NEW ZEALAND'S FUTURE

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 5, Issue 3, 14 January 1942, Page 6

NEW ZEALAND'S FUTURE

MORE POPULATION NEEDED SOUTH AFRICAN VISITOR'S VIEW The impression that New Zealand will need to have a much larger population than it has at present il it is to remain a British possession isc held by Mr Leslie Blackwcll, K.C., M.P., Johannesburg, who arrived in Wellington in the coursc of a goodwill mission to Australia and New Zealand on behalf of the Government of the Union of South Africa. Expressing this opinion in an interview, Mr Blackwell said that New Zealand was right in the path of the onrush of Asiatic peoples. "I have never seen such a paradise of greenness or such wonderful agricultural prosperity outside the fields of England," said Mir Blackwell, when referring to his journey through the New Zealand countryside. "As T travelled south through some! of the richest country I have ever seen in my life, and saw the marvellous quality of your live stock, the conviction grew on me that if you want to continue to hold a country as rich as this yoiu will have to populate it. This is the twenty-ninth country I have passed through on my present journey, and it is one of the richest of them all. I think it is meant to do this end of the world what England is to the other end of the world." Letter from General Smuts Mr Blackwell said the main purpose of his visit to New Zealand was to make contact with the Prime Minister, Mr Eraser, for whom, he had a letter of greeting from General Smuts, and with his Ministers. In his own country he was one of the financial members of Parliament and a member of the Government's economic advisory council, so that he hoped he would have the opportunity of having a long talk on financial matters with the Minister of Finance, Mr Nash. His stay in New Zealand would be brief, and he expected to leave the Dominion towards the end of this Aveek.

Discussing conditions in South Africa, Mr Blacltwcll said tlie people there had been scarcely hit at all by the war. The only read hardship they were experiencing was in the quality of the bread, which was made from a mixture of maize and wheat. This made rather an tin palatable loaf. The reason for the use of maize was that insufficient suitable wheat for the needs of the population was grown locally. The Government, moreover, had stabilised the price of bread. There was no rationing of any other commodity.

lor were there any restrictions on Lhe use of petrol.