RUSSIANS IN NEW ZEALAND.

Clutha Leader, Volume XXXV, Issue 2126, 29 January 1909, Page 3

RUSSIANS IN NEW ZEALAND.

LOOKING FOR LAND. In one of the States of America, several hundred miles from San Francisco, there are 900 Russian families (a community of about two thousand persons altogether) who desire to till other fields under other skies and other laws. They say, through their envoys (Ms. Vladimir, Pisarenke, and W. Pleissner), who are now in New Zealand, that owing to the action of the American Railway Trusts they are unable to profitably sell their produce. Therefore they desire to settle in a country where their labor will bring them a better reward 'J he envoys have visited the Philippines and Australia and are now examining the possibilities of New Zealand. The delegates desired to know whether the New Zealand Government would grant the Russians assisted passages from San Francisco to New Zealand, and also whether the Government would set apart land as a special settlement for them. They would not be particular about the quality of the land, which they would work on the co-operative system, but would require to have the land allocated to them in such a way that they could occupy it as soon as thev arrived.

A representative of the 'Post' was informed that the Government had decided to reply that New Zealand did not grant assisted passages from the United States or Canada, as such a iwlicy might be regarded as an unfriendly action by these two countries, which were trying to attract population of a useful kind. Also, in view of the fact that the Government could not supply enough land for the applicants already in New Zeiland it was unable to accede to the request for the allocation of a special area for the Russians. The envoys have gone to Palmerston North. It is understood that they are making inquiries about the prospects of securing land from private holders.