THE CHINESE QUESTION.

Otago Witness, Issue 1422, 22 February 1879, Page 10

THE CHINESE QUESTION.

TO THE EDITOR.

Sir, — My assertions as to the danger of allowing such a people as the Chinese to overrun, and perhaps finally overpower, the present holders of America and these Colonies, may appear to superficial observers, irresistibly comic, bat I submit that a thoughtful person, even viewing these assertions as a mere pessimist theory, will see something in them worthy at leist of investigation. People who see John shuffling about in his clumsy way, who see the eaee with which a few whitemen, on occasion, drive crowds of Chinese before tltem, not unnaturally think that such people never could be trained to war ; but it must be remembered that these people are strangers in a strange land, lookedon aa intruders, and quite conscious of the fact

It must be borne in mind that these people are observant, patient, and imitative, docile and obedient to their superiors, frugal and industrious, having a natural leaning towards acting in large bodies, all very useful virtues when found in the ranks of an army. Discipline makes a wonderful n'teration in masses of men ; the babifc of acting iv concert, the confidence engendered by knowledge of military manoauvres, tend to transform the shuffling lout into another being.

Ifcmay be said that fear of Chinese aggression i i these days is absurd; no doubfc it is, but how about the future ? Scientists tell us that China contains within herself unbounded resources, of which she is as yet hardly aware; but her chitf resource is her large population, available for purposes of commerce or war. Iron and coal, which have raised England to her present height, she possesses in abundance, China, alone, it is said, having coalfields larger than those of all the rest of the world put together. Her forests abound with valuable timber, and, particularly towards the Russian frontier, wirh fur-bearing animals and numberless edible roots, # berries, nuts, fruit, gourds, &c. The streams in the same direction fairly swarm with fish, and the edible varieties of wild fowl are almost numberless. Her climate ranges from the extremity of cold to the fiercest tropical he it. A great many of her rivers —those arteries of a mighty Empire, are large and navigable for large vessels for a considerable distance, while minerals, metals, and many valuable products are within easy reach

Military men of the present day look upon the idea of Chinese aggression as a very good joke after dinner; in the same light did the Romans regard at one time the Huns, the Goths, the Franks, <fee.

Persons in these Colonies, in forming an estimate of the desirability or otherwise, of Chinese immigration, must carefully bear in mind thsfc it is only, speaking generally, the scum or dregs of that vast Empire that reaches the shores of America or these Colonies, Hongkong especially being a sort of Chinese Alsatia. Bishop Moorehonse, of Melbourne, in speaking to the Chinese question, called them "virfcnons, orderlj, and intelligent, citizens," and asserted that the only method of dealing with the problem was by Christianising John. I do not deny but 0 ohn may be very virtuous, but his virtue is, I fancy, of a very Chinese

pattern. Orderly they are nob whan they greatly outnumber the whites, while their intelligence is limited to imitation. As for miking them followers of Christ, I think esprit de corps must have bliudedfche Bishop to the conspicuous f ailuro of the Christian missions in the E ist. T should like to see some estimate of the cost of each Chinese convert to the English and Ame rican Missions in China ; even should the con- ; version be real, which in most fc ise=i I beg leave to doubfc, I think the number of Ohinkies who have been caught, would nofc cause a strike anywhere, even it' they all landed at once. — I am, <fee. D. H. OsnoiiNK. Rivorfcou, February Ist, 187' J.