SKILLED WORKERS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 19900, 30 March 1939, Page 7

SKILLED WORKERS

DOMINION’S SHORTAGE U.K. TRADESMEN NEEDED POLICY CRITICISED The policy of Now Zealand in importing workmen from Australia, a country, which, he said, “should be importing her own workmen,’ was criticised by Mr. John Hewitt, a retired Bradford business man, in an interview in Christchurch. “New Zealand is importing workmen from Australia, which is a huge country, and should be absorbing workmen herself,” he said. Why doss New Zealand not import workmen from England? England has the skilled tradesmen, and if the need for workmen in New Zealand were advertised in England there would be a response, not from the cast-offs and the unemployed, but from the better class oi tradesmen, men who hold positions in England, but would be attracted to New Zealand by the high wages and good conditions. If they left England they would make room for some of oui 2,000,000 unemployed there." Thrifty Type “But why do you think that ve would get the better class of English workmen?” Mr. Hewitt was asked. “Well, how much does it cost to travel to New Zealand? Not less than £40,” he said. “There are thousands and thousands of English workmen who have saved £4O, £SO, or £IOO. Statistics show this, from the investments in national war bonds, in which no one person can invest more than £SOO. Such men as these would be attracted to 'New Zealand by the conditions and wages offering. Many of them would be able to come to New Zealand and bring their wives and children out later, after they had found settled positions. You would get the steady, thrifty type, who had been able to save the money needed to come here. Larger Population “The fact is that you have not as many people in New Zealand as we have unemployed in England. You could carry a population of 10,000,000 people in New 2ealand. I know you will say that you have your unemployed to absorb and you cannot take any more workmen. But how did the population of England grow rapidly from 5,000,000 to 40,000,000? “Admittedly we have our 2,000,000 unemployed to carry; but we can manage to carry them, with this large population. If you would open the country to immigrants you would get the type that can afford to come here; you would not get the unemployed, who cannot afford to come; and you would leave room for the absorption of the unemployed into industry in England.

“You are taking men from Australia, a country which we feel should herself be importing workmen from England.”