WOULD-BE IMMIGRANTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVII, Issue 17450, 21 April 1920, Page 7

WOULD-BE IMMIGRANTS.

CONCESSIONS EXAGGERATED. GREAT RUSH FOR PASSAGES. EFFECT OF A CABLEGRAM. I [from our own correspondent.] ; LONDON. Feb. 16. , A cable message to The Times, from ) Wellington, recently stated : —"Mr. Massey i • has announced the following immigration ' policy: —To farm labourers and their I wives passages and £10; domestic serj | vants, free passage and a grant of £2 ; i . others a grant of £13. New Zealand 1 guarantees the employment of able-bodied ! j ex-service men who are assisted by Great Britain." Other papers gave the message (through Reuter) thus :—" The New Zealand Government has undertaken to find constant employment for skilled and unskilled immigrant soldiers, and to grant free passages for domestic servants coming to New Zealand." As a ■ result of. the first message the Overseas Settlement Committee Office in 1 Victoria Street was thronged all day by ? ' inquirers who wanted to go to New Zea- • land while the normal daily mailbag of 700 letters was suddenly swollen to 1200. The committee had received no direct information, and nothing further was known at the New Zealand Government Office in London. But the mailbag in Victoria . Street is still more bulky than usual. The query going round is whether or not the prospective present of £10 was the special attraction. Anyhow, it certainly gave an exaggerated idea of New Zealand e ,_ generosity, as the fact is understood to be that the Government is really offering - passages at £10 per head to farm labourers t : and at £2 per head to domestic servants. i Apart from these two classes of workers , whom New Zealand is prepared specially - to assist, says the British Australasian, » are the ex-soldiers, and the war-workers, r male and female, whose passages to the Dominions the Imperial Government will pay ; and New Zealand, in common with Australia, is making a bid for its due share of these. To those who satisfy the High Commissioner as to their health and character, and who are deemed suitable as immigrants, work is guaranteed upon '. arrival. It does not matter whether they are skilled or unskilled workmen. There is plenty of employment for large number; of both, and though, of course, Australia and New Zealand cannot take unlimited numbers of new settlers, it is not easy tc '• say what the limits of those they car accept within the next few years will be j j proyided that their Governments are aliv< to the urgent necessity of adding to theii * populations men and women of the right stamp, and that they go on with the gooc ' work of opening up their lands to settle ' ment. The primary producer is the keystone of the immigration arch. On hint c only can it be built large and strong. The Overseas Settlement. Committee has „ received a grant from the Prince of Wales % Fund, in order to assist emigrants. Under the present immigration nolicj of the Government, suitable applicants approved by the High Commissioner ir London have their names forwarded ti the New Zealand Immigration Depart ment. and provision is made that employ >. ment awaits them on their arrival in thi I Dominion. The passage rates are a: >* ; follows : ■— a For domestics, free passages with aT allowance of £2 for expenses; for farn " labourers and wives, £10 each; farmer l and wives. £28 each.