NEED FOR MORE POPULATION

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 223, 17 June 1944, Page 8

NEED FOR MORE POPULATION

Auckland Organization

GOVERNMENT ACTION WANTED Dominion Special Service. AUCKLAND, June 16. ‘‘There are millions of people in Asia looking for a place in the .sun.” said Mr. J. Abel, honorary organizer of the Dominion Settlement Association, addressing a meeting in the Town Hall Concert Chamber on New Zealand's population problem. .Australia and the other Empire countries had realized the danger and had acted, but nothing haefbeen done in New Zealand. „ . , The question facing New Zealand was either to populate or perish, said Mr. Abel. Before the depression years New Zealand had a certain surplus of immigration over emigration, but those years. 1031-35. saw more people leave the country than enter it. The surplus of emigrants was 11,000 in those years, and though there was again an increase in immigration in the last few years it was not sufficient to alter the position. He emphasized that, what was proposed was a long-term plan, and that adult immigration would only follow the rehabilitation of the men who had fought overseas. Figures were quoted showing that the percentage of old people in New Zealand had increased and was .continuing to increase, while that, of young people was decreasing. If the trend continued, there would eventually be insufficient young people left to support those on social security. That the greatest obstacle to an increased population was housing was true in the cities, and it had a tremendous bearing on the question. Others would say that finance was the trouble, but it could be shown against that that men on the higher incomes in cities had the smaller families. The moral outlook was important and there the Church would have a very large part to play in getting people back to a Christian way of life. There was also the question of educatingthe people to eliminate, wrong-thinking about having large families., and giving to motherhood the dignity it deserved. In New Zealand only four per cent, of the population had four dependent children and only one per cent, had six. The remedies, the speaker suggested, were, in the first instance, child immigration from Britain and from Europe, and the provision of housing and economic benefits that would make the raising of families a paying proposition for young couples. That assistance should take every possible form. Though the association had been trying unsuccessfully to get. the Government to do something urgently, the Prime Minister was wholeheartedly behind it. On the motion of the mayor, Mr. J. A. C. Allum. who presided, it was decided to form an Auckland branch.and a provisional committee comprising Canon R. G. Coats and Messrs. L. A. Eady. J. IV. Manning and N. B. Spencer was appointed. It was also decided to call on the Government to take urgent steps to investigate population trends, foster child immigration till the national inquiry could be made, and plan now for post-war immigration, i