The Language Test.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXVII, Issue XII, 21 September 1901, Page 537

The Language Test.

Our legislative efforts to exclude undesirable immigrants from our shores have come in for a good deal of condemnation, but judging by the proposals for the same end which the Commonwealth Parliament are considering, this colony was moderation itself. Australia aims at a standard of exclusiveness we never dreamt.of. Not merely is her door to be shut against Chinamen and the low-grade population of Europe, but she means to set an entrance examination which is calculated to floor decent folks. The Bill before the Parliament proposes that immigrants must be able to write intelligently from dictation a passage in their own tongue, and further they will be required to show an acquaintance in writing with fifty words in the English language. It is this second demand that presents the chief obstacle, but the Australian ♦ statesmen argue that if foreigners intend to settle among us they should at least have taken the trouble beforehand to acquire a slight knowledge of our tongue. Fortunate it is for we Britons as a people that such restrictions did not interfere with our entry into foreign countries when we spread ourselves over the face of the earth, for we are very far from a nation of linguists. I can think how it would fare with the stream of English tourists who visit the Continent yearly if they had. as a condition of their getting into the country, to write fifty words in the language. Ninety-nine per cent, would go down before such an ordeal. Fancy the consternation of the Briton on arrival at a French, German or Italian frontier to be confronted by some pedagogic official, who demands from the unprepared traveller the Gallic or Teutonic equivalent of such absurd propositions as “Is it your father who has the red coat?” or "The Dalmatian dog is playing with the Welcli rabbit in the green field.” Beset by such pitfalls continental travel would become a burden instead of a pleasure to the poor Englishman. Gay Paris would be gay no longer, and the mellifluous voice of the cheap tripper would no more resound through the Champs Elysees.