IMMIGRANTS FOR NEW ZEALAND

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25274, 28 August 1947, Page 3

IMMIGRANTS FOR NEW ZEALAND

POTENTIAL SOURCES OF SETTLERS SUGGESTIONS BY REV. W. E. D. DAVIES Suggestions for widening the field from which New Zealand proposed to draw future immigrants were made in an interview with “The Press” yesteraav by the Rev. W. E. D. Davies, a member of the immigration commit♦pp set up in Christchurch at a conferon Monday. Mr Davies cited the examples of the United States, which had drawn its people from many rations, and, as was demonstrated by American achievements, had succeeded in fusing them into a body of paramount world importance. Mr Davies said that in November. 1943 Sir Walter Layton, leader of a visiting British newspaper delegation, bad been asked in Auckland whether N e w Zealand could look for any increase in population through immigration from Britain. He had replied that, because of the tendency of the British population to decrease, and because of ' Britain’s own manpower needs industrially and politically, the number of oeople emigrating from the United Kingdom after the war would “not be measured in millions or in hundreds of thousands.” Dr. Enid Charles, of the University of London, had established that if fertility and mortality remained indefinitely at *their 1935 level, the population of England and Wales would be reduced to half its size in 100 years. By 2035 A.D., the population of Britain would be declining at the rate of 25 per'cent, in each generation, and it would be reduced to one-fifth of its present size in 200 years. If, on the other hand, fertility and mortality continued to fall off at the rate suggested by the experience of the two decades preceding 1935. the population of England and Wales would be reduced to one-tenth of its existing size in 100 years. Mr Davies quoted a report on New Zealand’s population needs by the Christchurch Diocesan Public and Social Affairs Committee,- of which he is chairman. This report, which had been adopted by Synod, after referring to the large number of displaced persons, including children, which the war had left without real roots in any country, affirmed the committee’s belief that “every encouragement should be given to those likely to be completely absorbed in our population to migrate to this Dominion.” Burghers in Ceylon As an example of predominantly European people who were now confronted, through changing conditions, with a search for a new horheland, and who would make suitable immigrants if they were invited to New Zealand, 1 Mr Davies mentioned the Burghers of Ceylon, whose relation to their present country was similar to that of the Dutch settlers in the Netherlands East Indies. Mr Davies explained that of the total population of Ceylon (about 5.000,OOD), two-thirds were Sinhalese, who were Aryans racially and Buddhists by religion. The remainder were principally Tamils, who orginally came from southern India and were Hindus by religion. In 1505, Ceylon had been colonised by the Portuguese. In 1658, the Portuguese were overcome by the Dutch, and in 1796, the British took over the island. In Ceylon to-day, the descendants of the early Dutch and Portuguese colonists formed the Eurgher colony. The Burghers also had an admixture of British stock. Numerically, they were a considerable body; they were well educated and intelligent They had benefited from the good educational facilities in Ceylon, and a considerable percentage of them went to England to be educated.

The Burghers co-operated very happily with the British, said Mr Davies. They mainly manned the professions and the Civil Service, and were skilled in commerce and general craftsmanship. During the Second World War, a move had been made to grant Ceylon Dominion status, and was now being pursued. To-day, the CevJonese were becoming conscious of tneir independence, and the European community was finding matters strained. The British had largely withdrawn from administrative posts. Most c-f the Dutch Burghers, because of their long association with Ceylon and their considerable financial interests, remained. but some had alreadv left the country. On the whole, the Burghers were a well-to-do community, continued Mr Davies. None looked towards Holland, the large majority were entirely British in outlook and culture. They would make most suitable immigrants and would easily intermingle with J*ew Zealanders.

Mr Davies added that one of the early doctors of Christchurch—Dr. H. Horsford Prins—was a Burgher, and his descendants still lived in the city. Mr Davies’s grandfather was Dr. Prins s brother. Mr Davies himself was born in Ceylon of Welsh and Burgher parentage, and left for England when he was eight. He has since revisited Colombo.