Story: Ethnic and religious intolerance

Within 15 years of their arrival, Chinese became the victims of racist hostility. By 1905, when John Collis Blomfield's cartoon appeared in the New Zealand Free Lance, a poll tax on every incoming Chinese person had been imposed and then raised from£10 to £100. But this did not stop the concern, and – as the cartoon suggests – there were highly negative stereotypes of Chinese. Some people called for even higher poll taxes to keep Chinese immigrants out.