IS NEW ZEALAND GETTING RIGHT TYPE OF IMMIGRANTS?

Wanganui Chronicle, 4 November 1950, Page 8

IS NEW ZEALAND GETTING RIGHT TYPE OF IMMIGRANTS?

PARLIAMENT BLDGS., Nov. 1 (P.A.).—During the debate on Estimates in the House of Representatives tonight, Mr. Semple (Opp., Miramar), asked what percentage of immigrants were turning out good citizens. There had been some doubts in Australia about the immigrants being accepted there, and he knew, from personal experience of them, that some immigrants who came to New Zealand after the first World War were of such a type that “it would take three of them knocked into one to make a man." We did not want wasters todaya but men of character and stamina, who would not be a liability. “We don’t want the sort who hold up lamp-posts and develop corns on their chests through propping up pub-lic-house bars,” said Mr. Semple.

He said the country could do with- 5 out Communist wreckers who would ( try to establish the dictatorship of the ( proletariat. We wanted no dictator- . ships of any kind. He urged that more technicians be brought into New Zea- , land. Good draftsmen today were ] were worth their weight in gold. The Minister of Immigration (Mr. ; Sullivan) said that next year’s imml- i gration target was 7,500, to be stepped - up ultimately to 10,000. It was in t recognition of the need to bring in as 1 many tradesmen as possible that the ' official scheme had been extended to i include married tradesmen from the United Kingdom. He thought more tradesmen would be obtained within 1 the next year or so. Among about 1200 male immigrants from Holland i expected in the next 12 months would be 400 building tradesmen and another 150 engineering tradesmen. 1 Others would include timber workers, dairy factory workers and general labourers. Within a year also would come 800 Dutch women, including 200 trained nurses, 400 domestic workers and 200 factory workers. The Minister said the best available immigrants were being obtained, and some critics of the newcomers should make more sure of their facts before I speaking. Of 941 displaced persons who come on the Dundalk Bay not one complaint had been made. Nintyfive per cent of the assisted immigrants were settling down well and doing a good job. Inevitably a few - black sheep slipped through the gate, but they were very few. Mr. Sullivan said, that if any of the type of immigrant came into the . country to make troub 1 2 —those referred to by the Member for Mira- ■ mar—the Government would see that I they were returned. Mr. Skinner (Opp., Butter) said that he had no complaint whatever to j make about the few immigrants he had met —mine workers and tradesj men. The reports he had heard em- , ployers had made on their conduct had all been good. Mr. McLagen (Opp., Riccarton) sugj gested that the Industrial Relations , Act, which the present Government j had claimed had been part of its policy and which had been passed last year, was now being treated as an * “unwanted step child.” The Govern--1 .ment, as far as he could see, had done ’ nothing to implement the provisions ’ of the Act. No council had been established and no works committees were operating. Mr. McKeen (Opp., Isiand Bay), ' said that in the early stages of the ' | immigration scheme there was a tre--5 1 mendous numbei* of “tourist immi--1 grants” who had arrived in the coun--5 ' try with only the desire to travel over ’ New Zealand and not to settle down I in industry. He was pleased, however, : that that aspect in the scheme had been checked. r Mr Syre (Opp., North Shore) said 5 that every help should be given the 1 new displaced people who had arrived - in the country to learn our ways be- , fore becoming full citizens. He sug- ' gested that a book should be compiled - setting out in an instructive manner > what our new citizens should be re- • quired to know. Mr. Sullivan said that his depart / ment was already moving in the direct tion suggested by the Member for t North Shore.