A WHITE MAN'S LAND?

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2870, 7 September 1916, Page 6

A WHITE MAN'S LAND?

NEW ZEALAND POLICY INFLUX OF HINDUS ALLEGED MOVE BY LABOUR

Mr. L. M. A. Reardon, secretary of the Trades and Labour Council, has forwarded the following letter to the Prime Minister and the Minister of Internal Affairs:—"Sir,—The Wellington Trades and Labour Council desires me to direct your attention to tho fact that within the last three or four years Hindus have been coming to this colony in considerable numbers.

"The Wellington Wharf Labourers' Union • recently took a ballot, on the , quostion of ther ■ Hindus should be admitted to membership of the union, and decided against admitting them. The flax workers in tho Waikato have had to face the fact that these people are getting employment in the flax industry,' and, as the lesser of two evils, seem to be prepared to. admit them to membership of the -union. Further, on the authority of the Auckland 'Star', Hindus are a familiar sight in that city, and large numbers go to such centres as Te Awamutu, Ototohonga, To Kuiti, Ohapu, and Tauma.runui, to take employment as agricultural and pastoral workers. "This council has been under the impression that tho immigration policy of the New Zealand Government was tho policy of a white New Zealand, and I am directed to call J'our attention to tho fact that if this influx of coloured labour, is allowed to continue, New Zealand may have'to face social questions of the utmost seriousness, comparable to the question. which the South African colonists and the-white, population' of the Southern States .of America have to face. "I am further directed to urge that the time to deal with this matter- is now', before it becomes a question of greater magnitude, and consequently more difficult to deal with. ' ■ "We therefore suggest that if the present immigration laws permit the entry of -these people, they ohould bo immediately amended in the direction of giving the. Government at kact as much power to deal with tho matter as is possessed by the Canadian Government, which about two years ago had to deal with this very question on tho arrival of a' vessel in Vancouver with a large number of Hindu immigrants. The Government of Canada refused to allow them to land, _ and, compelled them to return to India.-. v i "In our opinion, to permit the entry into New Zealand, ,of Hindus is equivalent to inviting a coloured population numbering some 300,000,000 to come hero and settle, and unless the.matter is handled Irmly by the Government, we may in a very few years have lost the power to say whether New Zealand shall be a colony of Asia or a colony of Europe."