HIS FIRST DAY HOME

HIS FIRST DAY HOME. Aki Witeria a Maori in uniform, was charged with the theft of persimmons, tomatoes and watercress, value 1/1. the property of Koung Young, with having damaged goods in a Chinese fruit shop at Newmarket, and with having assaulted Constable Hill. The circumstances were that the Maori went into a Chinese fruit shop in Newmarket yesterday afternoon, lie stood there and picked out persimmons, tomatoes, etc.. and ate them, and then took some watercress and started to go away, despite the calls of the Chinese woman behind the counter that he should pay for the fruit. Constable Hill noticed the woman following the man out of the shop and expostulating. He inquired what was wrong and on being told he asked the Maori to pay, and the latter refused. The constable went to arrest the man and the hitter put up a strenuous lfght in the shop, the struggle causing damage of fruit and other goods in the shop before Witeria was overpowered and handcuffed. The man did not seem to be drunk. Witeria said he was a returned soldier, who got home yesterday, and that he was supplied with liquor by a civilian, and did not remember what had happened in the Chinese shop. He was wounded in the right arm. Accused was fined  2 and 17/8 costs and expenses.Auckland Star, Volume XLIX, Issue 112, 11 May 1918, Page 6

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 16583, 5 July 1917, Page 10

CHINESE IN AUCKLAND.

CHINESE IN AUCKLAND.  GLIMPSES OF THEIR LIFE. OLD TRADITIONS FAILING. INFLUENCE OF THE EUROPEAN. Although the sight of the Chinaman j working industriously in his trim garden, reckoning change with amazing accuracy in a fruit shop or handing out the week's laundry, is a very familiar oto Aucklanders, comparatively little is known of the local conditions under which these I sons of the Celestial Empire are living, j f There are at present about 400 Chinamen I in Auckland, and perhaps 10 Chinese wives. Nearly all the others, however, have wives and children in their own land, and are patiently adding day by day to the little hoard that will some day enable them to go back to their homes and families. The family tie is a very strong one with the Chinese, and their sojourn in a foreign land  usually but the I stepping-stone to a return home and prosperity among their own folk that it would be very hard to obtain in the ordinary run of life in Chirm. The ancient traditions of the Chinese 1 still hold strong sway in some respects, jbut in others even the manners and 1 customs of the oldest Empire are waning I and undergoing the change inevitable j when Occident and Orient come into close and continuous contact. The pigtail has gone, and the quaintly-trousered women, with shy eyes and tiny sandalled feet, have given place to smart young misses wearing tailored skirts and French heels. But the average Chinaman is still the frugal, industrious worker of the age old East; even in prosperous Auckland he still lives mainly on rice, although his I needs in this respect, have gone unfilled for some time past on account of the prevailing acute shortage. Chinese Delicacies. An inquiry made yesterday as to how j local Chinese residents were faring in view of this dietary difficulty resulted in some interesting information being given with regard to the general trend of life amongst Chinese in Auckland. As in other I respects, the Orientals are conforming more and more to European ideas with regard to foods, and, although rice still is, or was until recently, their staple diet, the white man's menu is gradually being adopted by the Chinaman. A few traditional Chinese dishes are still regarded as a great delicacy: dried sharks' fins are in strong demand, and luxury fare is provided at the banquets occasionally held in Auckland. A glance at a list of delicacies forwarded from China for local consumption revealed some weird and wonderful dishes. An item of dried shrimps and oysters looked more or less familiar, but sugared watermelon rind, fishes' eyes in vinegar, onions in treacle, bamboo shoots in syrup, beche-de-mer, or sea-slugs brought to mind visions of a banquet truly Oriental. Other items ware-.— Chinese medicines and wines, canned bean cure, salt cucumber, hen albumen, and a quantity of the Asiatic egg" so  well known to local pastrycooks.  The Chinese are not given to riotous living, but, by all accounts, local banquets lack few of the traditional delicacies associated with these sumptuous repasts,  allowance being made, of course, for those dishes requiring ingredients which China j alone can produce. j Keeping in Touch With Home. There is in Auckland a strong branch of the Chinese Nationalist Society, which receives all the newspapers and current literature of China. This is widely read by local Chinese residents, who follow the occasionally-stormy course of home politics with keen interest. There are also two Chinese Freemasons" societies in Auckland, in which the trend of politics is reflected, although party feeling is apt to be little less pronounced than is sometimes the case with regard to local politics. That is "to say. the Celestials i usually agree to differ politely. One interesting point mentioned yesterday by a well-known Chinese resident was that the ancient dread of surgical operations is to a large extent dying out among Chinese living abroad. The Chinese physician is traditionally a herbalist amputations were unknown in China until students of the present generation migrated to the West, where they learned Western methods of healing and treatment of the sick. Consequently Auckland doctors frequently tend Chinese patients and perform operations and send  them to the General Hospital in a way that would have been undreamed of among the Orientals of a past generation. At the same time, the use of herbs is very popular, and the only Chinese herbalist in the Dominion, who has a shop in Wellington, does a fairly wide trade among his fellow-countrymen. Another point of interest, as showing the general acceptance of Western ideas. is that the old tradition that the bones of every Chinaman must be taken back to his own land is not so inexorably observed as in the past. During the epidemic about ten Chinese residents of Auckland died; some of these were buried in the ordinary way and will rest for- i ever in alien soil, but the others were embalmed and provision made for shipment I of the remains back to China. This cannot be done, however, for at least one year after interment, and even the ultimate carrying out of the old tradition will depend very largely upon prevailing shipping conditions.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17251, 29 August 1919, Page 9

