IMMIGRATION QUESTION

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 214, 4 June 1920, Page 6

IMMIGRATION QUESTION

INFLUX OP ASIATICS RESENTED. Tho question of immigration was considered at yesterday's sitting .of tho conference of tho N.Z.R.S.A., when the Hepntmtioii Committee submitted the following recommendations:— "( a ,)—(1) Tliat the conference draw tho attention of tho Government to the increasing number of Hindus that ara arriving in New Zealand, and request that tlio Immigration Restriction Act bo amended to stop, without further dclnv, the immigration of Hindus and Chineso ami affirm tho principle of a white New Zealand, and that all associations throughout New Zealand .be requested to convene a public meeting in their district prior to meeting of Parliament to protest against tho unrestricted influx of Hindus and Cheese. (2) That the immigration policy should bo controlled by, and "bo entirely secondary to, tho repatriation policy. "(b) That the policy of permitting and encouraging the immigration of ex-Im-perial soldiers' widows with young families or any other persons who'are likely to become a charge on tho taxpayers of the Dominion or upon the patriotic societies' funds is strongly objected to. Tho report was agreed to by tho conference, delegates who spoko m support stating that the influx of Asiatics, particularly Hindus, was having a serious effect on tho businesses of many of those returned soldiers who had been aided l>y the Repatriation Department. The danger of the rise of a racial feeling was stressed, and it was urged that Hindus and "yellow gentlemen from ther Eiist" should be prevented from entering tho country on that ground. One speaker stated that the standard of living in the country would be lowered unless the principle of a "white Now Zealand" was agreed to by the Government, and that the mixture of tho whito and coloured races would only tend to the degradation of tlio population. Mr. T. Long (To Aroha) declared that the Ilindus were "prostituting tlio Native race," and for this reason alone their entry should bo prohibited.