POPULATION NEEDS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 116, 18 May 1944, Page 4

POPULATION NEEDS

IMMIGRATION POLICY

CHAMBER OF COMMERCE VIEWS The desirability of a properly-planned' scheme of immigration was- endorsed' at this week's meeting of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce, when the importance of taking positive action in this direction without delay was emphasised. ' • Mr. W. H. Hindle said that the state-, ments of the Prime Minister on post^ war migration wpuld be well received in New Zealand. The first duty was, the housing and rehabilitation of our! own servicemen and servicewomen M but it was also desirable that plan* for migration should be put in trainj at an early date. "It would be quite! unwise to concentrate on'housing and rehabilitation to the exclusion oft migration," said Mr. Hindle, "for we! must be early in the field in the search) for suitable types of immigrants. We! have in this country a Minister off Immigration, and it is urged that thel Minister and his staff get right on with the plans for the job. Our postwar migration must be definitely planned and integrated with our economic and social life. The public should be kept informed upon the plans for peopling New Zealand. A favourable public opinion should be. progressively built up by the constant dissemination of factual information issued from the Ministry of Immigra- 1 tion. There is in some quarters a. resistance to immigration which should be countered, and every endeavour should be made to build up a public: outlook favourable to the reception mi this country of suitable migrants, mi their tens of thousands, introduced, progressively under a long-term intelli-: gent plan." Mr. M. G. C. McCaul said the Govv ernment should help those organisa-! tions that were pressing for more im-' migrants. He favoured the immigra-! tion of orphan children for adoption* by New Zealanders. Mr. F. C. Pears said that immigration! should be so planned that the immi-j grants could fit into the economic life] of the country without detrimental ef«, feet on our people. A haphazard orj badly-planned scheme would probably i be worse than none at all. He was note in agreement with Mr. Fraser when he! said that the policy of the Government-! was to rehabilitate servicemen before) admitting immigrants. The first thing to do was to rehabilitate commerce and j industry. If this were done the ab- •' sorption-of the majority of service-- 1 men would be comparatively- simple..' He saw no reason why a proper'scheme of immigration could not go> hand in hand with, and be an advantage, to, the rehabilitation of ser-' vicemen. ■ Mr. R. H. Nimmo thought that the: housing difficulty should not be over- '■ emphasised. "If we are not careful we ■ will miss the cream of the immigrants,".' he said. "In addition to British stock, I think we should have immigrants ot '. Danish and similar stock." The president (Mr. Frank Wilson): There are other Dominions looking for increased populations, and we will have to get on with the job or we will be left.