OUR IMMIGRANTS. CITY LIFE PREFERRED.

Otago Witness, Issue 2808, 8 January 1908, Page 52

OUR IMMIGRA NTS. CITY LIFE PREFERRED.

| WELLINGTON, January 3. I It would be interesting if some record could be obtained of the doings, the successes, and the failures of the immigrants who arrive in this country. 1 In conversation with a. Post reporter today, an officer of the Labour Department stated that he experienced great difficulty in inducing new arrivals to take up work !in the country- The complaint is not a new one, nor is it peculiar to the Englishmen. The young New Zealander has similar desires. He dislikes country life,. 1 and sighs for the city, with, its attractions and distractions, its gaiety r and its variety. j To-day the following telegram was received at the employment bureau of the department from a town some miles, outside of Stratford: "Kindly send me 30 good pick and shovel men at once; wages, 9s per day." But the department cannot comply with the request. In the first place sufficient capable men are not offering ; in _the second, they do not seem to like> going into the country. It is apparently the* same with farm labourers. Men who have been used to- f*wn work in England seem to have a dislike- to country life as soon as they arrive in- New Zealand. Of course ■ it is not so in all cases, but the exceptions : only prove* the rule. According to those j who are best able to judge, inquiries go 1 to show that employment at good wages is going* a-begging in the country. Obviously, cases of hardship do- occur in the cities, , but those wno are able and willing to work can, It fs contended, easily 'earn a. very decent livelihood for themselves and their ■ fftK^ies If they only go the right way t ftb-w'S things, and exfiibit a. genuine desire' I £o_ "flatter themselves *ad" fhetht conditions.