LOSS OF POPULATION.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1248, 3 October 1911, Page 4

LOSS OF POPULATION.

"EEQITIEES THF, ATTENTION OF THE GOVKKNMKNT." (By TdeKraph.—Special Correspondent.! Auckland, October 2. The Mayor of Auckland (Mr. C. J. Parr), who has been spending n fiveweeks' holiday in Australia, returned by tho Victoria from Sydney last evening. Although Mr. Parr undertook tho trip mainly as a rest, he devoted a good deal of tiniG while- in Australia to investigating municipal matters. "Australia," said Mr. Parr, in reply to a question, "is very prosperous just now everywhere. There is plenty of money, and business is wonderfully brisk. Sydney is booming. Another ten years must see its population reach 1,000,000. Nothing can, prevent Sydney being the London of the Pacific. "It being iivo years since I was in Queensland, I could not help remarking tho wonderful progress made by that Stato during tho last few years under a strong Liberal Government," proceeded Mr. l'arr. "Immigrants are arriving in thousands every month, and are encouraged to come. .Railways are being pushed right through the interior, • and land settlement proceeds apace. They have a real immigration policy, and a live railway and settlement administration. For a young farmer with, say, X2OOO capital, Queensland, I regret to say, offers much better inducements than New Zealand. The small man with a family, however, had better stay in New Zealand. Ho will be more comfortable here than roughing it out there. "I found many New Zoalanders settled there. For some time -past thousands of our. people have been leaving to go to Australia, attracted, no doubt, by good times and a wider sebpo of employment. There were over 150 of these people on the Mnlieno, the steamer'in which I went across, and I had an opportunity of chnttinjj with many of them and ascertaining their view-point. J found they were working people of a good type, whom wo can ill afford to lose. 1 nm afraid that a drift of population has set in from New Zealand, more particularly AVellington, to Australia Just now. It is not tho mere ebb and ilow of itinerant workers. Already this year Australia has trained nearly r>ooo of our people, and when this is so it surely requires tho attention of the Government."