IMMIGRATION FROM ENGLAND.

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 131, 3 June 1919, Page 9

IMMIGRATION FROM ENGLAND.

I • . UfFLUX TO DOMINION. jOBESHA'DOWED BY DR. GHAPPLE. jjnon. the passengers who returned . the Niagara on Friday was Dr. fhappte- formerly of Otago. who went ■Home some years ago. and was elected Member for Stirlingshire In 1910. Dr. 'chapp'e has much of interest to tell regarding conditions at Home. New Zealand, he said, never ranked so high in •he estimation of the people at Home s - ne did at the present time. The pirt her men had played in the war had t,rou_ht more credit to ncr than one hundred year*' experience m peace time. Th. tvas not a mer6 compliment of courtesy. It was the del.berate, view that was universally expre-ped by all classes of people, and was never questioned by anyone in the Old Country, or even by other colonies. Not only had the st.itus of New Zealand been raised, but it had turned the eyes ot prospective immigrants towards this, country—people who had never before I considered emigration. People of capi-! t_ and po-ition in the Old Country.! who, but for the war. would never have! dreamt of emigrating now freely said I iha: the conditions at Home would he iue'i as to make it impossible for them to live under their old conditions. In the first place, small capitalists were j cerrous because of the Labour troubles.! and were not looking in the Old Conn-! try for openings for their enterprise. Ia the second place, as the income tax cavers had. under the free trade system, paid the largest share of the expenses of the war, and were bearing the chief burden of taxation now. they were looking to emigration to relieve them. laese "people with small capital, but sufficient for their needs before the war, i found now. owing to the depreciation of the sovereign, the demands of the iax-sraiherer and the' probable further; taxation, that it was essential for them I to invest or use their capital in such a tray as to get a higher return than it erer earned hefore. They were- looking to tie colonies. This desire for new fields, in view of the present status of Xew Zealand, would hring a lane and almost immediate immigration to our shores. Under the pre-war conditions the typical immigrant from Britain was the working man. who was looking for better conditions, but under the postwar conditions the typical immigrant wonld he the capitalist looking for a safer investment and a higher return. The working classes of Britain, as a rule, had had high wages during the war, one family the speaker knew of in his own constituency receiving as much as £20, per week in wages. This was earned by the father and two sons in the coal mine and two daughters working in munition j factories. One of these, a girl of 22, i who earned 10/ per week as a domestic servant before the war, earned £4 per i week making shells. These high wages had largely satisfied the working classes, I and if they could retain them witn ample employment it was likely that j the proportion of investors and workers j would be inverted, that was to say. the | proportion of people having capital to invest would be a bigger proportion than ! hefore, in relation to the workers. These were the people who were beginning to turn their eyes towards this country,; and if there were ships enough to take r aivay the people who wanted to come it would be a serious thin? for Britain. Added to this there was no doubt that the unrest created a tremendous revolution of feeling in Britain among in-j restors and people who were looking for i enterprises of variou- sorts. On the other hand the justification for the unrest lay in the stubborn refusal of the employers and Government authorities. to remedy the most glaring injustices' nntil those making the complaint were driven to desperation when the authorities finally yielded. As an instance ot this he quoted the railway cltfrks. who asked for recognition of their union and were refused until the whole railway service was threatened to be held tip. The police, also asked for a union, and modestly said they would rather discus 3 ■ their affairs together and then present i the demands to the authorities througn tlieir representative. The stubborn refusal of the authorities to grant the recognition asked for resulted in the threat of a police strike, which, though i distressing and even alarming, would,, in tl? speaker's opinion, be fully, justified. | Dr. Chappie also alluded to "Mr. I Asquith and the work he had done during the war. Mr. Asquith, the speaker I said, was the most unfairly maligned j ""an in Britain to-day. No man had, ever listened to vilification for so long » period without hitting back as "Mr. Asquith had done. His silence was due entirely to hi< refusal to be a party to tie creation of any disunion in Britain ""■ the face of a ruthless Toe. The future historian would do justice to the Promptness and unerring Insight that; Mr. Asquith had shown during the time' ■ie was responsible for the country's affairs. His speech in September, 1914, a clarion call, not only to the Empire, but to the world, and" would go "»«_ to history as one of the outstanding classic of the war. At that speech j Mr-Asquith said:—"We shall not sheath We sword, which we have not lightly araw-n. till Belgium is restored—more i Wan restored, till France is made! ■More against aggression, till Prussian i ™Marism is fully and finally desfroved." "w equal to this was not to be found in we war literature of any country.

General Pershing, in eomrtand of the! Ll "Jted States Army in France. has a «M hie story. A splendid six foot fiffure J» a man. he has seen much figrhting in "any land,. Roosevelt first seriously t„ rto r ered him ' an(l limped him over "c hea.h of 562 officers a forcible '»• which led to much moaning. While "•oosevelt was making the announcement m the Senate, a bonny girl, filter of a Wyoming Senator, lisand said -he would like to meet lavW W ** nm thP Pre ' iident honoured jhighly Within two years they met. no were married: but "their happiness "J? abruptly terminated by a fire, in Tinea Mrs. Pershing and ihree of her peri-hed.