IMMIGRATION SYSTEM.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19504, 7 December 1926, Page 14

IMMIGRATION SYSTEM.

DEFECTS IN NOMINATION. LENGTH OF STAY IN DOMINION. THE FINDING OF EMPLOYMENT. i Many of the large number of migrants who are arriving and will continue to i arrive from Great Britain come out 1 under the Government nomination scheme. , Under this the nominator is a person who i has been resident for a certain time, in New Zealand, and he fills in a form of j nomination, stating the name, address } and occupation and other particulars of b the person, or persons, whom he nomin- , ates for an assisted passage to 'New ZeaI land, which passages are granted to cerj tain classes of people who it is considi ered are good immigrants, and likely to i do well out here. The form also contains this clause: "I i hereby undertake to find employment for ; the person herein nominated,- and that provision will be made by me for his t maintenance after arrival in the Dos minion.'' This is signed by the nominator. Criticism has been made of this • clause by persons in touch with immi* • grants on various grounds. It is stated I the department does not regard the under- ■ taking as creating any legal obligation or bond, and that if an immigrant needs maintenance after arrival, no claim can I be legally made on the nominator. 1 Provision for Maintenance. 5. , Very often if such claim could be . made, the nominator would not be in a . position to make payment sufficient to re- , deem his undertaking to provide maintenance. In any case, the phrase, "pro- [ vision for maintenance after arrival," is , entirely vague j no amount, no time, no [ method is stated. Legally it is too in--5 definite for a Court of law to enforce or construe. It not uncommonly happens that a newcomer cannot find work himself, and ob--1 viously it is almost impossible for his i nominator to find employment for him, . however good his intention * when he , signed his undertaking. The passage of , time between. nomination and the nom--1 inee's arrival in New Zealand may make it impossible to provide work—the circumstances of the nominator, and of conditions here themselves may render the | undertaking impracticable. Further, the nomination form contains ' the clause, " The person nominated will i reside permanently in the Dominion for a period of at least five years." How, it is asked, can any person make any such statement about any other person, especi- ' ally about one coming to a fresh environ--1 mept in a new country? If anyone should I give any such undertaking, it should be the nominee alone and not the nominator. How can the latter enforce it on the newcomer? \ ' Restriction of Nomination. The present system is alleged to be too wide; almost anyone in this country may, nominate almost anyone in the specified classes from Great Britain, and not suf--1 ficient care or inquiry is made that the nominator is a responsible person, who can if need be carry out his undertakings, i and whose nomination ought to bo accepted. ' It should be ascertained that the nominator is likely to be able, for instance, to pay to the Government the difference between the full passage money and the assisted rate if any of his representations regarding the nominee are found incorrect, as in the form signed by him he undertakes to do. Of course, the success or non-success of an immigrant depends almost entirely upon his own character and efforts, and the department' makes inquiries at Home 1 as to his suitability before granting a passage. And, too, people at Homo urge and persuade their relatives and friends, who have got on to nominate them, thinking sometimes mistakenly that they too will succeed. " Something to Sell." But the immigrant to get on here must, as the Labour Department says, have "something to sell." An electrician, a carpenter, a mason who knows his trade, a farm hand who is such aud not a Lancashire factory hand, will get work and keep it. Sufficient care is not given at Home to see that the immigrant to the Dominion can give something in re- , turn for his wages, something that this country needs, and of which she has not sufficient already. One class of person who comes here in rather surprising numbers, many of whom make application to the local Labour Department, is the man who, often not young, has had a superior, often a university. education at one of the dozen or more' British universities. Not rarely he is an ex-officer; this type often comes here from India. What has he to sell ? Generally, nothing for which there is a demand, or at any rate a demand that we ourselves do riot supply. He is of course rarely an assisted man, but he complicates the question and adds to the number of the unemployed.