NEW SETTLERS.

Taranaki Daily News, 13 December 1924, Page 11

NEW SETTLERS.

PEOPLE FOR NEW ZEALAND. BAD CONDITIONS AT HOME. THE DOMINION’S OPPORTUNITY. GOOD TYPES OF EMIGRANTS. (By T.C.L.) London, Oct. 2'B. There is good reason to believe that emigration to New Zealand will be heavier this year than for many years past. So many applications for assisted passages arc being made that the Government migration officers are being hard put to it in order .to secure sufficient berthage accommodation, and in consequence they have made special arrangements with the shipping companies to put on special boats tor the purpose. This will be good news for the New Zealander who is conscious of the great need that exists in his country for more population of the right kind. There are

some, cf course, who profess it is a mistake to seek further population, on the ground , that the country is unable to aosorb them. This is the extreme Labour attitude. Their real reason is that they desire to retain for themselves the labour market, or to restrict it as much as possible for their own benefit. They cannot, or will not, see that the more people we can attract to NeyyL-Zealand the greater will be the development of our natural and industrial resources, the mere work they will provide, the more capital they must create, the more the burden of taxation will be spread, and generally the •better will it be for the whole ot the Dominion.

New Zealand never had a better opportunity of securing the right kind of migrants than it has at present. In many respects things are very bad indeed in England. This is our opportunity. Many of the great industries are in a parlous condition. Hundreds of mines are closed down or working short time, and tens of thousands of miners are out of work. In one Northumberland mining town 1 visited five-fifths of the population were on the dole. The engineering industry has also sustained a severe check, and can only find employment for a small proportion of its hands. And the shipbuilding industry is in an even worse condition. Orders are going past the English and Scottish firms t‘> Rotterdam and elsewhere on the Continent, where they can almost invariably undercut British quotations by fifty per cent. These are the key industries, the industries on which in the past Britain has largely depended for her prosperity, and as a consequence hundreds of other dependent industries are likewise affected.

METHODS IN BRITAIN. But this is not all. Farming in Britain is in an exceedingly bad way. The weather during tne past few years has been all against successful farming. A] art from this, the Home farmer, generally speaking, cannot compete with the colonial farmer, who is miles ahead of him in his metheds and organisation, land who is not handicapped by spending half the year in growing winter feed and the other half in feeding and caring for his stock. The Home fanner also is burdened by high transit costs. Il is a five hard to appreciate by th? New | Zea lander that the colonial farmer is [able tc put bis produce on to th? L ?n--idon market at a cheaper rate than the English fanner dependent upon m -tor or rail wav traction. The English farmer is also under other disadvantages [that need not be refen-ed to liere. In Scotian 1 the farmer is hard "up [against it." One of them to’d me when ion a recent visit to the north, that he had net been able to dry his hay for the past three or four- years. ILiy was rotting in the field at the time of my \isit, and turnips and mangolds, carrots and .swedes were a’.co affected by the cxK. sively moist summer. Th? land in Scotland is naturally poor, and with favourable weather the margin necessary for the subsistence of the farmer cannot be very considerable, so his present plight may be imagined, it was pathetic to see .o many farmers endeavouring to eke out an existence on land which in our country would be regarded as poverty-stricken and impossible to

work. Far belter would it ‘be for the Scotch farmer to transfer his energies and ability to a country like New Zealand where they would command a remunerative return.

Some of the British farmers are beginning to realise that the future bolds little hope for 'them in their own land, and are making enquiry regarding the possibilities for them overseas. The Exhibition han attracted many hundreds of New Zealanders to England this year, and they have proved good publicity agents for their own country, and many hundreds of people have consequently been making enquiry at the New Zealand Government office regarding assisted passages, etc. The result i.s that the Government migration officers have been kept very bu«>y, and are likely tc be kept even more so in the near future as further shipping medation 'beccme.s available. VALUE OF EXHIBITION. The exhibition has also created a good 'leal of interest amongst intending migrants. In many respects t'he New Zealand pavilion has proved very disappointing to visiting New Zealanders, because of the failure to take advantage of the opportunity for properly and effectively displaying our chief industries and attractions, yet it must be acknowledged that it has not been without eciiciiderable benefit to the Dominion in the way of interesting and attracting people desirous of going overseas. Thousands of enquiries have been made and dealt with, and they should result in a good many new settlers for the De min ion. Then there i<s the boy emigrant field.

as yet practically unexploited. lam certain that if the necessary conditions fcr their absorption were created in the Dominion, we could secure all the labour

of this kind we desire. Prospects for the young people here were never less hopeful or bright, than at present, and parents would willingly agree to their lads emigrating to New Zealand were they satisficnl’ that they would be property cared for and safeguarded from any possibility of exploitation.

