The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1879-12-06
The Yellow Agony.

We do not mean the terrible malsdy which "a
s%courging Memphis, and awakening everywhere the
deepest sympathy the yellow agony Is the phrase
by which the Australians describe the Chinese Inn
migration. For the Chinese question in not peca-
liar to San Francisco. 1t has vexed our brother
Bull in Australia, and he has taken the most per-
emptory measures. so that the Chinaman IL now
practically excluded from a large part Of the coun-
try. 1t seems, as Mr.. Wisker tells the story In the
FortnighHy, that Australia has been exposed 10 tho
trouble Of three kinds of p~eople-the aboriginal. who
is black, The POlynesiau, who is Of any tint from cop-
per to black. and the yellow Chinaman. OF these
the Chinese swarm upon the Australian continent
In Queensland, in a total population Of little more
than 2OO,OOO, there are 10000 Chinese. In the
Queensland gold mines at the end of the year 1877
there we're IL ,908 miners, aud Of these only 1884
Europeans. and the remainder, ID 200. were Chinese.
The question was imperative. The Chinese were
overrunning the colony. Should IL be allowed 10
become Chinesef There we're treaty obligations.
and the employers right to get his work done cheap
ly but there was also the undisputed right Of tie
colonies to self preservation.
The story of the Chinese appearance In Australia
is a curious repetition of that OF California. After n
short aud not disagreeable experience Of cheap ia
Dor and small industries, there was "A reaction, and
resolute hostility ended ia repressive Legislation such
as California seeks. The Chinese could not be kept
out forcibly. They could not be hanged upon arrL
wing. The white mau, therefore, must be protected
by a duty on the yellow man. The Cbiuaman was
required to pay G3 for a miners license. when the
ordinary fee is 10 shillings and G10 for a business
ncenees Wnlle europeans pay OUT II Inib was tOi-
lowed by q regulation that the master Of every yes
sci bringing Chinese passengers should deposit with
the Collector Gl0 for each one Of them, which should
be returned to the Chinaman when he left the coun-
try, il he could then prove what nine out Of ten GER
tainly could not prove. Ii was further enacted that
no vessel should carry more than one Chinese pas
senger for every ten tons of registry. Under this
regulation il costs G30 to transport one man from
Hong-Kong, and il is virtually q prohibition.
These laws, however, did not reach the Chinese al
ready in the country who had mining licenses, 80
another act forbade all Chinese from mining on new
gold fields ; and a field is new" for three
years after proclamation. SO that the Chinese can
take only the leavings Of Europeans.
Here is the strictest hostile legislation. 10 which,
so far as we remember, no allusion was made In our
Congressional debate last winter It IL not only
hostile, but eficacious. In the yearNI675 there
were 1854 Chinese arrivals in Queensland, 1856 In
1876, and TACO in 1877. But ia 1877 the hostile
acts were passed, and siuce their passage there have
net been 200 immigrants. The adjoining colony of
New South Wales. where the foreign proportion Of
population is smaller, has adopted similar legislation.
The author of the article does not argue the ques-
ton. He holds that it is one of self preservation,
and that no European community would suffer IL
self to be swamped by a horde Of Asiaiics, with
which il can no more mix than oil With water, and
whose coming is 90 merely tempting Providence"
When the Chinese debate is resumed In Congress,
there is no doubt that the Australian precedent will
be - Psr's Weekly, Aug l6.