THE Wairarapa Age. MORNING DAILY. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1911. OUR IMMIGRANTS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10447, 12 October 1911, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age. MORNING DAILY. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1911. OUR IMMIGRANTS.

Th- - London Evening Standard has a j interesting interview with Mr T. E. Donne, of the High Commissioner's office, on the business of selecting emigrants for New Zealand. Rural workers iat Home seem to be more desirous .than ever, of emigrating, and the New Zealand office can afford to pick and choose. It gets •a» many emigrants of the best olass •aw it cares to accept. The enquiries

that pouff into the office come not only frewfe Great Britain, but from many wuntries on the Continent, and «weji from Siberia. There is abuJMiance of human interest, humour, and pathos in the Msiness of selection. Some people want to emigrate .because: -chey are married; others because they are single. Some want to take their families, others are eager .to leave them behind. The I old idea that gold can be picked up j ui the streets still prevails in some > rustic minds, .and extraordinary ] questions are asked about snakes, j wild, beasts, and cannibals. Mr 1 Donne .says the Scot is particularly averse to declaring the dull amount of his capital. "He may have several, hundreds of pounds, or even thousands, but he prefers to plead guilty to having only sufficient, to fulfil official requirements— £25 or £8 as the case may be." Mr Donne tells a good story of a country doctor'® idea of "physical, fitness." In addition to being qualified as farmers or domestic servants, applicants are required to be in good condition mentaily and physically. "Quite recently a country doctor certified that .' a young woman was in perfect physical condition but for the .want of one of her .legs. .• We did not,. how- ' ever, give, her an opportunity of stumping New Zealand." An appli- ] cant who waited oil Mr Donne eomei months ago interested him by his feverish anxiety to get away as : quickly as possible. "His main ' idea,." says Mr Donne, "was expedition. New Zealand looked' good to Shim, and he expressed much gladness at its. great distance from Eng- : land. We discovered that the ireas- : on of his haste was that Scotland Yard desired to embrace him before he left. We declined him." Mr Donne, even,in his busiest times, can never find his work dull.