MORE BRITISH EMIGRANTS : NO CHANCE OF ABSORPTION.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20234, 19 February 1934, Page 6

MORE BRITISH EMIGRANTS : NO CHANCE OF ABSORPTION.

Prime Minister Expresses His Views: Boom Time Contributions Recalled.

(Special to the “Star.”) WELLINGTON, February 19

The question of Empire settlement, by means of organised emigration from Britain, has been revived in the report of the British Migration Committee. It mentions the enormous expenditure to maintain the unemployed, and the ZOO millions lent to various European countries, suggesting that if all this had been used to guarantee large-scale migration it would have been a great contribution to- the solution of the unemployment problem. When the Prime Minister’s attention was'called to this report by a “Star’" correspondent, he remarked that at present it was a matter in which he could take no lively interest. “We could not,” said Mr Forbes, “in face of our unemployment position, take the responsibility of encouraging any people to come to our country when there is no chance for their absorption into useful occupations.” !

* ‘ COU RSE, there is no bar to people with capital coming into the Dominion, and if they wish to engage in business here, they are free to come,” said the Prime Minister. “ But we, as a Government, cannot assume responsibility for bringing more immigrants into the Dominion until the time arrives when there is ample opportunity for them to secure employment.” When Immigration Boomed. The unemployment problem has been so all-absorbing during the last few years that it is difficult to realise that only seven years ago the peak point of immigration was reached, though the decline was sudden. One of the vivid evidences of changed policy is to be seen in the Wellington office of the Unemployment Board, now crowded and busy with a staff administering a relief expenditure of about four millions sterling annually. They are accupying the actual quarters of the old Department of Immigration, once equally busy, but now not even existing as a separate department of State. Until the Government headed by Mr Coates announced in February, 1927, that immigration would have to be reduced during the coming winter because economic conditions necessitated a reduction in the volume of fresh arrivals, there had beten a flood of immigration for many years, the Imperial Government giving substantial aid to those who desired to leave the Homeland for overseas parts of the Empire. No New Thing. The Migration Committee’s latest suggestion for assistance from the Home Government is no new thing. Under the provisions of the Empire Settlement Act of 1922, emigrants to New Zealand were helped to the extent of one-third of their passage money. The New Zealand Government made a similar contribution, so that any ablebodied emigrant usually had to pay only £ll out of the total of £33 then charged for the voyage, while children and women and girls up to the age of forty, including domestics, were provided, from Governmental sources, with free passages. Up till 1927, when the New Zealand policy of full-tide immigration began to change, the Imperial Government had made grants under the 1922 Act totalling £328.610 towards passages, and had granted loans amounting to £8987 to emigrants.

Everyone agreed, during the boom times following the war, that New Zealand could only cany its heavy increase in debt by extending its producing power and increasing its population at a rapid rate. The Government in 1920 not only found free passages for domestics, but made them a £2 grant for pocket-money, while there was an undertaking to provide able-bodied men with work on arrival. The gain in population by immigration averaged 8000 annually. and when, through exceptional causes, it fell beldw that point, special steps were taken to cope with the situation. The Immigration Denartment’s report covering the year ended March, 1927. explained that it had been found necessary to increase the annual quota from 10,000 to 13.500 owing to congestion caused bv a shipping strike at the beginning of 1926. There were, it was stated. 4000 approved emigrants awaiting embarkation in England, and further nominations were being made at the rate of 100 per week. Special Trips. The Government considered that 13,500 immigrants could be absorbed without disturbing the economic or industrial conditions of the country. In normal years the shipping services were able to provide 8000 to 9000 berths annually from Britain to New Zealand, but. as the congestion of waiting emigrants had become so serious, it vas necessary to arrange five special trips during the year to carry 3022 emigrants. This happened to be the high tide of immigration, as the following summary oF annual arrivals indicates:—

When the Imperial Government was artivelv assisting to promote emigration to New Zealand by granting one-third of the passage money, 37.103 persons profited by this scheme in the five years ended in 1926, and it is interesting to note that 25,739 settled in the North Island, and 11,364 in the South Island.

Total Immigrants. Assisted. 1926 7,685 1027 14.043 11.239 1928 .... 6.107 3,822 1029 3,814 1.968 1930 1,700 1921 1,233 1932 .... 2.258 290 1923 56