Nelson Eveining Mail FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 1935 LORD BLEDISLOE’S LANDSCHEME

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXVI, 6 September 1935, Page 4

Nelson Eveining Mail FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 1935 LORD BLEDISLOE’S LANDSCHEME

WRITING to the London “Times” a few days ago Loi’d Bledisloe outlined a plan for the conversion of New Zealand s pumice lands and fallow areas of potentially arable land into farms carrying cows, sheep, pigs, and horses. Bearing in mind the New Zealand Company of the Wakefields which did such good work nearly a century ago, the ex-Gover-nor-Goneral advocates the formation of a statutory company with a capital of five million pounds sterling for the purpose “of paying at least part of the migrants passages and subsidising the equipment of their holdings.” It was cabled that when the Prime Minister and the Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates were in England, on the occasion of the King’s Jubilee, Lord Bledisloe’s scheme was submitted to them “by representatives of British banks, particularly Lloyds, and that a reply was given along these lines” : that “the Government of New Zealand would welcome any practical scheme” for the development of industry in this country, hut “the prevailing economic difficulties” rendered Lord Bledisloe’s plan virtually impossible. A certain. Minister in Wellington, is reported to have said that a great deal more than enthusiasm is required for the success of that plan: “it i 3 necessary, first of all, that New Zealand shall be given an assurance of an unlimited market in Great Britain,” and ho added, “If the Dominion could he sure of this there would be no difficulty in bringing about an extension of land settlement.” The difficulty is an economic one. New Zealand’s prosperity depends on the prices of her commodities in tho English market. The Ottawa agreements were framed and signed for the purpose of encouraging reciprocal trade between the Dominions and Great Britain, hut scarcely were they signed when Mr Runciman, President of the British Board of Trade, signed similar treaties with a number of foreign countries, and so diverted from the Dominions much trade which otherwise would have flowed to them. Lord Bledisloe was thinking more of the future than of the present when he propounded his plan for settling unoccupied lands in New Zealand. No one knows better than he the effect of the economic depression upon this country, and that at the present time migration schemes are outside the scope of practical economics in this Dominion. Doubtless he looks ahead to the time when “trade within the Empire,” the slogan which carried the present British Government into power, will become a vital principle of British politics, and that then the Dominions will he willing to consider comprehensive plans for settling substantial numbers of British migrants on their soil. Lord Bledisloe advocates, with the Dominions’ approval, “the establishment of a Royal Commission of scientific and exploratory scope, before which lie would gladly giv® evidence,” and it is not difficult to forecast the nature of that evidence, which would he derived from his personal observations and investigations in New Zealand and Australia. He knows that these countries require greatly increased populations, not only for their material well-being, hut- for their safety, and he is fully acquainted with the problems arising from England’s congestion. His solution is migration on a large scale, of British agriculturists who may desire to settle in New Zealand and other Dominions. He has indicated the uninhabited regions in this country which he deems suitable for the successful operation of his plan. The objections raised by New Zealand politicians are well known to him, hut he knows that they arise from tin: exigencies of the times, and not from any desire to question the principles which he has voiced. There is not much doubt when the principle of “trade within the Empire” is adopted in Britain ns well as in the Dominions, that Lord Bledisloe’s plan for encouraging comprehensive migration will he favourably considered. This Dominion’s prosperity depends on its trade with Britain. Only when' Britain is able to give reasonably good prices for New Zealand’s products

can the people of this country prosper. Existing conditions render impossible comprehensive plans of migration to New Zealand, because it would be wrong as well as impolitic, to encourage large numbers of British agriculturists to settle in this country, unless its economic position had permanently and materially improved.