The Auckland Star WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News. The Echo and The Sun. TUESDAY, JUNE 25, 1935. POPULATION CHANGES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 148, 25 June 1935, Page 6

The Auckland Star WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News. The Echo and The Sun.

TUESDAY, JUNE 25, 1935. POPULATION CHANGES.

For the cause that lacks assistance, For the wrong that needs For the future in '.he distance, And the good that wr. cum de.

Perhaps the most unfortunate feature of the missed census in New Zealand is, as Dr. E. P. Neale said in his address on population to the Economic Society last evening, that it makes a permanent gap in the Dominion's, statistics. In 1931, when the census was due to be taken, New Zealand was entering on the worst period of the depression j the years of prosperity which followed 1926 liad worked out their changes and were giving way to more or less static conditions. Quite apart from the break of continuity in the records, it is a pity a count of the population was not taken to bring out the contrast between the fiveyearly periods which 1931 divides. The decision, of course, had to be taken in 1930, when no one suspected that such a time of difficulty and trial lay immediately ahead. Economy was the first thought, and the extent of the statistical sacrifice was not so plainly seen' then as it is to-day. Estimates arc a guide to the flow of population in and out of the country, but they tell little of internal movements. It is known, for instance, that on migration balance New Zealand has lost population since 1931; for the year ended March 31 last permanent departures exceeded arrivals of new settlers by 2002, and the annual losses of the three previous years were 556, 1456, and 1732. Here is evidence of a rising oxodus. But what has been the drift within the Dominion? Over a long period it has been northward, but has this movement been continued lately? In times of stress people, like frightened cattle, stand still. The coming census can do no more than sum up the changes of ten years.

Like many older countries, New Zealand has been moving towards a stationary population. The birth rate has fallen steadily for more than ten years; families are smaller and the marriage aga has risen. Dr. Neale does not regard these tendencies as cause for serious concern, provided the standard of living can be maintained. He is opposed to a revival of immigration until there is a prospect of the new settlers being productively employed, which, of course, links up migration and trade as opposite sides of the same problem. More freedom of trade and a freer movement of people must go together. New settlers can increase the prosperity of the country only if there is room to employ them profitably or if they bring capital to spend on homes and other needs. A new arrival without capital takes his little share of the national income; and if miny of his kind come the pinch is soon felt by those already here. There is, however, the political aspect of population, which New Zealand and Australia cannot afford to ignore. Large sparsely settled areas are a temptation to people "in overcrowded countries. China, with its low standard of living, would afford a better livelihood to the average family if the number of people were halved; Japan is crowded and compelled to rely upon an active yet precarious trade. The question of migration on both sides of the Tasman is shelved for the time, but will have to be faced again before very long. Hard times have driven people away; a recovery may be expected to bring others to our shores. It Avas so in the eighteen 'nineties when New Zealand began to get on its feet again after an experience of soup kitchens and unemployment, and it fcannot be gainsaid that this Dominion still has a wealth of untapped o» only partially developed resources. Its railways, roads and electric power services are sufficient for the needs of a larger population, and when the economic storm has blown over, this and the _ other Dominions are certain to offer i-enewed attractions to prospective settlers f rom the Motherland.