IMPORTED CHINESE WIVES.

IMPORTED CHINESE WIVES. THE QUESTION OF THE POLL TAX.

Recently a Chinese resident of Auckland, desirous of marrying a lady of his own race, proposed to meet her on the steamer and marry her before she landed. This step he proposed to take in the hope that, entering New Zealand as his -wife, she would be exempt from the necessity for paying the poll tax of £100. Further, the step was to be only a formal one to provide a marriage of which proof would be available., as the parties were already married and had a child. The position was put before the Collector of Customs at Auckland, and he, while himself considering the proposal legal, referred it to Wellington for consideration. In reply he received the opinion of the Solicitor-General (Professor Salmond), to which reference was made yesterday morning in a Wellington message. It is a peculiar circumstance of the matter that the oninion should have been held that the poll tax could be evaded in any way. The Chinese have to pay the tax, naturalised or unnaturalisedj married or single. It is one of the sorrows that matrimony does not divide by two. The Collector of Customs informed a reporter yesterday that the position did not seem to have been quite understood. In the first place, the poll tax could not be evaded by any Chinese desirous of making a settlement in New Zealand. Then, any Chinese entering the Dominion had also to pass an education test, by satisfying the Collector that he could read English. The word Chinese in that connection had a restricted meaning, for a member of the race who had become a naturalised British subject was no longer regarded as a Chinese within the meaning of the Immigration Restriction Act, and such a one would be exempt from the education test. According to the opinion expressed by Professor Salmond, if it could be proved that a Chinese woman had been married to a naturalised Chinese man, she would be exempt from the education test, the naturalisation being in effect extended to her by tho marriage. That would still be quite apart from the question of the poll tax. He considered that to prove most Chinese marriages in such a way as to satisfy British law would be most difficult unless special steps were taken, but the difficulty could bo got over in various ways, including, for instance, marriage in such a place as Hongkong. The anticipation of difficulty in bringing the wife to New Zealand, suggested in the Wellington message, was, ihe Collector said, unfounded; for a naturalised Chinese subject could certainly introduce his better half into the Dominion, on payment of the poll tax, without difficulty. Professor Salmond's opinion included a highly interesting statement with regard to the children of a marriage contracted outside New Zealand. According to the Solicitor-General the Aliens Act provided that the children of naturalised persons were not themselves naturalised unless during minority they resided' with their parents in New Zealand. That is to say, such children remained Chinese within the meaning of the Immigration Restriction Act until they resided in New Zealand with their parents, and they could not do that until they could pass the education test. In the case of young children, Mr. Ridings remarked, that was manifestly an impossibility, and the construction put upon the law in that respect made the lot of the Chinese immigrant a very, hard one. The Collector stated that he did not know of any case in which a marriage had been contracted by a Chinese with a woman before landing in order to evade payment of the poll tax. As far as he knew the matter had not gone beyond the suggestion. New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 14500, 14 October 1910, Page 7

