Assisted immigration, 1947-75

Page 3 – Leaving the grey UK

The Immigration Branch needed to advertise the scheme as widely as possible and mostly used the classified sections of British newspapers. Staff were willing to take advantage of any opportunity for publicity, however, such as having a stand at the 1951 Schoolboy's Own Exhibition, from which a live programme was broadcast on the BBC.

In 1947 the National Film Unit was commissioned to make a film, Journey for Three, designed to publicise the scheme by being shown at cinemas in the United Kingdom. The 1953 royal tour of New Zealand provided another opportunity for publicity when Cliff Smith, the Chief Migration Officer, appeared on the BBC's Radio Newsreel to talk about its effect in stimulating interest in migration in Britain, and in 1955 Immigration Branch staff appeared on a television magazine-style programme aimed at under 21-year-olds.

Jack Brennan, the Chief Migration Officer in London at this time, remarked that the combination of the Suez crisis, the Hungarian uprising and an increase in petrol prices announced by the British government, resulted in counter and telephone enquiries at New Zealand House being about four times higher than normal.

International crises stimulated interest in emigration, but had little lasting effect on the volume of applications to emigrate.

Assisted Immigrants by Country

Year Great Britain Netherlands Austria Germany Denmark Switzerland Greece Other
1947 158              
1948 1140              
1949 1527              
1950 2532              
1951 2873 55            
1952 3849 1100            
1953 4872 2709            
1954 5611 688            
1955 3880 452            
1956 4732 391            
1957 4172 252 139 30 - - - -
1958 4070 245 44 69 106 45 - -
1959 4343 141 36 35 92 31 - -
1960 2360 90 25 39 13 22 - -
1961 2217 12 2 - - - - -
1962 3474 84 14 - - 10 - 2
1963 4283 42 33 27 - - 137 10
1964 4171 - 6 16 5 14 130 5
1965 4300 - 9 12 5 11 29 34
1966 3963 - 19 7 8 27 18 5
1967 4020 - 9 9 10 36 11 2
1968 2732 - 2 4 5 17 4 -
1969 485 - - 2 - 2 1 -
1970 377 - - - 2 - 1 2
1971 532 - - - 4 3 - -
Total 76,673 6261 338 250 250 218 331 55
Year Great Britain Netherlands Austria Germany Denmark Switzerland Greece Other

New Zealand Official Yearbook

How to cite this page

'Leaving the grey UK', URL: https://nzhistory.govt.nz/culture/assisted-immigration/leaving-the-grey-uk, (Ministry for Culture and Heritage), updated 17-Jul-2014