T’he Dominion has made an excellent start with the public school boys fricheme, the reports of the successful ■working of which have given considerable satisfaction to both parents and the public school masters of the United

Kingdom. What is appreciated i.s the hospitable way in which the boys have been received and generally treated, and the care exercised and the interest shown in their welfare by the organisation set ip in Taranaki. it is hoped that other parts cf New Zealand will follow Taraiia-ki’s example and establish similar organisations. The work is of a national character, and is necessary if the scheme i«s to develop as it should. PUBLIC SCHOOL BOYS. The product of t'he British public school is to-day what he has always been th? finest of all colonising material. But naturally hi<s parents, generally in good circumstances, and the schoolmaster, who naturally takes a live interest in his charge’s future welfare. decs not approve of the b. y going overseas and taking pot luck. But when they know there is a responsible body who will not only select a suitable farmer under whom he can be trained and by whem he will be treated as one of the family, but will also keep in touch with the boy’s progress, and act generally a.s disinterested friends of the lad, they take an entirely different view, and are ready to co-operate with the organisation.

That is being done to-day. The Public School Masters’ Association have absolute confidence in the New Zealand scheme, and consequently are considering just now no other country whence to send boys desirous of going overseas. The boys ‘have no scope here. Opportunities for training are few and the outlook is unpromising. There is no dearth of boys. If New Zealand sets the right way about it, viz., by following Taranaki’s example and setting up similar organisations to theirs, the Public Schbcl Masters’ Association, jn conjunction with the New Zealand emigration officers, will send out each year whatever number of lads is required. It should be the duty of every farmer in a position to do so to take and train an English public school boy, not so much for his own benefit —and brief experience has shown the adaptability, resource, and industry of the educated English youth —but as an obligation he owes to the Empire and his own country. The Old Coufftry is overpopulated; New Zealand is underpopulated. A transference of some of the population must therefore prove of immense mutual benefit. We can afford to pick and choose. We have the opportunity of securing of Britain’s best, the public school boy, who can be more readily and successfully assimilated than any other class. Moreover, in the majority of cases the parent is in a position to assist the boy in securing, after the completion of his training period, a farm of his own. T'hfis we can kill two birds with the one .stone —we can obtain the right type cf emigrant that can quickly be moulded into a good New Zealander, and bring outside money into the country to more rapidly exploit its resources. The public school boy emigration scheme has therefore such advantages that New Zealand would be foolish if it did not follow up the excellent impression already created by the success attending Taranaki’s efforts.

GOOD TYPE C’F DOMESTICS. Jn regard io .demerit ic servants, batches of from 30 to 30 are being sent out every mont'h. 1 have had the opportunity of meeting- .several of the batches, and conversing with seine of. the girls, and 1 can only say that commendable dis< riminatic-n is being exercised by the Government officials here in their selection. Indeed, they are of such .an attractive kind that within a year or two of their arrival in the Di minion they are snapped up by enterprising New Zealanders and set r.p house* on their own account. Mere girls can be got, but the officers have to be careful le.-t the present satisfactory quality suffers. There is no doubt that if we only address ourselves properlv and, deterniinedly to the task, there will be no difficulty at this end in securing net ten thousand emigrants a year, but double or treble that number. B-ut it i-s not the least good increasing the numbers unless means are first taken to find places for them in the Dominion. That is the question that should be faced and settled. It i« not a difficult cue. and should not be beyond the powers of our statesmen to solve. Development and immigration .should go hand in hand, and it iri no credit to us that we cannot organise things in a way that would provide outlets fcr tiie energies of thousands and thousands of splendid men, women and lads here who are only waiting to be invited to go to New Zealand. There i«s an erroneous impression abroad that the 'migration officers here are not alive to their duties ami have a •‘cushy job.’’ 1 have had many cp'port initie.s afforded me during the past eix months of seeing and judging their work, and 1 can say with confidence, and without hesitation, that New Zealand is being particularly well served by its chief emigration officer I Mr. Sandford) and his staff - . Indeed, 1 question whether a better man could be found in the whole of the Dominion for the position, a by no means easy one to fill, nor a .staff - animated by the same zeal and enthusiasm fcr t'heir work. Tn my opinion Mr. Sandford and his staff are performing a mo.st valuable work for the Dominion in a way that leaves little to be desired.