CHINESE TRADERS IN SYDNEY

Waikato Times, Volume XXXIX, Issue 3154, 10 September 1892, Page 5 (Supplement)

CHINESE TRADERS IN SYDNEY

Mant and bitter are the complaints being made among the produce dealers in Sydney as to the manner in which the Chinese are absorbing their business Long ago they practically obtained the control of the vegetable trade, and today they are following the same course with the produce business. It is hard indeed for the white man to beat the Mongolian either a 9 a shopkeeper or dealer. He employs only the cheap labour of his countrymen; he works hard in his shop, and is contented with smaller profits, so that he has now firmly established himself in the business, and in the streets surrounding the Haymarket one will find, perhans, half-a-dozen Chinese stores, all doing a big trade in produce. Not that the white man is entirely driven out; in some cases he holds his own—particularly in one instance, where a European dealer is sandwiched between tvro Chinamen's stores. There were four shops in a row—three belonging to Chinamen and one to the European firm, which consisted of two hard-working shirt-sleeved men. Business was brisk, customers kept coming and going, and it was curious to note that though many white men went to the Chinese stores, Chinamen often purchased from the white men. As a matter of fact, there was no difference in price between any one of the stores. Apart, however, from the keen competition which they cause, no one has much cause for complaint about the manner in which the Chinameu conduct their business. The wholesale agents look upon them as good marks ; they always pay up promptly, and some of them have very Urge accounts, disposing of from SOO to 1000 bags of potatoes a week, besides produce of every other kind. From this it seems evident that the Chinese in Sydney, as elsewhere, intend to retain their hold of this business, with die inevitable result that the white man must at last be crushed out.