Friday, December 23, 2011

Chinese Population 1894

CHINESE IN THE COLONY 1894. NEW ZEALAND.

Return to an Order of the House of Representatives dated 18th July, 1894. Ordered, "That a return be laid before this House showing, according to provincial districts, the number of Chinese in the colony at the census of 1885 and 1891; the number who have left the colony from the census of 1885 to the 31st March, 1894 also the number who have returned to the colony, or died, or who have paid the tax under the Chinese Immigrants Act." —(Mr. G. W. Russell.)

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The Old-age Pensions Act

.—Granting to every reputable person of sixty-five years of age, who has resided in the colony for twenty-five years, a pension of £18 per year, diminished by £1 for every complete pound of income above £34, and also by £1 for every complete £15 of the net capital value of his accumulated property. The Act sets out the conditions which the pension claimant must fulfil, and the events involving forfeiture of the pension or of specified instalments. There are excluded from pensions all aliens; also aboriginal natives to whom moneys (other than pensions) are paid under "The Civil List Act, 1863"; also naturalised subjects, except such as have been naturalised for five years .also Chinese and other Asiatics, whether naturalised or not. The pension-moneys are payable without further appropriation than the Act, but this provision continues in operation only until the fourteenth day after the close of the second session of the now next succeeding Parliament. Every pension is granted subject to any repealing or amending Act hereafter passed. No. 15.

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Journals of the House of Representatives, 1899 Session I

SHOPS AND OFFICES ACT AMENDMENT BILL 1905

The fruiterers of Wellington are mostly aliens. There are about eighty Chinese carrying on the fruit business and about twenty Europeans. There are really more Europeans than twenty, but several of them have taken to hawking in the public streets. These hawkers compete with the occupiers of business premises, and though, I understand they pay a license to the local body, they pay no rates, taxes, or rent, and therefore are in a position to sell much more cheaply and at other times than the shopkeepers. The fruiterers in Wellington mostly sell not only fruit, but other articles. The question has been raised of Chinese selling groceries. Well, in other parts of the colony which I have recently visited I have found that some of the fruiterers are confectioners as well. In Wellington the fruiterers sell groceries and tobacco. The question of the fruiterers closing at 6 has also been brought up. I can give evidence that a great many of the fruiterers in Wellington have closed during the last month. I have in my hand a statement showing that on the 19th June the Inspector of Factories proceeded against several Chinese fruiterers. As to the manner in which the Chinese carry on their business some of the shops are conducted by one occupant, and the larger shops —it was against two or three of these that the Inspector of Factories took proceedings —employ one or more assistants. These places carry on the fruit trade to a large extent, and assistants have to be employed in order to enable the proprietors to carry on the business. Well, I have been assured by the Chinese against whom the Inspector took proceedings —Kong Wah and Co., Ah Wing Bros., and Ah Chee —that they have suffered severe loss through not being able to sell their fruit. The result will be that if the law is enforced in their business they will simply have to go out of it altogether. As to how the Europeans engaged in the fruit trade are situated, I will state a case that I have personal knowledge of. In one of the business premises which belongs to me there were two brothers of the name of Burgess carrying on business. They have conformed with the law and closed at 6. The result of their closing at 6 has been the loss of from £9 to £11 per week. These people's premises were situated in Riddiford Street, Newtown. I might mention that the Burgesses had their sister helping them, but when the Inspector told them that they could not have an assistant in the business they thought that rather than have any trouble with the Department they would get rid of their assistant and close the business up. 204. You said that you represent the association. Do the Chinamen belong to the association Yes. There are forty-five Chinamen and, I think, about eight Europeans belonging to the association,

[D. H. Y. GETE.

