in direct and rapid communication with all parts of the world, the question of Chinese immigration has been raised in many different localities. The Chinaman possesses so many of the best traits of a good settler that it is not wonderful that he has succeeded in many quarters in gaining a firm footing. Ho is industrious and tragal, possesses a fair share of physical strength, and 4 constitution wonderfully adaptable to the most various climates. In the carly stages of a colony these points are sure to tell, and hence, as a general rule, the coming of the Chinese has, in the first instance, been looked upon with favour. It is afterwards, when the labours of the Chinaman have rendered the immigration of the lower ranks from European countries possible to any extent, that the ory is raised about cheap labour, and the injury the Asiatic is doing to his European competitor. No cry could possibly be worse founded; yet none is, perhaps, more generally diffused, Taking California as an example, it was the labour of the Chinese which first rendered agriculture there in a large measure practicable, The native Americans and Europeans who rushed across the Rocky Mountains at the first announcement of the discovery of gold, wore at best but sorry husbandman, The greed for gold did not permit those excitable spirits to settle down on the land, or make it yield its yearly increase for the benefit of humanity. John Chinaman, with his less excitable temperament, soon found out the profit to be made in following the newer, but less absorbing pursuit of agriculture. So by his labour alone, much of the gold run to waste in the "tailings," which the more eager European thought it not worth his while to collect, was saved to the country by the less pretentious labour of the Asiatic. Again, the lower rate of wages which the Chinaman was prepared to take, rendered possible many industries and comforts which without his presence would have been impracticable. In a society where every man was as good as his neighbour, as in the first days of California gold hunting, it became impossible to get the ordinary domestic duties performed. No one would hire himself as a servant, when he had as good a chance in the gold-field as his master, The Chinaman rendered the first approach to domestic economy possible, So in the ordinary arts of life; washing, shoemaking, tailoring, &o., were all undertaken by the Asiatic, and the progress of the country towards a proper settlement thus rapidly advanced. It was not till the domestic settlement of the State was well assured, that the cry against the Chinese as a cheapener of labour arose. The immigration of Europeans was now largely in excess of the openings afforded in the early days of the State, and they naturally became competitors with the Chinese in the grades of labour. Forgetting that without their predecessors there would have been no opening for their presence, they started the cry that the Asiatic was robbing them of their right; and many of the more influential people, from party motives, assisted the low class European in the crusade against Chinese labour. Yet all the while the Chinaman's cheap labour was really helping forward his would-be antagonist. As he was the pioneer in the establishment of agricul. ture, so by his presence the State was enabled to.become the manufacturer of many things for which it was admirably adapted, and the production of which, without' the cheaper Inbour of the Chinese, would have been an economic impossibility. These industries in their turn afforded many openings for more skilled labour; and the European, notwithstanding that be was calling out against the cheap labour of the Chinese as being his rain, was actually by that cheap labour placed in a position to gain o higher price for the more skilled work he had himself to offer.
Few cries have been more unmeaning than that against the cheap labour of the Chinese, which has had the effect in most countries where it has been tried, of causing an increased demand for a higher class of workmen. than could possibly have existed without it. So far the economical view of the question shows that the presence of the Chinese in the Colonies and newer States has been a direct benefit. We are, however, willing to allow that there are other views in which the question may be regarded, both socially, morally, and intellectually. As yet, however, the outery has been mainly founded on the supposed econ-amic injury done by the introduction of cheap labour. That injury was sup. posed to press most heavily on the working.classes, who found their wages cut down to a level with the more economical Chinese. So far from this being the case, in most instances the possibility of employment for more skilled labour actually arose from the previous pressure of the Chinese: It would be well for our rising economists in Australia and elsewhere to bear these facts in mind, and to take a more intelligible view of the question than they have hitherto done. So long as the objection to Chinese immigration is founded on premises demonstrably false, so long must it fail to recommend itself to sensible men, or to gain any lasting support from public opinion.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.