Crown Colony Status

Dominion, Volume 26, Issue 147, 17 March 1933, Page 13

Crown Colony Status

Sir, —“New Zealander” is on solid ground in advocating our return to the status of a Crown Colony. The title of “Dominion” has not increased the size of New Zealand or brought it any closer to our chief trading centres in England. It has resulted in the tremendous growth of our Civil Service, and the country has vainly attempted to support it with increased production of our primary products.

Too long have we been admiring ourselves in a mirror and our study of the science of economies has been very shallow. We have failed to realise that our prosperity depends solely on the prosperity of England. Now we have to submit to a quota in butter and meat, and this means that we shall have to reduce our herds of cows and our flocks of sheep because we have no outlet for their products. In other words, we have to admit that we have brought too much land into cultivation, and the politicians have failed to realise this aspect of the economic position of New Zealand and of England. They studied the cause but neglected to weigh up carefully the, “effect” of'their policy. We have over-developed New Zealand. We cannot fulfil the claim of a “Dominion.” We cannot carry any more population than we are doing at present, in fact we could do with 70,000 less people, or in other words, our immigration scheme has created our unemployment troubles. It would be far better to return to the status of a Crown Colony.—l am, ANOTHER N.Z-ER. Wellington, March 14.