Dong Hong Yam Gete examined. (No. 32.) 205. The Chairman.] Do you wish to make a statement ?—Yes, sir if you will allow me. 206. Will you tell us how the Act affects your shop ?—I have a shop opposite the Post-office in Newtown. Several Chinamen came up and told me how the Inspector had come and shut them up. Other Chinamen complained, and said they were suffering a great deal of loss. But I hardly understood what they said. When I was by myself one Friday night, however, the Inspector came and told me that I must shut at 6. So I shut at 6. On the Friday night before that I took £4 10s., but on the night when he came and told me to shut up I took only £1 14s. If the fruit is left from 6at night till Bin the morning it will, in the summer-time, be brought near to getting rotten. Fruit generally sells at from 6tolo at night. A lady came to my shop and asked, What made you shut up last night Well," I said, the Inspector came to my shop and made me shut up, and I cannot help it." "But," she said, I want to get fruit." I said, You will have to come at a different hour, then." "Oh she said, The doctor says my girl must have fruit; she is sick." I told her I could not help it. The next morning a lady came and said, I came here, but you were shut." I said, Yes the Inspector made me shut. I could not help it. You will have to come at a different time now." Look here," she said, my husband is working on the wharf he left before you were open, and when he came home all the shops were shut. All my family were starving that night." Then, a gentleman came one morning before 8 o'clock and knocked at the door. I was inside sweeping. The knocking continued, and he said, Open the door I want some cigarettes." I said, You cannot get them till 8." He said, I must be at work at 8. What am Itodo I said You will have to see the Inspector and get permission for me to open for you." In Newtown eight shops out of ten are selling tobacco and greengroceries in addition to fruit. So if they shut up at 6 o'clock it will be very difficult for men up there to get some onion or something else for breakfast. So a lot of Chinese said, This is no good. We will get you, as you have interpreted for the Court so long, just to go and tell the gentlemen." 207. You mean that there are ten Chinese shops at Newtown, and eight of them sell groceries and tobacco and fruit ?—Fruit, tobacco, greengroceries, and some other groceries. Every shopkeeper told me this If they will not let us remain open till 10, try to get them to make it 9 o'clock on a week night, but 10 on Saturday." That is what they told me to ask you, gentlemen. Seven o'clock in the morning is quite early enough men come in to get something for breakfast. At Newtown most of the men come down to town to work. When they start the shops are not open, and when they go home all the shops are shut. 208. Mr. Sidey (to Mr. Baylis).] Referring to the shops against which proceedings were taken, were they shops which carried on a combined business —-Yes. I think two of the shops sell Chinese goods besides the fruit. 209. Two of the shops proceeded against sold something else besides fruit —Yes, I think so. 210. If the shops selling a similar class of goods are closed at 6, do you not think it unfair that after these shops have shut some other shop selling the same goods should be allowed to keep open —I would not like to go into a general discussion of that, for this reason in the colony there are, I think, very few shops that confine themselves to one special trade. I know of a grocer's shop in Newtown, three doors from a Chinaman's fruit-shop, which sells vegetables, tapes and cotton, and ironmongery, and small articles of that description. Newtown is entirely cut off from the centre of Wellington, and is almost a centre of its own. Since early closing has come into force all the shops have had to shut up at 6, except two or three one-man shops, and the result has been stagnation of trade. The takings of businesses which were £3 or £4 a day have dwindled down to that number of shillings. 211. At any rate, you recognise that it would not be fair to, say, a grocer if another man who sold groceries and also fruit was allowed to remain open while he was shut ?—Yes. 212. Did the two brothers named Burgess, who closed at 6, sell anything other than fruit No they were purely fruiterers and greengrocers. 213. Is there any one particular hour at which the fruiterers would agree to close ?—That I would not like to say. 214. (To Mr. Dong Hong.) Do you think all the fruiterers would agree to close at one time You mean close at the same hour 215. Yes —Yes they are willing to, as long as you allow them to keep the assistants. 216. At what time —At 9 o'clock on week-nights, 1 on Wednesday, and 10 on Saturday night. 217. They all agree to that ?—Yes that is what they all told me. And open at 7in the morning. 218. Would you agree to the shopkeepers fixing their own hours, under a clause here If a majority of shopkeepers say the shops shall be closed at a certain hour, then all have got to close at that hour :do you agree to that —Yes all close at the same hour. In a shop where there is an assistant employed, say, the assistant is not to work more than fifty-two hours a week. There would not be much doing in the morning, and the shopkeeper could let him off till noon, so long as he worked later. They are agreeable that way too. 219. Mr. Barber.] You said you thought 10 o'clock late enough on Saturday night: do you think 10 o'clock is late enough for Newtown ?—Ten o'clock is late enough for me. 220. But do not the people, when they come back from town, want to do their shopping after 10 —Well, if I ask for a later hour you might not give me any at all. The people will have to get used to 10 o'clock and make haste home. 221. Mr. Alison (to Mr. Baylis).] You said that if the law was enforced as to 6-o'clock closing the fruit-shops would have to close up. Are you confident that that would be the effect ?—I take it that would be the effect. I may say that ever since the inception of the Bill I have tried as far as possible to resist it and protect the people who have been punished, doing it in as passive a manner as possible. I did not want to work in opposition to the Department, because I knew they were placed in a very awkward position but we had our living to look after. And I know for a positive fact that




