THE CHINESE INVASION AT COOKTOWN.

Globe, Volume IV, Issue 302, 1 June 1875, Page 4

THE CHINESE INVASION AT COOKTOWN.

The correspondent of the Sydney Morning Herald writes on April 25th a 3 folio v;s, concerning the influx of Chinese into Cooktown: — The last few weeks in Cooktown have been pregnant with events. The most important of any incident in the history of this port—the arrival of the Chinese immigrants direct from China in swarms —stands out prominently as the chief item of interest, and the possible cause of much future good or evil to the colony. This immigration has many special features which distinguish it from any previous Mongolian rush in colonial history. Cooktown is situated so near the great ports that empty out their surplus coolies into neighboring countries, the facilities for reaching the gold-field are so unusual, the expense is so comparatively slight, that, apait from other considerations, it is small wonder that John Chinaman is hurrying here, with his stick and baskets filled with pots and pans, as fast as he can. The whole secret of the matter is that certain Chinese merchants in Hong Kong and Canton have excited the cupidity of their countrymen by the most extravagant accounts of the riches of the Palmer. Placards announcing the astounding fact that gold paved the highways of Cooktown—that men picked up nuggets of fabulous size at the diggings as easily as a schoolboy picks up shells on the beach—were paraded in the streets ; a fever seized on the swarming population who daily tread each other down for a bare subsistence in these great Eastern ports ; the required excitement was obtained, and then step in the Chinese merchants—charterers of steamers to the El Dorado, and shippers of produce sufficient to feed all they could induce to emigrate. The arrival of the mail steamer Singapore, with 470 passengers, followed the same evening by the Adria, with about 600 more, was our first intimation of the new and certainly unexpected rush to our port. Since then we have had 1200 in the steamers Namoa and Egeria, and the Somerset brings tidings that we may very soon expect three steamships crowded with passengers, that were laid on for Cooktown prior to the departure of the mail from Hong Kong. At the present time there cannot be far short of 5000 Chinese on the goldfield ; and so far as it is possible to judge of eventß future by events past, the number will shortly be double that figure. As to the feeling here with regard to the Chinese, it is, with the exception of a few interested parties, decidedly hostile to their admission. Meetings were held to discuss the question, and pass resolutions adverse to the action of the Government in permitting such an influx. A deal of "tall talk" was indulged in, and under all the deprecatory motions to the head of the Cabinet in Brisbane on the question, there was an ugly undercurrent of threat. Possible collisions were spoken of, imbroglios hinted at, and one outspoken individual openly expressed his opinion that, if Government would not prevent their presumed enemies landing here, " the diggers who had protected themselves from the blacks could do so from the ' Chinkies,' and that the Government, when too late, might discover that more than the men of Lambing Flat could do a roll-up when their interests were touched." Meetings were since held in Brisbane, and at the Palmer the popular ferment is very great. And yet all this outcry is raised idly and to no purpose. That the Chinamen will get gold and make a living where a white man—even if he were a Scotchman—would starve, is an acknowledged fact. Apart from this, I maintain that the Palmer is peculiarly fitted for a Chinese goldfield. The climate and the hardships of the living are much less deterrent to the Chinaman than the European digger. He is in the own zone—under the same climatic provisions that he was born to. To him the heat that thins the blood and fevers the brain and unstrings the nerve of the inhabitants of a colder climate is but an accustomed aad genial warmth. He is not choked by the dust—has he not learned to endure it in the stifling streets of Canton ? The burning sun does not dry his skin, and parch his throat, and sap his strength ; but invigorates his tropic nature, and euables him to toil on, either carrying stores on his back to an extent that would kill a white man, or delving and cradling from morning till night. The white man thinks less than sdwt a day sheer loss of time. John thinks it a fortune, and is content to work hard and patiently for much less. See the incoming Palmer men. How the flesh has left their bones, how gaunt and haggard, yellow-eyed,and aged, they are—with all the spring and elasticity of their constitutions gone with the fresh red and white of their national complexion. They have got gold, may be—ay ! and what is far more important, they have drunk deep of the Palmer pestilence, and carry with them the seeds that will ripen into disease; they have lived ten years in one. This is no overdrawn picture—the last few months have been pregnant with disease and death. The disastrous rush to the Normauby aud,Laura opened up o fresh fever-stricken field, and scores have only been purchasers of death when they bought their stores for the "New Rush." The country upon the heads of the rivers has proved peculiarly unhealthy, and the number of sick and dying who have sought relief in our hospital is exceptionally large. The Chinaman, however, seems to keep his health well where we dwindle and die ; and I see no reason to doubt that he will eventually occupy by far the greater portion of the extensive fields of the Palmer. The Palmei' diggings, unless at the first of the rushes, do not yield large individual returns ; the aggregate yield is large, but few individuals have received more than 200 oz or !300oz. And though there are large areas of unworked and comparatively unprospected ground, yet the "eyes" of the field have been undoubtedly picked out when Oakey and Sandy and M'Leod's and were worked out. The European will not work these areas over again, nor will he work ground that yields

less than about £oz per day, unless he is extremely pressed lor temporary subsistence. On the other hand, the Chinaman w rks longer and more persistently than the white digger, if he does not work with the same fire and vigor, and is satisfied with ldwt of gold more easily than a Kuropean with 1 oz; and though it is quite true that he occupies the ground abandoned by white men, to their eventual exclusion in case of ill-luck further afield, yet it seems a sad waste to leave wealth useless and unused in the earth because white men can only turn their attention to it when other speculations fail. To urge against them that they are not settlers or colonists is no argument at all ; not one digger out of a thousaud ever becomes a settler on the soil, and not one out of ten thousand will ever be so in this part of the colony. In fact, experience here shows us that the first thing a digger does on making a pile is to go south by the very first boat ; nor is he at all likely to return unless compelled by dissipation or improvidence. A few successful diggers settle here in business, but none of them would admit for a moment that they do so for any other object than that of getting enough to retire south on. In fact, no European would settle here from choice —the climate is bad, and his instincts warn him to leave it. There is, in my opinion, no more chance of northern Queensland becoming settled with a permanent European population than there is of British India. What action the Government may take in the matter is as yet uncertain, but it will most probably be the middle course of hampering the importation of Chinamen by restrictions and severe sanitary laws and police regulations.