CONDITIONS AT HOME

Evening Post, Volume XCVII, Issue 130, 4 June 1919, Page 7

CONDITIONS AT HOME

DR. W. A. CHAPPLE INTERVIEWED

NEW ZEALAND AS A FIELD FOR INVESTMENT OF CAPITAL.

(BI TELEGRAPH.—SPECIAL TO THE POST,) AUCKLAND, This Day. Among the passengers who arrived by the Niagara was Major W. A, Cha'pple (who was M.P. for Tuapeka in 1908), and who went Home some years ago and was elected member for Stirlingshire in 1910. Dr. Chappie, in an interview, had much of interest to tell regarding conditions at Home. Ndw Zealand, he said, never ranked so high in the estimation of the people at Home as she did at present. Not only had the status of) Now Zealand been raised, but it had turnedthe eyes of prospective emigrants towards this country. People who had never before -considered "emigration, people of capital and position in the Old Country, who but for tho war would never have dreamt of emigrating, now freely said that conditions at Home would be such as to make it impossible for thorn to live as they lived in the past. In the first, place, small capitalists were nervous because of labour troubles, and were not looking in She Old Country for openings for their enterprise. In "the second place,'as income ta.x payers had under the Free Trade system paid the largest share of the expenses of the war, and were bearing the chief burden of taxation now, they were looking to emigration to relieve them. These people with small capital, but sufficient for their needs before the war, found now, owing to the depreciation of the sovereign, the demands of the tax-gatherer, and probable further taxation, that it was essential for them to invest or use their capital in such a way as to get a higher return than it earned before. This desire for new fields, in view of the present status of New Zealand, would bring large and almost immediate immigration to our shores. THE FUTURE IMMIGRANT. In the days before the war the typical immigrant from Britain was the working man who was looking for better conditions, but under post-war conditions the typical immigrant would be the capitalist looking for a safer investment and higher return. The working classes of Britain■-,as a rule had had high wages during the war, one family the speaker knew of receiving as much as £29 per week in wages. This was earned by the father and two sons in a coal mine, and two daughters working in munition factories. One of these, a girl of 22, who earned 10s per w.eek as a domestic servant before the war, earned £4 per week making shells. These high wages had largely satisfied the working classes, and if they could retain them, with ample employment, it was likely that the proportion of investors and workers would be inverted. That was to say, the proX»rtion of people having capital to invest would be a bigger proportion than before in relation to the workers. These were the. people' who were beginning to turn their eyes towards this country, and if there were ships enough to take away the people who wanted to come it would be a serious thing for Britain. REVOLUTION OF FEELING. . Added to this, there was no doubt that the unrest had created a tremendous revolution of feeling in Britain among investors and people who were looking for enterprises of various sorts. On the other hand, justification for the unrest lay in the stubborn refusal of the employers and the Government authorities to remedy the most glaring injustices until^ those making the complaint were driven to desperation. TRIBUTE TO MR/ ASQUITH. Dr. Chappie also alluded to Mr. Asquith. and the work he had done during the war. Mr. Asquith; the speaker said, was the most unfairly maligned man in Britain to-day. No man had ever listened to vilification for so long a period without hitting back, as Mr. Asquith had done. His silence was due entirely to his refusal to. be a party to the creation of any disunion in Britain in face of a ruthless foe. The future historian would do justice to the promptness and unerring insight . that Mr. Asquith had shown during the time he was responsible" for the country's affairs.