FLOCKS OF PEOPLE.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 170, 19 July 1924, Page 6

FLOCKS OF PEOPLE.

MAKING FOR AUCKLAND. BY IMMIGRANT AND MAIL STEAMERS. ,_*_«__. ASSISTED DDHGEANTS. I NEARLY SOO FOR DOMINION. Counting sailors there are more than fifteen hundred pairs of eyes turned to the horizon in the direction of Auckland, and on Monday and Tuesday next something like twelve hundred newcomers will step off the wharves and take a stroll up Queen Street to see what sort of a place they have come to. Of that number at least 800 are coming to this part of the world with the object of making their homes here, and 78_ of them are- Governmentassisted immigrants. If New Zealand cannot populate its own empty spaces! there is fortunately no lack of good material in the Old Country. Next week's accession of new citizens will be - the most important event from an immigration point of view that has happened in Auckland for a long while, j and it says much for the work of the officials controlling immigration' that! the arrangements have been made so complete that every individual on board knows exactly where to go and bow to •; get there. Mr. H. D. Thomson, Under-1 Secretary for Immigration, and- llr. A". A. Mills have arrived in Auckland to j complete the details for receiving the strangers, and they will meet both' steamers by which assisted immigrants I are coming. It is many years since New Zealand first began to encourage immigration, and anyone studying the history of the work must have been struck with the remarkable change that has come over. the system during the course of years.: Modern methods of transport have ' revolutionised travel, and enabled large crowds to be handled with a facility that was impossible in the old days of immigration, but on tbe other i hand, the magnitude of the present-day j traffic also demands a much more com-! plete "and detailed method of dealing! with the immigrants. Just about this I time of tho year sixty-one years ago another batch of immigrants arrived —the Albertlanders, and one cannot. help contrasting the methods 'of 1863 with those of to-day. The newcomers of 1863 took about a. week to get ashore, and when they did they had to find their own way up to the almost inaccessible Kaipara. Some of- them took six weeks over the task, and some never got there at all. On Monday and Tuesday next 784 Government-assisted immigrants will step ashore at Auckland within a couple of houTS of the steamers dropping anchor, and by means of special trains the whole lot of the people bound South will be out of the city by Tuesday afternoon. Fanners and Tradesmen. The steamers that are bringing the assisted immigrants are the Federal liner Suffolk, w-liich is due about midday Monday, and the Shaw, Savill liner Corinthic, which is due early on Tuesday. In addition to these vessels there there will be arriving the mail steamer Makura from Vancouver with probably 200 passengers on board, and the Manuka from Sydney, with about the! same number of passengers on board. The Makura is due Monday early, and tho Manuka on Tuesday, so* that Auckland will be a busy port at the beginning of the coming week. As mentioned, the two liners from the Old Country are bringing oht 784 Government-assisted immigrants, every- j one of whom is provided for, both ml the matter of accommodation and work.! Included in the two parties there are 95 skilled farm labourers, of whom the Dominion is in much need. There are 23 public school boys coming out for; Taranaki under the scheme organised by the Taranaki Chamber of Commerce' for placing these lads on the land. : The rest of the immigrants comprise' the usual trades and classes of people j that have been coming here of late' years. There arc two parties of domestic! servants—one of 43 under the charge of' a matron on the Suffolk, and the other; of 4L, also in charge of a matron, on the Corinthic. The public school boys are to be entertained by representatives of the New Zealand Public Schools Association. Passengers by the Suffolk go to the following places:— Men. Women. Children. TI. Auckland . 31 - 35 34 100 New Plymouth 2 2 1 H Wanganui ... 2 3 i ' fi Gisborne ....:: i i " Napier ?, ;. j ~ WeUington ..50 36 10 06 Nelson 1 _ g o Westport .... 2 •> 4 S Lyttelton ... 17 24 i? s % fi'-eyinoutl- ..2 0 0 •> Timaru ..... 3 2 2 7 Oamaru 4 o o i Puncdin .... 16 12 no? BlUff __S __9 10 Vl Totals .. 14 _ J3O 00 364 Tbe Corinthic's passengers arc booked to the following.-— Men. Women. Children. TI. Auckland ... 56 62 as 150 New Plymouth 3,'! 8 11 „o ■Wanganui ... 5 4 0 0! frisbomo .... 2 •■ r, - Napier s c, 4 ,£' WeUington .. 45 3S i-t i„ Picton 0 1 0 1 Nelson 0 2 (I •> Westport . 3 2 v S' Greyniouth 5 2 j . 1 Lyttelton .. 7 11 -. o2 Bi u ufr cdi . n ....-.. *_ J* "» « Totals .."lis ~154 "~SS *"i_o|