CHINESE AND MAORIS

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 749, 23 August 1929, Page 1

CHINESE AND MAORIS

Consul Defends Countrymen WOMAN DOCTOR ASSAILED Challenge to Prove Statements STATEMENTS which were published in The Sun recently, emanating from The Akarana Maori Association, and relating to the association between Chinese men and Maori girls, have aroused a controversy between Mr. Ou Tsin Shuing, Consul for the Republic of China, in New Zealand, and Dr. Mildred Staley, of Auckland. In handing the documents to The Sun, the Consul asks that his contradiction be given equal publicity to that accorded the statements of Dr. Staley.

The correspondence which passed between Mr. Ou Tsin Shuing, and Dr. Staley, and which Is self-explanatory, began by the consul forwarding the following letter to Dr, Staley: Chinese Consulate. Wellington, N.Z.. July 31, 1929. TO DR. MILDRED STALEY Jiadam.— I notice in The Sun Newspaper of July 26, a report of statements made by you at a conference between Te Akarana Maori Association and the National Council of Women. That report states that you said: “Chinese associations are dangerous, morally, spiritually and physically. Special afforts are needed to fight the evil. The Maori Association should carry out a campaign to prevent this demoralisation. The Chines© are riddled with disease. Now that the five Chinese treaty ports are closed to the British, there is no legal reason for admitting Chinese to New Zealand.”

Learning from the Medical Register that you took the degrees of M.B. and B. Surg. at the University of London in the year 1891, I assume that you ha.?* outgrown the impetuosity of youth and that the remarks made by you are based on your own' experience, and I as the representative of .the National Government of China in New Zealand would take it as a favour if you would assist me in my efforts to prevent the good name of the Chinese people from being besmirched. To this end I would ask you %o give me categorical iniwera to the following questions: L In what way are Chinese associations dangerous morally? By way of note I may say that the Chinese youth is taught his duty as follows: "At home a young man should show the qualities of a son: abroad, those of a younger brother. He should b* circumspect but truthful. He should have charity in his heart for All men, but associate only with the Virtuous." 2. in what way are Chinese associations dangerous spiritually? Here I may ask you also to say what you mean by spiritually. If you mean 'rom the point of view of your own religious dogma, then I would remind you that the Chinese place their national code of ethics governing as it does life on earth on a far higher plane than the Western '•ode of ethics . . . To enable you to answer the question fully, I must tell you that the principal duty of a Chinese man is to pay a careful attention i %\f ry want of llis parents and that JJi China there is no such thing as a Parent applying for a maintenance order against a son. 3. In what way are Chinese associations dangerous physically ? 4 * What grounds have you as a «iedica] graduate of the University of , n for sa ying that the Chinese tr ? riddled with disease? o. From whom or where did you p rn that the five Chinese Treaty *orts are now closed to the British? * m *y add that the friendship beGreat Britain and China is cordial, and such unstatements should not be Piolicly and lightly made. I have the honour to be. Madam, Tour obedient servant, OU TSIN SHUING, vonsul for the Republic of China in New Zealand. "USUALLY INACCURATE" v A® j* er reply, Dr. Staley said that she 'W Jong ago learnt to ignore newsreports as “usually inaccurate,” * that something she had said had laently been distorted. She adds: were no reporters present, P ® °f the Alaoris knew’ little [A reporter from The Sun was b y invitat ion of the associaju.—Ed.] Hence your wrong impressions. tj,?' o * * a ®tance, when the president of Maori Association had given the Vf tlc * Maori half-caste children, hu J rllom 80 cent, show' Oriental fiat *« Chinese,’’ I commented <s hch (loose) associations withd. ♦i ßlarria8 ‘ e wit h Chinese were evi<>ntiy dangerous,” from the moral and Piritual as well as the physical, ©se children being “illegitimate.” *• Physically, because these Maori .omen on Chinese market-gardens frn* 6 no ** tra< * e union” to protect them om “overtime,” and long hours of : er -«train with no facilities for rests n comfortable conditions, etc. Also, iv!£? ÜBe Wo found so many cases of _ontagiou3 diseases among these Maori afrla as a result. -• Spiritually, because it is a disaster t young people throw over their iona l uioral safeguards, the reS J”°J in which they were reared and provides some special religious rr ***e ceremony, that satisfies the

