Government offers $5m token of regret to Chinese

By HELEN TUNNAH deputy political editor

For Percy Chew Lee, his first years in New Zealand meant his family scrimping and scraping so that his father could pay the special taxes imposed by the Government to try to keep Chinese people out.

Mr Chew Lee, now 93, was just eight when he, his mother and brother came from Tupdong village, a part of Canton City, to join his father, businessman George Chew Lee.

The three new arrivals had to pay £100 each in poll taxes. His father - who had been here since the 19th century - had to pay £10. He also paid the taxes of cousins and relatives who wanted to settle here.

The punitive tax, the equivalent of six years' earnings for a Chinese man at the time, split families.

Husbands, many miners heading for Otago's gold fields, left their wives at home and the high tax imposed hardships on Chinese migrants and their waiting families dependent on money sent home.

Last night Mr Chew Lee had travelled to Parliament from his home in Christchurch to hear Prime Minister Helen Clark follow the Government's apology for the tax with the establishment of a $5 million trust fund to promote the history, culture and language of the Chinese in New Zealand.

"It's a special occasion for the Chinese community," Mr Chew Lee told the Herald.

He was not so sure that it was a happy day.

Since arriving here he has been back to China to learn his language and says the role for all Chinese here now is to work to improve New Zealand.

The poll tax was imposed in 1881 and only formally repealed in 1944, with China by then an ally of New Zealand's against Japan during World War II.

Helen Clark apologised for the tax in 2002, and last night said that in itself had raised emotions for some in the Chinese community.

"It hasn't been an easy process because something like this brings out some feelings which have been suppressed for a long time," she said.

The trust will be administered by the Department of Internal Affairs, and will focus on restoring in particular the Cantonese language and culture of early migrants.

As well, the Department of Conservation is to be specifically funded to restore Chinese heritage sites in central Otago, where many Chinese miners headed after gold was found in 1861. There will also be specific education funding to teach the history of Chinese settlers in New Zealand.

The trust has been established after consultations with poll tax descendants and the Chinese community.

Mr Chew Lee's daughter, Nancy Lee Wong, was on the consultation committee and said although the apology and fund offered some closure, it did not completely heal the wounds left by the tax.

"It'll take time," she said. "In those days it was not very easy for people to survive."

A spokesman for the poll tax advisory team, Steven Young, said the goodwill created by the apology and the trust would have international repercussions.

"It will show that New Zealand is a nation that is not afraid to address its past, that we are a nation that values its ethnic communities."

A taxing legacy

* A tax of £10 was imposed on Chinese migrants from 1881, aimed at stopping them coming to New Zealand.

* 15 years later it was raised to £100 - about six years' earnings for the average Chinese migrant.

* One effect of the tax was to divide families, with the cost stopping men bringing their wives and children.

* The tax was repealed in 1944, when China helped fight against Japan.