THE BORN NEW ZEALANDER

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 101, 23 January 1919, Page 4

THE BORN NEW ZEALANDER

DISTRIBUTION' IN LABOUR GROUPS. A classification, by occupation and birthplace of the 71,177 recruits recorded by. tha medical # branch, us having been examined during the period of the First Division ballots provides some interesting figures. The figures do not include many'men of foreign and enemy birth, and to that extent they are incomplete in their bearing upon the composition of industrial groups. The following table, with tile birthplace headings, "New Zealand," "Colonial," "United Kingdom," and "Other Countries," shows some' of the important groups:— ' ' '. 'i N.Z. 001.U.K. O.C. Clerks .....\ 3,843 278 £01 3 Teachers 606 50 137 - Kailway employees ... 1,321 104 376 — Farmers 13,439 399 2,27/ 34 Farm workers 4,811 316 1,486 16 General labourers 6,766 769 2.059 32 Wharf labourers 164 26 89 1 Carpenters and joiners 1,951 131 469 7 Mechanics 1,369 83 347 7 Miners 669 159 240 4 Shearers ; 205 77 32 '■ 1 Shop assistants, ware-, . housemen, etc. 2,543 231 694 15 Seafarers 610 79 454 16 Several facts, may /be. noticed. The farmcrre form the largest group and contain a particularly high proportion of born Now Zealanders. The groups of workers regarded as moderate in opinion contain larger proportions of born New Zealanders than the so-called "militant" groups.

If the railway employees, carpenters and joiners, and mechanics are taken together, they will be found to contain 2475 per cent, of men born outside New Zealand. The wharf labourers, miners, and seafarers, taKen as another group, contain 42 per cent, of men who came to New Zealand from overseas. ' ,■