EMIGRATION TO AUSTRALIA

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 21991, 15 January 1937, Page 12

EMIGRATION TO AUSTRALIA

DIFFICULTIES NOTED VIEWS OP BRITISH MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT iraOM OUfi OWN COEBBSPONDENT.) i SYDNEY, January 7. "It is amazing how much blather is talked in the British Parliament about dumping surplus millions in Australia s wide open spaces," said Mr Tom Smith, Labour M.P. for Normanton (Yorkshire), when he arrived in Sydney recently, after crossing the continent from Perth. ... "It is wrong to discuss migration in terms of millions. Anyway,-Austra-lia still has her own unemployment nroblems," Mr Smith said. People at HranVdo not realise the immensity of Australia. As I came across in the transcontinental from Perth to Port Augusta I wrote to a friend in England- Xand, land. land, nothing but land except heat. Land which would gTow anyThW if it had water; but it has no rain and it has no rivers. M? Smith has definite views on the migration of workers to .Australia from England. "If a man is happily employed in England, he does not want to ccme to Australia," he said. man C m- England i» «»«£SgJ or over 50, you do not want him here. That is the position. A man's willingness to come out here depends-on what is offering for him. "The workin* man in Australia seems to have a sightly better time than the workmg man & England. For one thing, your climate knocks ours into a cocked hat. A man can be much happier working in decent weather than m biting: wind and rain. There is a lot of outdoor sport in Australia to keep people occupied and, happy; for instance, the te Mr m Sm l it'n said that he had been greatly impressed by the big-hearted-ness of the Australian people. What Australians had done with their country in so short a time, and with such vast spaces to deal with, was nothing short of remarkable. The pioneers must have been men and women oi iron. ________——