FIVE MILLIONS CLUB

Taranaki Daily News, 29 April 1937, Page 7

FIVE MILLIONS CLUB

By Telegraph—Press Association.

FIRST DOMINION CONFERENCE. INTENTIONS OF " PROMOTERS.

Wellington, Last Night. The first Dominion conference of the Five Millions Club was held to-day. The Hon. W. E. Barnard, Speaker of the House of Represertatives, presided. Representatives from 14 branches present were welcomed by the Mayor, Mr. T. C. A. Hislop, who congratulated Mr. Barnard on the steps he had taken in the movement the energy he had displayed and the way he had gone round the cities to stir up the people to the necessities facing them. The organisation was not a mere immigration society, said Mr. Barnard. The object proposed all through had been to increase the population, first by natural means and then by immigraion. They felt the sohition of the general economic problems of the country and the maintenance of everything that could be covered in the word heritage was dependent not only on the expansion of the possibilities of the Dominion but also on expansion at a faster rate than had . been experienced for many years. It was agreed by all the 27 delegates that any policy decided on should be such that the interests of the people already in the country should be preserved. Speakers emphasised that the use of immigration to provide a source of cheap labour would be strongly condemned. The following resolution was adopted: "That this conference agrees that in order to maintain the present standard of living a larger population is necessary. This can be secured by (a) creating conditions which would encourage a greater natural increSSe, and (b) by a system of carefully planned migration which would provide security for the immlgrants and their families." It was decided to set up two research committees. One was instructed to investigate and study the problem of increasing the birth rate, and the other to inquire into all phases of immigration. The following offlcers were elected: President, Mr. Barnard; vice-president, Mr. J. A. C. Allum (Auckland); interim secretary, Mr. R. S. Odell. A decision to send the following cablegram to the Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. M. J. Savage, was made at the conference: "This national organisation, representing a rapidly growing body • of public opinion, being seized of the serious implications- of the low birth rate which, if continuing, must result in a decline in population and reduction in its living standard, desires to assure you of whole-hearted support in your work at the Imperial Conference when dealing with the question of redistribution of the white peoples of the Empire and New Zealand's contribution thereto."