"BEST POSSIBLE TYPE”

Taranaki Daily News, 27 February 1922, Page 7

"BEST POSSIBLE TYPE”

NEW ZEALAND IMMIGRANTS. PRAISE FROM U.S. CONSULGENERAL. SUGGESTS THAT QUOTA SHOULD BE INCREASED. A compliment was paid to New Zealanders on Thursday by the Consul-Gen-eral for the United States (Mr. David Wilber) while informing a Dominion reporter that he had sent a dispatch to Washington asking that the quota of immigrants to the United States from here for the next fiscal year should be increased by many hundred per cent. “New Zealanders are the best possible type of immigrant,” he said. “They are superior to the rest.” He referred in the course of the interview to the number of New Zealanders who were desirous of going to America, but who were prevented by existing legislation. The Consul-General said that he had embodied his observations in an official communication to the Department of State in Washington. The dispatch w r ould be regarded as of great importance at the present time, and he had deemed it advisable to acquaint the public of New Zealand with what fie had done. The substance of the dispatch was that after careful consideration, Mr. Wilber had come to the conclusion that the New Zealand quota of immigrants to the United States was not sufficient. Under the United States immigration laws, as at present enforced, only fifty persons per fiscal year were allowed to enter the United States as residents from the Dominion, provided they were New Zealand-born British subjects. The Consul-General had suggested that for the next fiscal year (which begins on July 1) the quota be increased by at least 1060, making the total, as he would have it, 1050. At the same time, he desired to state that in his opinion, the quota from Australia should be increased. Since the last New Zealand quota had been exhausted. he had carefully considered the matter ,and wished to say that New Zealanders were a highly-desirable type of immigrant ,and that it would be in the interests of America to have the quota increased. NUMEROUS APPLICATIONS. Since last July (the Consul-General stated in his dispatch) the ConsulateGeneral in Wellington and the Consulate in Auckland had received numerous applications from New Zealanders, who were invariably of an exceedingly desirable type, and who wished to settle in America. Unfortunately the number of applications exceeded the quota limit. Some of the applicants wanted to become farmers in the United . States, and he felt that they should be given every opportunity. The applicants had asked to have their names placed on a list for the new quota, and to have vises reserved for them, but the Consulate-Gen er al and the Consular office in Auckland could not guarantee compliance with the requests, as neither office knew how many New Zealanders in other parts of the world would be applying for admission. The ConsulGeneral, in conclusion, expressed a hope that the immigration laws would be made elastic enough and be so amended as to permit a far greater number of New Zealanders being given all facilities for entering America.

Mr. Wilber supplemented the remarks made in his dispatch by an interview. At the present time, he said, the limit quota was four a month from New Zealand; two from the Wellington office, and two from Auckland. In that way, the total came to 48 per year. “The trouble would not be so great,” he said, “were it not that New Zealand-born British subjects all over the world are included in the New Zealand quota. That means that a New Zealander living in France or in the United Kingdom, would not be counted in with the quotas from those countries were he to desire to live in America. The quota for the United Kingdom is 6(5,000, and it is never filled entirely. Consequently, facilities are cut off from. New Zealanders in New Zealand.” REASONS FOR RESTRICTION. in explaining the reason for the quota system, Mr. Wilber said that there was a great deal of unemployment in the United States at present, and the authorities were doing all possible to minimise the unfortunate position. Also, the hordes of Continental Europe had been pouring in for years unrestricted, and the result had not been altogether satisfactory. Since the war, no Russians at all had been allowed in. “I have seen many phases of the position,” he added. “In Naples, it was a common thing to deal with .500 intending immigrants a day. In Warsaw, in pre-war times, 700 a day was the usual attendance! When I left Italy in January, 1921, third-class passages for America on all steamers going there were booked up for seven months.” The Consul-General concluded by emphasising that transient visitors were not affected by the legislation. Provided their passports were vised properly, they would be treated with every courtesy. ’ The legislation affected immigrants only.