Kōrero: Ethnic inequalities

There was considerable hostility to immigrants from Asia in the early 1920s, reflected in this cartoon from the New Zealand Truth.The three men wanting to enter the country are a 'Bolshie' (a Bolshevik or communist), a 'Hindoo' (Indian) and a 'Mongolian' (Chinese). The traveller's trunk, with USA and Australia crossed out, was meant to suggest that New Zealand was being more generous to these immigrants than other western countries. Such hostility was also expressed in other attacks on Asians' civil rights, including the denial of pensions to Indians and Chinese.