ASSISTED IMMIGRATION.

Otago Witness, Issue 2808, 8 January 1908, Page 15

ASSISTED IMMIG RATION.

THE DOMESTIC PROBLEM. ( TTbom Ottk Own Cobbespondbmt.) OHRISTOHUROH, December 29. Mr J. E. March, the Government immigration agent, tells" the Lyttelton Times tkat ttere is' «tUI a. la.* S e demand for labourers and domestic workers in JNew Zealand, and he is looking forward to^ the arrival of. the* Athenio at Wellington on Wednesday, when nearly; 600 more English immigrants will arrive. Agricultural .labourers, bush hands, and miners are in much demand, and judging by the manner in which the lonic's passengers x-were snapped up he has no doubt that there will be -no- difficulty whatever in placing' the new arrivals. The lonic arrived on a Wednesday, and by the following Saturr day all those who wanted positions had found them, and had been sent away. Mr March says the' people who came by the lonic are just the kind of workers NewZealand needs. They are mot paupers. The third class, -passengers had between them about £6000, and it is expected that those in the same class in the Athenic will be in an equally good financial position. The demand for domestic workers in New Zealand, according to Mr March, is out of all. proportion to the numbers that are .arriving by steamers from England. That is the unsatisfactory feature of the immigration which is taking place. Only a few sinjrfe women will come forward to leave their old homes for this country. It is reluctance- evidently that stands in the way. The difficulty is in respect to finding the sum of 1 . £10 for the passage money. The "Hawke's Bay -ladies have the difficulty by the scheme which they have recently put into sucoessful_ operation. They appoint a lady friend in England to select the girls. The friend, on the ladies' behalf, guarantees the passage money, but the girls, before they leave, sign a promissory note for £10, which is to "come out of their wages. The girls are then selected, and are approved by the High- Commissioner, and come to their destinations. -When the girls obtained by the- Hawke's Bay ladies reached Wellington were met by Mr March, and were sent on at once to Napier. , There they were met by the lady_who has taken a leading part in the, scheme, and were sent to the families in which they are now They were accompanied on the voyage- by a matron, who took them on tp Napier. Their ages range from 18 years to 30 years. They are all well trained, and 1 some of them are exceptionally proficient in their, work. "I saw one," Mr March said, " who could serve a dinner of eight courses, and make 'light work of it." As far as he knows they are all giving satisfaction. The Auckland_ ladies have adopted the same scheme, which he thinks might be taken up in Canterbury and in all other places in the Dominion where domestic are in demand.

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