NEED FOR MIGRATION PLAN STRESSED

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 254, 23 July 1936, Page 10

NEED FOR MIGRATION PLAN STRESSED

“Alternative is National Suicide” DANGER OF DOMINION’S EMPTY SPACES “We have got to take some action to foster immigration; the alternative is national suicide.” With these words Mr. A. Leigh Hunt, chairman of the Dominion Settlement Association, concluded an address on "New Zealand’s Need —A Greater Population,” at a combined meeting of the English Speaking Union and the Overseas League in Wellington last night.

At the conclusion of the meeting a motion emphasising the need of a greater population and supporting a policy of scientific immigration was carried unanimously. Mr. Hunt said the question was far from abstract, and he gave examples of how h e considered a proper scheme of immigration would benefit New Zealand. He also stressed the need for public interest in the scheme. The equitable distribution of the empty spaces of the world was the only basis of a lasting peace, he said. It was the law of Nature that if animals were crowded together for any length of time they fouled the very ground they occupied, and then pestilence came along and thinned them out. No nation was going to wait for that state of affairs. The difference in the colour of the skin did not matter at all.

Only 16} per cent, of Japan was arable, and there were about 1500 people to the square mile. The population of Japan was 69,000,000, and the population of the Japanese Empire was 97,000,000. The population of the British Isles was 45,000,000, and that of the Dominions was less than 20,000,000, although the Dominions were tremendously greater in size. In Great Britain there were 740 people to the square mile; in New Zealand there were 13.

“Most of the ills we have to-day are due to the lack- ofpopulation,” said Mr. Hunt. "There is no reason why New Zealand should not carry from 10,000,000 to 20,000,000 people, and why she should not take 50,000 immigrants a year. The first 80 years of the history of this country were glorious, and the last 20 have been a ghastly failure.” The Dominion Settlement Association was not going to support a scheme which would aggravate the unemployment problem, he continued. At the present time people in work were taxed to provide work for other people. We were “taking in each other’s washing.” Adequately financed and properly supervised immigration would relieve unemployment, and when immigration started again it would be properly organised and financed. Mistakes had been made in the past, but those could now be turned to account. Security and Defence. Security and defence were the two factors which emphasised the need of immigration, contended Mr. Hunt. New Zealand’s sole defence was the British Navy. Some would say that Britain would never forsake New Zealand, but the British Navy might be involved in a European war. New Zealand was depending on the British Navy, and Britain might well say that New Zealanders should contribute on an equal basis with the people of England for the upkeep of the navy, which would mean an extra tax of £1,500,000 a year.

The possibility of the League of Nations trying at some time in the future to make an allotment of the empty spaces of the world was referred to by Mr. Hunt. That was not as fantastic as it sounded, he said. The time would come when a stocktaking would be made of all the empty spaces of the world, and New Zealand would then be in a dangerous position. She would have no ease for argument.

In discussing the best type of migrant, Mr. Hunt suggested boys and girls who could mould themselves' to the conditions of the Dominion. Farm labour was needed, there was no domestic labour unemployed in the country, and there was a shortage of factory hands. There had to be a job waiting for every migrant who arrived and if there were any misfits they would be shipped back again. Effect on Industries. The very existence of the Dominion’s secondary industries depended upon a greater population. The idea that New Zealand was only a farming country was out of date. Most secondary industries depended on mass production for efficiency, and mass production depended on a mass market. Foreign countries were now striving to become self-supporting, and New Zealand farmers would have to depend on the local market, which would be enlarged by immigration. Dealing with the avenues for expansion by immigration, Mr. Hunt instanced the vast amount of pumice, swamp, and arid lands of the Dominion which could be put into cultivation. Afforestation was also a profitable investment, because of the timber shortage in the world, and the shortage of wood pulp for paper-making. Mr. Hunt went on to outline other directions in which he considered primary and secondary industries could be expanded by immigration. The Hon. W. Perry, M.L.C., who presided over an attendance of about 50, said that up to the present the activities of the union had been mainly social, but it was now taking a lead in focusing public attention on immigration. Upon an appreciation of the priblem of immigration depended our existence. New Zealand had been handed down as a priceless heritage, and he was not sure that we were deserving of it. Were New Zealanders doing enough for the progress of the country in the way of increased population? It was hoped that immigration would receive the serious attention of the people of New Zealand.