THE SMUGGLED CHINAMAN.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2146, 23 March 1908, Page 3

THE SMUGGLED CHINAMAN.

(Sydney “Bulletin”)

That evor-yellow post, tlio Chow, is still dribbling in illicit fashion into Australia, and the Commonwealths External Affairs Department is lorced to admit that the Mongol is too clever to be caught by ordinary means. The method employed to find tho stowaway Chows—they aro like vermin and can hide in any old crack in a ship’s dock— is too heavy and methodical, and that is the whole trouble. AVhen tho report was first made to Prime Minister Deakin, proving up to the hilt previous statements regarding tho influex of smuggled Chinese, instructions were issued by Allred that all vessels were to bo exhaustively searched. He didn’t wait to cxjihiin adiat that meant, so the vessels were exhaustively searched. ’I he Customs folk hired ship’s carpenters, and at Fort Darwin and the Queensland ports of call—whichever a.-ship reaches first —the ship’s carpenter and the Customs officer go all over each vessel to test it for false floors, roofs, and bulkheads. It takes them from 30 to 45 minutes to turn a whole mail steamer inside out in this fashion so the tli roughness of the job may be estimated. These anxious searchers have never yet found any stowaway Chows,and only two conclusions are possible—either there are no Chows coining in, or tlie Commonwealth officers aren’t swift enough to catcli them. ,It is difficult to believe that tlie stream of Chows—2o to 30 per mail steamer—-who were being smuggled into Australia have been, suddenly turned off because the Government received proof of what it suspected for years. But apart from this deductive reasoning, there .is in the cold hard fact, cince the Customs and External Affairs were put on tlio qui vivo by the special officers report ncwclmm Chow have been landed from nearly every mail steamer. In many cases the Department has been warned from Hong Kong and from Sydney that a clutch of stowaways was aboard certain steamers. And tlio Chows were there ; but they were not found. Atlee Hunt, Secretary for External Affairs, sorrowfully wags his head and admits that tlie Cliows are heating him . He suggests a way out; but the Government is slow to como in. " A little while ago a steamer, alleged to be carrying 15 Chinese stowaways, was quarantined in Sydney. It was searched oyer and oyer again. Then it was fumigated, with the profound hope that no Chinaman had been overlooked and would die by the process. No Chinaman died. In fact nothing happened, and the Customs people scratched their heads and wondered if their information was correct. The External Affairs Department has since found out that it was, but the Chinese went ashore at a northern port where nobody expected them, it is not pleasant to reflect on olli-, eials; but it is a fairly obvious fact that a., searcher, or whatever may bo called, who receives the princely salary of about £4 per week, is laid open to serious temptation when he is called upon to discover Alongol stowaways, whose cash value to their consignee is somewhere in the neighbourhood of £SO each. It is easy to see how the consignee could spare £IOO on each shipment to square the watchers. It may not be done. The watchers may be the straightest, most honest men in the Commonwealth; but anyhow, they don’t find the Chows. Alfred Deakin must- decide that drastic measures must be taken. Talk of rewards and searching is just so much hot air. Atlee Hunt lias already suggested the patrolling of the run between here and Hong Kong by keen detectives. That should be done, and a capable officer should also be sent to Hong Kong. It tlie AYliite Australian is worth anything, it is worth a decent effort to preserve. Its preservation may cost something. AVitli a. keen officer in Hong Kong and a smart- detective accompanying each boat—both officers chosen for their absolute reliability-—-the secrets of the “trade” ought to be easily detected. But, as an anticipatory measure, Alfred Deakin should run through a little amending Act making the smuggling of Chinese' an offence with a good, thick deterrent penalty—say three years’ gaol or more as a minimum for a first offence, Further, every Chow in the- Commonwealth •should be compelled to register himself on the finger print system. If an unregistered Chow were found wandering .about lie could then he hove out at tho back window. There seems no reason why Alfred Deakin should not apply both remedies, and so make fairly certain of a cure.