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Wellington Fruiterers 1905

REPORTS OF, ON THE FRUIT TRADE OF THE COLONY;


Friday, 14th July, 1905. Charles Bagley examined. (No. 1.) 1. The Chairman.] What are you ?—Fruit-importer. 2. And you desire to give evidence before this Committee —Yes. 3. Do you wish to make a statement^ —-Yes. I wish to deal with three factors in connection with the fruit trade —first, in regard to the Chinese and aliens second, the local fruit industry and third, the Island fruit industry. Speaking on behalf of the European fruiterers, we would ask for some assistance in dealing with the fruit trade in New Zealand against the Chinese, which is becoming a troublesome factor they are becoming monopolizers of the trade, and more particularly in the City of Wellington they are practically monopolizing the whole of it. Since I have been here to give evidence on this question I have been round to the auction marts, and I must say it was a pitiable and deplorable sight I saw in Wellington. The auctioneers were selling fruit, and that had to be handled by these Chinese and retailed to the Europeans. I took the trouble to count them (the buyers)—there were thirty Chinese, three European gentlemen, and one European lady. Of course, lam only mentioning that by way of showing the extent to which the monopolizing of a European country by the Chinese is going on. Then look at the conditions under which these Chinese are living, their sanitary conditions, and more especially their homes. lam informed that four or six live together in a little shop, not as Europeans, but for the purpose of making money. If you look at the shops from an external point of view, they are all that could be desired, but if you look at the interior you will find a very different state of affairs, and which could possibly be best illustrated by the fable of the spider and the fly. I have no doubt that the Health Department is doing all that they possibly can do under the present conditions, but I would say this, that with all the Department can do, they cannot deal with these Chinese. If they go into their shops or premises Jihey who is the occupier or the assistants, they have some I—l. 12c.



I am prepared to say, without fear of contradiction. These Chinese go into the marts, buy the fruit that is grown by Europeans they speak to each other in the marts in their own language, and no one can understand them. It is impossible for the European traders to compete with them under present conditions. lam sorry to say that the auctioneers are catering for them to a great extent. European shopkeepers in Wellington two days ago told me that they could do nothing in the matter, and the only assistance they could get would be for the Government to legislate in some manner in the interests of the Europeans. I was told by one European that he had made complaints to the auctioneers, and the answer he got was invariably the same, "If you are not satisfied, you can go somewhere else; we can do without your trade, we have got the Chinese." It is a shame the way the auctioneers assist them. Their object is the same as the Chinese —to make money —quite irrespective of whom they are dealing with and what inconvenience they put their own people to. I have made a list, as far as I can, of the number of fruit shops in Wellington. There is something like 113, and out of these 113 there are about a hundred Chinese and thirteen European shops; some of these thirteen shops are very small. These 113 shops are in the city and suburbs. I think we should not expect to be lowered down to the level of the Chinese, but if we can raise them to the higher standard of Europeans something may be gained; but there seems to be no possibility of raising them, therefore why should we be lowered to their level. According to the last census there were 2,189 male Chinese and seventeen females in the colony, and they came here for the one purpose of gathering in the shekels." As soon as they gather them in they either take them or send them to their own country. What I have said in reference to the Chinese in Wellington is to a more or less extent gradually occurring in Auckland and other towns.


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CHINESE IMMIGRATION COMMITTEE. 1871

Extracts from the Journals of the Souse of Representatives. Tuesday, the 29th day op August, 1871. Ordered, That the question of Chinese Immigration be referred to a Select Committee, with power to call for persons and papers, with the view of a Report as to its probable effect upon the Gold Fields and the social condition of this Colony.



Is there any prohibition by the Chinese authorities against the emigration of women? There is no law against it; indeed a large number of women, some thousands, emigrated to California, but the "head men objected to it, and stopped any more coming, because it prevented the single men from returning to China. The head men would not allow any more women to land. If a Chinaman sends home for a woman with the intention of marrying her on her arrival, she is allowed to come a married man may send home for his wife, and she is allowed to come, and to bring two or three single women with her as servants. 15. Do you think the Chinese are disposed to marry and settle in this country Most of the Chinese come out here under engagement to masters for three years, who pay their passages, and in return receive so much gold annually. After their time has expired, very few of them have enough left to settle with. 16. Suppose the men employed made enough money after fulfilling their contract with their masters to buy land, would they be likely to settle in the country? —It depends on their character; single men generally like to return home. 17. How much money would a Chinaman consider enough to render him independent?—A single man from £50 to £100; but a man leaving China with a little capital, does not like to return without a large fortune.

