NEW ZEALAND AT HOME.

Taranaki Daily News, 21 January 1920, Page 6

NEW ZEALAND AT HOME.

LONDON OFFICE "A FARCE." NEW ZEALANDERS WANTED. "The High Commissioner's office in London is a farce," said Mr George Scott, the well-known Christchnrch ironfounder, who recently returned from England, in an interview on the subject of immigration and the need for making New Zealand known at Home. Mr Scott stated that while he was in the office in London a few weeks ago a man entered seeking information about the Dominion. The clerk behind the counter was an Englishman, and knew nothing of New Zealand, and told the inquirer so. Mr Scott realised that the situation was delicate, but he told the man that he could give him a great deal of information about New Zealand. After he had gone, he asked the clerk what data he had about the Dominion. The clerk replied that they had received nothing new since the beginning of the war, and there was only one little handbook -about New Zealand.

"The men on the High Commissioner's staff," said Mr Scott, "should be New Zealanders, and they should not only have a full knowledge of the Dominion, but they should come out periodically for refreshers."

Discussing immigration, Mr Scott said he could have brought a shipload of tradesmen out with him. Moving about in munition centres, he was simply besieged with inquiries by skilled tradesmen, who were even prepared to pay their own fares to New Zealand, and only wanted to know something about wages, conditions of life, and so on. The .principal inquiry was about the fare, and, although the inquirers could have ascertained it for themselves by writing to the shipping companies, they just lacked the initiative to do the thing themselves and they needed somebody to give them a lead,

Mr. Scott expressed the opinion that the housing difficulty in New Zealand was no obstacle to immigration. The housing scarcity at Home was much worse than it was in New Zealand, for men who had previously lived in tenements —he had heard of five.men in a bedhad come back from the war demanding better conditions, and they had married and were seeking homes. "It is only necessary to tell the truth about New Zealand to secure any number of good immigrants, both agricultural workers and tradesmen," said Mr Scott. "They are just awaiting a lead."