The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1880-01-31
Coolie Labor-Indian V. Chinese.

Should the Indian emigration movement come
to anything there will be a grand show for the
Northern Territory OF South Australia in the mat
ter Of labor. The Chinese are very well in their
fashion, but after a time they stop the way. From
being servants they soon aspire to be masters, and
as a rule they compete with their late employers
so lightly weighted that the latter are distanced,
and the Mongolians can do this in any walk of
life If they find it profitable. To the Australian
public up to this time it is simply a matter of
cheap labor, but to the eastern traveller it is a
very different matter. He sees in the Dutch set
Elements Chinese occupying all positions except
that OF positive rulers, and even these their infiu-
ence sways indirectly. They are everywhere and
anything-merchants, bankers, clerks, shipown-
ers, planters, fremen, sailors, fishermen, garden
ers, &c, &c, in fact they permeate the whole
mass of society. Where there is a dollar to be
made they are there, and not easily to be shaken
out OF any position they once occupy. Many of
our leading men look at the question from a mere
laboring point of view, but they must look farther
if they would not have the long-haired Mongolians
hustling them IN their seats of honor. ANY in
dustry they undertake they monopolise, especial
ly In the lighter trades such as merchants their
usual style Of being satisfied with very small pro-
tits will enable them to undersell any European.
There is proof enough of this in North Queens
land. As contractors none can compete with
them; their command of labor is so great and
they work their countrymen SO cheaply. Where
an Englishman would have to pay a Chinaman 5s
per day, a Celestial would employ the same man
for IS, or even less; so their value as a standby
for labor in the Northern Territory is nal.
The Government of South Australia are now in
a position to arrange for a supply of labor that
must satisfy employers of every description. The
Hindoo is not behind the Chinaman IN intelli-
gence, but has less cunning and more docility,
and is very much more reliable. He has, if not
more virtues, certainly fewer vices. In brief, to
a European he Is much more useful, and, beyond
that, he is now a fellow-subject. On the other
mana the chinese, with few exceptions, that Wis
1t our shores are pariahs-the vagabonds of the
various cities, from which they are sent by CON-
panles on spec and while on this subject it might
be as well to mention the rumor that one of the
betore-mentioned companies intend to swamp the
New Zealand market with skilled labor, and serve
the New Zealanders right if they submit to it.
When the matter is thought over it is rather rich,
that an lndomltable race like the Anglo Saxon
should discover and explore, at great cost and
risk, unknown lands, which they at once go in to
improve and form into a nation, and then after
they have borne the heat and burden of the day,
a horde OF inferior beings push in and virtually
by force OF numbers dlspOssess the AnglO-SaXon's
offspring of their birthright. L write offspring,
because this evil is not likely to cease with the
present generation unless energetic legislation
puts a stop to 1t at once. If this be not done they
will continue to pour into these colonies till the
present possessOrs, or their successors, are swamp
ed by numbers And as China is now arming
and making herself felt, even by such a power as
Russia in her present state, what position will she
occupy IN the scale of nations in fifty years hence,
with her innumerable millions? What is to pre-
vent another Zenghis Khan or Tamerlane arising,
and with a numerous fleet of well-armed steamers
and transports making a descent on these coasts,
and, assisted by the knowledge acquired by their
compatriots already established here, taking pos
session by force of numbers; for they could lose
100 men for every ten Australians and feel it less.
This is not an impossIbility, however lightly the
subject may be treated. We must not forget
that the Chinese have quite as good g~unboats as
the British, carrying guns of greater penetrative
power. They have small arms quite as good,
and their discipline will be quite as perfect a
short time hence. so what use would it be to con-
tend with a power that could place millions in
the field against the sparse population of Austria
liza, and equally armed a man would stand as
fair a chance of beating off a flight of mosquitoes
with a stick.
So much for the yellow agony. A proper
check would be to import the Hindoo, who with
his economy could easily GUST the Chinaman, as
every employer of labor would prefer the former
to the latter.-S. Australian Chronicle.