IMMIGRATION.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1225, 6 September 1911, Page 8

IMMIGRATION.

"A STAGGERING STATEMENT." DISCUSSED IX PARLIAMENT. Attention .was drawn by The Domlvick ycsterdiy un.lor the hendins "A Stagger ing Statement" to a certain matter purporting to have l>cen issued by the New Zealand High Commissioner in' London The extract given by The Dominion was taken from Ihe ■ "Westminster Gazette,' which sail that it-formed part of a lonj statement.' . . . Tho article was discus-ad in the House ol Representatives yesterday afternos" w.ien Mr. Uufssll (Avon) r :? k'ed the Prime -Minister whetj.?r he had any information on the subject. Sir Jo-i?pJi Ward sail that l.eyoiid whal ho had lead in the paper he liad no information regarding tho sulject. . He had telegraphed an outline of.tho matter tc the iliga Commissioner ashing him to reply by cable in explanation of his posiR on iT- ■ ,/' lllthoril . v llafl been given tu the Jjigh Commissioner to carry'out such a. policy of immigration. Tiie Prime -Minister quoted his speech at the Imperial Conference made during the discussion on the subje:t of labour exchanges au-1 immigration, and, continuing, he said that the number of assisted immigrants who arrived in New Zi-alaad in 1910 was 2187, and during the first six months of tins year 1105, a total of 3202. ihov! figures served to show from the pint of view of-the Government the extreme difference between IHe policy ot the Government and the statement «mipinj-i to have emanate I fnm the High C'om-missii-ner. The Government had not changed its policy, and it had given no in-siruc-tions to the High Commissioner to make such an increase in the number of persons assisted to emigrate as was suggested by the statement, end it had no intention of doing so. Ho expected to find that (hero-had-been'some misapprehension, and he very much doubted that •such a statement had been made bv Sir William Hall-Jones. "It sounds "very much as if it came from some of tho=o journals which disregard even a semblance of accuracy when criticising , the Government," Sir Joseph Ward added. LABOUR VIEWS, "ABSOLUTE TWADDLE." "Staggered" is the word to describe the amazement of-the Labour leaders in Weilington, when confronted yesterday with the article in the "Westminster Gazette." Mr. M. J. Reardou, secretary of the General Labourers' Union, and Labour candidate for the Hutt seat at tho coming elections, expressed himself as astonished at such a statement having been made. "A man came into my office yesterday," said Mr. Reardon, "and said' to me in deadly earnest: 'If I'm out of work another week, I'll have to steal to keep my children from starving. . That man has a wife and five children; ho is a labourer; and has tramped all over Wellington, Miramar, Kilbirnie, and Karori for weeks past looking, for work without bain? able to get even one day's work. Peoplo had told him that he (the labourer) had had a-good -time on the drainage works in Wellington, but when he .got that work lie was in debt to a storekeeper, and from Easter to August ho had only had .ono full week's pay (£2 12s. Gd.). His wages during that time averaged 335. per week." "If I had a job to give a man tomorrow, continued Mr. Keardon, "there would be at least fifty applicants for it irom good-labourers who are out of work 10-day. This pipe line job (Wainui to Wellington) has been dangled before our .noses for the last six or eight months past, and there is the Charlotte' Street tramway deviation, and a small job at Nairn Street in connection with -a sur'aeo reservoir ahead, so there is mighty it-tie prospect of work for labourers in Wellington.., The statement of the High Commissioner's about there being work for a million in. tho cities is absolute twaddle." "A GROTESQUE EXAGGERATION." Mr. E. . Carey, when interviewed, said: "I havo read the statement purporting to havo emanated from the office of tho .High Commissioner. It surely was written by some shipping agent "with showman proclivities. The whole thing is a grotesque exaggeration, and if taken seriously by tho English populace will lead to a repetition of the heartaches and misery always accompanying indiscriminate, unregulated immigration to the colonics. What a pity butter was not included in the list of commodities waiting 'to be eat up' here? It would have made tho bill of fare outlined much more delectable to tho English working man, and added to tho irony of the thing here. Where aro the two millions to get land or work on tho land with nine-tenths 'of our population already dispossessed? To say that tho millions mentioned would find work on arrival to-morrow verges on criminal misrepresentation. Because Labour has set out to catch up with, and refute, such glaring mis-statements as this- and others contained in most of tho immigration literature distributed abroad, our opponents seek to saddle an anti-im-migration policy on the party. But better to bo saddled with such an unfounded accusation than be guilty of fathering such base boosting of New Zealand for purely party purposes in country electorates. Evidently the author of the statement had an acute attack of 'coronitis.' To writo of 'saving mistresses from over-work' is in keeping with tho'snobocracy of a certain section of tho people here,' who, not content with the introduction of hereditary titles, Mary presentations, and invitations to Royalty, would also welcome a flood of immigration so that afterwards, when unemployed committees, soup-kitchens, and broad lines are formed up they might have additional distinction by airing their gracious patronage to such institutions in aping imitation of their class in the Old Country."