allowed to be opened on the
same terms as other foreigners. There are now streets of Chinese shops.

The Chinaman is always ready to sell at any price which will leave him
a trifling nett gain, whereas the native, having earned sufficient
for his immediate wants, would stubbornly refuse to sell his wares
except at an enormous profit.

Again, but for Chinese coolie competition, [49] constant labour
from the natives would have been almost unprocurable. The native
day-labourer would work two or three days, and then suddenly
disappear. The active Chinaman goes day after day to his task
(excepting only at the time of the Chinese New Year, in January or
February), and can be depended upon; thus the needy native was pushed,
by alien competition, to bestir himself. In my time, in the port
of Yloilo, four foreign commercial houses had to incur the expense
and risk of bringing Chinese coolies for loading and discharging
vessels, whilst the natives coolly lounged about and absolutely
refused to work. Moreover, the exactions of the native create a
serious impediment to the development of the Colony. Only a very
small minority of the labouring class will put their hands to work
without an advance on their wages, and will often demand it without any
guarantee whatsoever. If a native is commissioned to perform any kind
of service, he will refuse to stir without a sum of money beforehand,
whilst the Chinese very rarely expect payment until they have given
value for it. Only the direst necessity will make an unskilled native
work steadily for several weeks for a wage which is only to be paid
when due. There is scarcely a single agriculturist who is not compelled
to sink a share of his capital in making advances to his labourers,
who, nevertheless, are in no way legally bound thereby to serve the
capitalist; or, whether they are or not, the fact is, that a large
proportion of this capital so employed must be considered lost. There
are certain lines of business quite impossible without the co-operation
of Chinese, and their exclusion will be a loss to the Colony.

Taxes were first levied on the Mongol traders in 1828. In
1852 a general reform of the fiscal laws was introduced, and the
classification of Chinese dealers was modified. They were then divided
into four grades or classes, each paying contributions according to
the new tariff.

In 1886 the universal depression, which was first manifest in this
Colony in 1884, still continu