IMMIGRATION.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXV, Issue 13949, 4 January 1906, Page 6

IMMIGRATION.

The rush for “ desirable immigrants” which Has been instituted by Canada’s frank and open canvassing for population has been very much under discussion during the past year, and the statements, from other colonies may have given Now Zealanders the impression that their country was being beaten in the competition. But the report of Mr Mackay, of the Labour Department, is quite reassuring. He states that “during the past year hundreds of artisans, labourers and domestic servants have been absorbed immediately on arrival in the colony, and there'is still an unsatisfied demand for more.” Largely, no doubt, the new arrivals have been assisted by the Government, and although, the sum expended by the State in this direction is not large, it does materially Help to bring settlers of the right dess to the coloony. We certainly do not need settlers of the “ vagrant ” type, and the fact that only ten per cent of the “assisted immigrants” have proved to be constitutionally unfit for the responsibilities which they are supposed- to have assumed, in the first instance, is evidence of the excellence of the administration which controls their despatch to our shores. The comparatively limited area of land available ' for settlement in New Zealand under the Crown is probably a drawback to desirable immigration. Canada and certain others of the colonies can offer their millions of acres to intending settlers upon terms whicli we cannot reasonably expect to approach, but, judging from the report of the labour officer, the disability is not an altogether unfortunate one. The immigrants who do come to us have capital of their own and understand the conditions under which they will Have to labour. They are, for the most part, artisans or farmers, capable of earning good wages at the outset. Ninety per cent of “desirable immigrants” is a proportion of which any colony might be proud, and the assistance offered to these who are anxious to take up their residence in the Britain of the South appears to be money well invested. In 1904 the assisted settlers brought some £50,000 of capital at least to New Zealand with them, and the amount voted by Parliament to the shipping companies in consideration of the fare reductions was less than £3OOO.