NEWS AND NOTES.

Hokitika Guardian, 4 October 1930, Page 6

NEWS AND NOTES.

HELPING EMIGRANTS. The suggestion, mentioned in a cable message, that Great Britain should help emigrants settling in a new land is not altogether new. The present proposal is to place emigrants oil the “dole” until they can obtain work. The idea ot paying emigrants a sustentation allowance was first mooted years ago and it was revived when the Imperial Army was being demobilised, and the subject received attention at one o>f the earlier Imperial Conferences. It was abandoned in favour of an alternative method of helping the overseas dominions, which, however, never really materialised. | The chief objection to the system now will probably be the inadequacy of the “dole” as a sustenance payment in countries where wages and the cost of living are higher than in Great Britain. MAGNA CARTA DAY. Thousands of people gathered a few weeks ago at the annual service held at Runnymede in commemoration of the signing of Magna Carta. One of the speakers said that the British people were apt to take their privileges and liberties as a matter of course, and the annual gathering on the spot where what has been called the Charter of Liberties was designed to bring one great event prominently before the people of Great Britain. Many modern views on the movement which led to the granting of the great charter see in it a purely selfish effort on the part of the' feudal magnates and the Church that was not intended to benefit the humble classes. No doubt there was done for some classes more than there was for others, but whatever the motives at the time, the subsequent results are plain. The Charter has been a standard of reference to which appeal could be made in ascertaining the rights of Englishmen. A message from the King to the meeting expressed his gratification that the historic site of the granting of the Great Charter will be preserved for all time for the use of the British people.