Poverty Bay of Herald PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING GISBORNE, MONDAY, OCTOBER 5, 1936. THE NEED FOR VISION

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19137, 5 October 1936, Page 4

Poverty Bay of Herald PUBLISHED EVERY EVEN I NG GISBORNE, MONDAY, OCTOBER 5, 1936. THE NEED FOR VISION

When comment was made recently on this year's public works statement, rcfereitco was made, to the importance of this aspect of the Government's policy being closely related to other features of national development. Among other things, it was suggested that a long-range plan was a vital necessity, that the annual expenditure should not be at a greater rate than could be maintained more or less indefinitely, and the real object, from an employment point of view, should be to provide permanent work, for a limited number of men rather than temporary occupation foi a larger number, and, above all, that continuous heavy capital expenditure could not be justified unless it was the intention of the Government to populate the country to an extent that would make possible the maximum use of the available facilities. The urgency of this last-mentioned question cannot be too strongly stressed. It cannot, perhaps, be expressed more eloquently than in the words of Lord Blcdisloe in a recent letter to the London Times, when he wrote that "New Zealand, a country of approximately the same area as the United Kingdom, with a combination of climate, soil, and national resources unsurpassed in any country in the world, has a meagre population of only a million and a half but a national equipment in the form of railways, coastal shipping, electricsupply and other public services ade quate for a population at least five times as large, with resultant pet capita overhead costs which constitute a heavy burden upon trade and industry and which indirectly augment and perpjatuato unemployment." Thus, in one sentence, the former Governor-General, than whom there are few more keen - observers, has epitomised the position and the problem of the Dominion. New Zealand to-day is like a factory employing only one-fifth of the workers foi whom it was designed, or like a train with four-fifths of its passenger space empty; it is operating to only onefifth of its capacity and because this is .the case the huge overhead costs are crippling the limited number of i people who have to bear them. While some of the political .leaders apparently realise the problem they are not prepared to take steps to remedy it. Others are still blind to the realities of the situation. The Minister of Public Works, speaking in the House a day or two ago, remarked that "with a growing population ... it was necessary to bring the highways and railways up to a higher standard." Lord Bledisloo says, and his view will be generally endorsed, that the railways and other public services are adequate for live times the present population. But, apart from this point, how far is Mr. Semplo justified in claiming that there is a growing population? In ISSO the Dominion had a birth rate of 41 per 1000 of population, in 1020 it was 25 per 1000, but last year it was only l(i per 1000. On the other hand, the death rate in the' past twenty years has shown little variation. The result is that the natural increase in papulation has been so seriously checked that it is estimated that by 1942 the deaths will equal the births, and that thereafter race suicide will stall: in earnest. This year, for instance, there are 2000 fewer children reaching school age than there were in 1931; in 1941 there will be 2500 fewer than there were this year. It requires no stretching of .the imagination to realise what this fact means to the economy of the Dominion-. In one decade there has been a reduction of 4 50() in the number of children needing to be taught, clothed, and fed; 4500 fewer prospective users of the many national services; 4500 fewer to j do necessary work and make work

for others; and nil the lime there Is an increasingly large proportion of older people to lie assisted by a steadily diminishing number of younger ones. There can lie only one end to such a trend in the national life. Nor is that the last of .the sorry picture, for in recent years the Dominioni has 'been steadily losing population as a result of migration. (V loss by emigration of 81128 people in live years may not appear alarming, but last vear's exodus was nearly five times as large as that of 193], If the development continues at the same rate for the next five years, when there will be- no gain by births, it means that the population of the Dominion in 1941 will show a decline of more than 12,000.

There is the danger which New Zealand is being warned against on all sides and which constitutes a very real menace for the future. The great need of the country is more population and the only prospect is for less. The only hope for industrial expansion, the only remedy for unemployment, is more people; yet the politicians are still proclaiming that they will not consider immigration until the present population has been absorbed into work. The Prime Minister continues his appeal for the investment of more overseas capital in the Dominion, but overlooks the fact that his own. legislation makes profitable investment almost impossible. Far greater vision is required in - the planning of the national economy, and the most imperative need is that the country should be more fully peopled. When this is done, there will he less fear of a foreign! invasion, there will be a greater diversification of industry and wider scope for existing manufactures, the administrative machinery and the many public services will be utilised in closer proportion to their capacity, the excessive taxation and debt burden will be lightened through its spread over a greater number, and all these factors combined will make possible a still greater measure of development, security,, and prosperity.