Chamber To Seek More Immigration

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31237, 8 December 1966, Page 22

Chamber To Seek More Immigration

After considering the report of the Monetary and Economic Council, the council of the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce last evening reaffirmed its policy of advocating a higher long-term rate of immigration into New Zealand.

The chamber believes that the solution to New Zealand’s problems of excess demand and the balance ofpayments lies in firm control measures and not in reducing general immigration. It also recommends that for the immediate future New Zealand concentrate on bringing to New Zealand single men and women, particularly those with special skills. COMMITTEE VIEWS A verbal report of the economic affairs committee, presented by its chairman (Mr J. M. Tocker) was adopted. It gave the following views:— That immigrants provide “n--stant people” who do not need to be educated at New Zealand expense. That single men and women will add less than families to inflationary pressures, largely through their lower demand for social capital. That higher immigration may merely replace the numbers being lost through the declining birthrate of the last few years. That higher numbers are desirable to help in our defence and provide a larger market, even though the effect of immigration on numbers will be relatively small for some years. That it would be very difficult for any government to follow the Monetary and Economic Council’s advice by promoting immigration during a recession. That immigration can improve our economic performance and enrich our culture. That people with special skills will at once produce more than they consume. Mr Tocker said that the committee agreed that the report of the Monetary and Economic Council must be accepted from the short-term economic point of view. “STILL JUSTIFIED” But after considering the qualifications noted in the report and other considerations the committee believed that chambers of commerce were still justified in pressing for more immigration as a general policy. “The Monetary and Economic Council suggests on perfectly sound economic grounds that the right time to encour-

age immigration is during a recession, and that immigration at that stage would stimulate demand,” said Mr Tocker. “We believe that this view does not take into account the practical consideration that members of all trade unions in New Zealand would surely object strongly to any immigration at a time when New Zealanders were already Out of work, and would bring strong pressure on the Government to discourage or even prevent it “We would prefer to see a long-term immigration policy adopted with a target of say 8000 assisted immigrants a year, and a net intake of about 16,000 a year,” he said. Mr Tocker said the committee would like to see the Government concentrate on bringing in as many people as possible with special skills required over the next year or two. He said that nowhere in its report, did the council mention the effects on the New Zealand economy of the steadily declining birth rate of the last few years. “We believe that this decline is itself a strong argument for higher immigration,” said Mr Tocker. TOOK ISSUE Mr W. G. V. Femle said he took issue with the suggestion that people with special skills should be admitted in preference to unskilled people. One of the problems in New Zealand today was that the re-

ward for unskilled work was particularly high. In many cases, the reward was higher than the reward given or received by people with a considerable degree of skill. “If a sufficient pool of unskilled people was provided by immigration, this situation might right itself,” said Mr Fernie. “If we had a pool of unskilled workers, it might well be that our own labour born in New Zealand might see some financial and other advantages in learning and being apprentices to a skilled trade.” Mr Fernie said he agreed that the cost in the early years of single people was very much lower than that for married people. The report of the Monetary and Economic Council played this aspect down too much. “There is a strong argument for the import of a very large number of unskilled and skilled single people, however, the evidence of skill may be shown.” “New Zealand is called the welfare state,” said Mr M. L. Newman, “I call it rather a subsidised Robin Hood state. TAXATION “We tax the cotaimunity as a whole, and we tax the farmer who produces the majority of our wealth and distribute it to those who do not produce very much,” he said. The skilled man would actually produce far more. It was production we wanted. “What we want is quality immigrants, not quantity,” said Mr Newman. “The United Kingdom has a half million unemployed.” Mr D. H. Butcher said there seemed to be a tremendous lot of specialists in New

Zealand. But there still had to be someone to do the work. Mr B. J. Drake said it was amazing how many shortages there were in the unskilled field. The Australian Government Trade Commissioner in the South Island (Mr M. G. B. Coultas) said Australia was having the greatest difficulty in getting 150,000 migrants a year from overseas. It was particularly difficult to get single people.