THE IMMIGRATION FIGURES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 14985, 6 May 1912, Page 6

THE IMMIGRATION FIGURES.

The completed returns for the year ending March 31 last show that the immigration gain by the Dominion during that period did not reach 6000. The totals are Arrivals ... ... ... ... 43,097 Departures ... ... ... 37,205 ■ Gain ... ... ... 5,892 This is a most appalling indictment of our legislative practices and administrative system, for it means— if it means anything at —that working people find other countries better to live in than New Zealand. Instead of making this Dominion a " Workingman's Paradise," to which wage-earners and land-settlers would hasten from all parts of the Englishspeaking world, our weird experiments and perpetual harassment of industry have made it a land which can hardly attract strangers and cannot keep its own. During the past ten years the increase by excess of arrivals over departures has been — 1902 ... ... . ... ... 7,992 1903 ... ... ... ... 11,275 1904 ... ... ... ... 10,355 ■ 1905 ."..-' ... ' ... ... 9,302 1906 ... ....... ... 12,848 , 1907 ... ... •'■:; 5,730 1908 ;.. ... ... ... 14,261 1909 "... ... "... ... ■■: 4,719 : 1910 ... ... ... ... 3,403 - 1911 ... ... ... ... 5,892 It may be said that the latest figures— are not for 1911 but for the year ending March show an increase, but it is a poor consolation. The increase by immigration is hardly half what it was nine years ago, and is not nearly up to the average of the first five years of the decade. It is so small that we may; well wonder at the astonishing self-' sufficiency of legislators and administrators who with this confronting them can still profess to be satisfied with the position of the country. k - • '