THE " DOLE" OR EMIGRATION
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] •
Sra,—You don't approve of those who denounce doles. What do you think of the following effect of the dole ? A writer in the Scotsman says::- " Striking instances of the demoralizing effect of- the dole upon the young and able-bodied people of the country is to be found in the experiences of the Australian migration officials, who have completed this week-end a tour of the South-West portions of England in search of suitable men and women as emigrants"to the Dominion. They visited Portsmouth, Southampton, Weymouth, Dorchester, Plymouth and Truro. At Southampton they found' no fewer than 6,000 people receiving the dole, and the majority of these were eligible and suitable candidates for emigrants to Australia. Despite 'an intensive campaign and innumerable interviews only seven offered themselves-as prospective emigrants. At another town there were between forty and fifty young women queued up at a Labour Exchange, and the Australian migration official, after a casual glance along the line, made a bold offer to take the lot for domestic service in Australia. Not one applied for further information on the matter. Out of thousands of un-
. employed addressed by the migration authorities in the towns visited 150 sought interviews, and fifty were provisionally accepted."
Kincora, Lyme Regis, Dorset.
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