The Gisborne Herald. IN WHICH IS INCORPORATED "THE TIMES." GISBORNE, TUESDAY, AUGUST 12, 1947. NEW ZEALAND’S IMMIGRATION POLICY

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22405, 12 August 1947, Page 4

The Gisborne Herald. IN WHICH IS INCORPORATED "THE TIMES." GISBORNE, TUESDAY, AUGUST 12, 1947. NEW ZEALAND’S IMMIGRATION POLICY

SURPRISE nt the number of elderly British people obtaining passages to settle in New Zealand has been expressed by younger passengers and officers in the liner Akaroa. Obviously there is some critical wonderment over the fact that at a time when berths are difficult to obtain, even for active and productive workers, as many as 60 per cent of the 190 passengers aboard should be over the age of 50 years and should include a large number who arc actually beyond the age for work. This surprise may be shared by native-born and long-standing British residents of New Zealand who have been under (lie impression that the urgent need of the times was for comparatively youthful and highly-skilled operatives who could give us lessons in craftsmanship and impart fresh impetus to Dominion industry. There must he no jumping to the conclusion, however, that the elderly arrivals will he n burden to the country and consequently to that conspicuous feature of New Zealand life, the social security fund. Probably the majority' have means of their own and are merely seeking a peaceful sanctuary after all they have suffered during the war years in the indomitable British fortress. Many of them are coming out .to children and other relatives and all of them should prove good citizens. The only possible objection to their comparatively early arrival is that, from all accounts, the granting of shipping berths to them is retarding allocations to those who could play a bigger part in the increased production continually called and who most likely would be move resilient temperamentally and not find too much fault with a New Zealand which in some respects may disappoint them. Methods of Selection.

In recent weeks a great deal has been said and wirtten about the immigration policy which the Dominion is putting into operation. Unfortunately too little attention is being paid to the probable adaptability of the immigrants being selected —that is apart from those who come here completely on their own resources. This country is a late starter in the field. It should be profiting from the experience of Australia, which lias already found that among nearly every batch of new arrivals there is a small percentage who, however, estimable they may he from the personal angle, do not settle down readily in their new environment and who consequently begin making early inquiries about the next ship Home. Possibly it is not altogether their fault. They may have been misled by a too-colourful spate of “Paradise in the Pacific’’ publicity or they may have suffered the distressing experience of not being able to find a house. Without a comfortable home the remotest sense of being in a paradise is not attainable. What applies in Australia is in some degree applicable to New Zealand. In fact, it is known that some English people have already turned their backs on the Dominion after being here only a matter of week's or months at the most. That next ship back to the Old Country has ail irresistible appeal. Although it is reported that in some instances this step has been regretted and that from the other side of the world New Zealand, with its known faults, is still regarded as a desirable place in which to live, it is the duty of all Dominion immigration and publicity authorities to tell the people in Britain the whole truth and nothing but the truth—even though it contain a touch of hard truth—about conditions here. Disillusionment can be a cruel thing. In addition, there should be a board sitting in London composed of New Zealanders capable of sizing up intending immigrants in light of the conditions with which they themselves arc familiar. Perhaps the members of the board could include a specialist in practical psychology who could quickly help his colleagues to arrive at a decision as to whether certain types of applicants were really suitable to undertake a big change in their lives. Present-day Difficulties.

As soon as there is an assurance that publicity is strictly accurate and a sound basis of selection has been established, the vest is entirely up to the migrants. They must not come here expecting to bring a little bit of England—the England they knew in happier days—with them. They should realise that they will not find perfection in New Zealand or anywhere else in the presentday world. They should be thoroughly- alive to the fact that many thousands of people from the British Isles have preceded them down through the years and have proved themselves second to none as settlers and as uncomplaining battlers with life as they found it here.

Although the present critics of New Zealand are in the minority, their voice is heard more often and more loudly than those of the majority who settle quietly and do their best. Admittedly, postwar New Zealand is no.t as comfortable as it was several decades ago. But what country is? Furthermore, it should require little imagination to estimate the retarding effect of two world wars oin young Dominion whose national centenary was celebrated only in 1940. It is good that we should accept in the spirit in which it is meant any constructive criticism that could possibly be acted upon. Yet, if we arc entitled to judge from press reports in various newspapers of the Dominion, criticism is being ventilated in so sweeping a manner as to give rise to wonder over the keenness of our own servicemen to come back to the place. The expression “a hundred years behind the times” was used recently by an English arrival temporarily domiciled in Rotorua. Although a modified element of truth in this must lie conceded, it should be apparent to discerning folk that being behind the times is a natural and inescapable fault in what, after .all, is still an outpost of Empire. That makes it more than ever imperative that at this stage of our development we should press for the kind of migrant who will come here not seeking ideal living conditions but who is prepared to pull his weight in speeding the country towards that goal. The example of the early settlers and of arrivals between the two wars is always before newcomers if they care to study it.