A MISTAKEN COMPARISON

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 72, 22 September 1930, Page 8

A MISTAKEN COMPARISON

(To the Editor.)

Sir,—Miss Melville's addresses during N.Z. Industries Week are in aid of such a worthy object that it seems a pity to find any fault, but it is hard to pass by her references to Java without comment. To begin with, the lecturer compares j'the area of New Zealand with about one and a half million people with Java, which is about the same size, with forty millions." We will let the forty, millions population stand, though it is somewhat exaggerated; but the area of Java is not about the same size as New Zealand, but is 50,504 square miles—less than half the area of New Zealand. But why is Java brought into the picture at all? Does Miss Melville ask for or desire a similar access of population in New Zealand ? Java was colonised by the Portuguese and the Dutch centuries before the white man came to New Zealand,'and, furthermore, her huge population of (Bay) forty millions are mostly engaged in the productiqn of coffee, sugar, tobacco, tea, rice, spices, etc., for which an abundant supply of cheap coloured labour is essential. Surely Miss Melville does not desire such a state of affairs in New Zealand as obtains in Java. "Fill the country with our own folk," the lecturer goes on to say; but whilst I am strongly in favour of supporting New Zealand industries, it is quite easy to overstock the local market, which is strictly limited, and our chance of exporting manufactured goods to other countries is absolutely hopeless. —I am, etc., L. A. BROWNE. Ngaio, 17th September.