THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 15, 1922. THE NEW IMMIGRATION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18040, 15 March 1922, Page 6

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 15, 1922. THE NEW IMMIGRATION.

Vast plans are being discussed in Australia for peopling an empty continent. They originate in a growing fear for the fate of so small a population attempting to hold so large a country—a fear which almost every well-intentioned visitor tries to deepen—but their practical inspiration is the tentative agreement i reached by the Imperial Conference for the co-operative control and encouragement of Empire migration. The conference, by its resolutions, accepted the view that a gradual redistribution of the population of the Empire is necessary and inevitable, that the development of the Dominions, rich in natural resources but lacking' in man-power and money-power, should be the care of the whole community of British peoples, and that leakage of British settlers—the best colonising stock the world produces—to foreign countries should, as far as possible, be prevented. No specific plan of, action was adopted, but the Imperial Conference approved in ' principle the suggestions of the earlier conference on Empire settlement—the chief of which was that the United Kingdom Government should assist the Dominions in granting reduced fares and in advancing loans to: settlers going on the land. Of even greater significance was the recom.mendation made by the Imperial Conference that the Dominions should prepare, for discussion with the United Kingdom Government, j detailed schemes of immigration and i land settlement. This resolution, coming from a conference presided over by the head of the British Government, may fairly be regarded as an invitation to the Dominions to lay plans for filling their empty spaces, confident that the United Kingdom will assist as far as lies in her power. It has been so interpreted in Australia. At the Premiers' Conference in October it was agreed that each State should prepare its own scheme of development and the Commonwealth should borrow the money to finance them all. The various schemes are now being made public. Victoria proposes to spend £12,000,000 in three years to place 10,000 settlers in the irrigation areas. Queensland aims at the settlement of the Burnett lands, whioh involves the expenditure of £2,000,000 on railway construction. The Government of Western Australia, the most insistent of a!l on immigration, is opening 2,000,000 acres and has.expressed its readiness to receive from 12,000 to 20,000 immigrants a year. It is also interested in the scheme to settle 100,000 white men in the Kimberley district in the far north, and the Premier is now on his way to London to lay his proposals before the British Cabinet. All this raises a very large question as to the immigration policy of the New Zealand Government. This Dominion is included in the general invitation to place its plans before, the United Kingdom and to indicate { the number and class of immigrants it desires. It is sincerely to be hoped that the Government will not be deterred by temporary economic difficulties from considering this question in its broadest aspects. Neglect to follow the lead of the Australian States will be tantamount to a rejection of Imperial co-opera-tion since the United Kingdom will assuredly not thrust her emigrants upon unwilling Dominions while so many, parts of the Empire are clamouring for man-power. New Zealand has hitherto competed for her share of Britain's surplus stock, and that attitude should not now be reversed by mere administrative indifference. There is no lack of work and opportunity in this young country for many thousands of newcomers. There should be no unemployment in a land in which so many fruitful fields for enterprise are yet untouched, and there will be none as Boon as the Government resumes the development schemes which were interrupted or delayed by the war. Indeed, it is impossible to resist the conclusion that if the various publio works already re-, garded as urgent are to be completed within a decade there must be a substantial measure of immi-, gration, particularly of able-bodied i men. i A mere statement of the tasks' which lie ahead should dispose of any fear that unemployment will be a continuing problem in New Zealand. To complete even the principal railway lines—those on which the Public Works Department is now endeavouring to concentrate—will cost £7,600,000. If branch lines are included the prospective expenditure is increased to at least £10,000,000. To bring the roads up to modern standard will cost some millions. Large arrears of public buildings, particularly of schools, have to be overtaken. The development of water-power will, within a decade, cost many millions. The remodelling of the railway system, recommended by Mr. Hiley as long ago as 1914, was estimated to cost £3,250,000, but it would be reasonable to allow a much larger sum now. To view the task from another angle, responsible Ministers, up to the Prime Minister, have advocated doubling the Public Works staff to make good the arrears of road and railway construction, water-power development will provide work for thousands of men, and even the railway improvements will make employment for 2500 men for at least 6ve years. Indirectly these schemes will. create employment for an even larger volume of labour. The ques-! tion whether New Zealand can! absorb able-bodied immigrants may, j in view of these programmes, be' answered in the affirmative. If another question arises as to the financial capacity of the Dominion to support such extensive development within a reasonable period the answer is also favourable provided.

we -increase our population from overseas and settle the majority of ; the newcomers ori the land. No phenomenon of immigration is more authentically established than its power of attracting capital to new lands. Every form of public works expenditure, whether it be roadmaking, railway construction, or water-power 'development, will pay for itself over and over again provided that all are used to promote . settlement and cheapen primary production. But haphazard methods in j such important enterprises will not do. The time has come to determine the order of the national works, to fit them to a time-table, to calculate the capital and the labour roquired, I and to arrange for the orderly supply of both. No Government ! could at this juncture render a l greater service to New Zealaud than to co-ordinate public works and immigration policies and relate both to a comprehensive scheme of land settlement. Such co-ordination, supported by efficient administration, i would contribute very powerfully to I the rehabilitation of our national prosperity.