The first Chinese man, Appo hocton, arrived in New Zealand in 1853 and was naturalised. In the 1860s, Chinese immigrants were invited to New Zealand by the Dunedin Chamber of Commerce to replace the western gold miners who had followed the gold-fever to Australia. However, prejudice against the Chinese eventually led to calls for restrictions on immigration. Following the example of anti-Chinese poll taxes enacted by California in 1852 and by Australian states in the 1850s, 1860s and 1870s, John halls government passed the Chinese Immigration Act in 1881. This imposed a £10 tax per Chinese person entering New Zealand, and permitted only one Chinese immigrant for every 10 tons of cargo. Richard Seddon Government increased the tax to £100 per head in 1896, and tightened the immigration restriction to only one Chinese immigrant for every 200 tons of cargo.
