HAS COMMON SENSE DEPARTED FROM NEW ZEALAND?
(to the editor.) Sir —The above query is suggested by a perusal of the draft of “ The Undesirable Immigrants Exclusion Bill,” introduced by the Minister of Labor. The Bill provides (inter alia) that “ every contract workman, imbecile, idiot and pauper, shall he excluded from the colony.” There is do definition of a “ contract workman,” and I leave that for your readers to define for themselves. A pauper is defined to mean “ any unmarried man who does not possess at least £2O, or any married man who does not possess £3O in addition to £lO in respect to every child accompanying him.” Tourists may enter the colony provided they are not suffering from leprosy or consumption, and if they remain more than six months they must report themselves to the immigration officer or Stipendiary Magistrate. If a _ man becomes a charge on the Charitable Aid Board within one year, the shipowner who brought him to the colony must, at the ship’s cost, convey him to the place from whence he came. There are other absurd provisions, but your space will not permit me to mention them. All I want to point out is that it has been reserved for a so-called “ Liberal” Government to define the meaning of a “ pauper.” Money is after all to be the passport into the colony. The blackleg and gambler, if they can produce £2O, are to be admitted to the colony, and a respectable, honest man, if he has not £2O, is to be excluded. It is quite evident that a new army of “ pocket inspectors ” will have to be stationed at our ports if this extraordinary bill is to become the law of the land. The regulation in regard to tourists is a reproduction of the worst features of the ticket-of-leave system. On the one hand we hear that thousands of pounds should be spent in encouraging tourists to view our magnificent scenery, and now we have a proposal that can only be considered insulting and degrading to our visitors. The publication of the draft bill in the Australian colonies will make New Zealand a laughing stock, and will still further intensify the feeling that legislation has gone mad in this colony. Idiots, I notice, are to be excluded. I don t want to be disrespectful or unparliamentary, but one can scarcely resist the temptation of asking—“ How many there are in Wellington just now ?” —Yours &c., x.y.z. Oct. 3.
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Southern Cross, Volume 2, Issue 28, 6 October 1894, Page 12
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413HAS COMMON SENSE DEPARTED FROM NEW ZEALAND? Southern Cross, Volume 2, Issue 28, 6 October 1894, Page 12
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