NO EDUCATION TEST

Southland Times, Issue 21428, 24 June 1931, Page 9

NO EDUCATION TEST

IMMIGRANTS TO NEW ZEALAND. ■KNOWLEDGE OF ENGLISH NOT ESSENTIAL. The question of the extent to which restrictions are imposed on foreigners desirous of taking up residence in the Dominion has been raised by the entry into New Zealand of a Jewess who, in figuring as the plaintiff in a breach of promise action in Wellington, recently reported in the Southland Times, admitted that she could not speak English. The education test was abolished by the Immigration Restriction Amendment Act of 1920, and a knowledge of the English language is not now insisted upon. Persons who are not of British or Irish birth and parentage must apply direct to the Minister of Customs, who decides on the merits of the case. The Act states that entry into the country shall not be lawful for any person of other than British or Irish parentage who fails to write out and sign, in the presence of a New Zealand immigration officer, in any European language, an application on such form as the officer thinks fit. It is stated in official quarters that, this does not mean that the would-be immigrant need frame the wording of the application; thift can be done by another party who understands such a language. The idea of the form is to obtain particulars of the immigrant’s birth and parentage. The following classes of persons, more particularly those in classes (2), (3) and (4), are not permitted to land in the Deminion. Passengers under these headings must be classified by the captain of an incoming ship, and the classification must be handed to an immigration officer: — (1) Persons not of British birth and parentage within the meaning of section \ 5 of the Immigration Restriction Amendment Act, 1920, whether or not they are in possession of permits to enter New Zealand or of certificates of registration entitling them to enter New Zealand on compliance with the conditions set forth therein. (2) Persons who are insane, lunatic, idiotic, deaf, dumb, blind or infirm. (3) Persons who are suffering from tuberculosis or contagious, loathsome or dangerous disease. (4) Any person the date of whose arrival in New Zealand is earlier than two years after the termination of any imprisonment suffered by him in respect of any offence which, if committed in New Zealand, would be punishable by death or imprisonment for two years or upwards, not being a mere political offence, and no pardon having been granted.