The Star. MONDAY, JUNE 21, 1926. “GREASING THE FAT PIG.”

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17878, 21 June 1926, Page 8

The Star. MONDAY, JUNE 21, 1926. “GREASING THE FAT PIG.”

Of the increase of 135,501 in the population of New Zealand, the North Island accounts for 100,052, and the South Island for 35,499. As a result, the North Island has climbed to 63.39 per cent of the population, and the South Island has declined to 36.61. This is a very serious disparity, and it would be interesting to find out just what part the flood of immigration for the past five years has had td do with it. ,On this point the census, in itself, is not very informative, but the statistician has the figures, and perhaps some enterprising Member of Parliament will call for a return showing the final destination of every immigrant arriving in New Zealand for tile past five years. If this were done it might throw a remarkable light on the vaunted increase of North Island population. Statistics of immigration, as revealed in the Year Book, studiously avoid this subject, hut the monthly Abstract of Statistics throws a sidelight on it. For instance, the latest number shows that for the first four months of the present year, out of 16,039 immigrants who came to the Dominion, 15,196 arrived at Auckland or Wellington, 714 were credited to the “ port of Invercargill,” while only six arrived at Dunedin, seventy-one at Lyttelton, and fourteen at Pictou. Of course, these are merely the ports of arrival, but there is no doubt that the North Island is getting by far the greater number of immigrants yearly. The figures for 1925 are not yet out, but in 1923 there came to New Zealand 11,762 immigrants intending permanent residence, as distinguished from the greater number of New Zealand residents returning from abroad, and in 1924 there were 14,314 new immigrants. The Government policy is to encourage immigration principally to the North Island, and Sir Joseph Ward has directed attention to a very important matter in pointing out that the lack of direct steamer services to the South Island has a bearing not only on trade, but also on immigration. Here is a matter on which the South Island members could get together in an endeavour to stop what goes under the name of the northern drift. Perhaps, after all, the phrase is a misnomer as far as New Zealanders are concerned.

Every day some anomaly occurs in connection with the law regarding the suppression of names, and a very glaring anorrply occurred on Saturday in connection with the case of a labourer, aged thirty-seven, who pleaded guilty to indecent assault on a little girl of five, and was committed to the Supreme Court for sentence. His counsel successfully asked for the suppression of his name on the ground that the man was an imbecile, or, at all events, that his mentality was so low that he had childish habits which induced him to play hide and seek with children. Now, it must occur to anybody who has the custody of children that the community is entitled to special protection against a person who is in the “ harmless ” category, and who, for that very reason, is not usually suspect where little children are concerned. Protection can be given in two ways, either by the complete segregation of the individual, or in a minor degree by publication of his name on the first manifestation of any but “ harmless ” habits. This case seems to involve the problem of the detention of such cases in a special institution, but in the meantime a protest should be recorded against a law which deprives the public of a very effective means of protection against a dangerous type of defective.