Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1947-08-24
By Gornett D. HOMER
Want to live in Australia?

! The Australians want you there.
They'll go to great pains to help
you get there and settled down;
even helping to pay your way if you
are a World War II veteran.
AS general inducements, Australia
offers plenty of jobs in a wide range
of activities, good business and
farming opportunities, and much
lower cost of living than in the
United States.
Detailed plans for carrying out
settled policy of stimulating Amer
lean migration to the down under"
continent are being worked out dur
ing a visit to- Washington of Aus
tralian immigration Minister Ar
thur A. CalWell.
Mr. CalWell, 210-pound e.
footer whose grandfather migrated
from Pennsylvania to Australia in
1858, is on a flying mission to ginger
up" a program aimed at obtaining
for his country 10000 new citizens
a year from the United States,
Britain and Europe.
Ex-GIs Want to Go
He arrived here last week from
London confer with American Off
Gals in an effort to secure ships to
carry people to Australia.
Australian Embassy officials look
to his visit to provide the answers
| to a number of questions being
asked by thousands of Americans
about exactly what they should do
to make Australia their home.
At least 10000 American veterans,
most of them keen on moving to
Australia after seeing it and learn
ing to like it during the war, have
made inquiries about settling there.
Around 100 new inquiries a week
are coming to the Embassy here,
with hundreds of others going to
Australian consular Offices in other
cities. An estimated 1000 former
GIs already have settled in Aus
tralia.
The Embassy is able to supply
great deal of general information
to prospective migrants. But pro-
cedures for actually signing them
up, under the new scheme of sub
sidizing transportation costs for war
veterans remain to be worked out
with Mr.. CalWelI.
Helps on Travel Cost
The plan calls for the Australian
government to pay part of the
travel costs for CT immigrants,
amounting to contribution of
from $120 to $40. For single vet
Grams between 10 and As, Australia
will pay 40 per cent of the tour
list" class fare, or $40, whichever
is smaller. 1t will make similar
contributions toward the transpor-
tation of married veterans wives
and children, paying all of the cost
if it is not over $40 for depend
ent child under II.
Healthy Americans of good char
acter who are not war veterans also
are welcome to Australia, but are
not eligible for the transportation
subsidy.
Australia is out for immigrants
to build up its population for eco
nomic development and also for
security purposes. The country of
100000 square miles now has an
estimated 7,414.32s population, two
thirds of them living in the six
state capitals and large inland
towns. It's government has decided
a bigger population is necessary to
make the nation strong enough to
Withstand the threat of another
war in the Pacific.
Special inducements are offered
American ex-GI's because expert
ence has shown the Australians
that they are suitable for rapid
assimilation in the Australian way
of life. There are extra strong
grounds for assisting the immigra-
ton of veterans married to Aus
tralian women.
Many Inquiries
John G. Bridges, Australian En-
bassy Press Attache, reports that
thousands Of Americans appear
to be as eager to 60 to Aus
tralia as his government is to
have them. Nearly everywhere he
goes, he says, some one is bound to
ask, How can I get to Australia
Inquiries come from all walks of
Ilife-taxi-drivers, surgeons. nurses,
undertakers, construction workers
and so on.
To help answer inquiries, the Eml