NOT A TRAGEDY

Waikato Independent, Volume XLIV, Issue 6105, 22 September 1947, Page 3

NOT A TRAGEDY

THINNING RURAL POPULATION New Zealand conditions were quoted in an address on marginal farms delivered before the Agricultural Economics Society, England, last month. "A decline in rural population is not necessarily a bad thing," the speaker declared. "On the contrary it should indicate a rising standard of living for the community as a whole, since a smaller proportion of che population is producing food and a larger proportion is producing other goods and services. "But when the thinning of rural population has reached a certain stage, is it still possible to maintain community services and opportunities for an adequate social life?" The speaker answered his question with New Zealand statistics which showed that density of population in our rural areas was considerably lower than in most of the marginal areas or Scotland. "This low density in New Zealand does not seem to be regarded as an obstacle to a prosperous agriculture, or to the attainment of a satisfactory social life for the rural population. "It is possible, therefore," he concluded, "that there may not be insuperable difficulties in a further reduction of the population in the marginal areas of Britain." -