THE YELLOW PERIL.

Waipa Post, Volume XVII, Issue 962, 1 July 1920, Page 3

THE YELLOW PERIL.

TYPICAL CASE OF A WOULD-BE SETTLED.

COMMUNICATION TO THE MAYOR

LOSING A COLONIST

Yesterday the Mayor of Te Awamutu (Mr L. G. Armstrong) received the following communication with a covering letter setting forward the bona fides of the case. Mr Armstrong has handed the communication to us, and it is self-explanatory. The writer says he prefers the subject, rather than himself, to be discussed, hence he subscribes himself “ A.Z.” “ How New Zealand lost an intending settler ” is the preface to the story. It reads:—

“ A.Z. is from Australia. He is roughly just about five feet ten inches in height, and in the vicinity of twelve stone and a half in weight. He is active and healthy, having been in the hospital only once —with typhoid —years ago, and with that exception hast, never troubled the doctors. He is also loyal, and can give the number of his badge for rejection for military service in the late war. Defective sight was the cause of rejection. “ Now, A.Z. has earned his own living since the age of thirteen years, and in doing so travelled a lot of Queensland, being about 1200 miles from his home when he reached the age of twenty-one years. As to education—well, he is self-taught with the exception of two years at a public school, and hopes to continue learning. As to character, he is sober and honest, and will allow the closest inquiry into these statements if it will help rid New Zealand of the threatened coloured problem; so presumably he is of the desirable sort. Coming to New Zealand. “ Why he came to New Zealand. In Queensland he had a market garden and a fruit farm. Starting with a lease, he eventually purchased the place, after many vicissitudes and struggles. But Queensland has droughts; and so during this last 'series of droughts—and other troubles —A.Z. sold his farm nearly two years ago and tried New South Wales; and he had the misfortune to strike the greatest drought New South Wales ever had and for months carted water eight miles to water the stock. When the water gave out in November he left the district (Central New South Wales), and later had many chats with Mr Blow, the New Zealand Government representative in Sydney, with the result that on 19th June he landed by the Maheno in Auckland intending to go in form arket gardening.

“ A.Z. kept his eyes open, and he found that the Chinese kept most of the fruit shops—and he knows what that means—so was quite prepared also to find that the Chinese kept the market gardens as their own preserve. However, not being dismayed, he decided to look into the matter further, and so took a job on a farm so as to watch events. Well, we have all watched the progress, and it’s in the Chinamen’s power. In to-night’s paper it says: ‘The total number of Chinese who have arrived here (in Auckland) since the beginning of the year is 389. excluding eight bound for the Islands. In the same period 160 Hindus have landed in Auckland.’ Displacing a White. “ Now, don’t you think we are encouraging the Asiatic menace right to our doors. Every one of these Asiatics displaces a white man. Are you not nursing a viper? Is not the fate of California a warning to you? In California the Japanese have ousted the whites. “ After observing these things, A.Z. came to the conclusion that he would he a fool to compete with the Chinese. It’s a losing proposition. So as he has friends in Australia he told them a few things, with the result that a certain farm was offered to him, which he has since bought. “Now. A.Z. had managed to save nearly six hundred pounds from the wreck of the drought; but he was not prepared to risk it in an uphill fight against a Chinaman; so he is off soon again to Australia. “ Now, Mr Mayor, do you think that New Zealand is to be congratulated on the way in which it is encouraging a race to come here that must surely lead to trouble and perhaps civil war in the near future? I firmly believe that if ever a wave of depression—in other words, lack of work—sweeps through New Zealand that it will lead to bloodshed between the whites and the coloured people. Why does not New Zealand tackle the question like Australia had to do and like America did just before the war? “ A.Z. is going to bid you good-bye. He likes New Zealand and its people; but the coloured menace he considers a real and live danger that will grow bigger each succeeding year. Soon in the future China may be armed and enlightened enough to demand an open door-if she has a strong enough advance guard of settlers in the country.’’