The Bay of Plenty Beacon Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 25, 1946 POPULATION AND THE LAND

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 10, Issue 29, 25 September 1946, Page 4

The Bay of Plenty Beacon Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 25, 1946 POPULATION AND THE LAND

ONE of the most valuable and interesting contributions to> the evidence submitted to the Parliamentary Committee on Population has been provided by the Department of Agriculture. This deals with the population question as it' is affected by the standard of primary production in the Dominion. Though relative standards of living render the position flexible, it remains generally true that in every country there is a ratio of population to the natural resources of the country. Since New Zealand’s basic resources are fundamentally her primary products, the approach to the population question from the primarf production angle is a sound and logical method. Judged on a basis of the probable expansion of primary production, the department judges that the population of New Zealand may increase from the present 1,700,000 to 2,340,000 30 years hence. This

may seem a small rate of growth to those visualising a more rapid expansion and advocating means to that end. But so long as the economy of New Zealand is harnessed to her primary products (and where is the basis for suggesting that a change will take place?) the range of vision must be limited to practical considerations. With this in mind, it is very pertinent to the population question to note that an extensive scheme of progressive expansion in primary industries is counted on by the Department of Agriculture .to permit the population of the Dominion to expand by some 500,000 in the next 30 years. In some of the essential aims defined by the department, the outlook of the nation generally is hopelessly out of date. For example, though the evil of such things as flood damage and soil erosion is recognised, recognition still falls short of recognising it as a national responsibility. There is still an inclination to look to the individual owner of the land as the one to provide the remedy. But it is useless to exhort the owner to handle his property wisely if he is financially unable to do so. In the matter of marginal lands and hill country, the development of which is held by good authorities to be essential to the Dominion’s prosperity, there has developed a tendency to load the dice against the land owner, rather than to help him. Costs have mounted to such an extent that even the battler on marginal lands finds a meagre living only within the compass of his best efforts, while many have found the effort to be not worth while. This is but one direction in which there must be a change of outlook if agriculture is to be developed as the fundamental support of population increases in New Zealand. In short, the views of the Department of Agriculture on the population question do nothing so much as to shout out aloud that the future of this Dominion depends upon nothing so much as the inauguration and development of a wise and progressive land policy.