The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1890-10-31
The Chinese i'm In dia.

all important queStlOn5j HfSI: Are
the Chinese likely to food coun.
try with an alien and non-assimi-
lating element if their immigration
be not restricted Or forbidden? and,
secondly: Is their presence good,
or an evil to the community? or, to
| put the matter in a more concrete
form, is a country likely to be
" Mongolanized," and is the compe
titi0n Of Chinese labor likely to be
injurious to the white man? | do
not presume to answer these ques-
tions in short article like this, but
they are questions of vital import
ance to the Hawaiian Islands, which
are in need Of inhabitants as we'll as
| of labOrers, and if the result of my
personal observations in Java, Su-
matra and the Straits Settlements
can throw any light on the subject,
| gladly give them for what they
are worth. In the East the China
man has had for many years large
fields of action opened to him, under
widely different conditions of exist
ence. From Vladivostock in Siberia
to Java, Singapore and Penang he
wades through the mountain snow,
tramps over the plains, penetrates
into the densest jungles, and deties
successfully the deadly miasmas
and the more deadly wild beast or
wild man. In Java, Sumatra,
Borneo, Celebes, AMMAN, the Settle
ments, each a world in itself, he
controls the coasting trade and the
retail business, he farms the reve-
nues, cultivates the soil, works the
mines, and from early sunrise to
long after sunset the sound of his
hammer is heard, and he may be
seen at work in his small, crowded
shop, in long streets of carpenters,
blacksmiths, shoemakers or tailors.
In all these countries the natives,
though numerous, are unwilling or
incapable of sustained, organized
labor. His native soil produces the
rice and the fruit he needs, without
much exertion on his part; his
women weave him the Sarong"
and headcloth that constitute his
principal garments, and he looks
with disdain on the toiling, perspir-
ing Chinaman, whose irresistible
inclination to work, work, work he
cannot understand, until he finds
that the despised invader has be-
come the owner of his own or his
neighbor's rice-felds.
In the ports of the Straits Settle
ments trade is wholly free, there
are neither import nor export du-
ties,nor are tonnage dues levied for
general purposes, except three
cents per register ton, in support of
lighthouses. Thus, under the pro-
lection of British free institutions,
the Chinaman prospers and multi
plies; and though living according
to his habits and customs he adopts
in the majority of cases the country
as his, calls himself with pride an
English citizen, and in proof of the
sincerity of his adoption builds
himself family grave.
An idea of their rate of increase
and the consequent increase in the
volume of trade in the Straits Set
Elements may be gathered from the
fact that, according to the census
of 1871, the Chinese numbered
104, 296; native Malays 147,924;
natives of India 33, 400; Europeans
1860; with value of united i'm
ports and exports of 914, 021, 300.
In 1881 the figures stood thus :
Chinese population, IA, 1927 native
Malays, LAO natives of India.
63,914 Europeans Gncluding Brit
ish military and prisoners), 3,4S3,
Value of united imports and ex-
ports, e32, SlS.521.
Thus, with free trade, under
liberal laws, and placed on an equal
footing with the native and the
European, the effect of Chinese i'm
migration in the Straits Settlements
has been, on the whole, beneficial
to the country at large.
From the Straits Settlements.
where the Monaghan has it all his
own way, and where he carries all
before him, let us visit him in Java.
Many a longing look, no doubt,
does he cast on the distant noun
tains of the interior of this rich and
beautiful island, where seventeen
millions of gentle, intelligent, in.
dustrious natives reside. But the
Dutch Government keeps watch
full eve over it and them, and no
wonder. With the fruits of the
labor of these seventeen millions OF
natives, it has, since 1888, extin.
guished Il large national debt il
has entirely covered the very con-
siderable annual expenses of the
Colony, and, up to 1867, had sent tc
Holland a net profit of seventy-two
millions sterling.
The agricultural revenues of Jaws
are collected, under the most per
feet regulations, by the native head
man, under the supervision OF Dutch
officials but the other, not less I'm
portant revenues, are farmed out tt
Chinese. These are the revenue:
from the tin mines. Customs, {