ASSET OR LIABILITY?
FAMILY OF NINE PERSONS. TO BE RETURNED TO ENGLAND. The question of whether an Englishman, his wife, and seven children, were an asset or a liability to ■the community was debated with some animation at.’the monthly meeting the Wellington' Hospital Board. Mr J. Petheyick, chairman of the Social Welfare Committee, submitted the following recommendation from his committee :—
“That in consideration of the heavy cost incurred by the board in maintaining Mr and Mrs — and family, and in view of a prospec.t of' a. continued burden upon the board in maintaining them for a. further indefinite period, this committee recommends to the board the advisability of returning the family to England at the earliest possible date.” The Rev. H. Van Staveren asked if the, Social Welfare Committee would give the board a warranty that if they sent this family back to England! they might not be returned to the Dominion. It would not be the first time that such a thing had occurred. The Rev. J. A. Loc.hore said he would like fuller particulars concerning the family. Healthy immigrants were, considered an asset, to a young country; it had been said that every immigrant was worth £lOO. Mr Petherick said that the father of the family was an Imperial soldier, and was physically unfit. He had been in receipt of. a pension in Eng r laud, but this had been discontinued when he took up his residence, in the Dominion. He was of the opinion that some of 'his, friends wOiulff be able to help him financially if he could get back to England. All the chib dren were not healthy. There had been thrqe children when the family arrived in New Zealand seven years ago, and there were now seven, so that in sending the family back they would be giving England more than that country had given the Dominion. The Social Welfare Committee ‘had been assisting the; family for spine 'ears, and confidently supported the recommendation they had put forward. The cost of the passage to. England would’ only amount to one year’s maintenance in New Zealand.
The serial Welfare Committee’s recommendation was carried by nine votes to five.
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Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXX, Issue 5398, 11 March 1929, Page 2
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363ASSET OR LIABILITY? Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXX, Issue 5398, 11 March 1929, Page 2
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