The Royal Gazette February 17, 1959 pg 1

The House of Assembly yesterday, for the second time in nine months, found itself debating the position of the Portuguese farm labourer in Bermuda.

Last July a move by Mr. Morris Gibbons to allow Portuguese wives to visit their husbands in Bermuda for six months was defeated by 13 votes to 12.

Yesterday Mr. Gibbons was again the prime mover behind a suggestion that the wives should be allowed permanently to join any Portuguese who had been in the Colony for seven years or more.

The debate was adjourned to allow the Board of Immigration to study the proposals.

Mr. Harley Barnes proposed to reduce the waiting period to three years, while there were also suggestions that the labour be imported from the West Indies to solve the language problem.

Introducing his proposed message, Mr. Gibbons said that unless Portuguese labourers were allowed to bring their wives to Bermuda some of them would soon go back to the Azores.

"It would be a great pity in view of the great contribution Portuguese make to the Islands in agricultural work," he said.

Mr. Harley Barnes thought that a seven-year wait was too long. The labourers could prove themselves in a shorter period. He moved to reduce the time to three years.

GOOD MEN LOST

"The farming community has lost a lot of good men because of the ruling to bar wives," said Mr. Barnes.

Lt. Col. J. C. Astwood, chairman of the Board of Immigration, hoped Mr. Gibbons would move for an adjournment to allow the board to discuss the problem.

"On the face of it the board does not strongly oppose the idea," he said. "They may even be in favour of it, especially if the House is in favour."

Col. Astwood reminded members that there was supposed to be no importation of what he termed "ordinary, uneducated common labour."

Col. Astwood said he meant no disrespect to the Portuguese community who had become a first-class section of Bermuda.

MINIMUM OF EDUCATION

"But most of the farm labourers come here with a minimum of education," he said. "They can't speak English."

"Can you speak Portuguese?" asked the Hon. Ernest Vesey.

"I cannot," Col. Astwood replied. "But we are getting some people imported as farm labourers or gardeners who turn out to have had no experience whatsoever in those fields."

He also reminded members that the men's contract stipulated they would not be allowed to bring wives to Bermuda.

"The Portuguese Government wants these people to emigrate permanently to Bermuda," he claimed. "The great majority of them come here with the full intention of trying to settle in Bermuda and get their families here."

He added that since Mr. Gibbons had last brought the matter up in the Assembly, the Board of Immigration had granted permits for three or four wives to pay six-month visits to the Colony."

THIN END OF WEDGE

In every case the persons had applied for renewal of the permits for longer stays. He felt that cases like this were "the thin end of the wedge."

Col. Astwood said Immigration figures revealed over 800 Portuguese citizens now living in Bermuda. It had not yet been determined how many of these would want to bring their wives from the Azores.

Mr. Earle Outerbridge did not want labourers to be educated. "It will fill their heads full of tricks," he commented. He regretted that the Immigration Board could not bend a little in their decisions.

ONLY LOGICAL

Mr. Wesley Tucker thought it was only logical that the labourers should be allowed to bring their wives and families to Bermuda

But he wondered why labour was brought only from the Azores. He urged the Government to look further afield for the labour, but noted there seemed to be opposition to bringing it from the West Indies.

Mr. Tucker recalled that there was recently an experiment in bringing European labourers to the Colony. He asked what had happened to the plan.

"But any labour brought here should be purely on a temporary basis so these people can return when their services are no longer required," said Mr. Tucker.

Mr. Neville Burnett-Herkes asked what would happen if a family with six children of working age came to Bermuda.

Mr. Gibbons said the ruling would apply to wives only "at the moment." He also favoured a shorter term than seven years. He predicted that not more than a few persons would take advantage of the rule if it was amended.

The Hon. J. E. Pearman took a more pessimistic view, however. "There will not be one Portuguese who will not ask to bring his wife and who will not try to bring in his children under 21," he said.

He thought it only right that if the wife joined the husband in Bermuda the children should come also.

Mr. Pearman continued: "There is not one of us who has not had his heart wrung by a pathetic story from a Portuguese who has not been able to get his wife to Bermuda. But the men come here knowing full well that their wives should not join them. Nobody forces them to come here."

Mr. Pearman felt it only natural that everyone should have a strong feeling of sympathy. But would the move be in Bermuda's best interests?"

He wanted Mr. Gibbons to have a select committee appointed to study the problem with the Board of Immigration.

"The greatest problem in the last 15 years has been overcrowding," Mr. Pearman reminded the House. "This would not help the problem."

UNFAIR TO PORTUGUESE

Mr. Henry Vesey said the present situation was unfair to the Portuguese, since they were the only foreigners brought to Bermuda who were discriminated against in such fashion.

He thought it wrong that nationals of Britain's oldest ally should be prevented from bringing their wives to Bermuda when former enemies, such as Germans and Austrians were able to do so.

"How about the Chinese?" asked someone.

"Well, the Chinese are a bit different," replied Mr. Vesey amid laughter.

He did not see why a Chinese should not bring his wife to Bermuda either, if he himself was qualified to work in the Colony.

Mr. Robert Outerbridge though Mr. Pearman's words were probably the wiser, despite all expressions of sympathy.

HOW MANY INVOLVED

He felt the population question in Bermuda was "a bombshell" and wanted to know the probable number of Portuguese involved. How many wives would be brought and how many children would follow their parents.

Mr. deForest Trimingham also hoped the matter would be referred to the Board of Immigration for more information.

Commented Mr. John Patton, "The whole position is upon us because of the Immigration Board's policy of discriminating against Europeans. They are the only people who come here who are discriminated against."

He wondered whether wives and families of the recently imported building labour were being allowed to come to Bermuda.

Mr. Patton said he would support Mr. Gibbons and was in favour of the term being reduced to three years.

The Hon. Dudley Spurling, a former Immigration Board chairman, said that during his term of office the "no wives" policy was relaxed in favour of Portuguese who had been in Bermuda 10 years or more.

A number of wives had come here but there had been strong protests from the Board of Health about lack of housing and the Board of Education about language problems with children. So the Immigration Board had reverted to its former policy "with much misgiving."

SELECT COMMITTEE FAVOURED

Mr. Spurling was in favour of a select committee being appointed.

Mr. Walter Robinson had been in favour last year of wives being allowed to pay a six-month visit. He was not sure that he could support the new suggestion.

Mr. Robinson complained that the people of the West Indies did not have the same opportunity as Portuguese to come here, although they were British.

"The coloured population here should be given the opportunity, the same as the white, to refresh its blood by importation of other blood from outside," he said.

Mr. Robinson called for a select committee to study the problem and at the same time to study the overall policy of the Board of Immigration as it affects the different nationalities.

Mr. Gibbons then moved for an adjournment of the debate.