CHURCH OF ENGLAND IMMIGRATION COMMITTEE

Waiapu Church Gazette, Volume XX, Issue 4, 1 October 1929, Page 8

CHURCH OF ENGLAND IMMIGRATION COMMITTEE

REPORT.

In submitting the following report of the work of the Ohurch of England Immigration Committee for the twelve months from August Ist, 1928, to July 31st, 1929, I have, unfortunately, to report the death of one of our Committee, Mr T. Granger, who had taken a very real interest m the work we have undertaken for the formation of the Committee, and has also given considerable and timely monetary assistance. Our movement is very much indebted to his generosity and kindly interest. Your Committee have pleasure m calling your attention to .the considerable advancement made during this period, and the increasing importance and development of the work undertaken. In. October, 1928, Lord Lovat visited the Dominion m connection with Empire settlement problems. Your Committee prepared a statement of the work it was doing, and called attention to the need of a more complete organisation here to cope with the increasing work and after-care of the lads brought out under the scheme. We pointed out that, to build an efficient organisation, Aye must have greater and more assured financial resources. An interview was arranged while Lord Lovat was m Auckland, and I presented the statement mentioned and discussed the various points brought forward. It was arranged that Lord Lovat would go into these points with the New Zealand Government, and that, if our Government here would subsidise our work, Lord Lovat would recommend the Home Government to increase their contributions also. We also brought this matter before the Minister for Immigration here. Those representations have resulted m our work being subsidised for twelve months by a grant of £300 from our Department of Immigration and an increased contribution by the Home Government through the Church of England! Council of Empire Settlement, under certain conditions, which we believe we can fulfil, which should provide us with about £450 per annum from England. We will still have to obtain a certain amount by subscriptions collected here. We are indebted to a number of other kind friends m Auckland, who have contributed to the cost of administration of our work and made possible the obtaining the £1 for £1 grant from England, on which our organisation has been maintained up till now. So far

we have not received any of the new financial help mentioned from, the two .Government source* Towards the end of last year it was found that, with the increasing work and responsibility, we could not carry on as we had been doing, with a parttime Secretary. Our late Secretary, Mr A. D. Stanley, had to give much of his time to other activities, and our work suffered considerably m consequence. Your Committee appointed Mr J. T. Williams a s full-time .Secretary from December Ist last. Mr Williams was already one of our Committee.- He was m England during 1928, and had been m close touch with the London office of the Church of England Council of Empire Settlement. He had taken dharge, on the voyage out, of the large draft of boys who arrived .here m November last. Our office was, for the time being, moved to the Diocesan Office here, and Mr William s at once began a complete re-organisation of our records and accounts. We have now rented an office and appointed an assistant to Mr Williams, and our work is being well looked after. lit is also our intention that Mr Williams will make tour s of inspection to, if possible, all the lads under our care at least once a year. He has already visited a number of our boys m the Taranaki district. This work will be undertaken mainly during the months when we do not have drafts of lads arriving from England. During the year we have urged upon our Department of immigration, and also the London Committee, the need of evolving a practical scheme of land settlement m. connection with the immigration of lads under our scheme and others of the same nature. It is a most important part of such schemes, as without it, the lads are apt to get disheartened at seeing no provision made for their obtaining farms of their own m due course. We have some lads of our early drafts who could now manage farms of their own, certainly, if under proper supervision to begin with. A\ c have hopes that this matter will be advanced during the next twelve months, and your Committee are prepared to assist m developing this side of the work as far as possible. During this year considerable restriction has been placed on assisted immigration to the Dominion, and practically only our own organisation, the Salvation Army, and the Flock House schemes have been maintained. Since our last report we have received the following dial'ts of lads: —

Drafts as arranged. Sept. 24, 1928 13 Sept, 1928 20 Nov. 1. 1928 50 Oct., 1928 20 Dec. 5, 1928 ,1 —64 —40 April 30, 1929 20 May, 1929 20 June 7, 1929 20 June, 1929 20 July 24, 1929 19. July, 1929 25 —59 —65 123 105 We therefore received 24 lads very late last year who should have arrived not later than October. We had situations available, but late drafts are not satisfactory, as the fanners, are m the midst of a very busy time, and have not time to properly supervise inexperienced lads, which leads to trouble. We -find more need Tor transfers of lads from place to place m the case of late drafts. This matter has, of course, been again strongly brought before the London Committee. ■ The total now brought out under our scheme is 355. These are .placed, as far as we can judge from the localities m relation to boundaries of .the various Dioceses, as follows: — Auckland 112 Waikato ... 152 Wellington ... 14 Waiapu 51 Nelson 7 Christchurch „. 4 Dunedin 2 348 Returned to relatives 5 Deceased ... ...J 2 355 You will notice that there have, unfortunately, been two deaths amongst our lads, both fine lads, who were doing well. In one case the death was typhoid' fever, and m the other death followed a serious internal operation. You will notice that we have, since the inception of the scheme, returned five lads to their relatives m England, or m America m one case. Of these lads, four proved quite unsuitable to the life here, and m the American case at the special request of the father, the lad being quite a good lad. It is • unfortunate that we must report one lad having been committed to the Borstal Institute', having been convicted of theft. We have now 146 lads who have been here two years, but we are pleased to say that we are still m touch with all but 14. Of the more recent lads, we have lost touch at present with seven, but will probably find some, anyway, of the lad's coming back to us for help or advice later. We have no actual

legal power over the lads, and some will always rebel at any idea of control by our Committee. " We" endeavour to get such lads to, at least, let us know where they are, and impress on all that they can always look to our organisation for advice and such help as is possible. The lads coming out m this years drafts have agreed to; a new arrangement; half their wages are now payable to bur Committee, and we bank these amounts m separate Savings Bank accounts on behalf of the lads. This gives us more control, and also a closer touch with the progressive advances m their Avages. On the whole, the type of lad coining is being well maintained, though there have been a few who have given us much trouble, but have gradually, m most cases, settled down to work. We have, so far, had no trouble m finding situations, and these have generally proved satisfactory. There will always be a certain number of transfers needful before giving all lads and employers satisfaction. In connection with the local Church of England lads wishing farm situations,, we have, m Auckland, continued to place those who have applied, but the numbers are very small. Your Committee wish again to express their very great appreciation ot the splendid service rendered to this scheme by many of the clergy, often at considerable actual cost to themselves, not only of time but m money. It is sincerely hoped that, with better financial resources, this last matter may be remedied to some extent. We also desire to thank Messrs Haylock and Sutton, of the C.E.M.S. Immigration Committee, for the ready help so freely given m connection with lads disembarking- at Wellington. There are still large areas of the Dominion where there should be a wide field for extending this work if it is properly brought before the farmers. We trust that, during the next twelve months, we may find a greater interest and activity m this really important work m .these districts. We are glad to report that very cordial co-operation and assistance is always given us by the Department of Immigration, and wish to express our sincere thanks to the officers for this. Our thanks are also due to the officials of the Railway Department and Shipping Companies for their kindly help. For the Committee, A. W. NEW ZEAL ANT), Chairman.