The Dominion. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 1920. AN IMPERATIVE NECESSITY

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 114, 7 February 1920, Page 6

The Dominion. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 1920. AN IMPERATIVE NECESSITY

The Government, according to Mr. Massey, is impressed with the imperative necessity of attracting population to this >: country, and the outlino of immigration policy to which _ this declaration was appended indicates satisfactorily that'it is something more 1 than a form of words. Aa its plans arc set out by the Pbime Minister, the Government is inviting a big How of immigration into this country in the near future and for an indefinite time to come. It is taking measures to attract a proportion of the ex-Service men and women, intent on emigrating from Great .Britain, who are being assisted by the British Government with free passages, and in some cases with monetary grants.This apart, the New Zealand Government is offering inducements in i the shape of the part payment of passages to farmers, farm labourers and their wives, and other classes of labour. Commendable enterprise is shown also in tho offer of free passages and a, small bonus- to domestic servants. Girls and women willing to undertake domestic duties are amongst the most valuable immigrants the Dominion can secure. They will bring a more or less appreciable measure of relief to overworked wives and mothers who stand badly in need of help and ought to receive it for their own sakes and in tho interests of national welfare and a healthy birthrate. With the resumed operation of the system of nomination, the measures now planned promise to o-ivc the Dominion a considerable addition to its population during tho next year or two. Nothing but good will result from such an encouragement of immigration if duo enterprise is shown by the Government and people, and it needs to be recognised that responsibility in this matter rests not on the Government alone hut on all who are already established in the Dominion. So far as its natural wealth and possibilities of development are concerned this country is as fortunately placed as any in tho world. _ It offers such scope for the expansion of useful enterprise that even if its population were being rapidly built up by natural increase—and it is not —it would still have everything to gain from attracting large numbers of immigrants of a good type. At the present stage immigration on these lines offers the Dominion the readiest means of rapidly enlarging its production of wealth and so lightening all the financial and economic burdens im-

posed upon ils population. The policy which will lead to these results is at the same time tlutt which will promote the highest welfare of the whole people. _ A big addition to the population is needed not in the interests of any limited section or class but in the interests of all sections.

Immigration on right lines, whiph , means the introduction of such immigrants as can be absorbed easily in the working activities of the Dominion, will confer all-round benefits. Besides lightening present and prospective national burdens, it offors a means of attaining iarreaching economic benefits. The essential corollary to a sound policy of immigration is the energetic prosecution of national development works and an equally vigorous extension of industrial enterprise. An initial responsibility rests upon the Government to sec that work is found for immigrants as they enter the country. It is offering an explicit guarantee of employment to immigrant soldiers, and this, of course, implies that it is prepared on its ,own account to launch undertakings of considerable magnitude as labour becomes available. But this covers only a part of the' ground.. Such an inflow of immigration as is now in prospect ought to offer many incentives to individual enterprise. Various established industries are calling out for labour, and there are others that might 'be established if labour were available. All sorts of, skilled, as well as unskilled, workers will no_ doubt be included amongst the British exsoldiers and others who contemplate seeking new homes in the Dominion and in making such openings as they desire for immigrants of this type, the people of this country have an opportunity they _ should eagerly grasp of strengthening and extending their economic organisation. Conditions of orderly and progressive enterprise are, of course, the only ones in which the full benefits of a judiciously-devised immigration policy can be secured. If this country is to open its doors reasonably wide to immigration and enjoy the benefits that would undoubtedly accrue, industrial peace and harmony must become much more general than they are at present. If organised and other wageearners arc wise they will recognise that they have everything to gain from a policy which aims at steadily and largely augmenting the productive forces of the country and making it less dependent than it is at present on countries which arc able to set their own price on such goods as they supply. _ Far from creating undue competition in the labour market, a soundly directed policy of immigration' will broaden the scope and variety of loeal employment and create the best conditions in which to attack and solve the over-present cost of living problem. The Dominion has a great deal of leeway to make up in the matter of obtaining population. The war not only cut down the strength of its manhood, but robbed it of a considerable increase it would otherwise have gained by immigration. The policy now projected is thus in all respects timely and calculated to promote national welfare.