THE PREMIER AND THE COUNCIL.

Otago Witness, Issue 2210, 9 July 1896, Page 11

THE PREMIER AND THE COUNCIL.

WHY THE ASIATICS BILL. WAS REJECTED.

A COUNCILLOR'S VIEWS.

(Fjroji Our Own Correspondent.) Wellington, July 1.

Tk» rejection by the Couuoil of the Asiatio Restriction Bill is, as I havo already stated, to be made a stalking horse at the general election by the Premier. He can hava no other objVcfc in vie*, for he must kno* that his suggested reforoi of th« Counc'l is nob likely to bear fruit. Any such bill as he proposes, whether for the abolition of ' the Counoil or the institution of the sevon years' tenure to apply to life member*, tnus*; inevitably be rdjaotad by tha Upper Hoiua. The only way in which Mr Soddon could c«ry any euoh roform a? ha suggests is by flooding, the Council with a new batch of his own tonninesa; bat I think, in viow of the lengthy and satnowhafe sultry correspondence that bas taken place between his Excalleuoy and tho Premier in connection with this esuna matter, there is not mush danger in tha*i di'-cc-tion. The queition of preoedeat in regard to the Speaker's action m throwing out the Asiufc-cs B'wi on his ca*tiug vo're is not of much cduscqutnoo. The Speaker h»s a perfect right to uhs his own vote aa he did, and there aro precedents bqth ways. Meeting a wtll-kuown aud promiuenb member of the Couaeil. who is geDe-ally r-.gucleJ , at very iioeral in* his viewe, I book the opportunity of asking hU opinion oa the brealcr allegation of tuo Prcmitr thab tho Council has not properly cirricd out its fractions, and that it bus failed to givo t> G^verumenb measures- that consideration whioh is their due. Tae member referred to at once pointed out the fallacy of Much a statement. The Council, he said, had always given Government measures tho fullest consideration, aud any Government j measure ttfat had been before tao couatry aud had met with the approv.«l,of the elscborß had bsen treated fairly and passed. Measures hid even been passed in this way though Councillors themselves may have thought that in some oases tha measures wero not wine ; still they recognised thab once tho country had appiored of fcuch measures it was their duty to act in rccordauce with the wishes of tha majority. Several of the Government measures, however, he pointed out, had limply b.ea tent to the Upper He we to be thrown out. - The bulk of the, legislation senb up by the Government last session had not boen properly thought out, but h«l been merely got up in answer to some particular cry or fuel. Indeed tome of the measures were to- crude tba* it would never do for the Council to pass them. Ihe Asiatics Restriction Bill this session was a case in poiut Tha matter was rushed through the Lower jHouse, and not properly debated, ab a time when members We re thinking of nothing but banks. So far there had been no real demand on the part of tha people to restrict Chincfe immigration further than it wss restricted ab present, and, bs a matter of fact, the last census proved that the Chinese population was decreasing. Bub apart altogether from this the Council hud the best grounds for throwing; out the bill, because it did not, m was generally supposed, confine itself to the exolusion of Chinese. For instance, Japaneeoj and even British subjects, wero included in tho bill ns teut up from the Lower Hou?e, and by passing such a bill the Council would be hampering commerce with Japao, which it was very dencable to fost-r, while at the same time they would be embarrassing __ English diplomacy without any adequate reason. - lv this connection I may quote from a speech delivered in the Upper House by the Hon. C. C. Bo wan, which puts this phase of the question very fairly. After some perfunctory remark*, Mr Bowoa s«d ;— •• The bill brought in, witboub any apparent threat of further Chinese immigration, is utterly up justifiable, and is restrictive of the immigration of perhaps cultivated Hindoos and of merchauts and travellers of civilised races bcloi:g : ng to the same eoapira as ourselves. It rebtrict9 commerce with thi Japanese, who are a -highly oivilised, intelligent, commercial peop'e, »ni with whom we are vory anxious now to have commercial relations if they will only buy our wool. We know that since the war tbe Japanese are beginning to erec 1 ; looms and t) cultivate' commercß ou a larger scale than heretofore. In view of<tbis etota of affairs, it was propofe.l that we should 6;vy to them: 'We will send wool in our ships to your coasts and we h^po you will buy .it, bub if you send your frhips to our coasts for that wool we wi'.l not allow you to land.' I« thab the way to encourage commerce ? I am afraid • tho Japanese would havo a very shrewd answer to give to such a proposal. They aco a very shrewd people, and, as ba« already been stated, they have got a very considerable force to back , up their opiuonß. I svni not ab all sure, in the very near future, if a great war Bhould occur which nuy involve the southern hemisphere, that we might nob be glad of an alliance with theie people. I am not at all sure that the British and Japanese' fleets united may not bo the means of preserving peace in those seas. We are incurring au unnecessary risk and provoking hostility from people who are in many respects as intelHgeut as ourselves withoub a shadow of fear of any danger threatening as at present." The Hon. G. M'Lean said a good deal had been said about the Chinese working for low wages. There were, however, some other people who could beat the Chinese out of the country— namely, the ItalianF, — and yet they were considered desirable immigrants. Italians had driven the Chinese oub of the San Francisco vegetable murket. They could cope with the Chineie in market gardening, and they had -driven the Chinese our there. If that was bo, why not put Italians in the bill P The other side of the question was voiced by Mr Rigg, who, in the course of his speech, said he had shown members of the Council on a previous occasion that the Chinese wero as a raoe, in their own country, a nation of thieveß and liars, and persons of dishonest dealings, without knowledge or perception ab &11 of morality. On the whole, I think the Lords have little to fear because of their refusal to pass the Asiatics Restriction Bill. Many members of both Houses regard the threat as libble more than an ad captandum appeal to a section of the community in view of the forthcoming elections. A deputation from Mfc Anli-Chinese League, consisting of, some of the ladies who called upon, the Premier last night, accompanied by a score of their male frieuds, gave Mr Seddon another opportunity of railing against the Legislative Counoil. It was rather startling to hear from one lady thab nine-tenths of the population of San Francisco consisted of Chinese, while the Japanese would come here, not in tens, bub in hundreds and thousands ; and the Premier looked as solemn a* if ha believed it. Another, lady seriously declared that tbe Chineie were not human beings at all, and suggested that the Councillors ■hotdd be

made to consort with them. The P/emier, in reply, assumed on »ir of awful indignation. He said he believed the Council vm past mending, and the trae lolution was to'end it. When he took s matter in band he never turned bjcfc. Ho would uovr throw atide all reservation, And would either put the Council in touch with tha people or out of existence altogether. It was tnggested by the deputation that the CounoiT would pass Iha bill if it was confined to Ctain&mon. But this is not what Mr Seddon wants ; it would depriva him of a good eLsotion cry, henca 'ha declared he would not go on his knees to the Council, nor would he. recede from hi* position.- And yet he subiequootly stated thab by tho rules of Clv Council a bill once rejected could not be recaasiderod duriog the same session.