EMISSARY FROM LIBAN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 20072, 9 October 1928, Page 11

EMISSARY FROM LIBAN.

mediterranean republic. IMMIGRATION INVESTIGATIONS. A member of the Chamber of Deputies of the little-known republic of Liban, M. J. Stephen, is a passenger to Australia by the Niagara, which arrived at Auckland from Vancouver yesterday. M. Stephen is visiting Australia to investigate conditions under which emigrants from his country work, and ho has just paid a similar visit to the United States. Ho speaks very little English, the official language of his country being French. The republic of Liban, in tho French mandated territory of Syria, was constituted as recently as May 25, 1926, M. Stephen said. He was a banker in the capital city, Beyrouth, and was elected a member of the first republican Parliament. Ho wished to remove several erroneous impressions of his country which he knew existed in Australia and New Zealand, and which acted as hampering influences against Libanese immigrants. There were very few of his countrymen in New Zealand; perhaps there were about 200, but they were scattered all over the Dominion. There were 200,000 in the United States, and a considerable number in Australia. Although the Libanese were not definitely excluded from entering New Zealand, M. Stephen said their entry to the country was not encouraged by the Dominion Government, which presumably acted in the belief that they were not hard workers. Nothing could bo further from the truth. In the United States, Libanese occupied high positions .in all walks of life. They were honest and industrious. " There are no Bolsheviks," he added in a rare phrase of English. "People in this part of tho world think that Libaneso are Arabs, Bedouins on .horses," M. Stephen said, through an interpreter. "That is not so. The people are Christians, and their civilisation is entirely European. They cultivate silk worms and export large quantities of silk to France. Then there are olive plantations and the fruits which grow about the Mediterranean. The people work hard to make money. I am a banker, and I know. "Even in Beyrouth we have heard of New Zealand and understand that out here you want people who will work hard. There are parts of your country which emigrants from my country could help to develop. I have not been authorised by my Government to approach New Zealand authorities on immigration, but I hope that that will be done in tho future. My Government gives a guarantee that every Libanese emigrant will work."