The Daily News. FRIDAY, AUGUST 5. THE WANDERING JEW.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 100, 5 August 1910, Page 4

The Daily News. FRIDAY, AUGUST 5. THE WANDERING JEW.

The amazing mental and physical re- j source' of the Jews is the wonder of all j peoples. Generally, the Hebrew sue- ! ceeds where his contemporaries find success impossible. His commercial instincts frequently amount to absolute genius, and it is not uncommon to find people, of the race who have.begun life in poverty amass great wealth by honorable means. In New Zealand there are many Hebrews, ..and, in the majority of casts, they are highly valued and progressive citizens. In all the cities there are Jews . holding high and honorable public positions, and there is no, antipathy of any 1 kind against them as fellow citizens. Unfortunately—for what reason it cannot be clearly stated—the Jew in some other countries is looked upon with dislike. This is particularly the case in Russia, and in some ether European countries. Oppression and absolute cruelty have broken the spirit of many of the race, and the genius of the people for progress and accumulation has not been allowed to develop. The fiendish outrages perpetrated on Jewish* communities in Russia probably led to Mr. Israel Zangwell, one of the most remarkable of presentday Hebrews, to seek for a country where the antipathy to his race had never tered and where it could not grow. He proposes to buy a tract of land in Westefn Australia whereon to establish a. Colony of one million Jew's. Although the Jews in Russia have been atrociously maltreated, it in indicative of their determination to succeed that they have established farm colonies that are in every way superior to those established by the Government which granted huge freeholds to Russian peasants, advancing the necessary funds. Whether jealousy at the superior methods of the Jews was' the cause of the extraordinary malevolence with which their proceedings were viewed' by Russians, br whether the question was one of religious intolerance, it is hard to say. The result of such a scheme as is proposed must be of immense benefit to Western Australia. The Jews are communistic in a very large degree. They are virile, moral and procreative, healthy, industrious and clever. It is conceivable that Australia would be absolutely unable to obtain so great an increase in population by any other means than that suggested. The settlement would mean added wealth to the Commonwealth, the Jews would be pioneers, and their, proceedings no hindrance to any man. A million people, in the broad sense of the term, would be 'lost" in Western Australia. That they would engage in only the primal industries might perhaps reconcile the Australian element that looks upon every newcomer as a possible applicant for some Australian's "job." A few years ago there was a movement to send vast numbers of oppressed Russian Jews to Uganda. King Edward highly favored _ the scheme, which, however, was allowed to drop through, probably because of the unsuitability of the country for the. purpose of settlement. Although every Jew desires to go back to Palestine, the time does not seem to be yet ripe for the exodus to that land. When, therefore, it is possible to harness brains and "hearts and strong arms to the work of a new country, it seems that the opportunity is too good to he lost. From a perusal of Mr. ZangwelFs appeal, it is shown that the class from which his colonists would be drawn would not be the class which is so well known in the (East End. of London, but would be selected from the young men and women of the Jewish communities in agricultural Russia. The essential elements for the settler in either Australia or New Zealand are that they shall be white, that they shall be strong, that they shall be people of character, perseverance and industry, that they shall be good fa'thers t good mothers, and good' citizens. Mr. Zang will can probably prove by "his method of selection that he can assure the Commonwealth that the Jews he proposes to send to Western Australia -will have the qualities named. If by a similar process, great waste spaces of British colonies could be peopled by folk of any nationality that would give returns lor their ' admission, the problems that face sparsely peopled dominions might be overcome. The greatest essential to a moral, progressive and law-abiding community is industry, and, in waste spaces, industry lis absolutely necessary for existence.