ASSISTED IMMIGRANTS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2311, 2 October 1908, Page 1

ASSISTED IMMIGRANTS.

IS THE TYPE GOOD? A SERIOUS ISSUE.

An interesting article appears in tlie Wellington “Rost” regarding the men who- have lately been arriving in New Zealand by the hundred, thequestion discussed being, are thoy the kind that tho Dominion requires? The following are extracts from the article :

An “assisted” young men who came by the lonic just over three years ago, in .reply to questions, gave reasons folio's choice of New Zealand a® a place in which to make a new homo. He said that his first nroceduro was to write to the High Commissioner’s office for information, and he received a packet of papers ami pamphlets. These led him to believe that he would have no difficulty in finding employment in New Zealand, and Ids general impression was that lie would not regret crossing the seas to this country. Next lie sent- testaimoniuls referring to- his farming experience to the High Commissioner’s office, and submitted sure evidence that lie would be able to land in New T Zealand with at least £25. All he had to do then was to pass a doctor ■and join the ship. He was not personally questioned about- his farming experience.

There is an under-current of opinion amongst men whose callings bring them into close and frequent touch with the immigrants that the physique and ability of the bulk of the immigrants is a good deal below what it is represented to be. “In tlie last few weeks,” remarked one keen critic, “I have been all round the wharves getting names to put on the electoral roll, and in interviewing tlie men in ‘the donkey-100111,’ as they call the meeting-room for the out-of-works, I have been astonished to find that the big proportion of them arc now arrivals. It is quite true, as somebody wrote to the ‘Post’ a, week or two -ago, that instead of going-up country, most of the new arrivals hang around the city and the wharves where there is too much labor offering already. It is tho only thing a lotof them can do. I have questioned them to find out if they have been in tlie Dominion for the twelve months necessary to qualify them for a vote, and fully one hundred of them (the casual wharf laborers) have replied in the negative. Some have been here only six weeks. You ought to hear some of them talk about being brought- out hero under false pretences. The majority of this. class are practically destitute. It reads very well in the papers that- one of tho immigrants has brought out £9OO, another £OOO, and another £4OO, tint what about the big lot of them with hardly a shilling each or a couple of pounds? That would not be so bad if they were physically fitted, but are they? Go down and see for yourself. They arc cabbage-shifters from Coveilt Gardens, butchers’ men, general laborers, and stewards wild have worked a- passage out, and who are unfit for colonial work and conditions. Forty-two stewards were discharged from the lonic this month. The big majority of tho immigrants are physically unfit for any hard labor, and most of them now on tho wharf, tho strong as well as tho weak, say they would go back to England to-morrow if they could raise tho money, but they have no chance of raising it on the wharf. Last Saturday they all g-ot work. It was a busy day, but on slack days the new men usually come .last. For a living with a lot of them it is wharf work and pawnshop mixed. They put tlicir luggage in a store when they arrive, and they carry it' bit after hit to the ‘uncle’ as times -harden. “How can they make a living at wharf work? Alost of them -are about sft 2in high. The immigration officers -are always, talking about physique, hut tho thing is nonsense, as anyone can prove for himself who takes tho trouble to go down to the wharf when the. next immigrants’ boat arrives. ‘Fine English, Scotch, and Irish immigrants,’ the officials say, but those who know will toll you that -a great many who come as English -are only English because they spend- a week in London before they are shipped. A big proportion of the ‘Englishmen’ are Polish Jews and Russian Jews. That is another thing you can see for yourself if you go down to tho boat. Thoy are little, swarthy, stumpy men, and you see some of them 'in AVellington every day. “Then there is the promise-tp-leave-thc-country class. It is tho common appeal of‘ lawyers for their clients nowadays, ‘Let him off, Air. Plowden, and I’ll get him sent- away to New Zealand,” -and Air. Plowden instructs the police to make sure that tho man •goes. No need to take my word for that; road ‘Lloyd’s Weekly’ any week. I’ve been taking a keen interest in these immigration matters for a year or two, meeting all the boats and inspecting all tho men ancl what I’m telling you is based on close observation and inquiry. The system of immigration is rotten, -and tho assertions that we are getting a fine class of 'farmers is sheer nonsense. It is time that the Government grappled with the trouble, and put an end to the dumping system, which seems to be tho only system the London agents go upon.”