Immigration Policy

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 159, 23 July 1937, Page 9

Immigration Policy

REVISION NEEDED "Land Bias" is New Zealand's Handicap DECLINING POPULATION The following articl© in th© London Daily Telegraph, by Mr. G. F. J. Dart, a resident of New Zea.land, is written with particular reference to conditions in New Zealand, but the author raises somo points of wide significance in dealing with the general question of Imperial migration. The danger of a declining population which England is facing is equally' ominous in New Zealand, There are two sources of increase — in the first place, the natural increase of births over deaths, and, in the second, immigration. In the early days of New Zealand' s history the natural increase was unusually high — 29.41 per 1,000 — largely owing to an abnormally low death-rate. ln.1934 it had fallen to 7.99 per 1,000. Moreover, the low death-rate, which can scarcely fall lower, entails a less favourable age-constitution of the population. The desirable proportions at reproductive ages are not being maintained. On expectation-of-life figures for 1931 it has been computed that a natural increase rate of 15 per 1,000 is necessary for equilibrium. Increase by immigration, which might liave helped to modify the figures, has actually, over the last four years, turned out to be a deb'it — probably natural enough in iace of the recent depression, as it can be paralleled in the depression period of 1880-1890. Essentiai To Eiupire. It is to be hoped that sonie kind of a Btatement of immigration policy will soon be published througliout the Empire. A solution of present difiiculties must be found. The existence of the Empire may depend on it. Seasons usuaily given for resumption of migration are becoming familiar; relief of congestion in the manufacturing cities of England and the subse-. quent improvement in the health and prosperity of the nation, and the filling — for reasons of defence, which are becoming pressingly obvious — of those areas of the Empire which are at present so defenceless. There is perhaps another reason too, ill-defined and rarely expressed but none the less powerful. It is simply that recent trends have suggested that, on idealistic grounds the aesire to reserve areas of the world for the British race is not without justification. Thanks to its geographical position, with a population of 10,000,000 — instead of the present 1,573,000 — New Zealand would be impregnable against foreign military domination. With a population of 5,000,000 it would be an extremely difficult nut to crack. The security of the other IDominions must similarly be enormously increased as their populations rise.

All of British Stock. New Zealand's population has come almost entirely, directly or indirectly, from the British Isles, On the resumption of immigration the same preferences would exist. But in a few years this source may be no longer available if the population of the British Tsles starts to decline. It would be well if no short-sighted policy had persisted in directing imroigrants only to the land. Recen\ responsible utterauces give grounds for hope in this matter. Yet the old gospel of "immigration to the land" is sti 11 preaohed — particularly in the Domiuions, which ought to know better. Now the prosperity of New Zealand bas been and is based on the prosperity of large run-holders. That land bas long ago been taken up. There is tio more of it. Its only possible availability is through further sub-division, aud that cannot be looked for — yet. Dairy-iarming ranks next in importauce to sheep-farming. All the good dairy land in New Zealand is taken up. So is the mixed farm land. This, too, ean be made available only through subdivision.' Until a larger market; in fact. if Britain's population declines. it is going to diminish. In the past these considerations have been set aside, invanably with unhappy results. The "standard of living in many of the more out-of-the-way and poorer districts in Now Zealand is deplorably low; unlined, illrepaired wooden h/ises, frequently with no earpets or coverings of any kind on the floors, and with scanty t'urniturp. are the homes of many hundreds, In such regions the mental and uioral standard uas also fallen. re?tile Land Mytb. ,

Such conditions are, of courso, not general. liut they exist and warrant uotice sinco they exist primarily because of misconceptions, still provalent, about the Utopian fertility of the land, and wliat might be called un inflated land-immigration policy. Kecenfly in England 1 was amazed bv coustaiit rofe rcnces 1 heard to thc cbauccs ot "muking a fortune" m tbe couutry from which I had como. Yet 1 could see all round me better and more prosperous farm land than I had ever seen in my life. I am not trying to run down my own country. I am trying to eonvey ceftain facts which should prevent misunderstanding. Wakefield, for example, the famous coloniser of New Zealand, -lixed the value of land .on quuntity. not on quahty, under tho tragic delusion that quality must be more or less constant. The conditions I have described are the diroct resylt . It must be remembered that tho original settlers xvere men with sulficient initiative to face a long, and. in those days, dangerous sea voyagc. They wero a liardy I ot., well suited to the qrduous life they were to lead, the.oretically excellent material for the nucleus of a nation. The only tronble was there were too many of them. 'tne tuan might have succeeded where fou'l'ailod.

