THEN AND NOW

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 71, Issue 237, 6 October 1928, Page 10

THEN AND NOW

ARE OUR PROBLEMS NEW? JHE IMMIGRATION QUESTION. FARMERS IN POLITICS.

ft is the fashion of the politicians Df the day to announce as solutions of old problems solutions which are not new, or to go even further and to say that the pronleius themselves are tho»e of modernity in all its decried phases, whereas many are the result of fulfilled ideals which even present-day difficulties do not disprove, Forty-three years ago there were evident many of the things which, for the sake of assuming credit by attempted solutions, are being claimed as original discoveries to-day. This is clearly brought out by reading an essay written by William Reeve Haselden at the time of the Industrial Exhibition in 1885. The dislike of th*, native-born even then to toil which is .nuw attributed to the present education system, is, in the circumstances, an mtcrestmig comment.

•*it is a fact,” he says, “that in the Nortn tne native-born youths are averse io farming, and prefer to get near the towns if possible- Nor are they at all to be blamed for this, but rather to be praised; for, brought up on a farm, they giow up in ignorance, which they bitteny feel when brought into contact with those from the towns. Their eyes are then opened to the easier and Bnd more money-commanding Hfe that •the rs lead, with the result that they eentre towards towns at the first opportunity. Moreover, many parents encourage this feeling and evince great repugnance to bringing their sons up to the hard life they themsclv *s have endured. It is difficult to conceive a life more miserable to an intelligent youth than the drudgery of the farm. The fact remains that except perhaps in Canterbury and Otago the population will not prefer husbandry when they can get something better, and that ‘better’ will be afforded by the development of manufactures, trades, and trading. There will always be a sufficiency of farmers; but, if New Zealand fulfils’ her destiny, the proportion of agriculturalists will be less than at present.”

The writer stresses the importance of dairy farming, but deplores access difficulties which have since largely disappeared, thanks to the Government’s railway and roading policy. He foresaw the day when the capitalist will call in his mortgages, merging many small farms in one large holding, agriculturists being finally composed of capitalist farmers and farm labourers. unless (as subsequently touched upon) finances were differently arranged. “If the system of only making roads where the present traffic will pay for them is persevered with.” he says, “farming in many districts will languish and fade away,’’ instancing the Karamea Settlement. “Where we have railroads, open land, and easy shipping, the smaller farmers will be squeezed out.” Farmers In Parliament. It is in his references to the farmer in politics, however, where Mr Haselden is most interestingly reminiscent, and where his remarks have a presentday significance in view of the strength of farm representation to-day. ‘The small farmers,” he says, “is not much represented in Parliament, nor are his brains, as a rule, active enough to make sufficient stir to cause his grievance to be removed. The establisnment oi a State bank, which would make prudent advances to the farmer at a low rate of interest, without heavy legal charges would do much; but there are enormous difficulties in the way of doing this, ami it is feared that at present there is not much chance of its being done. Agricultural colleges may serve to induce native-born youth to learn the business of ‘aiming, but roads and bridges are the greatest neessities in order that the waste places may be made fertile and peopled, an.l the race or farmers an increasing ami prosperous one.” “But in order to provide cheap labour, immigration is another necessity for the farming industry. The native*Vt>cn are not averse to shepherding, Hearing, and stock riding, but they live too much faith in themselves to " ;come agricultural labourers. The -t of an agricultural labourer is su•rior in the colony to what it is at Home; but the sons of the ce’onial labircr strive to take a still more onward ep, and rise superior to their parents’ position. Whither immigration on a Wholesale scale is a good thing for the colony is a many-sided question. For my own part I would prefer that the population of New Zealand should be produced by itself, with such a leaven as unassisted immigration .ill give; the wholesale importation of the inferior portion of the population of all countries will not tend to raise **s to a high standard as a people. “The class of immigrants required for our agricultural interests is the anal] capitalist farmer, or rather the ■»ractical farmer having a moderate imount of capital at command. These| nre'at present being attracted to Mani-i b»ba and elsewhere, and very few are, nming to New Zealand. These are the npn who will invigorate our farming nterests both by example and by ineusing well-employed capital into thc J •olonyj*