Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. FRIDAY, MARCH 13, 1925. ALIEN IMMIGRATION.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XLV, Issue 10350, 13 March 1925, Page 4

Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. FRIDAY, MARCH 13, 1925. ALIEN IMMIGRATION.

By one of those coincidences that frequently occur, there were published yesterday two signihcant items bearing upon the subject of immigration in this Dominion. A cablegram from London stated that Sir James Allen, lecturing in Edinburgh, declared that New Zealand wished to absorb about 10,000 immigrants yearly, but they must become protliirprs von wish ns t-o t«ik© more of your people,’’ the High Commissioner said, “you must encourage the consumption of oui produce and preserve the producers as much as possible from foreign competition. is obvious there is room in New Zealand for more settlers, and it is more obvious that the unpeopled condition of Australia constitutes a danger to the Empire.” ihe other item was a statement from Auckland to the effect that last year 833 foreign nationals arrived to take up their permanent residence, as against 349 m 19~3, 496 in 1922, and 252 in 1921, and that present indications would lead one to believe that this y^_ ar a record would be created. Ihe principal influx was from JugoSlavokia, the total from that country being 384. While it cannot be said that New Zealand has an alien problem, the fact remains that if the increase in such immigration is maintained there will at least he the danger that foreigners will occupy land and hold positions to the exclusiou of our own kith and kin. Generally speaking the aliens here are hardworking and law-abiding, so fulfilling to some extent the requireI ment, stated by Sir Janies Allen, j that immigrants must be producers. This, how-ever, does not affect the contention that preference should be given to those of British stock, and to effect this it is necessary that every means should he adopted to induce settlement from the Homeland. If Zealand does not develop her resources to the full because of lack of population, and does not draw upon the British isles for the needed people, she cannot logically or economically set up a barrier against foreigners. Of course European immigration could not he stopped altogether, for Imperial considerations _ require that the door remain at least ajar. But it should be possible to ensure that the foreign element is reduced to a minimum while settlers from Britain are encouraged to the fullest possible extent. Other parts of the Empire are making’ determined efforts to obtain settlers of the right stamp, and this Dominion cannot afford to be one step behind.