The Press MONDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1966. Immigration

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31210, 7 November 1966, Page 16

The Press MONDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1966. Immigration

The report on “ Increased Immigration and the New “ Zealand Economy ” by the Monetary and Economic Council is one of the most useful and timely of the council’s 12 reports to date. Concisely written, in non-technical terms, it deserves to be studied by all businessmen and trade union officers. It differs from previous reports of the council in that it originated not from the initiative of the council but from a request by the Minister of Labour and Immigration (Mr Shand). The Minister asked for a report on “ immigration in its various economic aspects, but *• with particular emphasis on whether it will help to “ solve existing shortages of labour in the current “ economic circumstances ”. The council’s independence need not be questioned; had it found that immigration would help to solve present shortages of labour, it would certainly have said so. Mr Shand and his advisers must have been gratified by the council’s endorsement of their repeated assertions that immigration is not the solution to employers’ continuing problems of labour shortages. The council, indeed, is even more emphatic on this point than Mr Shand has been. In a letter to the Minister which accompanies the council’s report, the chairman of the council (Mr E. D. Wilkinson) says that immigration can and ought to be used to meet persisting shortages of skilled labour, but that “ general shortages of labour arise out of a situation “ that immigration is likely to aggravate Although increased general immigration appears to be “ quite “ inappropriate ” in present circumstances, Mr Wilkinson says, that does not rule it out in the future in other circumstances. “ The necessary proviso is that “ the economy should have solved its balance-of-pay- “ ments problem and be free of excessive pressure •* of expenditure upon resources. Paradoxically, “ immigration will confer its greatest benefits on the “ economy when there is no obvious labour shortage ”. The report, no doubt, will be studied by the Minister of Finance (Mr Lake) as well as by the Minister of Labour; for immigration, the council insists, cannot be considered in isolation but only within the framework of the general economy. The report, it should be noted, deals only with immigration “ in its “ various economic aspects The council would have been exceeding its instructions had it turned to an examination of some of the social and political aspects of immigration. These are certainly important—perhaps more important than the purely economic—to any Cabinet Minister or administrator examining immigration. As “ The Press ” pointed out six months ago, it may be “good business” for New Zealand to select skilled tradesmen from those who apply for assistance to migrate to New Zealand, but it would also be good “ public relations ” to take an annual quota of unskilled workers. It would be even better “ public relations ” to encourage more migration to New Zealand from countries bordering the Pacific Ocean, where New Zealand’s destiny lies.