ITALIAN MIGRANTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19008, 4 May 1925, Page 11

ITALIAN MIGRANTS.

TO AUSTRALIA. PR 1, DSPECTS OF A PROBLEM. RCJYAL commission inquiry. [from our own correspondent.] SYDNEY. April 24. The number of Italian migrants coming to Australia has increased so rapidly during the last year or so that wide public discussion lias been aroused as to whether f steps should be taken to stern the flow, iho increase is due to the limitation imposed by the United States last July on the immigration of Southern Europeans. Chief interest in the question centres in Queensland. The newcomers have flocked to the northern part of that state, where they have strongly entrenched themselves in the sugar cane-growing industry. Industrious workers are able to Jive probably cheaper than the average Australian. They have managed in many cases to buy farms, and these farm-owners give preference to their newly-arrived countrymen. Thus Australian workers find themselves often shut out from employment, while in many centres the congregation of Italians has excited alarmists to dechare that if no restrictions are imposed, this part of Queensland will soon be a new little Italy. The labour unions are the chief opponents of indiscriminate Italian immigration, their reason for opposition, of course, being founded in its effect on the labour market. Their protests have not fallen on deaf ears. The Queensland Labour Government responded by appointing a Royal Commissioner to inquire into the question. Prior to the appointment of the commissioner, the State Premier, Mr. Gillies, had a controversy with the Federal authorities. The latter, both Parliamentary and official, contend that the present critical tests imposed on the Italian migrant before landing and the proviso that he must possess £4O in cash are sufficient restrictions to stop any but desirables from landing here. Mr. Gillies retorted by saying that it was the State Government's duty to see that Italians were properly absorbed without any dislocation of industry or a lowering of the standard of living of the Australian worker—and forthwith appointed the commissioner. Australian political circles are chuckling at the conflict of views between the State Government and its former leader, Mr. Theodore, who resigned to contest a Federal seat. Mr. Theodore openly declared in a speech at Townsvillc that he favoured th« coming of Italians, and having a large personal following, his opiriibn is sure to carry weight. Probably, if a plebiscite were taken, a majority would favour stricter limitation, not so much on account of fears that the labour marketmight be swamped or the standard of living lowered, but of suspicions that the newcomers might bring to this almost peaceful country those old feuds that have led to bloodshed so often in their native land. Already there have been a few minor examples of this, and observers state that feeling between different factions of the Italians runs so high that serious conflict might ensue at any moment.