THE CHINESE PROBLEM. TO THE EDITOR.

Otago Witness, Issue 1449, 30 August 1879, Page 8

THE CHINESE PROBLEM. TO THE EDITOR.

Sib, — Do those who advocate Chinese immigration ever pause to think of the consequences that may issue from the introduction of large numbers of people who are in almost everything our> antipodes ? Do they ever (look forward to that day when the white workman will be replacedby the Chinese? Are they prepared to accept the inevitable consequences that will arise when the Chinese in these Colonies begin to feel their own strength ? The great drawback to a writer in treating of the Chinese question is the want of a precedent. True, we have California before our eyes, but the evil over there has not attained such proportions as to become indisputable history. Besides, large numbers of people will not believe anything that does not come under their own observation. We see in history numberless iavasions, but none of a type approaching to the Chineßa invasion of America and these Colonies. A peaceful invasion is something quite new in the history of the world. It is true that immigration on a considerable scale has sometimes taken place through religious troubles, &o. ; but the immigrants brought to their new land the same stern and lofty virtues which caused them to give up home and country before their cherished convictions. The same habits and modes of thought which rendered them a thorn in the sides of their tyrannical rulers caused them to be a valuable acquisition to a country more enlightened than their own. They also brought to their new land many valuable industries, and were as great a gain to the land of their adoption as they were a loss to their own country. I need only to speak of the Hugenots driven from France by the revocation of the edict of Nantes, tho arrival of the Flemings ia England and Scotland during the the reign of the Edwards, to explain my meaning, not to speak of the Waldenses and other victims of the Dragonnades. , Tho Arrival of the Puritans in New Zealand,

I need not speak of, as ifc is a ca3e in point, it : being merely the supplanting of the savage by the civilised man. Were the Chinese of a warlike disposition, the modeof dealing with them is shown in history ; it is, paradoxical though it may sound, precisely,} because they are of a peaceful disposition that their arrival in large numbers ia dangerous. Were they of a warlike race, China would be split up into half a dozen kingdoms too busily engaged in cutting each others throats, to hurt us much. Had they been like our own race, constantly fighting with each other for centuries, putting out of sight their internecine feuds of a few years ago, their numbers^ would not mount up to what they do. Unlike the people before spoken of, they bring us nothing but what we would rather be without. Were they an advantage to the country by teaching us new industries, by showing us an example in the purity of their lives ; setting us a copy to go by in their literature, habits, mode of thought, social economy, laws, morals, or religion — the case would be vastly different. Tho advantage is all on their side ; we gain nothing by copying them. Their civilisation is utterly antagonistic to ours, and the two can never exist together. Their peaceful disposition is, as I have sais, peculiarly dangerous, ia that they are easily managed by their rulers ; the same disposition rendering China one compact, homcegenous whole, capable, when they thoroughly awake to their owq strength, of exerting a vast influence upon the world. It is_ exactly their submissive re3pect for authority, coupled with their vast numbers, that will render them dangerous. For all their apparent meekness, they are an race — cruel to the weak, submissive and cringing to the strong. Any country that encourages Chinese^ immigration must deteriorate — it ia utterly impossible that the presence of Chinese will lead to improvement in the Anglo-Saxon race. The axioms and doctrines of their model sago, Confucius, are cold and hard, selfish and sordid. One sentence from the Sermon on the Mount is worth all his proverbs. The future of the Chinese people is a problem which I confess is beyond my i«ower to solve. There is no doubt but that they will exercise a powerful influence upon the world in the future. That they will ever become a great people I do not believe, for they are utterly wanting in the attributes that go towards rendering a people great and fgood-strong religious and moral impressions. A race who has no religious feeling can never become great. Pure and grand thoughts can never spring from a base and sordid stock. The ennobling thoughts of a Shakespeare could find no placa in Chinese litarature. Suppose America and these Colonies had been discovered and settled by Chinese in the same manner as we have done, would these countries present any attraction to immigrants of our race? That, in my humble opinion, is the most intelligent way, in which to look at this matter. If Chinsse immigration should attain large dimensions ia the future their poverty will take the place of ours, deeper, viler, far mora hopeless than the poverty in the lowest depths of the Caucasian. People say we are bad enough ourselves, without Bitting in judgment upon these strangers. True ; so we are bad enough, God knows. But will the advent of a few millions of Celestials among us improve our morals or religion? Will we be any better when the white man cannot g*t a day's work ? What shall we do with our boys and girls? Shall we send our boys out on the loose, like the Kellys ?— our girls to be the Chinaman's concubine? I hear some one say, Send your boys out to earn their honest living; let them work. Let them work, then ; but where is the work ? Somebody says, Send your girls out to service, as their mothers had to go. Willingly, most potent, grave, and reverend seignor, but where is the Bervice ? How many boys and girls^ earn their own living in California, art thou aware of, most sapient Chinese advocate? Doat thou notl know that every hotel, every private house that employs labour, is served by Chinese 1 t From the ■ cellar to the attic, from the hall door to tha back yard, in the garden, in the stables, any. where and everywhere, the ever-present Chinaman usurp 3 the place of our boys and girls. Your clothes are washed by a Chinaman ; your buttons sewn on bya Chinaman. There is about one office which Chinamen do not to any extent monopolise, and that is the office of waiters at the hotels. Sambo beats Chinkie there ; he saw him, and went two better. The hotelkeepers were compelled to choose between all blacks or all yellows. It was difficult to get all Chinese waiters used to white men's ways, and able to make themselves understood, and so for once John got licked. There are large numbers of boys and girls in San Francisco who cannot obtain work. Almost everything is monopolised by the Celestial. One of the grandest countries on the face of the earth has been ruined by " the peaceful, harmless Chinaman." Turn out all the servant girls in Ofcago,,and put Chinese in their places ; let every place be filled with ' Chinkies. Imagine a number of large contractors bargaining for so many hundreds of the serfs of the Chinese Companies. Imagine your streets filled at night with crowds of young men and women, unable to earn a single cent for themselves or their parents. A handful of rice will not keep a white man's family. Imagine all this, and what will be the end, think you? I much mistake the temper of the American people, if they will put up with this sort of thing much longer. When a white operative receives his pay, by the time he Fquares up with one and the other, there is not much left. By the time he gets that pair of boots for Susie, and some clothes for Johnny, with something for Sunday's dinner, he's not worthy of the attention of the Kellys, not much. The money of the workmen circulates all over the country, the life-blood of the community. For after all, it is the working man|who is the backbone of the State, whether in peace or war. 'Regularly the pay. of the Chinese workmen ia withdrawn from circulation, and sent to China, and there it remains. The richest nation in the world, could not stand such a constant drain upon its resources. As yon say, yourself, in a former iß.«ue, the Chinese will only act as servants until they feel themselves to be masters. The remedy is in the power of the working man himself, viz., the ballot-box. Let the issue be put plainly— Chinkies, or no Chinkies. — I am, &c, _ D. H. OSBOKNE. Riverton, August 14th.