THE WANT OF POPULATION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13750, 15 May 1908, Page 3

THE WANT OF POPULATION.

Sir,ln Saturday's issue I read a stale-' ment made by .Mr. Geo. Wilson to the' effect that the Auckland province could absorb ten thousand immigrant* a year. Unless I am greatly mistaken half that number could not bo .settled' with satisfactory, results. From good authority I understand that men with money (the class that we require 'to develop the country), in England, are well posted about, colonial affairs, viz., that there is abundance of good land here if people wish to pay a decent figure for it. It is a great mistake to encourage people without capital to come here at all, especially those with families, as; they must naturally remain town-dwellers and help to swell the ranks of the unemployed. It is true there is a. lot. of casual employment at the present time, but it is only long and steady employment that encourages the worker to win a home. Twenty years of country life leads me to think that it is next to an impossibility for a "newcomer." with a young family, and without capital, to establish himself on the lurid in the back blocks, for the simple rea- j soil that even if he were successful at the j ballot lie could not obtain work hear his sec.-: tion. Like Mr. Wilson, we all, admire our beautiful harbour, and our nigh perfect ! climate, but these don't satisfy the cravings of a hungry stomach, and as for "the sur- j rounding country crying for population,'' well, it is pretty well all locked up by a not too progressive Government, and you've got j to take your chance at the ballot. It is only a question of time, and nearly all the immigrants sent up to the Main Trunk lino will return to the towns, to the discomfort of j those already employed there. If the right sort can bo induced to conns to the colony, by all means let us have them—the more of them the better. The other sort we don't \ want, they would only cause trouble by j lowering wages. John Guinivex. j