Editorial: Apology to Chinese should be end of it

It is perhaps no coincidence that only New Zealand has so far apologised to its Chinese community for historical wrongs. Australia and Canada share a similar shameful history, starting with blatant discrimination on the goldfields and culminating in ethnic-specific taxes designed to minimise Chinese immigration. Yet those countries have steered clear of an apology of the type the Prime Minister made on Tuesday. In all probability they recognise the implications of such a statement. And that, inevitably, it would expose them to claims for financial compensation.

Helen Clark, in fact, seems almost resigned to some sort of cost. The Government, she said, would discuss an "appropriate form of reconciliation" with descendants of those who paid a poll tax to enter New Zealand. Perhaps she envisages offering Government money to organisations involved in restoring and maintaining Chinese culture, language and heritage. Others, however, will undoubtedly see the chance to push for the payment of reparations to individual descendants.

At the moment, that does not seem to be the burning desire of many in the Chinese community. They appear genuinely grateful that the Government has seen fit to apologise and, in highlighting the suffering of Chinese families, point yet again to the perils of racism. There was even surprise that Helen Clark would go beyond an acknowledgment of past wrongs. There is little suggestion that the Chinese community is ready, en masse, to press for financial reparations.

That is not to say, however, that they would not have a strong case for taking a seat in the front row. The Treaty of Waitangi claims process has established the principle of financial compensation for historic wrongs. And there can be no argument that the Chinese suffered grievously.

Under the Chinese Immigrants Act 1881, every Chinese was required to pay a poll tax of £10 to enter New Zealand. Fifteen years later, that was raised to £100, a sum estimated to be the equivalent of about 10 years' work. Not only did the tax bluntly and callously set out to restrict Chinese immigration, it also meant men were forced to leave their families behind.

By 1901, only 15 of the 2887 Chinese in New Zealand were women. It took China's resistance to Japanese invasion in the late 1930s for families to be allowed to reunite on humanitarian grounds, and for the poll tax to be consigned to one of history's more malodorous dustbins.

In retrospect, the imposition of the tax seems extraordinary. In the main, New Zealand can be relatively proud of its tolerant handling of migrants. Only the Chinese were subjected to such restrictions. Yet other white settler countries imposed similar obstacles to Chinese settlement.

This was an era when talk of a Yellow Peril was common currency. Japan's defeat of Russia, a great European power, in 1905 did not nothing to allay such fears. This was also the time when the alarm among Australians led to the flagrant White Australia policy.

Discriminatory practices did not, of course, prevent the Chinese from prospering here. Industriously they set about making a living in sectors eschewed by white settlers. Laundries and fruit and vegetable shops were among the favoured businesses; some survive to this day. And, finally, freed of the shackles of the poll tax, the Chinese community was able to put down roots.

That community must now decide how far it wishes to push any sense of grievance. Encouragingly, the initial response of many Chinese seems spot on. They see Helen Clark's apology as a step towards understanding and reconciliation, a step that, above all, allows the Chinese community to take its rightful place in our society.

That process could be reversed, and goodwill lost, if the apology presages a campaign for individual financial gain. Most Chinese have done well in New Zealand, even if by dint of their own diligence. Any sense of grievance should be tempered by the opportunities offered, in spite of everything, by this country. It would a shame if Chinese chose to board the compensation bandwagon.