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Hokitika Guardian, 17 May 1937, Page 4

Writing of the prospects of renewed emigration from Britain to the Dominions, Earl Winterton, M.P., says a solution of this problem can never be found by wild and inaccurate statements based on mere sentiment or prejudice. Of the thousands of square miles of empty spaces in Canada and Australia, the vast majority lie within the Arctic circle in the one case and in the region of low rainfall and desert conditions in the other. There are many districts in both Dominions where closer settlement and more intensive cultivation would support a

larger population, and means to that end are being taken, even if somewhat tardily, by State and Provincial Governments. But the huge areas of rich, virgin land exist only in the imagination of enthusiasts. There is a lot of what may be termed “margin land’’ which, given a more equitable world price balance of primary commodities and manufactured goods—a desideratum still far off, though nearer than a year ago—could be profitably farmed. When this increased profit in primary production comes there will be room for many British migrants to participate in it. But they must be trained and suitable for the work. It is no disparagement to the people of the British Isles (.since tne cause is environmental rather than racial) to say that only a small proportion comes within this category. A necessary equipment for pioneer farming is willingness to work in certain seasons from dawn to dusk, ability to bear extremes of heat or cold, and to endure isolation and be dependent upon oneself. Some previous agricultural and pastoral knowledge is desirable, though many settlers have achieved success without it, where others, relying too much on experience gained in the very different conditions of farming at home, have failed. But the other qualities are iudispensuiifo alike in the man and his wife. They are not necessarily present even in those whose lot, in Britain, is such that migration would offer great opportunities and attractions.