IMMIGRATION.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVII, Issue 5005, 26 July 1926, Page 2

IMMIGRATION.

“A SOUND rouci.”

ASSISTING THE MOTHERLAND.

“The policy of the Government is going to be in the future as it has been in the past. We are going steadily, carefully, ajid consistently with immigration, working, as wft have done, to place it in as successful a position as possible* and: to stock this country with as many Anglo-Saxons as the Old: Country can spare us.” In the above words the Minister of immigration (Hon. W. Nosworthy) in the House on Tuedsay concluded a reply to the many and varied criticisms which the Government’s immigration policy has undergone sjnee the commencement of the session.

The Minister stated that the Government had been subjected to criticism 'for many years past on account of its immigration policy, and when the prices for primary produce had been high and when immigration had been fairly constant there was practically no unemployment. That criticism had always come from the Labour benches. But the Government was not responsible for the fall.l in prices, which resulted in an. economic disarrangement and unemployment. It was not an easy matter to regulate immigration under those circumstances, or to put .the lid on the arrangements that ha,d been made in the matter. The department had: to look a long way ahead. There had also been the shipping strike to contend with, which had involved the thousands of immigrants who wer® • waiting to leave the tOld Country. That had thrown matters out of gear for a, time, as, the Government ha'd to proceed with its undertaking with those people as the opportunity offered. As to the action taken in the High Commissioner’s office to acquaint immigrants with the position in this Dominion, the Minister stated that every month the High Commissioner was, advised by cablegram of the conditions here. The unemployed problem had arisen only recently, and the scheme could not be shut down under the circumstances even temporarily.

A Member: What is your future policy ?

THE FUTURE POLICY.

The Minister : I am prepared to tell you what the Gbvertiment’s policy is, This Government is going to continue on the lines. right to the end. The hon. member can make quite sure that we are going on with it. This Government has set itself out on a course of action we believe to be right and justified, and I repeat tha;t with the many thousands of people we have brought in the result has justified the policy twenty-fiold. “Of all the immigrants,” continued the Minister, “95 per cent, have made good, and the arrangement made with them has been carried out. Even of the .5 per cent, that is left, they afe hot all failure. Their only are behind, and Fain more than hopeful that the bulk of them ,will come up to expectations and meet their obligations. UNEMPLOYMENT BOGEY. The Minister went on to deal with the question of unemployment and of the women who were unemployed. He mentioned .that the s.s. Tainui had arrived the previous Saturday with 100, all *of whom had been placed by the department and dispatched to their destination without any trouble. He affirmed that there had never been an immigrant who had arrived, whether under the assisted or the’ nominated system, who had not been: met by the officers, df the department: and provided with food and comfortable lodging until, such time as they could be dispatched to their places.--A' BASELESS CHARGE.

Regarding the immigration policy generally, and the question df uneml- - the Minister emphatically declared that it was nd advantage to« the Government to see unemployed in the land, or men, women, and chlTdrefn suffering from want of food or clothing. The charge that in bringing immigrants into the Dominion’ the present inhabitants were being ousted from their occupations was. baseless, and absurd on the face of it. Another accusation had been that popple were being brought in in order to pull down the labdur market. He resented such, statements very much indeed, and as a Minister of the CrOwn he deeply deplored that any- , thing of the; nature shoufld be attributed to the Government, especially - when the British people had made such great sacrifices for the Empire, and for humanity as a whole. That s,uch motives should be attributed to the Government, that they were actuated by motives other than those of trying to build up the Empire and help the Mother Country, even to the extent of bringing out 50,000 ofr her distressed people, were improper and unjust. In its immigration policy the Government of New Zealajnd was helping this dominion and also the British people who were dur own kinstaen. Assuming the Dominion obtained the population it required and better prices for its products in the near future, all those wanting work would find it, and the whole. population would be fully employed and occupied. That was the prayer, the desire, and the wish ofc himself and colleagues. Mr P. Fraser (Wellington Central): You must work as well as pray. The Minister : We have worked and prayed, and it has not been a failures in either case. The Minister reminded the Leader of the Labour Party that there were six hundred immigrants in his district, and they were good supporters of the Labour Party. (Laughter.) Mr Fraser: They are good Labour votes.

“Yes,” replied the Minister, prophetically, ‘'but when they have had more, experience in New Zealand and of the possibilities of the country under the Reform Government they will all be supporters of the Reform Party. (Hear, hear.) We will, then have such a large majority tha.t I doubt whether there will be room to accommcidate it.” (Laughter.)