[To Tag EDITOR OP THE "SPECTAT0R:]
have read with interest the letters of the three corre- spondents in the Spectator of February 27th on the above subject, and I trust you will allow me to make a few remarks thereon.
Your first correspondent is hardly a. serious debater. Abandoning argument, he appeals to the " mine-owners " to "think Imperially," which phrase, translated into action, appears to mean that they should sacrifice the "prosperity of the Trans- vaal" by refusing to employ Chinese labour. He bids 'them be of good cheer, for although their pockets will be depleted, they will gain unto themselves certain moral qualities, which 'he enumerates, and which he assumes they do not at present possess. This light-hearted correspondent, however, fails to recognise the grave responsibility which these " mine-owners " owe to their shareholders, to their employes, and to the general conimunity to maintain their gold-producing industry at its highest efficiency. Any serious check to this industry would entail far more suffering apon the shareholders and employes than upon the magnates themselves. Moreover, for many years past the production of gold has not kept pace with the increase of population and increased area of its circulation. There is at present a world- famine for gold, and it is hardly possible to over-emphasise the ramification of suffering and loss that would be occasioned by any serious diminution in the output of gold from the Transvaal.
The lengthened experience of your correspondent "F." of the Chinese in America entitles his temperate letter to serious coa- sideration. He makes a great point of the fact that although at first there was freo entry for the Chinese, yet ultimately it was found necessary, apparently on moral grounds, absolutely to exclude them. As, however, no attempt seems to have been made to isolate these Chinese under legislative restrictions similar to those that are to be put in force in the Transvaal, his case does not form a precedent. With conspicuous fairness, he makes no objection to the conditions under which the Chinese will be employed in the Transvaal, but charges their agents in China with selling them under a "system of practical slavery." He admits, ho.vever, that the methods of this system are beyond the comprehension of the Western intellect, and consequently he is unable to give proofs of his statement. Finally, in support of his objection to Chinese on moral, grounds, he draws a some what sensational picture of "caged' women," "opium dens," "gambling-houses," as they are to be seen in San Francisco and other American towns.
Some years ago I used frequently to visit both by day and tight the Chinese quarters in Sydney and Melbonrite. • The hi- pression I gained was that although there were vicious -ophim- smokers and vicious gamblers, just as there are vicious drunkards in Western communities, yet the majority of the- Chinese ,were moderate opium-smokers and moderate gamblers. Moreover, in the course of several years I never saw or heard of . a &bilked Chinaman; nor did I ever hear of rape by a Chinaman, although. this crime was so common amongst- the- white community in Sydney that it was punishable by death. The real danger appears" to be that Europeans are liable to assimilate the vices of the *Chinaman in addition to their own, and your Correspondent prophesies that, despite all Ordinances and regulations, this will happen' in the Transvaal. Agitinst -this prophecy must be placed the fact that unprecedented safeguards are being established to protect the population in that country, from any possible harm, moral or otherwise, that is likely to arise from the presence of a limited number of these indentured coolies. It is a matter of regret that the conditions of the-gold- producing industry in the Transvaal necessitate the employment of Chinese as the most economical labour obtainable,—but the more Chinese and natives employed the greater will be the deninfid 'for intelligent 'British workmen as stipervisom. Unfortunately; it has .been demonstrated that it is impossible to employ the British workman in lieu of. either Chinese or blacks. H. cannot adapt either his diet et his rate of wages ti a scale w,hich would render his labour profitable, and those orators, who Seek inflame the unenlightened proletariat in this country by' telling them they are ousted by the Chinese ought to remember that the unnesin the Transvaal cannot be utilised as relief works _far ..the unemployed in this country until they have first been puiehased by the nation for this philanthropic purpose. • ' -
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Should it be found, by any chance, that Chinese labour :cannot be employed, then, in view of their duty to their shareholder§ and Of the world's need for gold, the mine-owners would probably be driven as a last alternative to employ the lower classes of the Latin and Slav races, whose labour is slightly dearer than the Chinese, ,but' who can adapt themselves to the -necessary con- ditions; and are ready to come in large nurnbere. It is obvious; however, that it would not be possible to isolate this term of labour in the same Ahorough manner that is proposed for the Chinese, and its moral danger would consequently justify the gravest apprehensions. It is devoutly to be hoped that thoid who now strain at the gnat of Chinese* immorality Will DA' hAVO to swallow the camel of demoralising influence attendant upon a large influx into the Transvaal of the lover an4• . Slav races. Our own Magistrates and detectives in London could
2 Little Stanhope Street, Mayfair, London.
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