NEW IMMIGRANTS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 4, 6 January 1931, Page 5

NEW IMMIGRANTS.

SEEKING RELIEF.

FAMILY FROM CANADA.

STRICTER LAW DEMANDED. "WHY NOT RECIPROCITY ?" The presence in Auckland, of a Canadian family who, a few weeks after their arrival, unsuccessfully sought relief from the Hospital Board, raises the whole question of imigration relationships between Canada and New Zealand and restriction on the entry to the Dominion of those who will quickly become a charge on the State. Opinions gathered in Auckland this morning agree that if Canada insists on refusing admission to New Zealanders, this Dominion should take the same stand concerning Canadian migrants, providing no system of reciprocity can be established as a result of negotiation. Under the present New Zealand law migrants may enter almost freely, even though they are likely to add to the distress already existing in the country. The relief office of the Hospital Board, before the Christmas holidays, dealt with a case of a man, his wife and infant child, who, 18 days after their arrival from Canada, sought help from the board. According to Mr. C. N. Newman, of the relief office, the husband is 30 years of age, was born in Oxford, England, and was discharged from the Royal Navy at Montreal, Canada, in 1919. His wife, aged 29 years, is a New Zealander by birth. The child is one year and nine months old. The husband, it was stated, was out of work for some time before leaving Canada, and. to enable the family to come to New Zealand the sum of £50' was forwarded by the wife's relatives in Auckland. Unable to obtain work here, and in the absence of further financial assistance from the father-in-law, who was stated to be in part-time work only, the man applied for relief to the Hospital Board, but the relief committee declined the request. It is stated that another social organisation in the city gave the recent arrivals sufficient food to last over the holiday season, and that the family is being housed by the relatives who assisted their return to the Dominion. Restrictive Legislation. Discussing the matter, Mr. W. K. Howitt, chairman of the relief committee of the Auckland Hospital Board, said that the board at its last meeting passed a resolution asking the Government to pass restrictive legislation dealing with immigration, as at the present time there was no law prohibiting the entry of people from Canada, Australia or other parts of the Empire, providing they were of good health, and notwithstanding that they might have no money. The committee had arrived at that recommendation before the present case came under review, the reason being the number of applications for relief •made by people within a few weeks of their arrival in the country. These mainly were Australians. . "I say most emphatically that there should be some sort of reciprocity—the concession should not he all on the one side," said Mr. M. J. Savage, M.P. for Auckland Wetst. "If our people are not admitted to- Canada, for reasons that Canada considers good and sufficient, the same reasons should be sufficient for New Zealand refusing admission to Canadians. "A Wrong Thing." "In view of our present economic position," Mr. Savage added, "it is guite a wrong thing to admit to the Dominion in wholesale fashion people who find they have to apply for immediate relief from our Hospital Board. The main principle appears to me to be that in the case of Canada our people are not admitted, whereas with Canadians coming to New Zealand it is-merely a case of paying the passage money, and there the obligation ceases. They are admitted here and scratch for themselves. There is only one institution they can go to, and that iA the Hospital Board. "The whole question is certainly one that should be taken up without delay by the Government with a view to establishing some basis of reciprocity for the future." Similar Treatment. In the opinion of Mr. W. Wallace, chairman of the Auckland Hospital Board, any influx of migrants from either Canada or Australia at present is a very serious matter for the Dominion. As a British subject, he said, he had always looked forward to being admitted to any part of the Empire, 'but to find New Zealanders treated almost as alien interlopers, as was suggested by the recent case of an Aucklander who failed to obtaitn admission to Canada, was amazing. If Canada intended to exclude New Zealanders, $Tew Zealand would simply have to exclude Canadians. Mr. Wallace said it was in his opinion essential that there should be proper regulation of migration to New Zealand, particularly in view of the danger of an influx from other parts - now that the Unemployment Act was in operation. "An Elementary Principle." "The reported case of a Canadian family being destitute after being only eighteen days in Auckland draws attention to the difference between Canadian immigration regulations and the regulations in New Zealand," said Mr. H. G. R. Mason, M.P. t for Auckland Suburbs. "Until we can show some sense in our own handling of immigration we should not talk about the mistakes of other countries. I cannot say that I am astonished to leapn of the present case. In most cases it is an elementary principle to see that immigrants who are likely to 'become a charge on the community are not admitted, but in New Zealand we have concentrated upon making them take the oath of allegiance and such trivialities, to the omission of the one most important thing. I hope that this case will awaken the Government to a realisation of its clear duty in this simple but important question. Whatever may be said as to responsibility for the remedy of the present distress in New—Zealand, there is no excuse for carelessly adding to it."