NEED FOR SETTLERS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18374, 14 April 1923, Page 13

NEED FOR SETTLERS.

A VISITOR'S OPINION.

" New Zealand is a charming country. It is- a country with a great future, but it is woefully lacking in population. I do not think, it right for British people to possess such '.fine, lands and not cultivate them. Then, again, I do not think the New Zealand Government is doing enough to encourage the right kind of set-tier to come here from England. I .f3.il to see why the Government cannot give the settlers land right out, especially to those men who have fought for the Empire, as was done by the Canadian Government, which gives 150 acres free to British settlors." These words were spoken by a lady from England in the course of a conversation in Dunedin recently. The visitor hails from a small village in Kent, near Canterbury, "the capital of the county. She has travelled extensively, having visited France, Siberia, and other parts of Europe at different periods. " If the New Zealand Government made a free grant of a few acres of land,'! the lady continued, " more settlers would 1 come to New Zealand from England each year. This country wants women and children as well as men, and one has to remember that after all it is the children who make the best settlers, as they are not always hankering to return to the Old Country. The new country is their own." ✓