Chinese Tax-Evaders'
p. 160 · Read in the full issue
Colony is Off
r BLOWING an October debate by the French Oceania Terri torial Assembly, a stay has beeen called on police plans to banish Chinese head-tax evaders to Mangareva (PIM, October, p. 162).
The original Gazette notice read like a new colonising enterprise, containing the names of bakers, mechanics, taxi drivers, labourers, employers of labour, etc. Curiously, there was no mention of the deportees being under arrest. They were merely informed that they must confine their residence to Mangareva and get there by the first maritime opportunity—and stay there until further notice.
Once there it seemed that they would be left entirely to their own devices. It may be that to the Chinese, the thought of going to Mangareva was so distasteful that they preferred somehow to pay their head-tax.