THE CHINESE.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13594, 14 May 1908, Page 7

THE CHINESE.

AS SEEN BY MB. TOOGOOD

EXPERIENCES IN RANGOON.

Writing from Rangoon on April 4 to a. member of the *tatr" of the "Manawatu Standard," Palmerston North, Mr. H. F. Toogoixl, who was a candidate for Christchurch East at last general election, and who is now in the employ of a large engineering firm at Rangoon, emphasises the views he formely expressed regarding Chinese immigration. .Mr. Toogood says:—"Althoogh I must confess that the Chinese are. as a rule, most orderly and law abiding, yon must not forget that they are io be kept out of New Zealand at any cost. I alii somewhat amused about the education test which has been placed on the Asiatics*. Just opposit me • as I write is a little Chinaman, with has. pigtail looped under his arm, working away at a complex drawing. He has had much bother and trouble with it. but he has stuck to his task, till now he has it all in hi* mind. He can answer any question about, it without referring to the plans or hesitating a moment. He has learnt his task, and now has it boxed away. This is characteristU of the race. He speaks four languages, is a rapid calculator, and can be absolutely relied npon. He would put to .shame many a high school boy by his general knowledge, and, of course, speaks perfect English. He is a very fine fellow, but ; where does, he live? 1 was interested in him, so 1 made it- my business to find out his home. I found it away in the heart of the city, in the midst of the slums, with his Chinese family running qibout* naked, living on rice and curry day and night. But this will not always be so. My friend is saving money, which will bring him in cent per cent in years to come. Then he will shift to the suburbs, and run a carriage and pair, or a motor-car; but his children will still be naked, and they will still live on food that wc»uld starve a white man. There are thousands of men of this stamp in .Singapore, Penang, and Rangoon. They would laugh at a fair thing in the way ot education test. They find employment in banks and offices, and shops and showroom*, in workshops and on buildings, and they can hold their own with mrst of us as mechanics. They are hard to beat as shop assistants. They are exceedingly polite and clever, and generally they are capable and quick, and well educated in English schools. Moreover, those men are for the most part British subjects, taking part in the volunteer system of defence as earnestly as we in New Zealand do {which, of course, is nothing to boast of.) Clever and able as they are. polite and law-abiding, too. I want to impress on you that I am more and % more convinced that we must not have them in New Zealand. Tiny would run its off our feet; they would buy and sell its in our markets. They would get over almost any difficulty, such as a fair educational test. We don't know the Chinese in New Zealand ; we haven't even touched the question yet. A few agriculturists and farmers have drifted over and made us think a bit. but the Brittehborn Chinese are the men to watch, and they are quite different from what we have been u.*ed to. The question is being and witl tv asked tomorrow by the Britfsh Chinese, why they cannot participate freely with r.ther British subjects in the free run of the Empire. The Baba has taken up thvj phrase 'British subject." and intends to work it for all It i* worth. The tim- v has come when we must J.-'-e a strps f» mark down quite clearly the defin**; of the British Empire and the Asiatie. British Empire. The mixture of tire tw.> spells ruin to its. and we must getright dff the mark, and have- the limits given clear and definite. [ am afraid of the kind-hearted English Liberal in this connection: hf doesn't know whit he Itrui«i!e« wliPn If takes up this life or death unction."