POPULATION NEEDS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 2 June 1938, Page 6

POPULATION NEEDS

FIVE MILLION CLUB REPORT EXTENDED INVESTIGATION NEEDED SERIES OF SCHEMES SUGGESTED (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, This Day. In the course of an extended report on the question of immigration into the Dominion, a committee of the Five Million Club says it is inclined to think that the future needs of the Dominion are in the nature of a greater expansion of industry coincident with an allround increase of population, but with rather more numerical increase among rural’ residents. That was to say it looked to a greater expansion taking place in the manufacturing, distributive and entertainment industries than in the primary industries. “We believe that all future schemes j for agricultural development should have as their objective the greater diversification of agrarian employment,” adds the report. “We are forced to the conclusion that the degree of ex- ' pansion in the dairy industry, in spite of its attraction for closer settlement, is strictly limited. The production of meat and wool, on the other hand, ap- , pears to offer opportunities for further development, but neither of these industries can be expected to absorb large numbers of migrants. In our opinion agrarian settlement schemes should be designed with the object of developing other forms of agriculture. The development of tobacco growing, the possible establishrfient of a sugarbeet industry, the cultivation of certain cereal and seed crops are variants that suggest themselves to us. It should be possible to develop the poultry and game-bird industry to the point of packing for export either in the form of pulp meat, paste or essence. “We strongly recommend that steps should be taken as early as possible to establish a Fairbridge Farm School in New Zealand, and every encouragement should be given to such organisations as the Dr Barnardo Homes and the Church Army Lads to bring young people at present in their care to New Zealand.

“During the course of our investigations we have felt the serious need of more thorough research into the various problems arising out of population in the economic, social and cultural spheres of activity in New Zealand. The field is wide and there are many directions in which research is needed, but there is one investigation which we think ought to be undertaken immediately. The effect that'a stationary or declining population will have upon the nation should be thoroughly examined and the results should be made known to the people of this Dominion. “As regards the main problem of immigration, there are two directions in which investigation is clearly needed. The first is to discover to what extent immigration can be used to strengthen the ecorfomic defences of the country, while the second is to examine the nature and extent of the field of industrial and agricultural development that can be exploited by means of organised migration.” In sections of its report the committee expressed the opinion that definite openings exist for the introduction of domestic servants, of farm workers, of retired professional and other men bringing up families, and of skilled workers in certain trades. The committee recommends the evolving of a series of schemes of immigration, each complete in itself.