Migrant Scheme From The Cooks

Prom a Wellington Correspondent The New Zealand Cabinet has approved a scheme of selective assisted migration from the Cook Islands. Immi grants are to be brought to NZ in families comprising couples not older than 30 years, and with no more than two children.

FORTY families will be recruited from the Cooks as a start, for rural work in NZ. Their employment will be arranged before they leave home.

The prospective employers will pay sea fares, subject to the immi grants remaining in their jobs for a specified time. But if the Cook Islanders can come by air, they will be transported by the RNZAF at Government cost.

The Minister of Island Territories, Mr. F. L. A. Gotz, said the scheme would help the labour shortage in the rural areas of NZ, and also re lieve over-population in some of the Cook Islands.

Last year, he said, average popu lation density to the square mile of usable land in the Cooks was 603 persons (compared with 54.2 in NZ).

The migrants will come from islands with the biggest population problem.

Young Population

Mr. Gotz said that more than 45 per cent, of the Cooks population was under 15, and the proportion was increasing. Economic progress was being seriously obstructed by the fact that able-bodied men in the Cooks are supporting more depen dents than in many other countries.

There are about 3,300 Cook Islanders at present living in NZ.

Many of them work in the timber industry in country areas and some are on sheep farms.

An Auckland report says the an nouncement apparently came as a shock to the provincial president of the NZ Federated Farmers, Mr. J.

H. Ferguson, who said he didn’t doubt that the Cook Islanders would work well, but the scheme needed a lot more thought. “Two different races thrown together on farms might not work out as expected,” he said.

There has also, recently, been a lot of criticism in NZ newspapers about attacks on girls by Islanders living in NZ, and the scheme has not been received with enthusiasm by everybody.

In the Cooks themselves there h also been some criticism.

A member of the Cook Islam Legislative Council, Mr. D.

Brown, told the June meeting of t Council in Rarotonga he didn’t su port the idea of limiting migrants] families with two children. Youi men should be allowed to go aj improve their knowledge.

Another member, Mrs. Po< Morgan, asked whether the peoj of the Cooks were content to alio “the cream of youth to go across New Zealand and become commi labourers”. Education had taug that everyone had to improve the; selves, mentally, physically ai spiritually, she said, and Coc Islanders wanted greater educatioi opportunities. They were greedy 1 knowledge.

William Estall agreed that t migration scheme should not be stricted to families, but should elude single men and women.

Makea Nui Ariki said the peot were getting worried about the 1 of young people to NZ. They w\ losing their love of the soil, s there would be problems if thi were not enough labour to work plantations.