" PEACE, PROGRESS AND PROSPERITY " 233 



reviled, persecuted and assaulted by that large class of shiftless loafers 

 who hang on the skirts of labour waiting for something to be done 

 for them. 



Irrefutable statistics show that relatively to their numbers the 

 men denounced as ignorant pagans and filthy barbarians stood 

 lowest on the list of committals for criminal offences, and that in 

 the matter of sobriety they headed all the other nationalities. The 

 gambling instinct, so characteristic of the race, was limited to 

 genuine games of chance, into which no adventitious aids from frau- 

 dulent manipulation entered. Eaids have been repeatedly made 

 upon players of "fan tan," and batches of Chinamen have from 

 time to time been fined or imprisoned for indulging in its delirious 

 excitement, yet it is no exaggeration to say that more money is lost 

 and won in the gambling of a single Melbourne Cup Day, unchal- 

 lenged by the law, than changes hands in ten years amongst the 

 Chinese in Victoria. Opium smoking is a deplorable vice, but it 

 is far from being so prevalent as is supposed. Compared with the 

 drunken excesses of the same class of white men, it may indeed be 

 called quite venial. Its evil consequences fall rightly and solely on 

 the slave of the habit, not, as in the case of drunkenness, on innocent 

 dependants and helpless children. Nor does the habit ever give rise 

 to those brutal frenzies, often issuing in wanton murders and other 

 barbarities, that constantly disgrace the records of colonial police 

 courts. Of the better class of Chinese merchants, the commercial 

 community and Australian bankers can bear testimony to their 

 honourable dealing and scrupulous regard of their obligations. 



But whatever opinions may have been held about the Chinaman 

 in 1882, the revival of panic legislation against him was a weak 

 yielding to mob clamour in the face of the clearest statistical proof 

 that it was unnecessary. Up to the end of 1853 the Chinese in 

 Victoria did not number more than a couple of thousand. During 

 1854-55 they began to arrive in considerable numbers. So rapid was 

 the influx that by the end of 1857 they were estimated at 25,000, 

 the great majority being engaged on the diggings. The Legislature 

 had already taken alarm, and in 1855 imposed a poll tax of 10 on 

 every Chinaman landed in the colony. In 1857 Mr. Childers 

 brought in a Bill to repeal the Act, but it was rejected by the 



