A LIVE QUESTION

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 9, 11 July 1922, Page 7

A LIVE QUESTION

EMIGRATION TQ DOMINION

SIR W. BEACH THOMAS TO INVESTIGATE

<BI TMiKHItPH.—SPSCIAL TO IDE POST.)

AUCKLAND, This Day.

The immigration question was touched upon in an interview on Saturday by Sir William Beach Thomas, war correspondent, who is a through passenger by the Makura to Australia. He states that the principal object of his visit to this side of the world is to investigate the possibilities in regard to emigration from Great Britain to the Dominions.

"I want to be able to tell the people o£ England," he said, "what they ought to do. Emigration from England is now a very live question. We have got six million more people there than we ought to have."

There wae no doubt, he said, that the I richer classes in Great Britain were wish-1 ing to emigrate more than they have ever done before. That was partly the effect of the war. The universities of Oxford and Cambridge had lately introduced an agricultural degree which was a stiff thing to pass. The universities, however, were overwhelmed with applications from students who desired to start farmins; in overseas Dominions. The fact that they were going to Oxford and Cambridge indicated that they were people of means. A great movement of population >» was inevitable, and Australia was taking a very active part in securing immigrants ; South Australia and West Australian States particularly were interesting themselves in the matter. The-departure of some 6000 boys from England to South ■Australia had already been arranged for by'the Premier of that State, Sir Henry Barwell, and it was an excellent scheme. The first batch had lately arrived in South Australia.. There was a saying that the most could be done witi. a Scotsman when he was caught young, and, the same saying applied to . emigrants. The scheme was to place the boys with farmers as apprentices for three years, and to give them so much wages and so much deferred wages. It was expected that the boys by the end of the term would acquije a liking for the land and would secure holdings of their own, the State Government acting in the capacity of trustee, so that they would have someone to appeal to in the event of arrangements breaking down in any way. ''The ages of boys selected were from 15 to 18, and the minimum wage was 10s per week and keep; all over 4s per week would go into a compulsory savings fund. .

The openings in New Zealand for immiEfration will be inquired into by Sir Beach Thomas on his return to the Dominion later in the year.