womanly longings for purity. . . . Naturally this “irresponsible association” with Chinese that has had such results is regarded as a stain on their race by thoughtful Maoris, whro are quite aware that Chinese men coming here have been married very young in China, so that even civil* marriage would be bigamous. It matters not what the religion is; a Hindu caste girl who violates her religious marriage-law by associating with a non- Hindu, lias outraged her conscience, and is on a downward spiritual path. 3. Mentally it is dangerous, because you yourself will hardly maintain that these uneducated Chinese marketgardeners understand and foster Maori arts and culture, or that hard labour , in the fields (under “slavery” like the “Mui Tsoi” system) is mentally elevating, and gives time and opportunity to the Maori girls to revive and cultivate their great gifts of arts and crafts and music, etc.? I trust that what I have very hurriedly written, quite frankly, will show that there is a real and acute problem for all of us to face who love and admire the Maori race, and wish to keep it on a high mental and spiritual level, and free from degrading habits. I hope also that you realise that all that the National Council wants is to help the Maoris to face their own problems wisely, as no doubt you also feel that the time has come when this matter must be settled, with the aid of common-sense and' goodwill on every side- . ~ I am too busy to enter on any further correspondence, and I feel sure you will appreciate this clear statement of the Maori case as a help to your own cogitations on the subject. (Signed) M. E. STALET. EDUCATION AND CULTURE The Consul carried the controversy a stage further when he wrote: “I must confess that I am astonished that anyone of your experience should listen to such a statement as that said by you to have been made by the president of the Maori Association, namely, that of Maori halfcaste children, SO per cent, show Oriental blood, chiefly Chinese, and then to comment thereon as if it were true. “You say that the Chinese associations are dangerous physically ‘because these Maori women “have no trade union” to protect them from “overtime” and long hours of overstrain, with no facilities for rests in comfortable conditions, etc. . . . also because we found so many cases of contagious diseases among these Maori girls as a result!’ I must express my surprise that you, with your medical experience, should make such a statement. I have it on good authority that the particular disease you mention was prevalent in New Zealand and among the Maoris long before any Chinese were within leagues of Pukekohe, and it is obvious that it requires a very much more careful and intimate inquiry than you can have made to enable you to establish the history of the infection. The absence of facilities for rests in comfortable positions certainly tends to negative your induction regarding results. “In your ‘spiritual' view, you have overlooked the fact that the Chinese

have a much greater respect for women than is usually accorded to men of the West. I quote from Professor Giles, of the University of Cambridge, who wrote: —‘Illegitimate children, the source of so much babyfarming and infanticide elsewhere, are practically unknown in China.’ (“The Civilisation of China,” page 99.) . . . You speak of ‘these uneducated Chinese market gardeners’ and of ‘Maori arts and cultures’ in the same breath. If the Chinese are uneducated because they cannot speak English, are you yourself uneducated because you cannot speak Chinese? You talk of understanding and fostering Maori arts and culture as if it were a thing of the present, and then suggest that Maori girls should have time to revive and cultivate their great gifts of arts and crafts and music, etc., thus indicating that the arts and crafts, etc., are of the past. The Chinese employ the Maori girls in the gardens and pay them wages. Do any other market gardeners offer employment to women? Would they (the European gardeners) have given the women employment if they were in sore need of it?

“You say that you are too busy to

enter on any further correspondence,, and I for my part quite understand that you find yourself quite unable to give sound grounds for your statements as reported in The Sun. After reading your letter, I judge that The Sun report is a very fair expression of what you said, and I hope that you will take the earliest opportunity of withdrawing your statements which, to say the least of it, are offensive to a law-abiding, industrious and moral people. “I presume that you can have no objection to my handing this correspondence to the Auckland newspapers.” DOCTOR IS VEXED The following was Dr. Staley’s reply to this: — “I must refuse to allow my letters to be published, and your Chinese courtesy will respect my wishes. “It is against medical etiquette to have one’s name as a doctor in the papers, and I am vexed that mine was so mentioned here. “But I explained to you that no reporter was present, so I was unaware it would be so, and now I must guard against any further breach of confiFinally the Consul sent the following document to Dr. Staley before handing the whole correspondence to The Sun:— “I am in receipt of your letter of the 18th instant, in which you say that you refuse to allow your letters to be published, and flatteringly suggest that my Chinese courtesy will respect your wishes. You, in effect, ask me to carry out a principle which you Western people utter with great unction but never practise; it is ‘And unto him that smiteth thee on one cheek offer also the other.’ “Your name as a doctor has been mentioned in the papers in connection with certain irresponsible assertions respecting Chinese market gardeners made at a meeting of members of a body calling itself the White New Zealand League. You say that no reporters were present ana so you were unaware that your name would be so mentioned, but it has been mentioned, and it was for you either to deny or to admit the accuracy of the report. You have, in fact, admitted the accuracy of the report, and when asked to justify your statements you entirely fail to do so, and seek to shelter yourself behind what you call medical etiquette. “I canot allow such a subterfuge to prevent my seeking to protect my countrymen from the consequences of malicious charges which are being made against them. “I will, however, respect your wishes so far as non-publication is concerned, by omitting from your letter that part of it which is merely a proposal for the future, and not a comment on the past.”