In order to prevent migration from the United Kingdom to the Dominions, for what reason has never been quite apparent, Labour politicians and press in London are busy telling stories of the few immigrants that have come out to Australia and failed to find the proper-shaped hole into which they can fit themselves, At the same time the officials of the Labour organizations in the Commonwealth are busy exploiting the local unemployed—especially if they can find him in the guise of a returned soldier. That the latter has been brought back to Australia, given a handsome sum in the form of deferred pay, has been given a war gratuity averaging about £100, and is' still given preference over those who did not go to the war by many public and private employers, is all forgotten by the political exploiters, and what the Charity Organization Society calls "sensational and irresponsible journalism inexperienced emotionalists."
In Melbourne there has been "demoralising and—indiscriminate relief" of the unemployed. At one time little was heard of them, then some newspapers and parsons took the matter up. They quoted extreme cases, which for the sake of the emotionalists one may hope were true. At last a list was made of 1,200 sturdy, honest but unfortunate men who could not get employment, and whose wives and children (these people always have wives and children) were in dire straits of poverty. That many were returned soldiers was proved by the fact that men stood at the street corners decked in old military overcoats, and smoked "gaspers" while they rattled appealing money boxes. They were doing it to-day, though call for 200 men to go out and work on the roads about 100 miles "from Melbourne, at 18s. 9d. a day, with free railway pass, and money in their pockets, only produced 75 men within the first 24
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.