Tide of Population

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 693, 19 June 1929, Page 8

Tide of Population

Checked By Immigration Ban RESTRICTIONS upon immigration imposed by the Reform Government in 1927 have effectively checked any abnormal growth in New Zealand’s population. The Government’s intention, it is reported from Wellington, is to extend the ban, with slight modifications, for another year. One effect of the restriction is to encourage more women to settle in the Dominion.

When the authorities tightened up on the extraordinary flood ot immigrants to New Zealand two years ago, industrial and social conditions within the Dominion were clearly bad, and it appeared obvious to the Government that the country could not absorb the people who were being brought out on assisted passages and others who were migrating of their own free will. For some years prior to that date a steady increase in migration from England had been recorded, and persistent agitation in Parliament suggested that the Old Country was unloading its surplus and unwanted population on to New Zealand. It will be recalled that shortly after the return to England from New Zealand of Mr. L. M. S. Amery, ex-Secre-tary for the Dominions, last year, the newly-chosen Prime Minister, Sir Joseph Ward, informed Mr. Baldwin, then Prime Minister of Great Britain, that the Dominion could not ggsist the Old Country any further at (fils stage by taking people from her overcrowded cities. GAINS IN POPULATION This refusal, advanced as it was in the interests of New Zealand, and with an observant eye to the slow recovery of conditions here, was followed at the end of the year by the new Government’s endorsement, and extension for six months, of the immigration restrictions imposed about the middle of 1927 by the Reform Administration under Sir William Nosworthy, then Minister of Immigration. These restrictions, which have operated with marked effect upon the permanent arrivals in the Dominion, suspended the system .of assisted immigration with the specific exceptions of: (1) Domestic servants and single women up to the age of 40. (2) Members of separated families, whose relations had already migrated to New Zealand. (3) Boy farmers under the Salvation Army, Church of England and Flock House settlement schemes. (4) Certain hardship cases, left to the discretion of the Director of Immigration. It is clearly indicated in the statistical returns that the effect of the restrictions was immediate and marked.

During the year 1925 the Dominion gained nearly 14,000 permanent residents. and in the following year over 15,000 were added to its population from overseas. In 1927, the year during which the restrictions were imposed, the net gain of our population fell to just over 7,000, while last year, figures from Wellington say the net gain was something over 2,000. The latest information, showing migration over the first four months of the current year, indicates that just over 1,000 people have been added to the country’s population since the beginning of 1929. A feature which the Old Country must observe with certain gratification is that, whereas about 95 per cent, of the permanent immigrants to New Zealand come from Great Britain, only about 33 per cent, of the permanent departures are for that country. Just over 50 per cent, of permanently departing New Zealanders make Australia their new home. MORE WOMEN ARRIVING One of the effects of the immigration restrictions has been to encourage the settlement of women in the Dominion. Domestic servants and single women up to 40 years of age, and also wives of immigrants already in New Zealand, are welcomed under the propaganda scheme of the Imperial and the New Zealand Governments. Its effects are clear-cut. It would not be surprising to find a big preponderance of males in the settlement of a young country, but over the past few years the women have been arriving in increasing proportions. In 1925 and 1926, 41 per cent, and 42 per cent., respectively, of the arrivals were women. In the following year, 1927, 47 per cent, of the British migrants were women, and for the first four months of this yehr the proportion of women is very close to 50 per cent. The Government is expected to extend the restrictions for a further year in order that the whole position of immigration may be reviewed. To release the ban immediately would be again to open the flood-gates and create a position far worse than that which existed prior to 1927. A gradual relaxation of the conditions governing assisted passages will probably be the first move when any change is considered by the authorities to be desirable.