PLIGHT OF IMMIGRANTS

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 453, 7 September 1928, Page 8

PLIGHT OF IMMIGRANTS

“EXAGGERATION,” SAYS MR. COATES

LETTING FACTS SPEAK

Press Association WELLINGTON, To-day. Alluding to the London “Daily Herald's” latest statement recanting the plight of immigrants, the Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. J. G. Coatee, says that facts are better than any comment, and tho fact Xcw Zealand has the lowest proportion of unesnployed to population of any country in the world is an effective answer. Returns show that in the United. States, at tho end of 1927, the unemployment ratio was one to 28; in Great Britain at March of this year- the ratiu was one in 38; in Queensland it wa, one in 63; in Mew South Wales one in 167; and for the whole of the Commonwealth it was one in 199. For , Xew Zealand the figures were one in 375. • -We in New Zealand knew that it is an exaggeration to suggest that there are hundreds of starving men walking the roads.” said Mr. Coates, “or that large numbers of migrants are in dire distress. We know there is unemployment. 'and the Government has not sought to minimise its real extent. W» have preferred to face the position fairly and squarely, in an endeavour to find work to tide men over their difficulty. “For party purposes there are those who seek to magnify the position instead of lending assistance to the Government in finding a solution of the problem. As far as migrants are concerned close contact is maintained with them by the Immigration Department. and for every one who has complained of treatment accorded him ir thfe countrv of his adoption, there are hundreds who have nothing but gratitude for the assistance they have received. .