MAJORITY IN NORTH ISLAND

CHINESE IN NEW ZEALAND. MAJORITY IN NORTH ISLAND.  [BY TELEGRAPH. —OWN CORRESPONDENT.] Christchurch, Thursday, i The Rev. A. Don, the well-known Presbyterian missionary, referring to the Chinese in New Zealand, states that the balance of population is now heavily in favour of the North Island. At the census 'taken 18 months ago the figures were—South Island. 1133; North Island. 1497. "I estimated them as—South Island, 1025; North Island, 1450." said Mr. Don. These numbers will become more and more disproportionate. Another important, fact •a that the great majority of those in the South are over, and of those in the North under, 40 years of age. The numbers in the three centres are, approximately— Dunedin, 120: Wellington. 400; Auckland, 280."

Mr. Don speaks hopefully of the Chinese in Auckland, who at present hold their Christian meetings in market gardeners' houses, but who, he believes, will subscribe liberally for a building of their own. New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 15157, 22 November 1912, Page 8

UNABLE TO LEAVE THE COLONY.

THE CHINESE CIRCULAR FURTHER PARTICULARS. MEETING IN AUCKLAND.  UNABLE TO LEAVE THE COLONY. A meeting of Chinese residents in Auckland and suburbs was held yesterday, to further consider the circular forwarded by the Governor of Canton. We have seen the document itself. It is very lengthy, and we are indebted to Mr. Thomas Ah Quoi for further information as to its contents, especially that portion having reference to the Chinese now resident in the Australasian colonies. In regard to the stoppage of importations from China, it is not made an order or edict that there should be no importations, but the Chinese merchants and others are recommended to cease importing Chinese goods not only from Hongkong, but from all other ports. The imports are usually opium, Chinese silks, teas, &c. The circular gives no reason for this recommendation, but it is distinct on the matter of leaving it optional whether to adopt it or not. It has come to the knowledge of the Governor of Canton that the Colonial Governments have adopted harsh restrictive measures regarding the Chinese, and this has given rise to a great deal of illfeeling amongst the European and Chinese traders at Hongkong, and other ports, and unpleasant feelings exist as to the treatment of the Chinese in the colonies, but the circular states that if they wish to suffer under the restrictions imposed, no force would be used to stop their business. It points out that there. is ample room for the Chinese in their own country, and contrasts the treatment which Chinese receive in the colonies with the protection afforded by the Chinese Government to British traders and subjects in China. Mr. Ah Quoi reiterates that there is nothing whatever in the circular directing Chinese to close their affairs in the colonies and return to China. With respect to the meeting held yester—several had been held previously to consider the circular principal subject under discussion was the project of assisting some Chinese in Auckland, who are desirous of returning home. Some of them have sufficient money to pay their passages, others have not, but the necessary amount would be made up for the latter. There are about twenty in Auckland desirous of returning to China, but they cannot get passages, and they complain justly and bitterly that while the colonial governments prevent them from coming here, they prevent those who wish to do so from going away. Some have already been detained against their wills for two months. The steamship companies will not book them to Sydney, whence they might obtain passages to Hong Kong, and the result will be that if they are kept back much longer, their money will be spent, and they will have nothing to support them here. It was agreed to make a further effort to get these twenty men who are so anxious to get away, passages, and a further meeting will be held on Sunday next.

 

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9101, 9 July 1888, Page 5