In January 1855 Howqua gave evidence before the Commission appointed to enquire into the conditions of the gold fields of Victoria.
Argus (Melbourne, Vic.), Wednesday 17 January 1855, page 5
THE GOLD COMMISSION -The Commission held a meeting yesterday morning at the Treasury office : -present, Mr Westgarth, Chairman , Mr Hodgson, Mr Wright, Mr Fawkner and Mr O’Shanassy, M.L.’Cs.
… The condition of the Chinese at the diggings was also the subject of attention, the probable influx of the Chinese into this country being considered, and the best mode of facilitating the stay in this country of those already here, as the return of Chinese to their own country laden with gold, tended to create a rush of new immigrants. The witnesses examined were Mr. Mollison, Mr. Corrie, Mr. Cope, and Howqua, a chief of the Chinese diggers.
Argus, Monday 16 April 1855, page 7
THE CHINESE.
The increasing importance of the matter of Chinese immigration induces us to publish the evidence given by Howqua when examined by the Gold-Fields Commission, at Melbourne, on the 15th January.
Howqua examined.
Have you been long in this colony?—Eleven months. I came here from England.
Had you been in England long?—Nine years.
Have you been in California?—I have not been in California.
Have you been digging here?—I have been to the different diggings.
Where?—Ballaarat, Bendigo, Castlemaine, Mopoke and Forest Creek, and Simpson’s.
Did you find many of your countrymen at the diggings? A great many.
How many do you think there are of your countrymen altogether in this colony?—I think there will be 10,000 altogether.
What part of China do they principally come from?— They come from 4 District. My countrymen are from 5 District—Canton.
You come from the town?—Yes.
Where?—Outside Canton. The Tartars are from 4 District, and the 5 District are the Chinamen.
Are they mostly Tartars here?—Mostly. Not many Chinamen?—No.
The Tartars come from 4 District, and the Chinamen from 5 District?—Yes.
Have they a good feeling amongst themselves? — The Tartars are fond of gambling, and the Chinamen do not like it. Chinamen like digging, and a Chinaman makes more money and keeps it. A Chinaman will accommodate himself to the English habits, the Tartars do not. The Chinamen like to stay here, the Tartars like to go home.
What is the difference between a Tartar and a Chinaman in the face; do you know them when you see them?—They are greatly different; the Chinamen are rather fair; the Chinese Tartars are rather darker.
Do they both live in the same way and cultivate the ground for rice?—Yes.
Have they the same laws and customs?—Yes.
Are you a Chinaman?—Yes.
Not a Chinese Tartar?—No.
The Government is Tartar?—Formerly it was; now the Emperor is a Chinaman. The son of the last Emperor, who was a Tartar, has been put aside.
Which is the most powerful body in China?— I think the Chinamen have the greater power now. The Chinaman goes up to any store and buy anything, and pays and goes away. The Chinese Tartar goes up to a store and buys something, and puts anything he can up his sleeve and goes away.
When did you leave China?—I left China in 1846.
Have you been there since?—No.
Do you hold communication with your friends in China, by letter?—Yes.
Do the Chinese here as a body, communicate with their friends in China?—Yes.
And receive answers?—Yes; they write letters and put them in the post, and they are sent to Jardine, Matheson, and Co.
Do the Chinese hear of these letters in China and see them?—Yes.
And those letters bring them down here? Yes; bring them to the diggings.
Have they not hand printing in the towns in China, by which they can print those letters?—Yes.
Have you any reason to know that those letters sent from here are printed and circulated there?—No; I have been out so long.
What is the practice as to the Chinese that go abroad; are their letters printed in China in their absence?—They may be I cannot tell.
Has any letter of yours been printed, do you think?—Yes; in China.
In the Chinese language?—Yes.
Does it get much circulation?—In China, people are not so clever as the English gentlemen; my countrymen are rather stupid.
But by printing in the sheet they circulate some news among the people, do they not?—Yes, news just like a newspaper.
How is the circulation kept up for a printed document. Supposing there is a document printed in the street in one town, is that circulated much over the whole of China?—No, only over one district.
Do people buy these printed papers?—Yes.
Some Chinaman prints them to make a profit out of them?—Just to make what he calls one cass. Five cass would be one farthing.
Do you think many of your countrymen will come here?—A great quantity come here.
Are there more coming every year?—Yes; more coming every year. In Hong Kong, some Chinamen go home and give good accounts, and say, it is no use going to Sydney, but they come out, and come across here, and go up to the diggings.
