Truth THE NATIONAL PAPER THURSDAY, JANUARY 24, 1929. People North And South

NZ Truth, Issue 1208, 24 January 1929, Page 6

Truth THE NATIONAL PAPER THURSDAY, JANUARY 24, 1929. People North And South

TF the early Maori wars proved- a bar to the development of the North Island and were a stumbling block to the settlement of the country, their cessation prefaced its advance by leaps and bounds. To-day, the North Island carries 68.87 per cent, of the New Zealand population. Bight up to ! the census of 1901" the balance of population wa ; s m the South. The locking up of large tracts of Maori land m the North had some effect on the early colonization of this island. When this hindrance was removed the settlers entered upon the land m greater numbers, until to-day the North has 300,000 more people than the South. Closer settlement and smaller holdings have attracted to the North a larger percentage of immigrant farmers. The South has room for a greater number of small farmers than it at present holds. Though there are large tracts of land bordering the Southern Alps totally un suited for closer settlement, some of the major southern provinces contain land admirably adapted for purposes other than those for which they are used at present. An unequal balance of power m the House m the past may have had something to do with the rapid advance of the North. This factor, however, does not wholly account for it. . . >. During the period from 1860 to : 1870, when the South was being populated at the expense of the Nor£h, the marked increase was due to the mining booms m Otago and Westland-vpurely ephemeral population increases. Westland, sometimes termed the Cinderella of the South, was f or : years a striking, example of false progress. Some .of her towns to-day stand empty aii&de-. serted landmarks 'of a once busy population. , The gol4 fever, moreover, left behind it a stagnation that, -has taken years to combat, and,,except ;■ for her timber, the West Coast has relied oil her, coal industry to show a -trade balance.. Her farming interests arc small, and up to a few years ago were practically negligible. . Until farm lands nearer the bigger honic markets are -all closely settled, the coast lands, more difficult .and expensive to | place on a payable basis, will await the overflow. When- this region, carries the same population as m 1870, the South Island census will show figures as high, as those, pertaining to the North," if not higher.