Population Problems

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 27, 16 February 1937, Page 7

Population Problems

H.

linyabb,

(To the Editor) iSfr, The address delivered by the llon. W. E. Barnard, M.P., in Hastings, clealing priiujipally with the low birth rate and the prpsent lack of immigfation served to remind us that there are problems to bo dealt with in New Zealand that will keep people mentaljy oeeupied for generations to cgjne. There wero, however, severn! matfers he diseiis'sed whioh are open to question. Eor instauoe, his reference to the statement made in 1914 by an Oriental, that if we did not use our land as we shguld someone else would, the obyioijs inference being that if we quickly d.id not get New Zealand more thickjy popuj lated we would be very soon over*run with dark-skinned people. This may be I a eommonly aqeQptfed view because of i our elose proxlmity to crowded Jkpam I but it is far frQm being the truth. Mr ! Barnard wpuld not Jike to accept responsibility for soma of the thiogs Sftid j on foreign shqres by individuale of gur own raoe, and it is hardly fair to place 1 Ihe responsibility of a nation 's outlook . upon the shoulders of one of their nnmI ber who happens tq inake a passing i comment. It is a tragedy that so little is known amongst our own people of the true aspirations of Oriental lainds, No matter what onr education and culture may be it can only be , made more real to us as w;e leara somej thing of the culture of men in other lands. It is true that Japan is overcrowded, but is New Zealand the only place to be thought of in sqeking frgsh fields? It would be safe to say that New Zealand does not enter her mind as a i prospective colony. What about the territory Japan holds at the pregent lime which is quite suitablo as an out* . let for a surplus population ? The tsland of Hokkaido does not by any aieans carry as many as it is gajjable of (lying. it olfors better opportun^ties t'or economic development than any ulher part of Japan. What about Horea and its place in ihe thought of Japane'se emigrati.onf They have owued fhig place i'or 20 years. During this period Japan hap settled 500,000 people, less than oue half of Japan 's yearly increase. Eormosa^was onca considered a good place to reeeive Japan 's (surplus, but during the 40-qdd years under Japanesa control, only about 200,000 Japuoese have settled tbere. There are reuaoug ior the apparent failure to coloiriso ,the possessions she holds, but emigratiou, as well ae immigration, is a big business which some of the wcsteru powers liave proved to their eost. At the preseilt tijne Japan is makh'g a desperute attempt to coloni.io Maneliukuo. During tho ncxt five yeara sho will speud large sums of mqnoy far tluiSl purpose. Heeing that the natural increase m Japan 's population is ovet oue million a year, it will tako more uioney than an;y Labour Govqrniaeilt in ihe world could lind before oveii a i'riuge of the problem was touched. The empty spaces of Australia are spokcn of, particularly northerh parts,

but aqcording to Sir Baldwin Spettcer, pregideht of the Auatralian Astsociation for thq Advaucement of Science, ' Asiatics had th© opportunity to gettle in Aufctralia long beforo 'white man occupied it, but did not do so because of tne vagarieg of SOil and climate in the north'em parts. ; As far aa the populated areas are cgncernedi Au^ti&lia'ft population has grown at a steady fate. Erqni 1913 to 1933 there was aa jucfeap.e of over 3'5 per cent. When a oountry is depondijig on the gxport of its primary products for a living, close Bettlement is a danger. To place people Pa the land, which any country with open spaces would hive to. do under an irainigratioa scheme, vaat suma of rocraoy would. be required, Seven hundrod million pounds of Australia 's pulilic debt have beon used t'oy this purpose. E. W, Eggleston, leader of the Australian group at the Conrerence of the Institute of Pacific Kelations, writing in Paciflg Affairs states that irhinigiants are mere dif5cult to provjde for than natural increase. Australia, he wrote, jncreased hgr pppuiatign too rapidly, and if she continued to do iu as she did in the boom period, shq would reach her maximum population in 2010, I.n this article the Hon. F. W. Eggleston makes this elear, ^'Greatef population is nbt essential for the dofence of Australia, Australia derives moSt of its high atandards from expgrra of wool and wheat, but interruption qf its sea-bojrne trade Jwpuid makq Australia poorer; it could not ensure defeat, Vacant spaees afe the most difficult to attack; ' Australia can . dei'end the settled ureaa. ' 1 Perhaps it would be only right to mention that Asiktica are not kept out of Australia and New Zealand because of their alloged inferiority, but because raoial charaqteristics are difficult to a&similate. Jt would be an everlasting monaco for both parties to have their political inatitutions in eQhfliet. Whilst men of onf's own eolqur may differ, they at least should understand oue another, With men of a different eoL onr, the racial ciiaracteristics are such that little prbgress wpuid be. made and the diferences impossible to adiust, Wespgnsible Asiatic statesmen are as much alive to thi§ prgblem as many of our own statcsmgn, and aro a» keen to presefve thq purity of their racq ag thq white man is desiroqs qf preserving hie, Immigration schemes ' have always had theif problems and always' will have, New Zealand is ndt ihe only country that is cgacqrned over itS population. ^ Thg could fecd about l&O milliQna more people from its own resouvces. The Argentine eould take more people. If the bjrth rate ffi U.S.A. continties to drop, 36 per ceht of the population in I98Q will bo over 5Q yeara of age. Englaud 's pogitiqn is alpfi serious, as indicated by Sir Wm. Beve^i(1^* It; 3S CQsting Germany four .hundfed miliion marks a year to try and sqlve the ^ast problem. Jtaly'a dcspffiate and • Qptly attempt is inaking littlu headway." How can we expept people to cotno to our shores when tlie countries that are supposed to ,bo overcrowded are. looking to their own people for a natural incease? An inter-dopartmental eommittee has been set up in England under the chairrnantship of Mr Malcolm MacDon-

ald "for the pnrpose of making rocommendations, in the light of past experience, a/3 to the extent and manner in which, if at all, the United Hingdom shQuld in future encourage ahd assist migration from the TJ&iied Hingdom to the overseas parta "of tho British Etapire, ' * We have to face the fact in cpnsi.dering immigration, even as far as New Zealand is concemed, that no scheme ean be a suecess nnlesg it is based on these three fnndaffientala: The welfare of tho country from which people come, the welfare of the country to which people gp; aird tho welfare of migratory people themselves. It must never be the function of the Dominions to attempt to mahe a convenience of oversCas population by bringing in men when labour is scarce and repatriating them when l&bour ia cheap. In an editorial of the 'Do161^0^ * mentipn was made of thiig' problem, and it was suggested that while this cquntry cguld ehyry more' population the GoYcrument should at least lind out the reasQns why so many desired tq leave it, To maka any appreqiable diffiqrcnCe in our numbers we. shall re^uire vast sums of money. Gone are the dayu when men sought adyenture, snd apart from the few who have the wanderdust it is going to be increasiugly difficult to o'fer men that sense pf seeurity which mamny of the olde? countries are ' giving tq their qwn people. The' sums of money that are being" spent in Hngland on Health is a sufS.gjent ihdication that she is tryiug to proteet her natural increase, and fhe sums qf pqni ey spent on ho\ising shows that she is solving her own problems of overcrowdi ing. If the newly-formed Eiva Million Glub can arreat the fall Qf ouf qwh birth rate, it will have the envy o± other natiqns, bnt, as a Chiuwse pfoverb puts it, MIn the multitude of sons thai'e is safety. ' ' New Zealand's majojr problem is her natural ipereaae as this is the most satisfagtory and the oheaptrst way of inereasing a popula-

tion. — xours, etc.

Hastings, February 15.