OF NEW ZEALAND INTEREST.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 19202, 7 January 1928, Page 13

OF NEW ZEALAND INTEREST.

FREE TRADE AND UNEMPLOYMENT.

RETIRED MEN IN THE DOMINION

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LOMDON, November' 25. _ A week or two ago "A Retired Civil So ; vant in New Zealand" wrote to the "Birmingham Post" maintaining that a, retired man with an income of from £SOO to £IOOO a year with a family could do better in England than m New Zealand. The letter is answered, by the' Government Publicity Officer, who says: "So far from there being no land in New Zealand for settlement, it is the other .way about. A great deal of privately owned land is on the market, and as the high prices of the deflated period have very largely disappeared, it-■ is the' opinion of responsible farmers in New Zealand that now is a good time to purchase. The Honourable McLeod's remark-that there was 'little land left for settlement',: obviously referred to Crown Lands, and to Crown lands only.. There is ample pri-. vate'land available, and to a shrewd purchaser ,at a'very reasonable''figure. ' "Ybiii 1 "correspondbjit's statement ihdt a retired' man 'with" uiri'ilcome'bf 'goOO to £IOOO a year with a family can do hotter in England than in New Zealarid ■is- so preposterously : untrue v that- it 'is' scarcely 'worth' 'refutation.- .'This' office can exhibit a dozen.-letters received:; within the-last year from retired ; 'Naval men. .and;- Englishmen -from- India whp have * settled - 1 in New .Zealand : and are thoroughly satisfied "with";the t change.' . "As to tlw opportunities for' British youths in New Zealand, the'editor of a leading New Zealand newspaper recently wrote me :• 'Quite a number of the English public. schoolboys are well on : the way to success as farmers in their owii right. There is no question that there are opportunities-here for the energetic and/ diligent English, boy.' . '-With- regard to the'.Flock-House-scheme, 331 boys, have now been sue-, cessfully--,,trained .-' as:" farmers in : New. Zealand. . Out. of one-party of 30 sent out. some -.time .ago,: :19;. after' training, •■ started .farming at:£l a-week; two at, !22s 6d per week, and the rest at' 17s -6d;per- week, with board.and lodging included." : -

Unemployment Problem. "Johr. ■fiull" sees an easy solution of the unemployment question in the Emp:re. "Unemployment," says this popular w*3kly, "is rampant on both sides of. the sea. It is rife, in the Dominions; It,is-acute,in New;-Zealand.'. It reaches from the North. Cape to the Bluff. In Auckland City homes ar,e impoverished chil'drfen want clothes, mothers are haggard." •''They c&nhdt make ends meet' because- husbands and fathers cannot get; work. "Before., the war these young countries were happy and prosperous. There was work in the towns, families had ample, and good food, clothes, and * little for luxury. 'Things were on the upgrade, and a fair proportion of immigrants from the Mother Country'could be . 'steadily absorbed. -Now these young'countries boast doss-houses, soup' kitchens, places for 'down-and-outs,' and relief bills which may, in. a single town, nm' to thousands of pounds monthly.

"In these circumstances, of what use is it to send shiploads of unemployed from one workless country into another workless country? It is more profitable to search out, and face the cause of all this world-wide distress. It is quite- simple. Ever since the GreatWar another war has been going on. It is the tariff fight. Goods cannot-be made nor products sold..because tariffs hinder and block the trade routes along which-they ought to flow. "The world wants goods. -. Men and women want work, Let us pull downthe tariff walls and give both a chance.".

■Education in Samoa. The "Journal of Education"' ways that the New Zealand Government's report on Western Samoa indicates, so far as education is concerned, a most satisfactory and promising state of affairs not only in aim, but in actual.practice. "The education .policy of the, Administration is 'not to aim at educating the Samoans to become Europeans in their outlook, but to make them better Sa-. moans.' Nature is so proline in the Sa- oau Islands, that the native can provide food for himself and family with the minimum of exertion; consequently anything in the nature of hard work has been regarded by him as both unnecessary and 'beneath him.' In view of this, all teachers are counselled to 'emphasise the gospel of work ana the part it has plavedin.the building up of other countries."' As every Samoan household hasland.at its disposal, this 'gospel of work'naturally has a very practical ap-. plication to agriculture. Accordingly, one main object of the system of education is 'to inculcate in the minds of all : scholars' the importance of -agriculture, and to ensure that thin- receive--training in-improved methods in the cilvivaimg of land.' : '