Fortune's Cookie

Social Studies Online

1. 1881 Poll Tax Law which made every Chinese person pay a ten pound tax. (and the 1888 and 1896 amendments)
2. 1881 Gaming Act outlawed puckapoo and fan-tan two Chinese games of chance
3. 1896 The Poll Tax was increased to a hundred pounds.
4. 1898 The Old Age Pensions Act excluded naturalised Chinese.
5. 1898 Shearers Accommodation Act stated that Chinese in the industry were to have separate accommodation from the rest of the employees.
6. 1899 Immigration Restriction Act which along with excluding criminals, the insane and people with infectious diseases also excluded Chinese.
7. 1904 Shops and Offices Act stated that only British subjects could decide on the opening hours of shops and offices in each district.
8. 1907 English Reading test for Aliens which included Chinese.
9. 1908 Chinese prevented from becoming naturalised citizens.
10. 1910 Factories Act limited the hours that laundries employing more than two people could be open. This affected Chinese laundries as most of them employed more than two workers.
11. 1920 Immigration Restriction Act which required all aliens to apply for a permit to come and only the Minister of Customs could decide who was allowed to come as permanent residents.
12. 1927 Amendment to the Shops and Offices Act stated that all people working in fruit shops apart from the owner and his/her spouse had to be paid the basic wage. This stopped Chinese fruiterers from using their children as unpaid workers.
13. 1939 war refugees, including Chinese, allowed to come on a temporary basis.
14. Tax on Chinese abolished.
15. 1950 no more temporary permits or student visas issued to Chinese although Chinese men were permitted to bring their immediate family to New Zealand
16. 1974 Immigration review permitted Chinese with professional qualifications to come to New Zealand.
17. 1987 Business Immigration policy selected immigrants on their personal qualities and not on their race.
18. 1995,1996 English language test and the linking of residency with tax payments once again restricted the numbers of Chinese who were able to qualify as immigrants.

Reference:
Dr James Ng's speech to the Wellington Chinese Association.