ALL GET JOBS

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 286, 3 December 1938, Page 12

ALL GET JOBS

ALIEN WORKERS. ARMY GROWING. BRITONS DISPLACED. 'JNFAIR COMPETITION. VERY SERIOUS PROBLEM. (Sprrlnl - n.v Air Mull.) r.ON'DOX, November 8. There are more aliens living and «'irking in Britain to-rlay than ever I m• friro. nnd every tiny more are landing I" swell tho army. in Mil y —thp last month for which li!:iirps are available at the Home tHtii'p -thp number of aliens registered with tin? police of Kngland and Wale* alone was 10H,5.">2 over the age of HI. In nddit.on, of course, tlipre are thous.iniU ii, Sim it land mid Ireland. Sinrp tlieso figures were compiled there limh lieen a big influx of Austrian refugee*. We are now seeing the first w.uo oI what may pns*il>ly lie a much larger in flu v from ('/ochoslovakia. How tn absorb them, what to do about them ia becoming one nf Britain's greatest problems, says the "Sunday Kxpress." It is not. possible to slam the door against them fov humanitarian reason#*, hilt lit the *amo tirno there is no disguising tin- anxiety felt among Britiwh people against whom they are now compefing for a living. Record Six Month*. Many aliens who have been here for year* are seeking security by applving for uat lira liia t ion. It costs only t 111 to become British. In six months this year the total number of aliens naturalised had almost retched the total for the whole of the year IIW. the figure liciir; --from March to September 137!), against, 1804 for the whole of last year". flow flo refugee aliens ma.ke a living? Once they obtain a permit to work from the Ministry of Labour they receive the same privilege* and, incidentally, the same unemployment benefits when out of work asßritish subjects. And permits seem ftKbe **ay to obtain. Last year 24,431 applfjd, ami.a kind-hearted Misitry refused only AJJ2. How the stream o£ foreign workers is growing may be realised from these figures for Mrfn)f»r£ranted during tlie past live year*:— ' JoS 1 ii 10.J88 11,144 {282 ll,ano 1987 21,310 Where do British people suffer most from the competition of these alien arrivals? When ono starts to investigate this matter tho most extraordinary facts are turned up. For example, it seems incredible, but it is a fact, that aliens who can hardly speak English arn now driving London taxica lis and forcing British drivers off the streets. Scotland Yard, when asked how this happened, admitted thaf «a few aliens liavo succeeded In obtain Ufa taxf-dtfebur licenses," but said It was impossible *far a man to pass tho strict test who could not write and speak English fluently. Vet, this is what Mr. H. E. Corfleld, editor of the "Green Badge," the organ of tho taxi trado, and secretary of the London Motor Cab Drivers* Co-operative Trade Union, said: "The number of ii liens driving London taxicabs has roacheq most serious proportions. Only the other day I was driven t>y. • man who could hardly speak English." > "Find Then Jebe or Mir." The textile Industry attract* many aliens. Auetrianc, Germans and Poles have established a firm footing in it. The fur trade i* largely controlled by foreigners, mostly Russians and Poles. Aliens figure prominently also In tho gown and millinery trade*. Thousands of hats and dretwee are made in the Eaat End, whole familiee working at them. They work under very different conditions from British workers and they undercut British workers. Cut-price gown shofxi are also being opened right and left by aliens. Often they start by employing British ««le* girls who are later displaced by newly arrived foreigner* often disguised—to get over regulations—as relatives. Influential alien* do not hesitate to put presume on British firms to employ foreigners for whom jobs are necessary. Hero Is one ease which came to the notice of tho "Sunday Express." A firm was approached by influential friends of refugee* with a request to give them employment. The firm replied that there were no vacancies. Tho immediate answer was that unless jobs were found certain lucrative contracts which these influential friends had placed with the firm would he cancelled. Two employees were dismissed and the refugees got their jolwi. Here is another example of foreign methods: An Englishman, competing on an equal ha*ix against a number of aliens, was refused a supply of goods by the warehouse with which he tittually dealt. When lie asked the reason he wns told that hie competitors threatened to withdraw their substantial support 1 rom tho warehouse if ho were allowed | to buy. Hairdressers, tr>o. are becoming 1 anxious. Mr. O. H. Murphy, the regis I '* 1 , Hairdressers' Reg'mtration i otitKil. saidi "Foreigners are coming ; over ami ousting British employees. We j had niie case In T/ondon last week of , two aliens who cannot- speak English belli;/ given employment in a foreignownud shop in pin en of two Englishmen." Threatening Letters. Doctor*—strongly as they aro organised -me also alarmed by the influx of docfors fi < 1111 Austria, (iermariy and t //-i b,,« lova kla . 'I'lli« I- what Dr. A. Welply, secretary of the .Vied leu i I'rilctitiouci'rt' I'liion, »ays: "I lm\e iinc-tigaled personally cases of ! I|t ea tenlng let torn sent, to doctors on Inmpltal staffs who have opposed the admission of foreigners as colleagues. There have been eases of the dismissal of n British doctor without ildl'<|Uatc explanation to make room fur an alien of no better ipta I iflea t ions. There are hospitals now almost entirely stalled by alien doctors." Dentists nre stifferitig equally. Of •ion reliigee dentists registered in MVit >iill I" , ' u * I""" 1 t(MV .Vears H.l—all l ieriun ii- -have been given permission 111 pi actlse here, and the remainder, armed with British credentials, have I'mml work In the British Dominions , o|onic«. firitlsh dentists eioiiplain do doctors- i hot many foreign I < 1111 not observe the high ethical • | (j\po'-;ci| here.

<■ Domestic servants, of course, form a huge proportion of tlie alien army in this country. Thev are not supposed to woiik in hospitals and similar public institutions, but numbers manage to drift into these jobs, which carry better pay. Many nlien women take posts as domestic servants merely as a means of entering the country. Often they are unsuitable for the wofk, and have never been in service before, but, once here, friends and powerful organisations soon find them better posts. In one case brought to the attention of the "Sunday Express," a German woman who had been in the.country only three weeks as a mother's help was offered a highly paid position as cook at a public institution. Shipping, of course, employs many aliens. It is estimated that at the moment, when British sailors find it difficult to secure berths, there are at least 7000 aliens in British ships. Some of the ships trading with Spain under the British flag have not a single Briton on board except' the wireless operator. There are nearly 3000 aliens, mostly Greeks, working in shipping office® in the City of London.