HOW CITIES GROW

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 93, 11 July 1927, Page 11

HOW CITIES GROW

“NO REAL RURAL EXODUS” LECTURE BY DR. E. P. NEALE H’* HERE has been no real rural - 1 - exodus in New Zealand. The country population has not decreased, but the town has grown much faster. This is the opinion of Dr. E. P. Neale, who lectured at the Leys Institute on Saturday evening. The perfecting of the refrigerating processes had caused a decline in cropping which needed a larger labour force in favour of pasturing and dairying. This had contributed to the decline of the rural population. The tendency of immigrants to settle in the towns and the revolt of families of farmers against farm life w r ere also factors. The specialisation of farm work had also tended to keep the rural population constant, continued Dr. Neale. Less butchering and churning were done now than formerly, the work being concentrated on by specialists in the towns, just as much of the carting formerly done by the farmer ,had been. The increase of capital and the growth of the number of people able to live on savings or income from capital and investments tended to add to the city populations. When a town has started to grow* it grows almost in spite of itself, said the speaker. New occupations sprint up, such as radio announcers, artists, traffic inspectors, university professors, sharebrokers and W.E.A. directors. Especialy does a port city attract population because of the advantages it offers the merchants in their contact with the outside world.