The N.S. Times WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 11, 1905. THE NEW IMMIGRATION

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXVII, Issue 5483, 11 January 1905, Page 4

The N.S. Times

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 11, 1905. THE NEW IMMIGRATION

WITH WHICH IB INCOHPOBA.TBD VUE “ WXLUH(ini rKDapKXDHKT.” BSTAJLISSKD IWS,

(PUBLISHED DAILY).

An increase to the population is an imperative want of this country so, well favoured by nature and circumstances for a career of prosperous plenty. There was a time when public men, in acknowledging this truth, vied with one another in piling up the millions which our soil is capable of carrying. In those days there was a great public immigration policy, from which, first to last, wo got about a hundred thousand persons. These wore absorbed without a strain. A leading feature of tho policy was that it provided an outlet for the new arrivals. For some succeeding years, less was said about the increase of the population in proportion to tho carrying capacity of the colony. They were years of adaptation. Largo numbers of people had arrived, the progress of public works had not quite kept pace, and when the public expenditure shrank to small proportions, it was discovered that the development of tho country left much to bo desired. It thus came about that in this fine country of exceptional opportunities, largo numbers of men were without employment. Thoughtful men, however - , never lost faith in the destiny of the country, and maintained, through good and evil report, that rapidly as the country might bo induced to progress, it would not for many years get to a tithe of the population it is fitted by its natural advantages to carry. The refrigerator aud the separator came, each with tho touch of a magic wand, and the country at onco justified largely the great public expenditure of the three decades preceding. The land absorbed men and women in great numbers ; the labour market ceased to know the meaning of “plethora”; land rose in value; interest of money wont down to moderate rates; the community became indisputably prosperous; and money began to flow from the Consolidated Fund to tho Public Works Fund. The natural consequence was a revival of tho old general agreement that this country must have more people.' The right kind of immigrants rose up in the right country, whence the best men amongst us originally came, and began to quietly arrive in our ports. Tho public noticed a few days ago tho large number of immigrants in tho steamer lonic, of the White Star Company’s flag, and was delighted to learn a day or two later that the Labour Department had not heard from many of them, not oven from those who had brought letters and other recommendations; not even had tho clerks and glass-eye polishers (of whom one used to hear so much from tho satirists of a former generation) been about the office. Tho fact is that the arrival of tho lonic, with, its large batch of immigrants, was nothing now. That vessel is only one of a long string which have brought out immigrants by hundreds. All have landed with almost the same independence of tho Labour Bureau, and all have disappeared into the mass of the people with the greatest facility. Unquestionably, the condition of tho Old Country just at present favours the movement to our shores. We know that Canada has been offering big inducements to immigrants, aud if this country opened its gates wider, no doubt a larger inflow would result. But there will bo a general agreement that our Government is acting on the wisest lines. It would be a calamity to invite a wholesale immigration. "We are increasing our population at a comfortable rate —and at any moment when the rate seems to bo too fast, a cessation can he effected. Bach immigrant who reaches us and is absorbed is a very distinct gain to the country—an addition to its consuming power, its producing power, and its material wealth. The newly and quietly established system of immigration is as sound as the other elements of the prosperity of this country. It brings the right people to the right places, it has a safety valve to restrict its dimensions in bad times, and its expansive power is limited by the capacity of our resources for development.