Poverty Bay Herald PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING GISBORNE, FRIDAY, FEB. 12, 1937. IMMIGRATION POLICY

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19247, 12 February 1937, Page 4

Poverty Bay Herald PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING GISBORNE, FRIDAY, FEB. 12, 1937. IMMIGRATION POLICY

While the official policy of the Government, as recently expressed by the Prime Minister, is tlmt "if people come to New Zealand from Great Britain as immigrants their jobs will have to come with them," the Speaker of the House of- Representatives, who is one of the most highlyrespected supporters of the Labour Party, is sponsoring an organisation which aims at building up the population of the Dominion to the five million mark. Of these two conflicting policies, there can be no question as to which is the more desirable in the best interests of a country situated as is New Zealand. Mr. Savage, in statements which have previously been quoted, has himself made out a strong case for a much larger .population, ami this fact makes it the more difficult to understand his present attitude. Mr. Barnard, who has been a consistent advocate of immigration, pointed out in a recent address that such a policy was imperative to Idling economic stability to Xew Zealand and .stated that nothing would make the country safe against an nggrosser unless there was population. lr this view is accepted, and it is significant .(hat no one has attempted to combat it, how is it: possible to justify the attitude of the Govern n ,,. n i in deliberately discouraging migrants. Mr. Barnard obviously docs nol .agree with the policy of the Govommenl he supports, for, instead of waiting for immigrants who can bring their jobs with them —whatever that may mean —he is launching a scheme to prepare for the entry of British citizens into New Zealand with the ultimate aim of increasing the population to five millions. It might be suggested thai; before Mr. Speaker launches on the Dominion wide lecture campaign which he has in mind he should devote his attention to converting the leaders of the Government, for nothing is more calculated to nullify his commendable

efforts than the continued opposition in official quarters. There is another aspect of this question that has recently received emphasis, and that is the continued influx of foreigners. WifFiin the past few days it was reported that large number of Dalmatians, and not a fewother Europeans, were landing in New Zealand with the avowed object of securing the high wages being offered, by the Government. It is pertinent to ask whether Mr. Savage insisted that these new arrivals should bring their jobs with them? It is apparent that they did not do so, for they come from countries which place restrictions on the export of capital and quite frankly stated that they hope to share in the largesse being distributed by New Zealand's Labour Government. There is no real objection to this type of migrant because, generally speaking, he is clean living and a hard worker, but there is the strongest possible objection to lhe admission of foreigners at a time when Mr. Savage in New Zealand, and Messrs. Nash and Jordan in England, are telling British people in the plainest possible language that this sparsely-populated Dominion has no room for them. If there i.s room for foreigners, then there is doubly room for people of the same British sloel: as that which lias made tinDominion what, it is to-day, and it is the responsibility of the Government to say so. A still further point that demands attention is the fact that the time may not be far distant when the Mother Country will not. have a surplus population with which to stock the Dominions, for already Ireland and Scotland are faced with diminishing populations and it is authoritatively stated that by 1942, only five years hence, the population of England will commence to decline. When that stage is reached, New Zealand may be forced to appeal to foreigners to people the country, and it may even be that the country will fall into the hands of a foreign nation with, more vision and more initiative than is being displayed by the the present Government, because, to quote Mr. Savage, "the only -claim to territory is that it shall not remain empty and unused.''

Comparatively speaking, New Zealand to-day is empty and unused, and the Government, by insisting that migrants shall bring their jobs with (hem, admits its incapacity to evolve a scheme of economic development. Its attitude is that although the present people cannot profitably utilise the territory at their disposal,

they will not permit it to be shared by others less fortunate —a policy that is strangely at variance with its socialistic philosophy of equal opportunity and an equal distribution of wealth and which serves to perpetuate the paradox of poverty in the midst of plenty. If the Dominion is to continue its ban on immigrants, it v. ill only be a matter of time before llio population is stationary, and then, if not before, the country will be faced with unanswerable demands by over-populated peoples who subscribe to Mr. Savage's belief that a nation is not entitled to territory which remains empty and unused. Prior to the 'seventies, New Zealand was dependent on migration for the greater portion of its increase in population, but after that period the natural increase—the excess of births over deaths—became the principal factor. But what is the position today? Between 187<> and 1880, the Dominion had a birth rate of -10 per 1000; in 193 G it was M. 07 per 1000. [t: is true that the death rate also declined, for a peak of 12.07 per 1000 to 0.05 last year, but the net result is that the rate of natural increase in population foil from 31.19 per 1000 in 1870 to "».:!2 in 10.1 G. Thus, the chief factor making for an increase is rapidly disappearing, and the other factor, migration, has already disappeared, because between 1931 and iai"> 10,000 more people left the country than entered it. Clearly, there is the need for a vigorous educational campaign and Mr. Barnard's efforts will meet with widespread approval and support.