CHINESE IMMIGRATION COMMITTEE.

11

H.—-ETa. sa.

two out of the eighteen provinces of their Empire ! " The Chinese language is undoubtedly the most widely diffused throughout the world, and that which transmits the ideas of the greatest number of men." But " thev cannot understand our laws and customs." This is indeed true ; but is it any objection ? I cannot understand them, and lam a thorough European—" A Hebrew of the Hebrews " —a native of England, having been for eighteen years on the colonial gold fields, many of which years have been literally spent in studying "the laws and customs" of Australia and this country. I confess I cannot comprehend our Stamp Act; I can hardly make sense of our land laws. As to our customs, the less said about them the better. I contend that the Chinese understand just sufficient of our laws as is requisite —namely, the necessity of obedience to constituted authority; the mass of Europeans know no more. If the miners were better acquainted with the laws and customs, as well as the unvarying policy of the British Empire, they would refrain from raising this fruitless agitation ; they would know that our pride and our policy has always been to reach the hand of friendship and fellowship to other nations—to rise above the prejudices of caste and nationality, and to recognize the grand fundamental truth of the universal brotherhood of man. This aphorism is not based upon merely religious grounds —it is innate in the human breast—it is recognized as a principle (nay, as the very foundation) of international law. And shall we, an insignificant section of a small and distant dependency, take upon ourselves to ignore and set aside the grand, large-hearted, and noble policy of the British Empire —a policy springing from and elaborated by the collective and accumulated wisdom of a succession of Parliaments through no less than 500 years? Shall we not make ourselves a laughing stock among the nations ? " The Chinese do not settle on the land," wc are told, " and they take away the gold they obtain, and do not benefit the country." The statistics of this and the neighbouring Colonies will not bear out this assertion. A fair proportion do remain in the Colony. But are not most of our European miners migrators from Australia? Did they remain in Victoria? Are they more likely to remain in New Zealand than in Australia? Emigration from China is more systematic and constant aud is widely diffused than is generally supposed. There is a steady efflux to the kingdom of Siam, the islands of the Eastern Archipelago, Java, Australia, California, the Phillipines, the Sandwich Islands, Central and. South America, and the AVest Indies. England, Ireland, Germany, &c, think they hit upon a novel idea when they relieve their own crowded States by encouraging emigration, but China could teach them all a lesson in this respect. It is stated upon good authority that not one-fifth of these emigrants return to China; they either remain in the lands they migrate to, or seek others where they meet with a kinder welcome As to their taking away the gold, our export statistics will flatly contradict that, for they show that the proportion of gold that goes to China is infinitesimally small compared with that which goes to Europe. Instead of doing no good to the country, they are already, and will continue to be, the very mainstay of the Colony ; if it were not for them, the amount of our gold exports would bo just about half what it is. What success would Mr. Vogel have had in negotiating for the loan if he could only have shown one half the exports and one-half the gold fields revenue? A short time back about 500 Chinamen arrived iu Dunedin ; they immediately swarmed tho stores, and in forty-eight hours it was credibly stated that they had spent about £3,000 iu the town. All the available waggons wore loaded with merchandise they had purchased for cash. Surely the import duties on the goods they consume, and the export dues on the gold they obtain, must equally benefit the country as the same amount passing through European hands. The objection that their numbers will increase so much as to overwhelm and endanger tho peace of the European inhabitants cannot be seriously entertained. Look at Hindostan with its ISO millions of warlike races of Indians kept in subjection and peacefully governed by our European population, which including military, did not in 1565 exceed 40,000 ; and these, let it be borne in mind, in an unhealthy and enervating climate, to which tho European constitution never becomes acclimatized, whereas the native races are on their own soil, and in their own climate. The converse of these conditions contains the case of the Chinese in this Colony. AVe have 220,000 Europeans, equal to five times the European population of Hindostan; we have a climate similar to, and perhaps more salubrious than that we have left. In contradistinction to tho Indian natives, the Chinese are a peaceful people; they are in a strange country; they come from a much warmer climate, and it takes some time to inure them to the colder and moister climate of New Zealand. AVhy, .then, should wc be frighteucd to admit a few millions of them to cultivate the. barren acres which are likely to remain for generations unfilled, if left to spontaneous immigration from Europe? The last two arguments enumerated are based on the assumption that Europeans will suffer by being brought into competition with Chinese labour. I refer you to India again, and it will bo found that the 40,000 Europeans there resident constitute the wealthiest community on the face of the earth. This assertion may be startling, but it is true; and the reason is that they have the command ■of an inexhaustible supply of cheap labour (I believe the cheapest free labour in the world). Now, I believe if the Chinese wore admitted freely, they would naturally fall to their proper level, and would become the real labouring class of the Colony. The present European labouring class would . always be preferred for the higher kinds of labour, and these kinds would then be much more in demand as overseers, time-keepers, managers, &e, and their rate of remuneration, instead of falling, would be more apt to rise, from the greater demand for intelligent supervisors. The argument against admitting Chinese immigrants to compete with the Europeans at present here, tells with tenfold force against the assisted immigration scheme at present being carried out. Under the arrangement Mr. A xogel made with Mr. Brogden, 10,000 Europeans are to have their passages paid at £10 per head out of the revenue of the Colony. Thus the European miners will be taxed to bring into the market a competition far more powerful and effective than the Chinese. The Europeans bring with them equal, if not superior, intelligence and civilization, a knowledge of all the latest improvements and appliances to cheapen labour. Skilled labourers will of course be preferred. If we are to legislate on such a selfish principle, it were far more logical to cease taxing ourselves to import European labour (which brings a still greater competition against the miner) than to prohibit