THE ALIEN INFLUX

Wanganui Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 160811, 19 November 1920, Page 3

THE ALIEN INFLUX

(Auckland Star,

The information that has reached the member for Wanganui that 140 Indians have arrived at Suva en route to Auckland, is another justification of the many warnings that have been given in respect to the Asiatic menace. When we raised the question last year Sir James Allen, then head of the Government, poohpoohed the idea of there being a menace, but what we wrote concerning the probability that the easy entrance into New Zealand and the, opportunities here would '■ attract increasing numbers of Indians, has’ been borne out by events. The present education test is a farce, and it is easy for Indians to earn a living here that is wealth compared with wages in their own country. The result' has been that every successful immigrant has become a recruiting agent in India, and if the influx is* riot checked we shall see Indians appearing on the horizon in bands, not of 140, but of 1400. The important immigration Restriction Bill of last session, which abolishes the education test, and places all power of exclusion in the hands of Ministers, has apparently received the GovernorGeneral's assent, and is now law, but the Government has not stated what is to be its interpretation of the drastic powers it has taken. The new Act provides that no person other than one of British birth and parentage shall enter New Zealand unless he possesses a permit in accordance, with regulations framed under the Act, and the Minister may delegate his powers to any officer of Customs. These regulations and instructions have not been published. The arrival of this party from Suva will be exceptionally interesting as providing (presumably) the first test of the new legislation.