Royal Commission On Immigration Wanted

Northern Advocate, 28 June 1944, Page 5

Royal Commission On Immigration Wanted

(P.A.) WELLINGTON, This Day.

Urging immediate establishment of a Royal Commission to plan now for a properly balanced, orderly immigration which it was contended must come if the national economic and social security of the Dominion were to be preserved, the Chairman of the Dominion Settlement Association (Mr. A. Leigh Hunt) quoted from two of many letters received by the association from British nationals who desired to come to New Zealand and who, he said, showed every promise of following worthily in the footsteps of those who had pioneered the country. Mr. Hunt said that typical questions on which information was sought were illustrated in a letter from an Englishman serving in the Middle East. They were: Would he and his wife be welcome? Did he stand a chance for a good job with better prospects ahead? Would he be able to find somewhere decent to live and raise a family at reasonable expense? The man concerned hoped to be able to bring about £IOOO with him. He was well trained in communicating engineering.

Constables from Palestine Another letter was from, six British constables serving in Palestine who had been in uniform for a number of years and wanted, after the war, to settle on a farm together in New Zealand. Their idea was to work on a 'farm for a period to gain experience, then pool their money and hire or purchase a piece of land for farming. They had £2OO to £3OO each, exclusive of the fare to New Zealand. Most had sweethearts in England and if they got a farm on a paying basis would send for them to join in the venture. “We don’t wish to make a lot of money, but to live an independent, healthy, outdoor life and raise families under those conditions,’’ they added. Mr. Hunt said that the difficulty was that till the Government’s policy on immigration was known, no satisfactory reply could be sent to inquirers, and persons likely to become the most useful citizens were not the type who would set out without knowing whether they would be welcome.