THE NEW ZEALANDER.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXX, Issue 5404, 25 March 1929, Page 3

THE NEW ZEALANDER.

Becoming a distinctive type.

: INFLUENCE OF IMMIGRATION LAW “The dissection into original ®^ e * merits 'of the population ®jf British ignores, inter alia, the factor of intermarriage between English and Scotch, Wejlsh and and so forth,” remarks the Government Statistician in a return dealing with race aliens in the Dominion. “Such intermarriages,’’ he declares, “in conjunction .with differient climate, varying habits and traditions, altered social conditions, and other causes will in all probability result in the emergence of a New Zealander as a distinctive type. Ip. the opinion f of many this new type Jias already -emerged, but with the lessening imHjtfpor.tance of immigration as a source ▼of recruitment of, population it should tend to assume more and more; a de- , flibSite character. ’ "An interesting observation regarding population of- British origin is that Scottish, and, in lesser degree, Irish immigration, has. beep relatively -much higher than English or, Welsh ’ IMMIGRATION RESTRICTIONS“The importance- of racial purity has long been a consideration cjf immigration legislation. T.he view has • been -taken that the coalescence of thej white and, the so-called coloured races is not conducive. tci improvement in racial types. The pr,esehc.e in a population of considerable gpc-ups . of individuals of alien races who cannot readily be assimilated into that population, or whose assimilation, for rqasc-ns dependent upon the physical and other characteristics of the rerspec.tive races, is hot attended-with , presents- , administrative difficulties in no mean degree. The -alien races are naturally accustomed ■ to other, conditions of living, to different standards of ethics, to strange customs, tq a social fabric, wholly \ ffeeign to that of the land of their adoption. Amongst thej people of that country they are-yet not of them , separated by the barrjer of colour, qf. -. language, of thought. And, again, race aliens are rarely a community in sexes, and this abnormalis fruitful of its o.wji peculiar diffic.ultiqs. ... “In the Dominion, a country still in the process of development and nearer to dense populations of coloured people.- than to the centres of white population, the; numbers of non-Euro- ‘ peans have never been sufficiently Zjarge to give rise to serious problems, ■frhat this is so is due probably to the geographical isolation 'of New Zealand and to the limitations upon immigration imposed by the Legislature. The first legislation of this character was the Chinese Immigrants Ac,t of 1881, which, inter alia, imposed a poll-tax f of £1:0 on each Chinese immigrant. “Restrictive legislation at present in for.ce is contained in the Immigration Restriction Act "of 1908 (and its amendments), and the Undesirable Immigrants Exclusion Ac.t of 1919. A Hermit to qnter the Dominion is necessary, and this is granted at the . - discretion of the Minister of Customs, \4jtwho must be furnished! with data r,e-. -yarding the business proposed to be undertaken in New Zealand by the applicant, his means, and so forth. Educational tests, be satisfied. iW should, however, be mentioned that ‘the necessity of possessing a permit to enter New Zealand is not confined to rac,e aliens, but extends to all perT sons not of, British birth and parent- . age. Temporary permits of a currency normally 'of sjx months may be issued. Chinese entering New Zealand to become permanent residents are required to pay £lOO poll-tax, in addition to obtaining the requisite permit.”