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Thursday, December 22, 2011

llustrious Energy

llustrious Energy Leon Narbey, cinematographer on The Orator, Whale Rider, Rain of the Children, No. 2 – to name a bare handful – has only ever directed two feature films, both of them co-written with Martin Edmond (The Autobiography of My Father, Luca Antara, Dark Night). This one, their first, won a slew of awards when it first appeared in 1988, and promptly vanished without trace. Quite literally; the master negative was lost. Rediscovered and remastered, this new print played the Wellington and Dunedin film festivals earlier this year, and this week it becomes the first film to play in Howick’s newly restored Monterey Cinema. It’s a stunner. Beautifully shot – by Alan Locke; I assumed initially it must be Narbey, simply because it looks so good – it traces the fortunes of two Chinese miners in the gold fields of Otago, in the 1890s. Poignant and beautiful: so good to have it back. DL http://www.listener.co.nz/culture/now-showing/now-showing-december-15-2011/

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Fong Kui

STOP PRESS ANOTHER HOLDUP. Auckland. Another armed hold-up on Friday night, in which two men demanded money by menaces from a Chinese who was threatened at his hom6 by a man holding a loaded revolver, is being investigated by the Auckland police. The incident occurred at the home of Fong Kui, 238 Balmoral Road, Sandringham, at 11.10 p.m., 50 minutes before the holdup at the shop in'Remuera.. Fong Kui was roused by men knocking at the back door, whicluhe opened and they walked in. One was. dressed in a khaki uniform and the other, who had the revolvers was in civilian clothes.—P.A. Evening Post, Volume CXXXVI, Issue 82, 4 October 1943, Page 6

TRAGIC DISCOVERY

TRAGIC DISCOVERY

WOMAN WITH THROAT WOUNDS

CHILDREN ALSO INJURED(By Telegraph—Press Association.)AUCKLAND, December 25,

While Christmas Eve merriment was at its height at Cambridge, a domestic tragedy was enacted in a back street near the heart of the town.

A white woman, Petrina Louise Petersen, 29 years of age, was found with deep wounds inflicted upon heithroat. Beside her lay her two halfcaste Chinese children, Keith Leong Petersen, three years and one month, and Nancy Lee Petersen, one year and nine months, who were also suffering from throat wounds.

The condition of all three is not critical;

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 153, 26 December 1936, Page 12


CAMBRIDGE TRAGEDY

ATTEMPTED MURDER CHARGE

(By Telegraph—Press Association.]

HAMILTON, This Day.

The case is proceeding in the Supreme Court of Petrina Louise Kui, of Cambridge, who was charged, before Mr. Justice Fair, with attempting on December 24 to murder her two half-caste Chinese children, Keith Leong Pe,tersen and Nancy Lee Petersen, "and further with attempting to commit suicide. The Crown advised the jury that it might be wise to consider the case leniently.

In opening the Crown's case, Mr. Fitzgerald said that for the past six years the accused had been living in Cambridge with Fong Bink Kui, and the two had posed as man and wife. They had two children and since the Lower Court trial the two had been married.

Dr. Henry Qharles Tod, of Cambridge, said that on December 24 he went to the kitchen of Fong Lee's laundry in Empire Street, Cambridge. He found the accused and her two children with the front portion of their clothes saturated with blood. The boy was suffering from a single transverse cut along the front of the neck. Although the windpipe and important vessels were not severed the child was'weak from loss of blood. The little girl was suffering from a similar wound^but it was riot so serious. Witness found the accused also suffering from a similar superficial wound, which was not serious. She was excited and talked considerably. Witness did not think the accused was intoxicated. She admitted to the witness inflicting the wounds with a razor, and said she wished that she had made a better effort but the razor was too blunt. Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 41, 18 February 1937, Page 11



MURDER ATTEMPTED WOMAN ADMITTED TO PROBATION

(By Telegraph—Press Association.) HAMILTON, February 18. Charged in the.Supreme Court, before Mr. Justice Fair, with, attempting on December 24 to murder her two half-caste Chinese children, Keith Leong Petersen and Nancy Lee Petersen, and further with attempting to commit suicide, Petrina Louise Kui was found guilty on all counts by a jury with a strong recommendation to mercy. His Honour said he agreed with the recommendation and admitted the prisoner to probation for a period of twelve months. Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 42, 19 February 1937, Page 15

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