CHAPTER 1V 
THE IMMIGRATION OF COLOURED RACES 
3 1. CHINESE IMMIGRATION 
No question at present exceeds in difficulty the question 
of the relations of the Imperial Government and the Dominion 
Governments with regard to the immigration of coloured 
persons in the Dominions and their treatment while there. 
Happily in some ways there are traces of settled policy being 
evolved from which good may flow, but the situation is still 
fraught with serious possibilities of conflict. 
The case of the Chinese stands by itself and can well be 
treated separately. The Chinese have no treaty right what- 
ever to set foot on any British possession, for the Treaty 
of Nankin in 1842 and the Treaty of Pekin in 1860 are 
unilateral, and do not secure any freedom of migration to 
the Chinese.! The discovery of gold in Australia led in 1854 
to a Chinese influx, which was met by a series of Acts in 
Victoria (beginning with a law (No. 39) in 1855 forbidding 
more than one Chinaman to be brought in for each ten tons 
of the vessel bringing him), the chief among which—a poll- 
tax—diminished the numbers of Chinese from 42,000 in 1859 
{in 1854 there were only 2,000) to 20,000 in 1863. The laws 
were repealed in 1865 (No. 259). South Australia legislated 
in 1857 (No. 3), but repealed the Act in 1861 (No. 14); New 
South Wales in 1861 (No. 3), but repealed the Act in 1867 
(No. 8); Queensland, after a Bill in 1876, which was re- 
served by Governor Cairns, and, despite the protests of the 
Government against reservation merely because of its un- 
asual character and importance, did not receive the royal 
assent, in 1878 (No. 8) provided that Asiatic and African 
aliens could not mine on the goldfields until three years 
after their first proclamation as goldfields, while in 1877 
(No. 8) it regulated immigration by imposing a £10 head tax, 
! See Parl. Pap., C. 56374; contra, C. 5448, p- 57. 
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