IMMIGRATION SCHEME.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18207, 28 September 1922, Page 10

IMMIGRATION SCHEME.

SELECTION OF SETTLERS. SYSTEM OF NOMINATION. DEFECTS AND LIMITATIONS. [FROM OUR OVN CORRESPONDENT.] LONDON. Ausr. 10. \t the present time it seems necessary for the Dominion Government to continue the scheme of nominating assisted immigrants. Though this system has its advantages in view of unemployment and shortage of housing, there are drawbacks which should not be lost sight of. Briefly stated, the method of procedure is for people in New Zealand to forwsjci to the Immigration Department at Wellington the names of friends and relatives whom they believe woald desire to take advantage of the £14 allowance on the £40 third-daw fare from Great Britain. Names and addresses are sent to the High Commissioner's Department in .London, and the people thus nominated are written to and informed that a nomination has been received for them. They are ask**d to supplv the names of two referees. If tho references regarding character and proficiency in employment arc favourable, a form, is sent with instructions that it. is to be filled in by the medical officer acting for the department in the district in which tho nominees arc residing. If the certificate shows a clean bill of health and ;„ sufficiently high standard of physical development tho applicant is doomed suitable to proceed a;? a settler to the Vominion—provided there are no other adVerse circumstances which disqualify him. No Personal Interviews. If it were possible to interview each intending settler personally a great deal of correspondence would be saved, and. there would be less likelihood of undesirable people being nominated. As it is, some 250 letters are received by tho Immigration Department every day, and more than that number of replies and notices have to be sent out Personal interviews are out of tho question in the great percentage of cases. Applications being received from the North of Scotland to the South oil Euslajid. from the east to the west coasts, the travelling expenses, that would have to be incurred would bo enormous. A journey from the distant parts of Great Britain to London and back, if paid for by the nominees, would prevent, many people from even considering the concession offered them. To ar- ! range for a stall of officers of the department to travel jound examining every person would probably not be worth the expense incurred. Thus it comes about that only a small number of the selected emigrants are seen by the officers of the department until they" assemble at Waterloo Station on the morning of embarkation. Negotiations, selections, and all the shipping arrangements have to be carried out by correspondence, and it is easy to realise tha work entailed in arranging the necessary preliminaries for some 300 or i 400 people every three weeks or so. ] I Question of Qualification. < Although the emigration officer has wide discretionary powers in making his selections, it is not difficult to see why the best interests of the Dominion may not always be served. So long as the people nominated are healthy and of good character there is no sound reason why they should be debarred from going out to the Dominion. The fact that their occupation here might not make them the most useful kind of settlers cannot be primarily considered m selecting them, their friends havo undertaken to find employment for them on arrival. Yet this should be the first consideration. Again, there is no reason whatever why a party of East End traders should not combine to pay the passage of one of their number. So long as he is a healthy British subject and pays his own passage to a shipping company, there is no restriction. Shortly after his arrival he may proceed to nominate all his friends and relatives. There is nothing against these friends and relatives except the fact that they are not producers. All their training has been as middlemen in trade, and they can only thrive in the cities. It might seem advisable to permit a greater number of crofters and farm workers to take advantage of the reduced fares, even though they are not nominated. They would soon establish a nucleus, and naturally nominate people of their own stamp from their native countryside. The crofters of the Highlands are plvySically one of the finest type of country people. They are hard-work-ing, and used to lonely lives, and would be of great service to "the farmers of the Dominion. At the present time they are going through a difficult period, and growing sons and daughters find themselves in want. Many of them would not be in a position to pay the £26 rare. It is true that; the Government has sanctioned that a limited number of such men, if single, may be provided with a passage which costs the emigrant only £10, but the question arises whether a greater number of them would not prove a bettor investment for the Dominion than the numerous nominated settlers who, while eager to learn, have not the physique nor the training which will make them useful immediately in the primary industries. Complaints in Hew Zealand. If there are sometimes complaints that those arriving under the nominated scheme have no work after all to go to, it can easily be understood. Friends in New Zealand may guarantee work to-day, but by the time their nominees arrive, possibly six or nine months later,, conditions may have radically changed. It can merely be a gamble at tho best in the majority of cases. While on the subject of complaints it must be pointed out that of all the new settlers who arrivot in the Dominion, less than 50 per cenii.. come under the supervision of the department. Those who choose to pay their own thirdclass fare merely have to provide themselves with a passport and subject themselves at the port of embarkation to medical examination under the Board of Trade regulations. People who travel second or first class are examined by the ship's doctor only. It depends 1 entirely, therefore, on the authorities in the New Zealand port 3 whether such immigrants are to be passed as satisfactory, and as fit and proper people to land in the Dominion and become settlers there. While it is evident that the system of nomination has its advantages, these few points against its indefinite continuance should not be lost sight of. It relieves the Government of a great deal of responsibility, and throws that, responsibility on the people themselves. It saves a lot of work both in New Zealand and in England, but whether it is the best for tho country in the long run is a debatable question. Domestic Servants. In the case of domestic servants the department here in their selection aro not restricted. They advertise in various leading newspapers, especially in Scotland. They are able to make their selection purely on the merits of the various girls who apply. The result is they obtain the very best available, and it is only necessary- to seo tho parties, of those who are selected, when they assemble at the High Commissioner's office the clay before the ship sails, to realise the truth of this statement. The mere fact that a woman will venture the width of the world alone, with little or no prospect of ever returning, in itself reveals some of that strength of character which was to be found among the earlier pioneers. Considering what the other Dominions have to offer to immigrants in the way of free grants of land and other privileges, ! it is surprising that the standard of sett- {■ lets to New Zealand should be on such a high level. It is only necessary to watch •the departure of a boat train joining the , vessels to Australia and Canada to realise how greatly superior the New Zealand settlers are. Possibly the absence of 1 material indoecrrents accounts for this j ataikipg 4i«parity..