CHINESE IMMIGRATION.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 1168, 29 September 1865, Page 6

CHINESE IMMIGRATION.

To t Jut Editor of t c Daily Tijij:3.)

g, a —The subject of Chinese Immigration to this Province, recently brought before the Chamber of Commerce, is one requiring very earnest consideration by all right-minded men, and ought to be dealt with fairly and impartially. 4 It is a well-known fact, (hat there at prcEent exists in the Province, a very great area of old-wrought auriferous soil, with here and there, fit very wide intervals,, parties of two, three, four and five diggers at work. In the once famous Gabriel's Gully, and in the T uapekn, Hospital, Wetherstoncs and Evans' Fiats, all of which immediately adjoin it, there is one immense f-tretch of gold-bearing ground, nearly all already wrought, it is true;-but worth beinsr wrought again, if our brawny digger would only be content to make:for his hard work, an average of say thirtyfive or forty shillings a week. But he ia not inclined to do this ; tnd T for one believe he is right, a-; by travelling further he can make a great d;.al more. Scattered over all the other g 'Id bearing districts of the Province, there are l.'.rge tracts of soil in the same condition n< arly as those I have referred to, and from the scant number of diggers working on thorn, they may safely be said to be almost given up. Now, it if) well-known that the Chinese are, of all men iin the world, the men capable, without any grumbling, and by bard and constant labor, to extract every grain of gold which may be found remaining in all such places. Therefore, I believe lam right in saying that a knowledge of the facts' above stated has been the direct means of leading a good many sensible men, including among their number many intelligent diggers, to believe that, if all other matters relating to the Chinese—-such as their habits, morals, &c—arc favorable, then John Chinaman is the very man required to go over all the old-wrought auriterous ground, existing in this or in any other Province.

There can be no doubt whatever that the lower clans'of Chinese keep themselves, and everything near thf-m, ia a filthy state; but is there no remedy for nil this, in the shape of a etringecit fiecnl law, and the vigilance of a Nuisance Inspector ? Then they are extra fond of their neighbors' fowls, and are famed for the cunning and general ability they display in small thefts; but we have a police force in existence to capture offenders—Resident Magistrates to try and convict them—and plenty of gaol accommodation lor their detention. I daresay, however, the Chinaman, is.not much worse, in this respect, than his neighbor; and, certain I am, hi; is rarely guilty of the more serious crimes, and almost never of murder. lie is no diinker of ardent spirits, which so frequently " steal away the senses" of digger?, kavinir them brawling, swearing, and lighting in the streets, and at the bars of hotels anel shanties in the diggings township-, and which is a worse anuoyance rothe respectable inhabitants and tbe public authorities than the petty thefts which might be carried on by the Olfu.e.se. Then they keep themselves to themsdv.-s, and wLeit they do quarrel, which' i<. seldom, it is with one auothcr, and not with our digger, of whom they are so notoriously' afraid, that, gangs of them have brc.J known to fly bnfore a digger armed'with a thrashing flail. With respect to their moral?, I think the less saidupon 'that subject the better for ourselves. \Ve nre not so perfect in morals, as divines and other pv'obably well meaning people would have us.to believe. Let us take care that while beholding a great mote in tbe eye of every Chinaman, we are forgetting that the moit of us have a good sized mote in our own. Chaiir.y, says St. Paul, brgetteth all things; but in consider?' iog the Chinese character, even Mr Bathgate can forget the great Apostle's noble injunction, and a good many more have made, and in the consideration of this question, are how making the same mistake. It is well to know, that Sir John Bowring, who spent his best days in China, thought that even the lower orders in that country, would, iv many respects, be an example to the same class in Britain; arid his opinion was corcoborated by Mr Lawrence Oliphant, Secretary to the Eatl of Elgin's mission. Mr Bathgate, I dare say, believes in Christian missions to the heathen ; and I dare say he further believes, that these missions to the Chinese, liave just been a3 successful an our Home Missions amongst the lower orders of society in Britain. Supposing we could shut the door against the Chinese, it cannot _be done on the ground of their immorality, because when viewed in a common sense light, I do not think it is exiperior to much of our own. ,

It i 3 of great importance to notice Mr Bathgate's objection to Chinese immigration, on the ground that they " bring no capital and leave none." But as this question may be said to bs a gold fluids one, it must be so dealt with. I a~k, therefore, how many of the mining population in the Province brought capital with them when they came, here ? It is notorious, that no capital was. brought? and it is the fact, that thousands of diggers, after realising a good deal of money, and in many cases making what is called a " pile," left the Province without investing a" shilling in its soil, or in riny other way towards its ultimate benefit. And how does Mr Bathgate know, that

