MORE POPULATION

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19757, 11 October 1938, Page 9

MORE POPULATION

IMMIGRATION NECESSARY PUBLIC MEETING URGED ROTARY CLUB RESOLUTION LOW BIRTH RATE EFFECT Following an .address, on the_ need of properly controlled Immigration to counteract the serious decline in the birth-rate, the Gisborne Rotary Club to-day decided to ask the Mayor to call a public meeting to hear an address on the subject by a chosen speaker. . Mr. J. G. Nolan was the speaker cf the day, and he outlined a scheme of closer ' settlement, allied with, new types ot secondary industry. He said that some such scheme was a vital necessity if New Zealand was to maintain its population. He recalled-that 18 months ago he drew attention in an address to the tailing birth-rate, suggesting that New Zealand could not afford to hold such a fertile country on such a meagre population as 1,500,000. New Zealand now produced annually fewer children than 25 years ago, despite an increase of 500,000 in the population then. ■ln 1911, with a population of 1,000,000, 26,354 children were born, tyhile in 1936, with a population of oyer 1,500,000, the births totalled only 26,314,,, He, considered that the figures showed ihiaCii.tne present trend continued, ,4he; population would come to a standstill in 1946. “Certain H lingry Nations” , The .speaker put two questions: Do we expect Great Britain to indulge in a terrifiq wax every 25 .years to reserve the ,right of the Dominions,to be under-populated? Can we soothe certain biungry nations taking someone elsels land? VC A population increase by birth-rate was slow method, of remedying the difficulty,,, and. if. New Zealand was to ettec,tively. populate, the country we must rely _ oii, other means. ; .The first essential of any successful immigration scheme was that it should cost the Dominion nothing to get the immigrants into the country. There were several organisations in England that would sponsor any sound scheme. He asked the audience not to base their opinions on mistakes cf the pj|st, for he 'believed that they would not 'be repeated. Schemes had been evolved that would stand every chance of success. There was an organised body of opinion at Home which considered that if the Dominion embarked on a scheme this country would not 'be called on to foot the cost of bringing the immigrants here. British Government’s Expenditure ,Great Britain had, been compelled to find enormous payments in relief of unemployment—to the extent of £200,000,000 a year. Why should she ngt be asked to spend £50,000,000 a year on immigrants? This would help to reduce the relief payments, and the increased population, in : the Dominion would also relieve Britain of some of- the defence expenditure by the Dominions being more able t-:< protect themselves. 5He did not propose that men on. the dole would be brought out, but suggested young men between 14 and 21 years. Operations of a chartered land company would help, and apart from benefits of finance, it gave the best guarantee as to the suitability of the selected immigrants, more so if the company was saddled with the responsibility cf returning "misfits” to England. The export capacity per head of New Zealand was relatively high because of lack of diversification of the industries. On the other hand, the demand was for new industries which could be grafted on to present primary production industries. Process Farming Process farming offered the best ayenue for exploitation. By that he meant not the production of more primary produce, but industries that could give occupation to additional population, such as cultivation and canning of fruit and vegetables, pulping of fruit and the growing of more products not grown in New Zealand in,sufficient quantities to meet the demand. The canning of eels and fish, and the canning of vegetables of a type that was not catered for in New Zealand at present were examples There.were also many avenues for exploitation, such as the mercantile marine, afforestation, and mining. . One, of the Dominions was attracting retired civil servants and army and naval men with capital. That was one avenue New Zealand could tackle. A chartered land company could be floated in one city or county in Engf land to acquire a block of land in J New Zealand for closer settlement. It 1 would be essential that homes should be ready for suitable immigrants, who would be put through a suitable training in England,, the immigrants to be paid a.wage from the time they linked up with the company until they arrived in New Zealand. Out here, under the supervision of an instructor, the immigrants would set to work to bring the land into production. For the time that production would commence, factories should be ready to cope with the production. When the time came for the factory to be built, immigrants unsuitable for work on the land could obtain employment in building and working the factory. Profit Sharing All members of the settlement wbuld be receiving wages. When the profits on the sales of the produce sold to the factory were divided, the money, could be used to go towards the purchase of the freehold of the land, and the profit from the sale of manufactured produce would be Shared, a/nong immigrants in the factory, so that all would have some share capital in the enterprise. The drawing of immigrants from one, part of the country or from one city would be essential to the scheme so' that the migrants would have some community of interest and be content to settle down. If the , scheme was no good, another, one must be evolved, for the Dominibn must wake up to its responsibilities. With the coming of immigrants, secondary industries would be stimulated and everyone would benefit. He would like: to see the Rotary Club movement take the matter up, ari‘d If the clubs did not foster it the thfpg was, doomed from the start. After a motion of thanks to the speaker, moved by Rotarian J. E. Shimmin, Rad been carried by acclamation, the meeting decided to ask tile MayQr, Mr.. D. W. Coleman, M.P., tocall, a, public meeting to hear an address on the subject. This motion was moved by Rotarian Shimmin and seconded by Rotarian Matthews. The chairman of the meeting was Rotarian C. A. Sirfith.