CHINESE IMMIGRATION

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 86, 2 July 1927, Page 28

CHINESE IMMIGRATION

THE EXCLUSION OF WOMEN LECTURES LAST NIGHT “Much seems to turn on their knowledge of English as to whether they become good New Zealanders.” This was the opinion voiced by the Rev. W. Mawson, a very experienced observer of the Chinese both in China and in New Zealand, in a paper read to .the Auckland branch of the Institute of Pacific Relations last evening. One of the greatest bars to the assimilation of the Chinese community was their poor knowledge of English. The 3,229 Chinese in New Zealand were Cantonese. Most of them came from well-defined areas and followed in New Zealand as a general rule the trade or craft in which they or their families were familiar with in their homes. Earlier immigrants to New Zealand came with the intention of making wealth to take back to China, but the restriction had rather changed that aim. They were now expected by their families in China to contribute to their support, and to effect the transfer of any relatives who might be able to come out. Ties of family life and other engagements tended to make the Chinese community no longer a temporary population. But the restriction of the immigration of Chinese women at the present time was an adverse influence. There were 1,900 male Chinese in the Dominion, either unmarried or separated from their wives, but the Government resolutely opposed the entry of women from a fear of the natural increase of Asiatics that would follow. Mr. Mawson dealt with the conditions of life among the Chinese in New Zealand. “We should be thankful,” he concluded, “that the immigration has come from one of the most virile, intellectually and physically, of the races of the East.” Mr. W. H. Cocker read a paper dealing with the history of Chinese immigration into New Zealand, and the legislation restricting it from the earliest attitude adopted by the Government in response to agitation from the Southern mining districts, to the present day. Now immigration was solely controlled by a permit system under which no permits had been issued for the past two years, except for temporary residences up to six months. The papers read were drafts of some of those intended to be placed before the conference.