Japan's Failiire. This story of failur© has been repeated down tg the present day. No statistics of the success or f ailure of the thousands who canie to New Zealand between 1920 and 1930 are available, nor would they be inueh use if they were, but the fact that the policy of assisted immigration was drhsticaiiycurtailed before the depression set in is very suggestive. Should there,. one may ask, be any i'orm, of bias in the settlement of iandi Japan has a surplus population of which she is desperately anxious to be rid. Ker scheme for pianting immigrante in 1'ormosa 20 years ago was a f ailure. She has not succeeded in pianting more than 2000 families in Manchukuo, which absorbs only a negligible proportion of agricultural immigrants. At the same time "unbiased''1 emigration from Japa^ to Brazil is at the rate of 6000 a year, and would be more if .tho Brazilians were agreeable. For the future, however, it is imma-' terial whether a biased form of immigration is theoretically sound or not. A contmued decline of population of the British Isles would certainly iimit both the numbers and the type of inamigrant to New Zealand. At present it is doubtful whether England would be willing to spare either agricultural labourers or her tenant-farmers or farmers with eapital. She will certainly not do so in the future. Those who advocate immigration to tne land as the only form of immigration conceivable will be unable 'to put their plans into practice. But the problem must not be considered dnsoluble. It will be necessary to take into account the only type of immigrant available from the British Isles — the industrial work-er. the coalminer, and the operative, Young Fit Anywhere. By far the most effective kind of immigration, which does indirectly take this into account, has been that organised by such institutions as Dr. Barnardo's Homes. The material they supply to the Dominions promises to turn out some of the be'st, and the young people 's training is completed in the land of dts adoption — an obvious advantage. The youth of the immigrant makes it unnecessary to bias his future occupation. He is able to fit into anything that is available, aiAi to wbich be is suited. But even with such schemes working at full pressure, togetlier with Fairbridge Farm Schools and the Big Brother Movement, I still fail to see that the populations of the Dominions will rise to any important extent. A useful leavening would be supplied, however, especially an view of two further matters which arise. Immigration by aliens has always been repugnant to the Dominions and the Empire. Nevertlielcss, it is in progress. There is a steady stream of Southern Europeans entering Australia. Offieial figures for alien immigration into New Zealand are very low, but are increasing. It may come to be deemed wise to consider the possibility of a controlled and assisted scheme of alien immigration. Chance for Industry. The other point — and to this I attach importance — is the question of a policy of industrial expansion. New Zealand is very well suited' to be an industrial country. The climate is one dn which white people can work with the maximum efiiciency. Factory f sites are cheap, and are available in positions where there is unlimited water-power. The resources of coal and dron are enorinous. Oil discoveries are continually being reported. True, the European markets are a long way oif, but the enormous and largely untapped markets of India and the East are not so far awayi much closer, in fact, than they are to England. And the high cust of labour does not necessarily mean inability to produce a ckeup article. High cost of labour also oi'tcn means a high class of labour. In any case, in tho' face of these difficultios industries of a curiously diverse^nature have already established thcmselves in New Zealand, have competed with tho foreign article, and have eventually been succossful enough to be able tq build their own factories in England. Failure to enlarge the industrial capacity of the Dominions will defeat oue of the main objeets of immigration. At present the dron deposits in New Zealand are unable to be worked economically because tho consumption of iron in the Dominion is not high enough. In view of future defence problems tbis is a serious inatteT.