MILLION IMMIGRANTS

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 98, 19 January 1935, Page 21

MILLION IMMIGRANTS

Proposal Before Women’s Division Conference REMITS THROWN OUT A discussion on immigration .schemes called forth many eloquent speeches at the meeting of the Dominion executive of the Women’s Division of the Farmers’ Union at Christchurch this week. Mrs. T. R. Barter (Wairarapa) introduced the subject in the form of two remits that the Women’s Division support the policy of ordered immigration of selected and trained British immigrants on a quid pro quo basis .with Britain, as outlined by the Dominion Settlement Association formed in Wellington, and that, in view of the desperate scarcity of labour on the farms and in the country homes, tbe Government be urged to do its utmost to expedite the immigration policy of the recently formed Dominion Settlement Association. “A land of potential developments” was how Mrs. Barrer described New Zealand, speaking of its natural resources of Iron, coal, antimony and gold, its fishing grounds and thousands of acres of undeveloped land. She outlined the scheme of immigration proposed by the Dominion Settlement Association, and said that immigrants would be carefully selected aud trained. She considered that the arrival of, say, 1,000,000 immigrants would largely solve New Zealand’s own unemployment problem, and that these immigrants would share and thus alleviate the heavy burden of taxation per head of population in the Dominion. The reason why the Government’s major schemes of railways, highways and hydro-electric works did not pay was because there was not a big enough population berg. She considered that New Zealanders had no right to complain of the quotas placed by Britain on New Zealand products, when they placed a quota on English immigrants. Lord Bledisloe’s Knowledge. Discussing the Page Croft scheme'of training immigrants at Home and financing them up to a certain point, Mrs. Barrer stated that it would be absolutely necessary to have the ablest men on tbe committee which selected the immigrants. “Knowing how dear this ' scheme is to Lord Bledisloe’s heart, I should like to make the informal suggestion that he should be head of that committee,” said Mrs. Barrer. The fault with the previous selection committees had been that they had been composed entirely of Englishmen who knew little of New Zealand conditions. Lord Bledisloe’s knowledge and judgment would be invaluable. The sum of . £15,000,000 had accumulated, stated Mrs. Barrer, under the Empire Settlement Act passed in England gome years ago, and this money was lying idle. In the meantime, Britain had spent £lOO,- . 000,000 on the unemployment dole, . which showed no returns. If part of 1 this money had been expended settling Immigrants in New Zealand, a splendid , market would have been created overseas for English exports. , Mrs. Barrer quoted Mr. Bernard Shaw of saying of New Zealand: “You , haven’t got a population,” and urged , that in loyalty to Britain and to re- ■ pay to some extent the debt New Zealanders owed her, they should fill their empty spaces with their own countrymen at the right time. The consolidation of the Empire was necessary for 1 defence. 1

Responsibility to Unemployed?

“What about our responsibility to our own employed?” was an issue raised by Mrs. W. J. Polson, of Wanganui. She declared that there was no scarcity of labour in New Zealand, but that the trouble lay in the fact that many of the unemployed would not go to work in the country. “I have seen waves of immigration in New Zealand,” said Mrs. Jasper Clark, “and I cannot say I am in agreement with this remit.” She spoke of her dread of the class of immigrant New Zealand was getting, and said that she still believed that the real solution of the Dominion’s problem lay in the settling of the unemployed on the land. It was hardly likely that England wished to get rid of the best members of her population. The immigrants would be people who had been on the dole, and such people would stay on the dole in a new country. Mrs. C. K. Wilson said that these new immigrants would be settled on the land at the expense of people who had been struggling to make a living on the land for years. Those people who had nothing would still have to pay taxes toward the new farms. Mrs. Barrer, in reply, contended that the new settlers would pay their share of the taxation. As for the unemployment problem, her opponents had admitted by their arguments that they had no valid objections to the proposals. The scheme had been most carefully considered. "British patriotism seems to be taking tbe form of haggling for advantages.” said Mrs. Barrer. “What shrift would our pioneer parents have had if they had been treated as we propose to treat these immigrants?” Mrs. Barrer’s remits were defeated.