Story: Immigration regulation

When New Zealand began to restrict Chinese immigration in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the British government became anxious about the impact on its interests in China, India and Japan. In 1896, by withholding royal assent, the British government struck down the Asiatic Restriction Bill passed by New Zealand. In this 1917 cartoon a British politician is opening a door that New Zealand has shut against Indian immigrants. In 1920, New Zealand passed a law that was acceptable to the British: it excluded Asians without the overt discrimination that might have embarrassed Britain in Asian countries.