THE GIRL IMMIGRANT.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIV, Issue 77, 1 April 1913, Page 6

THE GIRL IMMIGRANT.

AND MATRIMONY. WHY MISTRESSES ARE DISAPPOINTED. WILL TRY TO INDUCE AN f OVERPLUS. In the course of a talk with a "Star" interviewer this morning, the Hon. 'H. D. Bell, Minister in charge of the Immigration Department, referred briefly to the influx of girls to New Zealand from •the Homeland through the Immigration Department. In referring to the class of girls brought out, which was the subject of some interesting evidence before the •Imperial Trade Commission, and in reply to comments on which the Minister himself made a statement at the time, 'Mr. Bell remarked that a good deal of the complaint heard in the» matter of girls disappearing after being engaged for domestic sen-ice found an answer in the simple solution of matrimony. "If," said the Minister, '"we bring out girls of such good character, looks, and physique as to attract the young men of the Dominion in search of wives, it may be unfortunate for the prospective employers, but it is probably just as good for the Dominion as if they went into domestic service. At all events, it is a good advertisement for the methods of selection adopted by the Immigration Department. "You know," he added humorously, "there is.no law to prohibit the girls who. come, out from finding husbands, and all that we can really do is to try and. induce a sufficient number to New Zealand to leave some over to supply the demand for girls to perform the domestic duties in other people's homes. Arrangements are now being made for a much larger supply of these girls, so that there may be some overplus. But so long as the Government induces this class of girl to the country, so long will the young men of the country marry them."

In reply to a question relative to the cabled statement that the Hon. Tlios. Mackenzie, the Dominion's High Commissioner, bad made arrangements for shipping a thousand immigrants to New Zealand this year, the Minister ventured the opinion that what the cableman intended to infer was that the High Commissioner had made arrangements •with the shipping companies for 1,000 berths in their vessels foT immigrants to New Zealand in the immediate future. As a matter of fact, a good many thousand immigrants land in New Zealand yearly, both through the department and otherwise, pointed out Mr. Bell. In addition to arranging for an increased influx of domestic servants, every effort would be made also to meet as far as possible the demands for farm labour by obtaining a suitable class of male immigrant with agricultural training, said the Minister.