“Taranaki Central Press” SATURDAY, MAY 8, 1937. THE MIGRATION PROBLEM.

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 428, 8 May 1937, Page 4

“Taranaki Central Press” SATURDAY, MAY 8, 1937. THE MIGRATION PROBLEM.

a In his plan for a well ordered scheme of migration Mr C. J. B. Norwood, of Wellington, has put the cart before the horse. He says that with a population of five or seven millions the Dominion would be able to consume at least 75 per cent of its agricultural products and import a greater volume of goods from the United Kingdom. But his mind is running entirely on the fertility of the soil and while he “sees no objection to bringing a considerable number of skilled artisans from overseas provided reasonable safeguards are adopted,” he hopes for the increase in population from those who derive their living from the soil, and he would build up his millions of people by importing them and placing them on the land. But there his arithmetic breaks down. The percentage of agricultural products to be consumed on the home market would vary in inverse ratio to the number of people on the land, and on Mr Norwood’s plan the New Zealand market would consume nearer 25 per cent than 75 per cent of the product of the army of agricultural labourers with which he hopes to populate the Dominion. New Zealand to-day with a diminishing number of agricultural workers can produce more than the British market can take. Even in Great Britain the agricultural workers in the past twelve months have shrunk by 5 per cent, although the production per acre of a diminished area of land under cultivation has risen sharply. New Zealand’s urgent need at the moment is not settlers, but tradesmen who will swell the urban population and provide an increasing home market for Dominion primary products. That is tne only plan worth pursuing for the next few years and, fortunately, the rrime Minister has endorsed it in his statement that there can be no return to the old system of immigration, and that people w°JhXm Onl Zealand niust brin § their jobs One important fact that cannot be ignored in any immigration containment ? § greater eC ° n ° mic