Lionel Terry killed Joe Kum Yung to draw attention to his crusade to rid New Zealand of Chinese people. His death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment on the grounds of insanity.
The Chinese Immigrants Act of 1881 introduced a ‘poll tax’ of £10. Ships arriving in New Zealand could land only one Chinese passenger for each 10 tons of cargo.
A world first, the Act gave a small means-tested pension to destitute older people who were 'of good moral character'; Chinese were specifically excluded. It was one of the major achievements of Richard Seddon's Liberal government.
The Finance Act (No. 3) abolished the poll tax introduced in 1881, which was described by Minister of Finance Walter Nash as a 'blot on our legislation'.
The slogan‘No Maoris − No Tour’ fell on deaf ears as this controversial rugby tour went ahead. The issue of sporting ties with South Africa was to split the country in devastating fashion in 1981.
In a climate of widespread hostility towards non-white immigrants, a meeting in Dunedin − presided over by the mayor − unanimously called for a ban on further Chinese migrants
