The New Zealand Times. MONDAY, JUNE 21, 1915. WAR AND EMIGRATION

New Zealand Times, Volume XL, Issue 9075, 21 June 1915, Page 4

The New Zealand Times. MONDAY, JUNE 21, 1915. WAR AND EMIGRATION

Tie cable man invites us to invest with sinister and unpatriotic significance the fact that three hundred young Irishmen have arrived in New York by an American liner. If the statement is true, what of it, after all? Is the loyalty of a country to be gauged by the behaviour of three hundred of its in-, habitants? If throe hundred young Irishmen choose to emigrate at the present moment, when the Empire is engaged in a, life-and-death struggle, are wo, entitled to accept the suggestion that there is any lack of patriotism on the part of the Irish people? It is evidently the desire of the cable man that we should. However, the suggestion is one that must be regarded with a considerable amount of suspicion, and more especially so when we remember the characteristic prejudice that is displayed in the news from the cable agency towards • everything associated with the Irish national cause. This tinge of party colour has called for comment on more than one occasion. Even at the outset of the present war, we were assured, on the authority of this same cable agency, that there was a lack of recruiting in Ireland, but when the figures were subsequently disclosed in the House of Commons it transpired that the Irish had enlisted in greater proportion even than the English, and that the movement was still going strongly. In New Zealand, in Australia, and in, Canada the experience has been the same. The proportion of Irish who have enlisted has been exceptionally high.. At the front, the bravery of the Irish regiments has been conspicuous in all the great battles, and the. Irishmen have shod their blood freely and unflinchingly for the supremacy of the Flag. Again, at the Dardanelles, what more glorious evidence could be offered of the unchanging loyalty of the Irish than the fact that in the first gallant charges the Dublins and Ministers were practically wiped out. In the face of the records of the war, the emigration of three hundred young Irishmen to America is no proof of disloyalty or want of patriotism on the part of the Irish people. But the emigration from the Mother Country is not by any means- confined to the Irish. In our own country, a strong feeling of resentment is being aroused because of the large number of immigrants' who are arriving by every direct steamer, and whose passages are being assisted by grants made by our own Government. These are not necessarily Irish immigrants. On the contrary, the greater, proportion are English. At the moment when onr sons are going away in thousands, to fight the battles of the Empire on the other side of the world, these immigrants are pouring in steadily, and taking the billets loft vacant hy onr young men. Why are these men leaving their own country while it ia at war P i Some of them are of military age; it was incumbent upon them to assist in the defence of their country, and they should have enlisted; We were told in the news papers the other day that the majority of one shipment were skilled mechanics. If this is correct, there was work for them in England in the manufacture of war munitions, and it was their duty to stay in their own country until the war was over. However, they are coming to New Zealand in fortnightly batches, and the Government is assisting to pay their passages. Tie Paparoa, which reached Auckland last week, brought ISO third-class passengers, the Re mu era, due to-day, is bringing 117; and the Corintbic, due several weeks hence, has no fewer than 350, of whom 140 safe assisted. If the news that 300 Irishmen had landed ia New York was considered important enough to cable, why the silence concerning this stream of emigration to New Zealand, and the even greater stream to Australia? Also, if the landing of 300 Irish emigrants in Now York is to be construed into disloyalty on the part of Ireland, what construction are we to place on this emigration of Englishmen to New Zealand?

Leaving the patriotism of the Irish people wholly out of the question, there ia a strong feeling in this country that the Government is not acting wisely or fairly in encouraging

immigration from the Mother Country at the present moment. It may be argued that we shall require additional labour, as a result' of the exodus of our young men to the war, but as a matter of fact the supply of labour is greater than the demand. The effect of introducing such a large number of workers at a moment of industrial depression will be to increase the competition for employment, and thus reduce the wages, but above and beyond this is the certainty that these strangers who would hi welcome enough at any other time must necessarily take possession of many of the billets vacated by our young men who have gone to the front. In any case, the policy is not fair to the Mother Country. At the present time, she needs the help of every ablebodied man capable of service at the front or in the workshop. If these people are not prepared tc stand by their country in the moment of stress and peril, they are no good to us as colonists, and we would be infinitely better without them. It is certainly anomalous that at a moment when our own engineers and mechanics are offering to go to England and assist in the manufacture of munitions of war, our Government is spending public money to assist in, the immigration from England of skilled mechanics, who ought to ho employing themselves in the production of war material in their own country. However, all said and done, the emigration of 300 young Irishmen to New York is not a very serious matter after all, and certainly possesses no sinister significance, when it is contrasted with the considerable emigration of Englishmen that is in progress to New Zealand and Australia. • •