IMMIGRATION PROBLEM

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27386, 11 May 1950, Page 5

IMMIGRATION PROBLEM

Dominion’s Obligations PLIGHT OF REFUGEES IN INDIA An appeal for clear thinking on the immigration question by members of the Dunedin Junior Chamber of Commerce was made at a chamber luncheon yesterday by the Deputy Mayor, Cr L. M. Wright. Sydney, he said was absorbing 1000 immigrants a week, and there were still to be found six pages of small advertisements seeking employees in the daily papers. Australia was really tackling the problem, but it seemed that New Zealand was only playing with it. New Zealand and Australia were both acceptable countries to those wanting to emigrate, and perhaps the Dunedin Junior Chamber of Commerce could play a part in changing the Dominion’s attitude to the question. Cr Wright spoke of some of the sights he had seen when he recently visited Ceylon and India for the Government in order to arrange further contracts for the supply of tea to the Dominion. He told of 357,000 refugees living in squalor in Bombay, and said he had seen 10,000 of these people living on a footpath similar in length to a stretch of Princess street from the Octagon to the Exchange. These people were still human beings, but nothing seemed to be done for them. And yet an Indian had told him g'liblv that Bombay was not feeling the effect of the refugee problem. Cr Wright said that the opinion had been expressed to him that the present situation between India and Pakistan had created a perfect opportunity for Communism. He had also been told that if a vote were taken among the peoples of India and Pakistan, the result would be three to one in favour of returning to their former status in the British Commonwealth. The high cost of living in Ceylon was emphasised by Cr Wright. In the old days, he said, young men went to the East with the knowledge that they could save enough after 30 years to retire in England. That reward was needed as an inducement to live so many years in the East. Now, however, a single man needed a salary of £IOOO a year to make ends meet, and a married man needed at least £ISOO a year.