruit trade , m Wellington, and we pray for legislation to tie brought down to' protect us against this unfair competition with the ChinamSn irt the Laundry trade*. In introducing the deputation,- Mr Fishef observed that those present represented the European laundry proprietors of the four chief centres and a number of outlying towns. They did not ask to be given ' concessions over and above those granted Chinamen,- though under present conditions it seemed that it WAS BETTER TO BE A CHINAMAN m" the laundry" business than a European as the conditions were more favorable. There 1 Were 3# Chinese laundries m Auckland and 41 m Wellington, and tne CMrieso' Competitors threatened, to grow racial/, monthly, unless the CJdverrimniit took steps td bring about freedom of equality as between the Chinese a&d Euf dpeans.- The deputation was iully seized df the difficulties presenting themselves to the Minister, who knew as well as anybody else m Wellington that the Chinese" laundries remained, open till all hours. They worked as partners, worked on Sundays,- he supposed; and on holidays, which European laundry-keepers were' forbidden td do. The competition set by the Chinamen made it impossible for- tbd European to cope with him. Mr W. Naismith, as spokesman for the laundry-keepers, produced for the Minister's perusal correspondence and petitions from laundry-keepers between lnvercargill and Auckland. This was not, he said, a local deputation ; it was representative of the Dominion. After traversing the' injustice set forth m the j above letter, Mr Naismith said that as laundry-keepers and employers of female labor they came within the ■ operation of the Factories Act and could not work more than 45 hours per week. The Chinaman, however, worked from Sunday till Saturday. Their shops were opened' after the theatres emptied. People could be seen emerging from the Chinese laundries at all hours carrying their parcels. Under the Factories Act, the European could not do tTiat. A few ' years ago m Wellington there were abdut 12 or 13 Chinese laundries, to-day there were 41, and if time permitted, it co'ald no doubt be ascertained that there were over 50. Only within the past month six new Chinese laundries had been started m NeWtown. The Europeans felt it very much, and during the past six or seven . years their business had riot increased to the extent it should have- The Chinaman got the wor la that should go to the European, arid they asked that the Chinaman should be made to work under the same laws that controlled the European. As Mr Fisher pointed out, the Chinese evaded the Law by putting down employees as partners m the business, and, added Mr Naismith, "1 nave heard ft remarked that they only do it to get away from the labor laws of the country, which is quite true." The Chinamen", he went on to say, had captured the fruit and grocery tirade and WoHlfl entirely capture the laundry industry, arid the" fact that the fruit, vegetable and grocery trade m Wellington HAT) BEEN CAPTURED BY THE CHINAMAN ought to he an object lesson to all. The Chinaman lived on 7s Cd per week, and quoting from a newspaper report of a recent Court case, the speaker showed where a' Chinaman swore that he got board and lodgibgs for 7s 6d a week. "You see," said Mr Naismith, "we're British subjects, and we're only asking for fair legislation to protect us from the Chinaman. His mode of living, and the expense of living can't be compared with what it costs to keep the European going." Mr It. A. Wright, M.P., expressed himself m sympathy with the deputation because the competition with Chinamen was unfair. The question, bristled with difficulties, and although Chinese had been prosecuted, it was extremely diffii cult for the Labor Department,' unless !

an afmjr of skilled detectives W«e em-t [ ployed, to detect cases alluded fo\ Tha i partnership amoiig Chinamen might be legal m a" sense, though be believed the real position 'was that one man was* ac : the head of a number of men, and that ; the Chinamen were set f©rth as part- ; riers for the purpose of evading the 1 Labor Laws. Mr I>. McLaren, m speakiing on t*d matter, quoted the state of aSairs m British Columbia, where it was once similar to. what it is m Wellington. Now the Chinese had swept the European out of tfie field. Mr Wilford, who was late on the scene, was certainly m sympathy with the outCry agapst the Asiatic" invasion. He, however, pointed out that m the first place the proposed amendment was wrongly drawn. The word "alien", would have to be deleted to bring it m line with the interpretation clause of the- 18'J8 Act"., the .whole point was this, "Thef had to say whether the ASIATIC WERE ObING TO OUST T"Hfi EUROPEAN laundry-keeper, and if they were to be so ousted, was anything to bo done ? If he talked for a month he could not say any more than that. He believed that if ever these islands were occupied by thft Chinese it Would he done m a pacific manner. They would starve the White man out. No one would be able to com* . pete with, them at furniture-making, gar-* dening and everything else. Ho could quite understand that the Minister would have great difficulty m solving the question, Mr Wilford gave an instance of when returning from Parliament House at 4.30 m the morning he saw six Chinamen at work. . Mr Fisher : We don't 'know whether they were up early or late. Mr Wilford suggested that they work* ed m shifts, and quoted an instance where Chinamen were imported and worked as a compound m a garden until they had worked off the price arranged for their importation. He appreciated v the difficulty inasmuch as we said to the Chinaman, "If you come here you shall come under our law," and if they brolie the law it was by a trick. It was impossible to ask women to compete wilh Chinamen. - , THE MINISTER'S REPLY. The Minister admitted tbat be was asked to deal with a thorny subject, and he asked the deputation to carry their fhinds back two years ago, when he endeavored to prevent the growth of the evil by inserting a clause m tne factories Act, providing that no Chinaman should be the proprietor of a registered factory. He Sought to protect the rights of the white, not so much from the point of view of laundry-keepers, but from the threatened invasion of Chinese m factories to establish the cabinetmaking industries. Mr Millar further pointed out that the ChSnese had driven the European out of the cabinet-making trade m various parts of Australia, and the workers were . unable to get employments In dealing with the amendment proposed, the Minister pointed out that if it were passed by the New Zealand Legislature, it would have to be referred to the Old Country for approval. The Chinaman was admitted to the country And he had the same rights as the European, but the deputation urged on him to take those rights a way from the Chinaman. "I am," said the Minister, "m entire sympathy With your afth, and I shall endeavor to do What I can. I have just given instructions to 'Hie Labor De< par tmgnt a rough idea of a clause that is likely to meet the case. 1 may go further, and 1 shali bring m a' separate Bill, a No. 2 Amending Bill, which might have to go Home for the Royal assent before it became law;,". Further, he said he Would have the clause drafted, , ahfl he considered it wduld meet the tease. It was a sad reflection, on the part of the people, but from inquiries he had made he found tEat the CHINAMAN DIIV ttOi? CANVAS FOk ORDERS.. The European took his orders to the Chinaman an£ called for it. : A laundryman : We can't do that. .We work our hands eight hours* iWe cannot take the orders and the result is they go to the Chinaman. Mr Fisher complained that ih&necase the Department would not grant permits for three nights, The Minister-e xplained that the Law only allowed permits for two nights. The Department could not break tne Law. He further mentioned that there were only two Chinese laundry-keepers m Wellington who employed labor. Mr Fisher asked if it was 'possible to have a clause inserted m the .Act limiting the number of partners. The Minister thought the best way would be to holfi One man a$ the registered owner. He, however, pointed out that it was possible for four European, girls to combine &S partners. 'Mr Wilford suggested that that might mean longer hours for the females. The Minister reiterated his .intention to go into the matter thoroughly. He did hot want to have his Bill rejected by the Home authorities. It was possible he could so frame the Bill so as to negative it being placed before the Home authorities. After thanking the Minister the deputation withdrew.