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.
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Alexander Turnbull Library
Reference:
A-315-3-042
Cartoon by J. Blomfield
Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.
Tāpiritia te tākupu hou