Mr Marshall replies on immigrants

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32737, 14 October 1971, Page 14

Mr Marshall replies on immigrants

(New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON. Allegations that the Government’s immigration policy ran the risk of turning New Zealand into a kindergarten or an old people’s home were dismissed today by the Minister of Immigration (Mr Marshall) as a flight of fancy.

Mr Marshall was referring to remarks attributed to the president of the Timber Merchants’ Federation (Mr W. A.Bourke) at its annual conference. This was a distortion of

the position, said Mr Marshall. “Children who enter the country as immigrants come in as members of family units,” he said. “Their ages vary from those who are almost ready to start work to quite young children, but they are all prospective employees with the whole of their working life ahead of them.”

Elderly people who came to settle in New Zealand did not come as part of the immigration scheme; they came at their own expense, usually because members of their family had settled in the country. Mr Marshall said he would like t osee employers making the fullest use of the scheme the Government had provided. The executive director of the Master Builders’ Federation (Mr T. C. L. Symmes) today said he was encouraged by the “realistic approach” of the Labour Party on homebuilding policies. Mr Symmes was commenting on a speech by Mr W. A. Fraser (St Kilda) Labour Party spokesman on housing, to the timber merchants’ conference. Proposals advanced by Mr Fraser would “open up the possibility of home ownership to people who would otherwise be unable to build ... ”, he said.