Wairarapa Times-Age SATURDAY, JULY 9, 1938. REFUGEES AS IMMIGRANTS.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 9 July 1938, Page 6

Wairarapa Times-Age SATURDAY, JULY 9, 1938. REFUGEES AS IMMIGRANTS.

POR hundreds of thousands of people who are being driven out of Germany and Austria because they are Jews, and irrespective of what they are besides, the only door of hope that can be opened is one which admits them to some other country in which they may find a refuge and new homes. As the proceedings of the international conference at Evian which is considering measures of help for these unfortunates have thus far been reported, it is plain that there are very considerable difficulties to be overcome in providing the refuge that is needed. These difficulties of course will be terribly, as the World Jewish Congress has pointed out, if Nazi brutality is carried to the point of first plundering of all their possessions the people who are being driven from their liomes. ' At the meeting - of the conference at Evian reported yesterday, the representatives of countries of newer development, including Canada, Brazil and the Argentine, appear to have been particularly emphatic in enlarging upon the difficulty of admitting immigrants. Apart from considerations of humanity, however, any country, new or old, may be wise to think twice before refusing to admit a .proportion of the Jewish exiles to its territory and to citizenship. There is an aspect of this question which may be of importance to a country like New Zealand, and should at all events be worthy of some detailed examination and consideration. The people who are being expelled so ruthlessly from Germany and Austria are in many instances possessed of a familiar knowledge and wide experience of many branches of trade and industry, not to speak of learning and the arts. Is it not possible that a country standing, as does this Dominion, on the threshold of industrial development, might recruit from the German and Austrian exiles people who would considerably' assist and expedite that development? , Good precedent for action on these lilies may be found in the history of our nation. In the very early days of industrial development in England, for example, the Flemings did much to further the growth of the woollen industry and a number of others. At a much later date, towards, the end of the eighteenth century,’large numbers of French Hugenots settled in England and besides reviving the silk industry imparted a stimulus to the expansion of many other British industries. It has been said that the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, which compelled the Hugenots to seek a foreign befuge, was the,means of giving the greatest impetus to the manufactures of England that had ever been experienced. It is possible at least that the example thus set in the past might be followed today by many, countries, perhaps including New Zealand, to their own great advantage as well as. to that of worthy people in dire needs of new homes in which they may find peace and security.