WHY DO THEY GO?

Auckland Star, Volume XLIV, Issue 275, 18 November 1913, Page 4

WHY DO THEY GO?

When Mr. Massey and the "Reformers"' were in opposition, one of the complaints that they urged mo?t persistently agnin.-t Liberalism was th.it it was driving people out of the country. Every three months or -n for years pjM. some .'.rdeni "Reformer" would work up the statistics for arrivals and departures, would r-ho'.v thai more people wore len.iirj2 New Zealand for Australia than were (oming in, and would triumphantly vnU upon u= to witness the disastrous and horrifying effects of Liberal ascendancy upon this unfortunate land. But is it not remarkable that. thoush Mr. Massey axd his friends have now been in office ,'or a year, the people arc still fleeing from New Zealand, and taking refuge in Australia just as of yore? The Commonwealth statistical records for the first two-thirds of the year have just been published, and they show that during the first eight months of 1913 the departures from Australia to New Zealand were 15,003, but the arrivals in Australia from New Zealand during the saain period numbered no less than 20.564! bo here *c have 3,000 more >>x Zealanders Icxving our coimirv lor Australia than have re-

turned to it to share in the joys of "Reform." Of rtmrse this mus-t. be very disappointing to Mr. Massey; but we would like to know if the "Reformers" still cling to their old conviction thait when large numbers of people leave a country it is always because the wickedness of the Govp.mmen>t has driven them a.way. For our own part, we have always maintained that the tendency toward an excess of (migration to Australia from New Zealand is likely to be maintained for pomp time to come. For the two great cities, with all their advantages and luxuries, naturally allure large numbers of townsfolk to A.ustralia.l while the hugf unpeopled areas of land aAa.iia.ble for cultivation are certain to attract farmers and settlen? from our c< n littlo islands, where so much of the, land fit for occupation is now locked \ip in a small number of great estates. But Mr. Massey and his friends have refused to accept this explanation before, and it will be interesting to see how they can reconcile their interpretation of such statistics in the past with the painful fa.ct that since they have come into power the tide of emigration from New Zealand to Australia has been running higheT and faster than ever.