FOREIGN WORKERS

Greymouth Evening Star, 11 February 1947, Page 8

FOREIGN WORKERS

SUPPORT FOR BRITAIN’S % POLICY INDUSTRY’S URGENT NEEDS LONDON, Feb. 10. The Times, in an editorial, supports the Government’s announced policy of bringing into Britain as many displaced persons and other foreign workers as posible, but says the test of the policy will be its performance. The Times says a controlled’influx of foreigners is to be welcomed, even eagerly. Without the aid of suitable immigrants, a serious deficiency of mobile and adaptable workers cannot be avoided for many years. The Polish Re-settlement Bill is the first practical though belated sign of a more liberal approach. The objections to the importation of labour, though real enough, amount to no. more than an argument for great care in the settling of terms om which foreign workers are to be brought in. Any inclination of the workers to exact shorter hours and . higher standards before the shortages of fuel and building efficiency can be overcome, forms a vicious circle the foreign workers can help to break. The displaced requirement of foreign labour for mines is the obvious starting point, and it has been unpardonably delayed. Agriculture also needs foreign labour. If the Poles cannot fill the gap, the possibility of bringing in Baltic or other displaced persons, or o£ inviting suitable German prisoners to remain as free men, must, be considered. In other trades, such as textiles and brickworks, the recruitment of foreigners must be pursued as quickly as circumstances permit. j There is now the opportunity .of bringing over from Europe—principally from Germany—a large number of orphaned or homeless children and juveniles, who could, in a few years, be trained for the work, and educated- in the British way of life. Child immigrants can be readily assimilated into the life of the community, and much good would also come of” a more generous admittance of individual specialists, experts and scholars. There is a chance to-day, if the Government will take it, with skill and discretion, of enriching the life of the nation in a double sense.