ANGRY MIGRANTS.

Wairarapa Age, 9 August 1929, Page 2

ANGRY MIGRANTS.

DISTURBANCE ON AUSTRALIAN UNER. EX-LEGISLATOR’S CRITICISM RESENTED. ASSAULT FOLLOWS INDIGNATION MEETING. United Ficas Association.—By Electric Telecranh —Copyright. FREMANTLE, August 8. There were riotous scenes on the liner Bendigo when migrants attacked Mr. Collingwood Hughes, ex-M.P., following his criticism of the migrants on the vessel. An' indignation meeting was held, and later Mr. Hughes was attacked on deck and knocked down with a chair. The meeting called on Mr. Hughes to leave the liner at Fremantle. This, however, he refused to do, and also declined to withdraw anything he had said.—(Australian Press Association.) WHAT WAS SAID. AUSTRALIA GETTING CRIPPLES AND IMBECILES. FREMANTLE, August 8. Mr. Collingwood Hughes’s remarks to which the migrants took exception, were made in an interview at Fremantle. Mr. Hughes, a former M.P. for Peckham, said that he had been asked so frequently to reply publicly to questions relating to the migration of British subjects to the Dominions that he felt a lack of knowledge on the subject. He therefore decided to seek first-hand information, and thus booked a passage aboard the Bendigo, on which were about a hundred and fifty Govern-ment-assisted migrants. ' These, he said, were no credit to England and no benefit to Australia, which should shut its door against them. The type of immigrants absorbed by Canada was altogether different. Several of the Bendigo’s complement were either cripples or showed signs of imbecility. Mr. Hughes considered that the method of selecting migrants in England for Australia must be radically wrong. He had heard of two young migrants on the ship who already wanted to return to England. They were evidently frightened (because they thought they would have to work. Most of the young men on the Bendigo were of the type who were not looking for work. They would probably receive the shock of their lives when they found they would have to work to succeed in Australia. Australia, he declared, was getting street comer loafers.—(Australian Press Association.) AMAZEMENT IN LONDON. ALL IMMIGRANTS SPECIALLY SELECTED. LONDON, August 7. Mr. Manning is amazed at Mr. Collingwood Hughes’s reported denunciation pf the migrants aboard the Bendigo. Mr. Manning showed the Australian Press Association relevant papers. There was not a single ordinary migrant. All were specially selected and nominated, and all passed a rigorous medical examination. Every migrant’s certificate was authenticated. Mr. Manning remarked: <X I am delighted that Mr. Bruce is investigating the case. I am satisfied that Mr. Hughes was speaking extravagantly. Such talking merely causes fresh doubts, making migration problems greater. However, a duplicate file containing details as to the migrants has been sent to Australia, and therefore the Commonwealth possesses every particular.”—(Australian Press Association.)