Page 16 Advertisements Column 1

Otago Witness, Issue 1904, 18 May 1888, Page 16

[Advt.] THE CHINESE QUESTION. The announcement recently made that a treaty had been entered into between the Government of the United States and the Imperial Government of China; by which Chinese are precluded ' from entering American ports during a period of years, naturally enough suggested the idea to the various Australian Governments that a similar treaty might be negotiated between the British Government and China. Assuming the desirability and the justice of excluding the Chinese from Australian territory, this would unquestionably be a more satisfactory method of accomplishing the end desired than poll-taxing or any of the arbitrary' methods which have found so much favour, among time-serving politicians and others who make it their business to pander to the prejudices, to the -ignorance, and to the selfishness of that class of the population that is supposed to be represented by, but is in reality dominated by the trades unions. There is a difficulty, however, in the way of any suoh treaty being negotiated between Great Britain and China, inasmuch' as but a few years ago the former Power at the mouth of the cannon forced the latter Power to enter into commercial relations with her, and is still deriving a very large pecuniary profit from these same commercial relations. We can well understand, therefore, the announcement which appears in'our cable messages that Baron Kuufcsford, better known as Sir Henry Holland, (Secretary of State for the Colonies, is not disposed to negotiate any treaty with tho Government of China for the exclusion of Chinese from the Australian colonies. How could he hope to negotiate in such a cause with any degree of success ? The case of the United States GovernI ment is not a parallel one, because that Govern- ! ment has never forced American trade upon China, has no settlements in that country, and is not interested — at all events to the same extent — that England is in the maintenance of commercial relations with China.' In deepseated attachment to the Mother Country, and in loyalty to the British throne and Constitution, we yield to no one ; but at the same time we have no hesitation in asserting that in forcing the opium trade upon China the British Government committed a crime, and it must bear the consequences of its own act, one of which is the influx of | Chinese into British dominions. We are not inclined, however, to fall into a panic over this matter. We have always held, and still hold, that there is plenty of room in the Australian colonies for all the Chinese, or members of any other race, who are ever likely to come here, and we entertain but a very poor opinion of those descendants of the Anglo-Saxon race, whether they be Australian natives or otherwise, who express a fear that they will not be able to hold their own against' them. They are degenerate ! sons of worthy sires who entertain such a craven fear or make such a humiliating confession. There used to be a tradition amongst the Eng-lish-speaking race that one Englishman was equal in virile btrerigth to three Frenchmen, half-a-dozen .Russians, and a fabulous number of any Oriental race ; but now we are asked to believe tfiat 2,000,000 or '3,000,000 people of English birth or English descent inhabiting the Australian colonies will be swept into the sea or wiped out of existence by a mere handful of Chinese — a race that we have been accustomed to look upon as semi-barbarians. The idea is really too ridiculous to deserve serious consideration. The idea which is commonly accepted that China is an 'immensely over-populated country, and that there is a danger, therefore, of the colonies in the Southern seas being overun with Chinese, does not appear to have any foundation in fact. The population of China is generally estimated at 400,000,000, but those who stand aghast at these figures do not take into account the enormous extent of territory over which this population is spread. Presuming the correctness of the statements of the Rev. Grainger Hargraves, a Wesleyan clergyman who has been for 10 years engaged in missionary work in China, it appears that the proportion of population to the acre is very much less in China than it is in England, or in any European country. In a communication of his that has recently been published iv the Melbourne press he condemns the imposition of a poll-tax on the Chinese as a short-sighted policy. "In the colonies," he says, " there is almost a panic on the question. I suppose all panics are due, to a very considerable extent, to the dread of the unknown, and nothing will assist to allay an excitement better than correct information. In the first place, there is a good deal of ignorance concerning the population of China. Taking the empire as a whole it is but ! 57. to the sqnare mile. Now, the Chinese that come here are all from Canton, men driven out because they cannot live there, and the sparsely populated districts of China are so ill-governed that they give no field. As China gets railways and telegraphs and communication with the central Government living is made easier, these districts will become settled, and the Chinese Government will recognise the desirbleness of colonising her own sparsely populated country rather than allowing the people to leave. That, however, applies to the future, however near or distant we cannot say, but probably nearer than we anticipate In the meantime the problem presses, and the question comes how to deal with it. For my own part I consider the imposition of a poll or residential tax . a short-sighted policy, calculated' to offend the dignity and touch the honour of the Chinese Government, as seen in the late despatch of his Excellency Len to Lord Salisbury." There can, we think, be no doubt 'in the minds of those who take a dispassionate view of the matter that the agitation which has been got up against the Chinese in Australia is simply the result of a panic. The number of Chinese in the Australasian colonies is diminishing rather than increasing, and considering the fact that China is not over-populated, as is- commonly supposed, and that the Chinese authorities are averse to the population leaving the country, there is little or no ground for supposing that the Chinese will ever come herein such numbers as to •be a source of danger to the European population. ■ ■ ■ • It is often objected to the Chinese that they are dirty in their habits and not infrequently