SUCCESSFUL MIGRANTS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 72, Issue 1, 2 January 1929, Page 9

SUCCESSFUL MIGRANTS

BIG AND LITTLE BROTHERS AN AUSTRALIAN MOVEMENT SYDNEY, Dee. 24. Australian people seem to have become convinced that if there must be migration from Britain it is better to encourage young folk to try their hand in a new country. Labour is distinctly opposed to the migration of workers and whil c there is so much unemployment in each of the States its attitude is not to be wondered at. The same arguments do not apply to the introduction of boys and girls and that is one reason for the rapid growth of the Big Brother Alovement, under which Little Brothers come to Australi* and are cared for until they reach manhood.

There are now 1549 Little Brothers in Australia, of whom 9(19 are in Victoria, and it is reported that they arc all doing well on farming and grazing properties. Little Brothers c ntinuc to arrive in monthly quotas and Now South Wales and Victoria absorb 25 each month- There will be no arrivals during December and January, so the next batch is due in February and there arc a good many Big Brothers ready to assume fraternal responsibilities for thc lads. Still, it is the aesire of the managers of the schem c to continue to enrol citizens who are prepared to act as brothers to the boys until they get a footing in Australian life. Th e responsibility of a Big Brother involves no legal or financial obligations other than those which he may voluntarily accept and he is not expected, even, to find work for the boy. The organisation attends to th c matter of employment and keeps in regular correspondence with the boy and his parents, his employer and his BioBrother as well. Th c work of letterwriting, therefore, is assuming large proportions. Nearly 100 letters arc sent out nearly every day, so it is necessary to employ a larg c staff, most of whom are voluntary helpers. The effect of so much correspon/lence, especially with the parents in Britain, is to advertise Australia verv broadly throughout th c Old Couutrv. lhe service which the movement does i tor the whole community in making • Australia known as a field for immigration constitutes a strong claim, to support from the public. The movement brings out the boys and their parents and f nends who receive glowing accounts from thc boys themselves of their adopted country verv often follow.

An indication of the success 'which comes to boys under thc auspices of the Big Brother movement is given in a letter which th e secretary of thc Victorian branch received recently from two English lads who have been only years in the country. They wrote that they were now well established on a samll station property of their own lhey had 2100 acres and •were stocking it with 1500 sheep and they were going to breed fat lambs. They were also putting 150 acres under crop. These two pushful workers owe their good progress partly to their own thrift and industry, but largely to the generosity of their Big Brother, who has put them in a position to purchase the property ou easy terms. In tnc time they have been in the country they hav e saved a fair amount of capital. Another letter was from a farmer, who said that his boy was an excellent worker and that the movement inspired confidence, because it gave the lad anu his employer a knowledge that there would be just dealings between thc two.