I don't suppose that means
anything to you, but - try it for a month! We have no help. A Chinaman
costs fifty or sixty dollars a month now. Our husbands can't always
afford that. How old would you take me for? I'm not thirty. Well thank
God, I stopped my sister coming out West. Oh yes, it's a fine
country - for men.'
'Can't you import servants from England?'
'I can't pay a girl's passage in order to have her married in three
months. Besides, she wouldn't work. They won't when they see Chinamen
working.'
'Do you object to the Japanese, too?'
'Of course not. No one does. It's only politics. The wives of the men
who earn six and seven dollars a day - skilled labour they call it - have
Chinese and Jap servants. We can't afford it. We have to think of
saving for the future, but those other people live up to every cent they
earn. They know they're all right. They're Labour. They'll be looked
after, whatever happens. You can see how the State looks after me.'
A little later I had occasion to go through a great and beautiful city
between six and seven of a crisp morning. Milk and fish, vegetables,
etc., were being delivered to the silent houses by Chinese and Japanese.
Not a single white man was visible on that chilly job.
