BRITONS NEVER SHALL BE SLAVES
Being an odiferous ode on Juvenile Immigration.
Sung by John Bull ("In person") at "THE FOLLIES"
The First Annual Review of the Social Workers Club of Toronto.
April 16 1928.
Source:
http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/britishhomechildren/2004-03/1080260776
O, there was a London urchin
Of a feeble minded strain.
His parents both were in the clink
And he was raising cain.
The Poor Law guardians got him
But he drove them near insane,
'Till an emigration home got a subsidy
For shipping him across the main.
Singing Rule Britannia! Britannia rule the waves
For Britons never, never, never shall be --
Made to care for dependent poor
If Canada will do it free.
O, his tonsils were defective
And his teeth were just a wreck.
He had a spot upon his lung
And he could not see a speck.
The government men were busy,
So we used our own M.D.
And we bluffed an exam and got him passed
And hustled him across the sea.
Singing Rule Britannia! Britannia rule the waves
For Britons never, never, never shall be --
Scrutinized by Canadian eyes
Before they cross the sea.
When he reached this land of promise
With a hundred just the same.
We sent him to a farmer on the mail order plan
Though we hardly knew the farmer's name.
He may have been a trifle lonely
For kicks are all he understands,
But why supervise -- when it's far from wise
To get him back upon our hands.
Singing Rule Britannia! Britannia rule the waves
For Britons never, never, never shall be --
Supervised or Canadianized
In their homes across the sea.
O, we've heard of the thing called case work
In our Island of the Free.
But what it has to do with the problem child
We never yet could see.
O, we know a technique far from easy,
For family break-ups cause us small concern.
To keep a home together costs real money
But emigration brings a cash return.
Singing Rule Britannia! Britannia rule the waves
For Britons never, never, never shall be --
Taught their jobs by social worker snobs.
They're colonials -- "We own 'em," don't you see.
We've unloaded eighty thousand hopefuls
On Canada, the loyal and the fair.
Australia built a nation on our convict population,
So Canada should take her share.
They are ninety-nine per cent successful,
But we're certainly not going to say
Why we think that is so -- for we very well know
Facts are stubborn -- and they point another way.
Singing Rule Britannia! Britannia rule the waves
For Britons never, never, never shall be --
Said to fail unless they're sent to jail
Or deported to their own countree.
Source:
National Archives of Canada
MG 28
Series I10, Canadian Council on Social Development fonds
Volume 6
File: Juvenile Immigration Survey 1928.
###################
The survey (initiated by the Canadian Council on Child Welfare
and funded by the Women's Canadian Club of Montreal) in the file
title is Mrs Hazel McGregor's, the results of which were
published in _Several Years After_ (Ottawa, 1928) which was an
attempt to measure the degree of success of certain of the child
immigrants who had come to Canada in 1910 and in 1920, and to
analyze the problems and weaknesses of the agencies. Some
agencies did not co-operate with the surveyor, refusing to
provide lists of names, current addresses; refusing, generally
speaking, access to the files of the children whom she had
selected for investigation. This refusal rankled, and the song
above is an airing of some of the grievances that Canadian
social workers held both against the children and against their
managing agencies; among these complaints are not only the poor
physical health or bad blood or behaviour difficulties of the
children, but also lax physical and mental medical screening
before emigration, inadequate supervision of the households
where they lived and worked, superficial vetting of their
employers, the breaking apart of families in England to
accomplish mean objectives, the high-handed arrogance of some of
the agencies in addressing, or rather ignoring, the concerns of
expressed by the Canadian professionals, and skepticism about
the high success rate claimed by some agencies for their former
wards.
The CCCW was directed at this time by Charlotte Whitton, someone
who might be described as possessing a complex personality, that
is, was a redneck humanist. Mrs McGregor is said, in some of the
papers available that relate to her survey, to have pulled her
punches in the findings she made that were ultimately published.
Brian Rolfe
Of a feeble minded strain.
His parents both were in the clink
And he was raising cain.
The Poor Law guardians got him
But he drove them near insane,
'Till an emigration home got a subsidy
For shipping him across the main.
Singing Rule Britannia! Britannia rule the waves
For Britons never, never, never shall be --
Made to care for dependent poor
If Canada will do it free.
O, his tonsils were defective
And his teeth were just a wreck.
He had a spot upon his lung
And he could not see a speck.
The government men were busy,
So we used our own M.D.
And we bluffed an exam and got him passed
And hustled him across the sea.
Singing Rule Britannia! Britannia rule the waves
For Britons never, never, never shall be --
Scrutinized by Canadian eyes
Before they cross the sea.
When he reached this land of promise
With a hundred just the same.
We sent him to a farmer on the mail order plan
Though we hardly knew the farmer's name.
He may have been a trifle lonely
For kicks are all he understands,
But why supervise -- when it's far from wise
To get him back upon our hands.
Singing Rule Britannia! Britannia rule the waves
For Britons never, never, never shall be --
Supervised or Canadianized
In their homes across the sea.
O, we've heard of the thing called case work
In our Island of the Free.
But what it has to do with the problem child
We never yet could see.
O, we know a technique far from easy,
For family break-ups cause us small concern.
To keep a home together costs real money
But emigration brings a cash return.
Singing Rule Britannia! Britannia rule the waves
For Britons never, never, never shall be --
Taught their jobs by social worker snobs.
They're colonials -- "We own 'em," don't you see.
We've unloaded eighty thousand hopefuls
On Canada, the loyal and the fair.
Australia built a nation on our convict population,
So Canada should take her share.
They are ninety-nine per cent successful,
But we're certainly not going to say
Why we think that is so -- for we very well know
Facts are stubborn -- and they point another way.
Singing Rule Britannia! Britannia rule the waves
For Britons never, never, never shall be --
Said to fail unless they're sent to jail
Or deported to their own countree.
Source:
National Archives of Canada
MG 28
Series I10, Canadian Council on Social Development fonds
Volume 6
File: Juvenile Immigration Survey 1928.
###################
The survey (initiated by the Canadian Council on Child Welfare
and funded by the Women's Canadian Club of Montreal) in the file
title is Mrs Hazel McGregor's, the results of which were
published in _Several Years After_ (Ottawa, 1928) which was an
attempt to measure the degree of success of certain of the child
immigrants who had come to Canada in 1910 and in 1920, and to
analyze the problems and weaknesses of the agencies. Some
agencies did not co-operate with the surveyor, refusing to
provide lists of names, current addresses; refusing, generally
speaking, access to the files of the children whom she had
selected for investigation. This refusal rankled, and the song
above is an airing of some of the grievances that Canadian
social workers held both against the children and against their
managing agencies; among these complaints are not only the poor
physical health or bad blood or behaviour difficulties of the
children, but also lax physical and mental medical screening
before emigration, inadequate supervision of the households
where they lived and worked, superficial vetting of their
employers, the breaking apart of families in England to
accomplish mean objectives, the high-handed arrogance of some of
the agencies in addressing, or rather ignoring, the concerns of
expressed by the Canadian professionals, and skepticism about
the high success rate claimed by some agencies for their former
wards.
The CCCW was directed at this time by Charlotte Whitton, someone
who might be described as possessing a complex personality, that
is, was a redneck humanist. Mrs McGregor is said, in some of the
papers available that relate to her survey, to have pulled her
punches in the findings she made that were ultimately published.
Brian Rolfe
