ASSISTED IMMIGRATION.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXI, Issue 93, 21 April 1911, Page 4

ASSISTED IMMIGRATION.

DISCUSSED BY LABOUR CONFERENCE. [BY TELEGRAPH — PRESS ASSOCIATION.] CHRISTCHURCH, 20th April. The question of assisted immigration came before the Trades and Labour Federation Conference this afternoon on the following remit from the Wellington Council : — " That the conference protests strongly against the spending of public money by the Government in introducing labour from outside tho country into any industry which is not adequately protected under the industrial laws of the country." A lengthy letter from Mr. T. E. Sedgwick was read by the president. The letter dealt with, many of the objections which, have been urged against the immigration of boys for farm work. Mr. Sedgwick contended that New Zealand's greatest-need at present was population. LaaX from Home were receptive, adaptable, keen, Avilling, and energetic. They would "learn to settle and then marry. Every lad represented a capital expenditure of £250 in the Old Country, and was therefore a gift of that value to the land -of bis adoption. The advantages of apprenticeship were immense, and bank-| ing of wages should ensure that each lad would have iliOO saved before he came of, age., All the Sedgwick boys were total abstainers, and each - had a good past record. The adoption of the remit was moved by Mr. E. J. Carey (Wellington), who said that -the workers were not opposed to immigration -of the right sort, but they objected to the Government spending the taxpayers' money on assisted iinj migration, fle would not say that the 1 fciedgwick boya would make any appreciable difference to the labour market of the country,- but farmers should not require any State assistance in getting boys out. Mr. Sedgwick talked about proper safeguards and supervision, but they knew that farmers were prepared to sweat their own children, and did sweat them on dairy farms. If they were not humane enough not to sweat their own children, what would they do to boys who were assisted out here? Mr. Forde (Southland) said that Southland had bad some experience of lads who bad been assisted but here much on the same principle as Mr. Sedgwick's boys. Their ages ranged from 18 to 25 years, and they were entirety unfitted for the work they had to do. How could they expect to get agricultural labourers from a country in which agriculture wa* dead? The boys were already drifting into towns, and competing with other lrSs for town, situations. He knew that in five cases out of twenty boys had .come into town. Mr. Sedgwick and others were ti-ying to blind the workers with high-sounding phrases about boys \Vho were entirely unsuited for the purpose for which, they had been Brought out. Mr. Laracy sugested an addition to the clause in the direction of securing an Arbitration Court award to cover agricultural labour by boys., He believed that the proprietor of a leading registry office in Christchurch. had stated that he could not find sufficient farmers to give employment to local boys. He was not against boys coming into the country, but they should, not come here to keep out own. men and boys out of work.- The bulk of the farmers were good employers, but those who wanted Sedgwick boys were too mean to pay decent wages to farm labourers. There was no man. who coald go out and get wages on a farm which would allow him to maintain his wife and, say, three children in town. If farmers were willing to have an award made for these' boys and men' on the farm, let them bring in as many boys as they liked. Mr. D. M'Larati said that the question ■^as one of votes, There was a strong competition by both parties for the farmers' vote, and that was the reason for expenditure of public money to get farmers cheap labour, and also for the desire to exempt the farmer from the operation of arbitration awards. The remit was agreed to.