MEETING DOMINION'S INDUSTRIAL MANPOWER NEEDS

Chronicle (Levin), 20 September 1946, Page 5

MEETING DOMINION'S INDUSTRIAL MANPOWER NEEDS

-Press Association

SELECT COMMTTEE'S REPORT RECOMMENDS CAREFUL I1MIGRATI0N

By Telegraph-

WELLINGTON, September 20. A careftil and specific policy of immigration, designed to meet the urgent industrial manpower needs of New Zealand, is the major recommendation of the Select Committee of the Honse of Representatives appointed to consicler ways and means of fncreasing the population of the Dominion. The re-* port of the committee, whose chairman was Mr. J. Thorn, Government member for Thames, and which consisted of six Government and four Opposition members, was tabled in the House of Kepresentatives to-day. The report is unanimous on all topics., . .

; there is jn'o tion but the *1 for secondary Ind^p^j^ahf be njei either at oncepr ihi, t&e'immediate future, f rohi ^^^^;ssQtirc!es'. ^ " i Because of the housing difficulties, however, iarge seale immigration should not immediately be undertaken. Exceptions are cases of certain seiected occupations, such as those of hospital nurses, domestic workers^ coal miners, saw millers and operatives for certain expanding secondary industries! In these cases seiected immigration of "relatively small dimensions" should engage the immediate at-t-ention of the Government. These immigran'ts should be secured as far as possible from Great. Britain, but an immediate investigation should be made of the availability of workers from the S'candinavian countries, Holiand and, perhaps, Poland, says the report. These nationalities have in the past proved good citizens of New Zealand. Further immigration from Southern European countries is not encouraged on the grounds that some Southern European nationals who have come to the Dominion have not been assimilated here, but have tended to become relegated into small national groups. Population Will Increase The other principal features of the report are: The birth rate is likely to stabilise somewhere between 16 and 21 per lOOOj and at thfs rate, providing the rise of families remains constant, the popuratfoh wiU slowly increase. The heavy fall in the birth rate, during the depression will however, create emplbymeni difficulties, particularly in the next six or seven years. Each married couple should produee more than ; two childreh if the population is to 1 be maintained without immigra- : tion, .. J i

' -'New ZeaIa^dJS'.deathj^ter>^^^. lowejst- ih'^hek.wo^ldi ' -ba- expected to' falt'ah^/. lpwer.v.U, The ' very ■ great increase the? Mao-ri population in receht «years — • 30 per cent between 1926 and 1936 --is the outstanding fact in 'New Zealand's population developm-ent. The expectation of life is still increasing, but at a lower rate. So-called Urban Drift About two-thirds of the European population lives in the No-rth Island. About 63' per cent live in urban areas and 37 per cent in the counties. The so-called urban drift -is a bogey, and is due not so much to a drift away from farming as to technological advances. But the decline in rural population irf certain provinces, particularly in the South Island, calls for an early investigation. The terrdency for secondary iridustries to congregate in the four main centres may create sefi'ous social and economic difficulties. Decentralisation of industries should be encouraged. One Important way of doing this would be to provide more housing in some of the smaller towns. Relatively little land is available for farming and agricultural immigrants and bushfelling. There has been a major expansion in the number of Governraeii'tal employees — more than proportionate to the increase in population and due to the extension of the field of Government activity. New towns and suburbs should be adequately laid out under the modern town planing laws. Control of Abortion The present criminal law against induced abortion- is drastiC enough, but there is need -for a deeper moral appreciation of the issues ihvolyed. i The sale' of eontraceptives should be ; restricted to registered- pharma- i cists.