CHINESE IMMIGRATION COMMITTEE.

7

H.—No. sa.

they would be quite satisfied with doing this), their stay in the Colony will not exceed four years, as, after they have saved from £100 to £200, they return to China. Up to the present time Chinese labour has not been available for any other purpose than mining in parties organized by themselves ; but I believe that, should the influx continue as at present, large numbers will be content to accept work on railway or other contracts, and will be satisfied so long as they can save 10s. per week. I must again draw your attention to the fact, that the Chinese, up to tho present time, have shown little or no desire or intention to invest any capital in mining. They have been content with practising it in its simplest form. They occasionally open new ground, but it must be situated in the beds of creeks, and of a nature to be easily and safely worked. In my district the Chinese havo not undertaken the construction of any but the smallest and most inexpensively constructed water races, designed merely to lift water for the purpose of working creek claims. They may be described, then, as the scavengers of the mines ; and their great end and aim, from the day they land iu New Zealand till they leave it with a small hoard of gold, may be set down as an endeavour to obtain the largest possible amount of gold with the least possible expenditure of money in getting it. So long as the Chinese confine their attention to their present system of working, there can be no question, I think, but that they are producing gold which w rould not have been brought to light for years ; and in doing so, they must benefit to a certain extent the gold fields and the country, simply by their expenditure in so producing it; but beyond this expenditure they do not benefit the gold fields or the country. In my opinion, they will always be the scavengers I have described them to be ; and I also think that their cheap labour will eventually be utilized to the benefit of the country. The temper of the European miners is against them ; they look upon them as an unmixed evil on the gold fields. Ido not, however, think that there is any danger that this feeling wiR result in any forcible demonstration against tho Chinese. In conclusion, I would say that I am sensible that I have not been able to give this subject the time or attention which its importance demands. The conclusion to which I have been led is, that, unless the cheap labour of the Chinese can be' utilized on railway and other works, their presence cannot be a benefit to the gold fields or the country. I have, &c, C. E. Haughton, Esq., M.H.R., R. Beetham, Chairman, Gold Fields Committee. AVarden. Mr. J. M. Wood to Mr. C. E. Haughton. Sir, — Warden's Office, Switzers, 7th September, 1871. In reply to your telegram in re Chinese on gold fields, which arrived during my absence at Nokomai, I have the honor to inform you that, from my own observation, I find the Chinese are an industrious and orderly race, and a great acquisition (in the absence of European miners) to the Otago gold fields, where they open up and work ground that has been abandoned as unremunerative by Europeans. Thev are large contributors to the revenue of the country, as I believe they obtain at least one-fourth of the gold sent from Ot.ago, and they are large consumers of goods liable to duty. They do not and will not injuriously affect the labour market, and the " cry " that they will prevent additional population coming in is folly. I have a better opinion of my countrymen than to think that they would be deterred from entering the race for wealth on account of foreigners being competitors. As to the " cry " that the Chinese leave the country when they make money and take it with them, it is absurd, coming from a people that support foreign banks, whose large revenues are taken out of the country, and from absentee landed proprietors, and railway contractors. The police records and gaol statistics, both in New Zealand and Victoria, show a percentage in favour of the Chinese. The European population on this gold field have never taken any notice of the Chinese till the last week, when I see that a public meeting wras to be held on the subject; but this is at the instigation of the Arrow River anti- Chinese party. In conclusion, I would recommend to the notice of the Gold Fields Committee the advisability of putting an extra tax on the Chinese —say, the issue of Chinese miners rights at 30s. per annum —to cover the cost of an interpreter at each place where a AVarden was resident that had a population of Chinese in the district, not only for their own protection, but for the detection of crime and collection of revenue. The interpreters to be under the orders of the Warden. I have, &c., John Mters Wood, C. E. Haughton, Esq., M.H.R. Warden. .

Appendix 11. Letters of J. F. E. Wright and " Telia Borg," published in the " Evening Post," and referred to in Interim Beport No. 1. Sir, — , Goathurst Farm, Ohiro, 4th October. It was with the greatest pleasure and satisfaction that I perused the truthful and interesting letter of " Telia Borg," contained in your issues of the 2nd and 3rd instant, coming forward in the behalf and interest of the. Chinese as useful and deserving colonists. Writing from six years' personal knowledge of them in Hong Kong, I do not think that, taking their numbers into consideration, there is a more orderly, patient, law-observing people on the face of the earth. In a walk round the city walls of Canton to the AVhite Cloud Mountains, a party of us passed tens of thousands of persons, all