The Dominion FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1907. DISQUIETING STATISTICS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 50, 22 November 1907, Page 6

The Dominion FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1907. DISQUIETING STATISTICS.

A most important question is raised by the statement which the Intelligence Department of the New South Wales Government has issued with respect to the want of agreement between its figures and the official New Zealand figures relating to the exchange of population between the two countries. Apparently there is no suggestion that either set of figures is in correct: the New South Wales Department's confidence in its own figures in 'no way implies a denial of the New Zealand officials' right to make a sinii lar claim for their statistics. The difficulty seems to be the absence , of a common basis of calculation, and as a result one or other of the sets of figures presents an erroneous view of the actual movements of population. We have always been accustomed to rely upon our own officials' figures, and we . rely upon them still, but it is manifest that nothing will be lost by the bestowal of some attention on the statement of the New South Wales Department. As to the actual point in dispute which has provoked the statement referred to, the cable message supplies no fresh figures, but it supplies a very significant fact, to which we shall refer presently. At the beginning of this month it was reported that "three New Zealand settlers representing others in the Taranaki district" had arrived in Queensland in search of land, and we took leave to think that, as the statistical returns showed a gain of 801 New Zealanders by New South Wales during the September quarter; there was at least good ground for urging the deflection of our land legislation in a. direction that would keep our young farmers instead of driving them away. Tables in the last issued volume of New Zealand statistics set out that for the past ten years the immigrants to Now Zealand from Australia have exceeded the emigrants from this country to the Commonwealth. In 1897 the gain to the Dominion was 1506, and this was largely increased in later years, the gains in the years 1902, 1903, 1904, 1905, and 1906 being 6856, 9949, 7770, 5765, and 6977 respectively. The figures of the New South Wales Department show that, since 1901, 85,667 persons arrived in the State from the Dominion, against an emigrant loss of 78,710. For the first nine months of the' present year the net gain from New Zealand, it is claimed, has been 4518. It may be that New Zealand is still gaining population from Australia, but it is by no means certain that the credit balance consists of the kind which thjs country most urgently requires. A largo increase in the immigrant population may easily be accompanied by a steady r ,outflow of nutive-bora -sottlere anc^

tillers of the soil. Clerks and navvies may be arriving in thousands, but are the farmers leaving in scores? The New South Wales officials declare that their Department "has been assured that New Zealand landowners are selling out in considerable numbers, and coming to New South Wales in search of land. Many of them visit the Department, and, whatever the cause, the fact is vouched for by the Department." As we said, when we touched upon the subject the other day, we should not in the least be surprised if tha actual number of such landowners turned out to be very large. The important fact to be noted is that there is, , beyond denial, a sensible movement of agricultural emigration. The Government has clone a great deal this year to render land-owning less attractive than ever.' It should now make some attempt to discover from the clash of statistics some effective way of having the movements of population recorded with unimpeachable accuracy, and, if the exodus of farmers is found to be taking place as asserted, immediate steps should be taken to stop the outflow of what is really the life-blood of the country.