WHO IS RIGHT?

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 452, 6 September 1928, Page 1

WHO IS RIGHT?

“Hundreds Starving in N.Z.”

London Labour Daily’s Reply

(United P.A.—By Telegraph — Copyright) (Australian Press Association) Reed. Noon. LONDON, Wednesday. THE New Zealand Prime Minister, Mr. J. G. Coates’s, cabled reply regarding the desfth of the starved immigrant, at Otaiki, North Auckland, prompts the “Daily Herald” editorially to assert that it could fill columns with extracts of ifetters from New Zealand, bearing out the statement that hundreds of starving men are walking the roads in the Dominion.

It proceeds to give several extracts from private letters, “which were sent to us in shoals," concerning the dire straits of immigrants. The “Herald" asks: “Is it conceiv-

, able that all these settlers are wrong, and Mr. Coates is right?” Under the heading ‘‘lmmigrant Starved to Death in New Zealand,” the “Daily Herald” published on Monday lengthy details of the case of Dominic Nolan, who was found dead at Otaiki in July. The paper also published a letter from the secretary of the Waitomo Labour Party stating that the incident was only one of many of a like nature which had occurred recently. “Hundreds of starving men are wandering along the roads of the country,” says the writer. The body of Dominic Nolan, the man referred to in the message, was found at Otaiki, North Auckland, on July 20 by a farmer, Mr. A. P. Edge, who was burning off scrub on his property. The police found an open letter in Nolan’s handwriting. In this he said: “I have been in this country a few years. Paid my passage in full, as my passport proves. I had to work for little or nothing in some jobs. They were only temporary. Out of work now, and when deprived of work for the means of existence my conscience will not allow me to beg. Many of the poor farmers with a young family cannot afford to give bread away, and why deprive their little ones? No—a thousand times, no. “So I would advise aspirants at Home, whose ambitions are for other climes, to stay at Home. You do not know what awaits you abroad. Think twice before leaving home. Near a month now since I touched food, and camped out in all rough weather, no shelter. Do not know how much longer will last. Roads are crowded with swaggers. Swagged it myself from Wellington to the furthest point north. Some poor men are working for board alone. Employers are reaping a harvest, and you, poor unemployed New Zealanders, again do not blame us poor immigrants, but throw the blame in the right direction. So good-bye all. Another poor unfortunate victim awaiting that friend, Death.” A reference in Parliament to this subject i« reported on page 14.