IMMIGRANTS AND NATIVES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20243, 1 May 1929, Page 12

IMMIGRANTS AND NATIVES.

The proposition that native-born New Zealanders should bo given preference of employment before immigrants was placed before the Transport Board yesterday with a somewhat peremptory request that the board should give them "the first right to consideration." Without analysing the merits of the doetrine recommended for its guidance, the board decided to reply that appointments would be determined by the qualifications of the applicants. That is the only rational policy for any public authority or other employer. It would certainly be absurd for the Transport Board or its officers to select men for its staff simply because they were immigrants, as the Natives' Association appears to suggest has been done : but it would not be less unreasonable to choose "New Zealanders" simply because they were nativeborn. If such discrimination were universally practised, what prospects would there be for New Zealanders abroad where their success furnished a member of the board with an argument for the proposed preferential treatment? The attempt to make a distinction between native-born and immigrants is both logically and ethically unsound. To be logical, it should be based upon a precise definition of an immigrant, j and thi? manifestly has nothing to do with the question of excessive immigration. The immigrant is a citizen of New Zealand—how soon does he become a New Zealander, and if there is to be a period of probation,

must he serve it in idleness, irrespective of his qualifications for positions that may become vacant in the meantime ? The implication that the New Zealander by birth is necessarily superior to the immigrant would perhaps not bo bo popular if those who entertain that prejudice would recollect that all native-born New Zealanders are removed only very few steps from immigrants. To these credit is rightly given for their courage and resourcefulness in facing the hardships and the strange conditions of their day. Evidently some measure of the same valiant spirit survives in the immigrants of the present day who risk the adventure of leaving a familiar environment to encounter unknown difficulties—including unexpected antipathies. They do not expect preferential treatment, but it would be unjust at least to deny them equal treatment.