IMMIGRATION.

Press, Volume LIX, Issue 17706, 7 March 1923, Page 9

IMMIGRATION.

STATEMENT BY MR MASSEY CAPABILITIES OF THE COUNTRY (PBEES A3SOCIATIOH TSLEOB.AM.7 ' AUCKLAND, March 6. A statement has been issued by Mr Massey in connexion with immigration and land settlement, regarding which a deputation from the Immigration and Land .Settlement League waited on him iast Friday. -Mr Massey says: So far as immigration is concerned, there lias been a good deal of objection to encouraging immigrants Irom uieat Britain to come to this "country under exit-ting conditions, but the Government felt that on tee one hand it ;;ould not refuse to admit suitable immigrants of our own race and citizenship, and on the other hand what is wanted hero is a larger population and encouragement to immigrants of the right class. It is not a question of wnat capital they possess, but it is our duty to see that immigrants who come here will be industrious and enterprising people, likely to do good for themselves and for the Dominion. Now u-e are on a fair way to returning prosperity, we expect to be able to increase the number who will be absorbed without increasing unemployment. I think Sew Zealand shouidi now be able to absorb not less than 10,-o0 British immigrants each year, livery industrious man or every industrious fanuiy wiio comes here will nelp to provide employment for other classes of the population, and so assist us to carry the Heavy burdens resulting irom the war. Itbmk it can be conndently # saJil that taking them on the whole, the Immigrants so far Have given satisfaction, and are worthy to oecome fellow-citizens with ourselves.

So far as land settlement is concerned, ©specially by£ people who have not had Colonial experience, it has to be remembered that the Crown lands now remaining in .New' Zealand are only second and third class. They have, however, been proved repeatedly during recent years to be capable of great improvement, though I am firmly of opinion that to put people without capital and without experience on such lands would be in most cuses to court disas* ter. As for the homestead system which has been referred to, that is pro__ vided for in the law of the country. The Minister of Lands may set apart certain blocks of Crown land for thft purpose. A settler may occupy a sec*, tion on any one of these blocks, and when he has resided there for a specified time, and has completed the improvements provided by the Act, he will be entitled to a Crown grant. Therefore the Cabinet has held in abeyance that part of the Empire Set; tlement Act which deals with the placing of immigrants upon Crown lands, but concentrated on the section of the Act which provides for assistance by the British Government with passage money, the result being that, in the opinion of the Imperial officers administering their Emigration Act, the New Zealand agreement completely overshadowed similar agreements with other parts of the Empire. The plain truth is that insofar as land settlement is concerned the Crown lands require to be what farmers call "made," that is, properly cultivated, fertilised, and worked for some years before satisfactory results can be obtained therefrom. During the depression the applications for Crown lands from our own people, sons of settlers, returned soldiers, and men who had saived a Jittle capital fell off, but- lately indications have greatly improved, and tflere are now applications for sections as quickly as they can be surveyed and got ready for settlement. In several places the Lands Department is preparing and cultivating blocks for small farm settlement. It is expected that this land when opened for selection will be taken up readily. '