The Chinamen take away the water at the diggings, and make the diggers angry?—Yes; that is what I have been speaking about.
Do the Chinese understand now the injury they are doing by taking such a large quantity of water?—Yes, they understand it. In the winter time you go and take plenty of water, in the summer time you cannot take a drop of water.
Are the Government of China favorable to the people coming away?—They were not before, but now the present Government is.
They see them bringing back gold; do the Mandarins got the gold from them when they go back?—No; they keep it themselves, and buy land and build houses.
Can you buy land in China so as to have it to yourselves for ever?—Yes; can buy a piece of land and pay so much.
Can you get land pretty cheap?—Yes; and make a house very cheap.
What position would £500 place a Chinaman in in China?—Very rich; plenty rice.
Is there any law to prohibit Chinawomen from coming here?—I never knew any come, except two from San Francisco.
Is there any law in China to prevent their coming with the men?—No.
Why do they not accompany the men?—There are not a great many of my countrymen so rich as to bring them; they cannot afford it.
Could you bring a Chinawoman from China, and the Mandarins not prevent you?—I suppose any Chinaman, if he had plenty money now, could do all same like English gentleman. A Chinaman might go across from Hong Kong to Port Phillip.
Have you been at Singapore?—Yes.
The Chinese say there the Government do not allow them to bring women to Singapore?— There are plenty there now, and thousands in San Francisco.
Do the Chinese like remaining in California?—Yes.
Do they carry on their religious observances there?—Yes.
Are they carrying them on here. Have you got any joss-house here?—No; no joss-houses, but some like the Wesleyan Society—a great many like the Roman Catholic Society—just like in my country there is a joss-house, but a great many will not go.
The Chinamen here belong to different religions?—Yes.
Do you know the chief of the Chinamen at Ballaarat?—Yes, I know Aloc and Kinsoey.
Are the Chinese following the religion of China?—Some of them,—not a great many and some of them different religions.
Have you one religion all over China?—No; different images,—different gods. In England, they say, “One God, one Spirit, one Jesus Christ.” So in my country they have different images. They take a piece of wood, and make an image; and they take a large stone, and make another to put up; and so on.
There is a new religion there is there not, since this rebellion in China?—Yes; they have burned up the idols altogether, and put them into the river. The Chinese now are all Free-masons, and form one brotherhood. The old Emperor and his son are Chinese Tartars, and the new Emperor intends to carry out all one brotherhood,—Chinamen, and Americans, and Englishmen, and open the country to all.
What number of Chinamen do you expect to come here within this year?—I do not know; I heard of 500 coming on the day before yesterday. A man had come from Hong Kong, and he said some more Chinese were coming.
Do you think 500,000 are likely to come here within the next twelve months?—Plenty of Chinamen go home, and plenty of Chinamen come out.
Would the Chinese buy land and settle down here; are they fond of cultivation?—Yes.
Would they be able to grow wheat and vegetables?—Yes.
Would they rather do that than dig for gold? —All Chinamen like farming.
Do the Chinese complain about anything, or grumble about anything here?—No, there is not much complaint, except that they are short of water just now.
Do the Chinese keep up a communication amongst themselves, so as to be ready to assemble at one time when wanted?—Yes.
You could assemble them all in a month, could you not?—Yes.
Are there not a large body of them under one man?—Not under him; he listens to what is to be done, and takes their orders.
Has he the power of compelling them to go home?—A great number tell him they want to go home, and they give him the money and go home.
Is there not one person who has the control of two or three hundred of them?—Yes.
What advantage does he get from them; do they support him, or does he work; is he a chief amongst them or governor?—No; no governor.
Does he make any laws for them?—No; nothing.
They do not introduce the Chinese laws amongst them here?—No; not at all.
Will those Chinese who go home return here again?—They go home and buy goods and come again.
Do they keep stores?—Yes.
Have they got carts and horses?—Yes; horses and drays. Not like spring carts, and not like a gentleman’s carriage.
In Singapore the Chinamen have fine carriages?—Oh, yes in Singapore they have.
Will the Government take any money from you when you go back?—No.
Any per centage at all?—No per centage at all. If I go home with so much money, I can buy so much land and a house, and buy so many wives—four or five wives, or ten or a dozen. All the merchants have four, five, or six wives.
See also earlier post Ah Kin How Qua (1829-1873)
