AN EFFECTIVE PROCLAMATION.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6467, 22 April 1899, Page 8

AN EFFECTIVE PROCLAMATION.

About twelve months ago the Victorian Customs Department had a large poster in the Chinese language distributed in tho various Chinese ports, warning Chinese against attempting to enter the colony under cover of naturalisation papers which did not belong to them. Up to that period there had, says the v ' f Age," been a very considerable traffic in these naturalisation papers. Batches of Chinese who had never previously seen the colony were continually arriving at Melbourne by the steamers in the China trade. In every instance where it was proved to the satisfaction of the officials that the immigrant was personating the person to whom the paper had been issued originally he was returned to the steamer to be conveyed baok to China. Since the distribution of the poster referred to' not a single Chinese has attempted to enter the colony as a naturalised citizen. The notification was of course in the Chinese language. The heads of the department are now wondering whether the Chinese scribe who prepared the notice did not give a very exaggerated account of the pains and penalties to be visited on anyone making use of a naturalisation paper, even although the party using the document had obtained it from the Victorian Government in a perfeotly regular manner. Owing to the difficulty of discovering the exact significance of Chinese forms of expression tho. department cannot say for certain whether this suspicion is correct. As, however, the department's intentions were honest, tbe matter is not seriously disturb- j ing the official conscience. ■