the Chinese any more than others, will come to the Province without any capital, or leave it without investing any capital. And what 5b capital? Mr Bathgatc believes it to be thousands of pounds sterling, ready to- irmet- Not-to-Adam Smith. — '/lOne* penny formß a capital when well directed and attended.with success. 1' There are wealthy Qbjnc-se merchants, and other Chinamen m Victoria, who have been there for years, and there is every probability that they may be there for years yet; to come; and they employ their capital tin the way Mr Bathgate deEires, viz., "doing everything which is to .bring capital into the country." What is to prevent Dunedin having her Chinese merchants, and her Chinese Bank (Limited), with its rich Chinese shareholders, .ou some, it may be, ) notfardistantday? Jardine,the famous tea j and silk merchant of Canton, took out no capital to China, but had to work his passage, and he became the founder of the eminent house of Jardine, Matbeson and Co., which ha* now a branch ia almost every large commercial city in the world. Now if Mr Batligate had been a Chinaman (which fortunately for ua he is not) living in Canton in Jardine's time, he would probably have objected to his being allowed to land, and if he had carried the majority with him, Canton would never have become the great commercial city it now is. In a minor point of view, I believe I am right when I say that a Chinaman cannot live on air alone, and, therefore, were he on. our G"ld Fields to morrow, he would requ: re food of some description. Now, I never heard of anybody getting food for nothing, if it couid be helped ; therefore, the Chinaman would have to purchase food from the storekeeper, and as the storekeeper's stock got reduced, he would ha fc to order a fresh supply from the citymerchant, which would greatly assist the city merchant to keep his bank account on the right side; and this being done, Mr Bath»a?e, or any other banker, would be i enabled to inest his shareholders with a smile on his benign countenance, for their dividends would be kept up, and perhaps increased, and his own salary duly paid. ■I have yet to learn what awful event, either with reference to morals or in any other way, has taken place in Victoria, consequent on the existence of a population of 50,000 Chinese; and I leave the candid mind to say whether or not that large number has increased or diminished the material wealth of Victoria. I have to apologise for this long letter, but the subject is of such vast importance that it deserves a thorough ventilation, lam, &c, J. D.R.

Tilting Siiuiii'.—" G. Dell," of Ledcourt Station, Victoria, describes a mole of.tilting sheep into a tank or washing place, without handling", end aa this simple mechanical arrangement i 8 calculated to save much troublel, we give the description in his o^n words:—"To partly remedy many of tlu(tbufies the poor sheep arc subjected to by hand lubour, in the process of Bheepwashing and dipping, I have succeeded in inventing a very simple machine, which will dispense with all hand labour, and the consequent cruelly attending llureto. It will facilitate the operation more thau twofold, ami require lees labour. It is adapted to any stream, river, waterhole, or tank. It is so simple in design that it may be constructed by any bush carpunter or ordinary blackfellow, and its cost not more than from LS to LlO. A spindle oi about eight feet lorig 'v put up perpendicu-" lnrly, the bottom in n cup, and the top fixed in a beam similar to that of the whims used for working wells. Into the bottom of ;th« epimJlo is fixed a frame, extending from four lo five feet on the opposite siritß of the spindle, at the extreme points of which are fixed un'lerneiith two small wheels or castors, to assist in the support of the frame and aid its revolutions. On this frame are fixed two bnx>-B or tilts (each ten feet long by five fe< t broad, atid three feet deep) on the fame principle us an ordinary tilt cart; - wheu one of the tilts is full of sheep (which will hold about forty), one man runs it round by an arm through the spindle, until the tilt containing the sheep arc in a position to be tiltvd into the tank or river, which placts the opposite and empty tilt in its place for receiving sheep from the yards, and the sheep seeing their mates in the front tilt run freely forward, without that dread of water that yarding on to a fingle tiltor stage begets, and nre. spun round in thiir turn, so soon as the fi.fit tilt is emptied. This revolving double sheepwashing and dipping tilt, is so simple an J pm feet in its adaptability for the purpose s (ksigne 1, that every practical squatter only requires to S'.-e the model to ut once nccept it as the long-looked for desideratum in overcoining part of the. abuses, their flocks nre subject to, at such scisjns, by inexpsrieneed men. By ming this machine, in dipping for scab or tii'ks, four men can dip from ten to twelve, thousand sheep par day ; and shec-p----washin r, with two machines, nine men can wash ten thousand sheep per day, without giving any chance to the brutally disposed in the exercise of their propensities. To accomplish this object on behalf of my pets has been the main purpose of my iuvunlion, which now only requires to be seen to be appreciated and accpted as an improvement in working amongst sheep, second only to ! 'Morton's Universal Swing Gate.'"

Valuauli: "Articles."—The "Times" informs us that on 7th June, "there was soM at Willis'rooms, a collection of articles, firstrate productious in their way, and the result of extreme industry and skill. Twelve sold for L6slO—thnfcis, for an average of L 542 10s. each. Five sold for X 1669 10s—that is, for nn average of L 333 18s each. .The average of the whole seventeen was L4SI 3s each. What could these be ? First-class pictures ? Works of ' high art ?' JMosiacs ? Manuscripts ? They lived and breathed. They were shorthorned cattle. The twelve were cows, the five bulls." The agricultural report of the " Argus" remarks :—" Amongst ihcitems of news received from England by last mail, was one allowing thac there is still spirit enough amongst the breeders of short ho?ds to induce them to give extremely high prices for animals oE a favourite tribe or family.This was proved at the sale of Mr Bolden'tj ' Grand Duchesses,' when Mr Betts gave 6200 guineas for twelve cows of the. tribe, sold in lo(s of three each, and, as one of the threv which fetched the highest price (1900 guineas) is little likely to have a calf again, the oilier two—Grand Duchess the Fifth and Grand Duch(S3 the Eighth—miy be considered to have been sold at about 000 guineas each. There was much competition for these cows at first, but when it was found Mr Betts was: determined to have them all, he vcas not run up so much, or the total amount would'have been higher. One of the bulls fetched 600 guineas, but the average of five was* only L 333 18s each, the seventeen animals realising X.8179 10s, or an average of L4Bl 33 for both bulls and cows. This family, as every shorthorn breeder knows, is of' the Bates strain, but they have also a dash of Booth blood in them, and the admirers of tbissay that those of the cows which fetched the highest pi ice had most of the Booth blood in their veins, and therefore claim for this an improvement on the former, and a share in the triumph of such prices." " ./'■'