The Northern Advocate "NORTHLAND FIRST Registered for transmission, through the Post as a Newspaper, FRIDAY, JANUARY 4, 1946. NEW ZEALAND NEEDS POPULATION

Northern Advocate, 4 January 1946, Page 2

The Northern Advocate "NORTHLAND FIRST Registered for transmission, through the Post as a Newspaper, FRIDAY, JANUARY 4, 1946. NEW ZEALAND NEEDS POPULATION

IT is a remarkable fact that one church organisation, the Salvation Army, has been responsible for the transfer of 200,000 people from Britain to the newer countries of the Empire. The total represents many more tlian past and present New Zealand Governments have assisted to immigrate. In fact, those whom the present Administration has brought to the Dominion could be numbered in hundreds.

So great has been the part played by the Salvation Army in sponsoring this most important work of redistributing the Empire’s population and filling empty lands, that the remarks made on the subject by the world leader of the organisation (General George L. Carpenter) on his arrival in Auckland yesterday, are worthy of special attention. One of the chief interests of his present tour lies in what might be done by various countries to increase their populations by immigration. General Carpenter, as an Australian, himself knows the full implications of the problem. While offering the fullest co-operation of the Salvation Army to the United Kingdom and receiving countries in any scheme which might be developed in the future, General Carpenter indicated that he is not over-sanguine about the prospects of large-scale migration. “I would not say it is going to be so easy to move English people if the proposed social security legislation goes through,” he said.

This may well be the case, but, according to a London cable published recently 150 inquiries from suitable persons desiring to emigrate are received weekly at New Zealand House. About 10 per cent of them come from Continentals, Norwegians predominating, but the remaining 9b per cent are British citizens. All these people are told: “No immigration is being considered by the Government until all New Zealand servicemen and women are returned and employed.”

By the time the rehabilitation programme is completed the persons now wanting to emigrate from Britain and elsewhere will either be living in other Dominions or will have settled down at home. The opportunity to obtain new citizens from overseas will be of brief duration. After the restlessness and tension of war time conditions, there is a natural tendency for young men and women to look across the. world towards countries which seem to promise either opportunity or security. Although Britain appears overcrowded in comparison with younger countries her population i.s declining, and potential emigrants are needed at home for reconstruction of industry. The Home Government has shown no inclination to encourage migration, but British people are, still free to leave.

Canada and Australia have both made their plans for the assistance and reception of immigrants, but the New Zealand Government is silent and inactive. If immigrants could be given definite assurances they would probably wait until the shippingposition became easier. Men who wanted to make a new start overseas would probably have no objection to temporary quarters in military camps, and some of them would be absorbed quickly in industries which are at present so much in need of labour that the housing programme is being delayed by a shortage of materials.

The idea that immigration would make it harder for servicemen to be given employment is a fallacy which seems to come from an old and stubborn prejudice. New citizens are consumers from the day they land in the country. Increased consumption means a greater demand for labour. Under present circumstances the shortage of female labour is becoming a major industrial problem. It has been suggested that women may have to be replaced in some factories by men, though the arrangement will not be possible without State subsidies. The standard of living already is being Towered by the cost of production. Many goods now being manufactured in New Zealand are high in price because the cost of wages and imported materials have to be recovered from a tiny internal market. If men are employed in jobs which could be done more economically by women, the effect will be to make prices still higher.

If New Zealand i.s to retain a policy of industrial expansion, there is only one wav of making it successful, and that is by j increasing the population. The implications of the last census | were unmistakable. A Select Parliamentary Commission has ' been set up to investigate the whole question during the present recess. Presumably some attention will be given to immigration, as well as to possible schemes for the encouragement of larger' families; but only the first of these matters can have any bearing on immediate requirements. New Zealand needs more inhabitants as quickly as she can find them, and the opportunity created by General Carpenter’s visit should not be overlooked by the committee and the Government. Difficulties of transport and finance are trivial compared with the problems that will have to be faced in these islands if they remain under-populated. There may be only a few months in which action can be taken.