NEW ZEALAND'S NEED

Hawera Star, Volume LIII, 30 September 1933, Page 6

NEW ZEALAND'S NEED

INCREASED POPULATION LORD BLEDISLOE’S advice. PEOPLE urge-d to be ‘ 4 ACTUALISTS.' ’ (By Telegraph—Press Association.) CHRISTCHURCH, Sept. 29. A plea for increased population of a specially selected type of immigrant was made by Lord Bledisloe in speaking at the annual dinner of the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce to-night. “Let us explore more strenuously within our own national borders the path to peace and economic welfare,” said his Excellency. ‘‘ In this connection clarity of aim makes for sanity of judgement and serenity of mind. Speaking at the jubilee dinner of the Napier Chamber of Commerce eight months ago, when the country was deep in the trough of industrial depression, I urged my hearers to be neither optimists nor pessimists, but “actualists,” prepared to face the facts, and with calm judgment and courageous vision to pursue their journey unruffled towards a brighter horizon. Now that the dark clouds are lifting, I venture to repeat the same advice, coupled with the hope that there may be mo violent or sudden fluctuations in (Jfpfmodity values. Alternations of initiation and deflation affect both money and mentality, and one is apt to be reflected in the other, with resulting wild speculation and temperamental disquietude. “There is a constant danger of being so near to the wood that we cannot see the trees. The burning need of those parts of the British Empire which lie beneath the Southern Cross is increased population, not the human dregs of other countries, but productive units which can help in shouldering the burden of relatively heavy national liability. These liabilities in the case of New Zealand represent to a large extent the provision in the past of valuable national equipment adequate to meet the requirements of a much larger popu'.acion than she curries at the present time. Indeed, few, if any, countries can boast of such generous provision for so sparse a population, a provision which is rendered more costly by reason of the country's geographical pecularities. There are certain countries both in Central Europe and on the shores of the Pacific which, owing co over-population, are clamouring for “a place in the sun,” and as long as these cravings remain wholly unsatisfied they wilt continue to conduce to world unrest. Conversely, those countries which are seriously underpopulated are oound to be vulnerable as objects of envy and to entertain anxiety accordingly. How, it might reasonably be asked, could the waste areas of this Dominion, the justification of which modern science is steadily disproving', be gradually occupied without of over-produc-tion of primary commodities and with a possibility of finding by natural means adequate sustenance for some at least of the great army of capable unemployed and at the same time additional custom for urban manufacturers and traders? VALUE OF SMALL-HOLDERS. “It is with considerable satisfaction that I note the growing conviction throughout ths Dominion, which is reflected in Government policy, that there is scope for the largely increased settlement of undeveloped or underdeveloped land by small occupying owners and the consequent multiplication of what are sometimes called family farms. These people are not to

any appreciable extent competitors with the producers of exportable commodities. Their small holdings afford to them and their families the means of subsistence and incidentally in the aggregate absorb a considerable quantity of the output of urban industry and urban trade. . They form in most countries a valuable element of stability, thrift, and physical stamina, and if, as on the European Continent, they are organised on co-operative I lines, especially in the matter of credit, they present no anxiety in the realm of finance either to the -State or to the Joint -Stock Banks. 'The average sturdy peasant, owning a slice of his fatherland and subsisting thereon, has, under normal conditions, a life of more serene happiness than the millionaire with all his anxieties and responsibilities, and is a greater asset -to the State. A TYPE TO ENCOURAGE. I

“There is another class whom it may be found prudent and profitable to welcome in larger numbers from the Old -Country and who have for some years past been socking comfortable homes in .South Africa, and even in foreign countries such as Belgium and Switzerland, to a fuller extent than they do in New Zealand, where the climate, the sport, and -the amenities of life present far greater attractions. Distance alone is the deterrent factor and this is being every day bridged by modern methods of transport and communication. I refer especially to people like retired British Naval and Military -Officers and ex-Civil -Servants who, possessed of pensions and often some private means, desire on retirement to settle down in congenial .surroundings amid congenial neighbours of a high standard of education and culture. There is, moreover, another steadily increasing class—that of the overseas tourist—for whom lavish provison is made nowadays by the great shipping companies, and who, although (at least in primary intention) settlers, are wealth distributors and valuable customers-both for urban and rural commodities. The tourist industry in your sister Dominion of Canada is said to represent a greater source of wealth than even her gigantic wheat industry.

.“There is here in Hew Zealand a greater variety of magnificent scenery, coupled with interesting natural phenomena, Ilian is to be found within the same area anywhere in the world, not to mention the unrivalled opportunities which she provides for healthy and exhilarating sport. This source of wealth has, as yet, hardly been scratched, still less fully tapped, in this country. In this connection vandalism in your rural areas merits eternal vigilance. The sacrifice to the sawmill of a great “giant of the forest’’ is surely a denial, to posterity of part of its legitimate heritage. Moreover, commercial firms, while advertising their wares, should avoid the desecration of your lovely countryside. The more that you advertise your scenery the better for Hew Zealand and its ultimate prosperity.”