THE BENDIGO MIGRANTS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20800, 20 August 1929, Page 9

THE BENDIGO MIGRANTS

OPINION OF THE CAPTAIN. ABOVE THE AVERAGE. (United Press Association.) (By Electric Telegraph—Copyright.) SYDNEY,. August 19. (Received August 19, at 5.5 p.m.) The steamer Bendigo reached Sydney to-day, and Captain Wyatt expressed the opinion that the migrants aboard were above the average. This is in answer to the charges made by Mr Collingwood Hughes, an ex-member of the House of Commons, whose criticisms of the migrants created a stir when the ship was at Fremantle. It is understood that Mr Hughes is proceeding to New Zealand. He is suffering from insomnia, and refuses to make a statement on recent happenings. Mr Collingwood Hughes's remarks, to which the migrants took exception were made during an interview at Fremantle. Mr Hughes, who was a former member of the House of Commons for Peckham, said he had been asked so frequently to reply publicly to questions relating to the migration of British subjects to the dominions that he felt he lacked knowledge of. the subject, and decided to secure first-hand information. Thus he booked a passage on board the Bendigo, on which there were about 150 Govern-ment-assisted migrants. JThese were no credit to England, and no benefit to Australia, which should shut her doors against them. The type of immigrants absorbed by Canada was altogether different. Several of the Bendigo’s complement were either cripples or showed signs of imbecility, Mr Hughes considered that the method of selecting migrants in England for Australia must bo radically wrong. He had heard of two young migrants on the ship who already wanted to return to England. They were evidently frightened, because they thought they would have to work. Most of the young men on the Bendigo were of the type who were not looking for work. They would probably receive the shock of their lives when they found that they would have to work to succeed in Australia. The Commonwealth, he declared, was getting street-corner loafers.