Wairarapa Times-Age TUESDAY, APRIL 12, 1938. OURSELVES AS OTHERS SEE US.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 12 April 1938, Page 6

Wairarapa Times-Age TUESDAY, APRIL 12, 1938. OURSELVES AS OTHERS SEE US.

ONE of the latest of a number of visitors from overseas who lias shown a courteous and kindly anxiety to put New Zealand into the way in which she should go is Sir Montague Burton, managing director of one of England’s largest clothing businesses, with headquarters at Leeds and declared to be perhaps New Zealand’s largest individual customer for wool. On the subject, particularly, of our population needs, and the advisability of encouraging immigration, Sir Montague holds the same opinions as when he last visited the Dominion to attend the conference of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce of the Empire, at Wellington, in October, 1936. Holding that New Zealand is not likely to attract any very large number of immigrants from Britain, Sir Montague, as he was reported by a Wellington interviewer, offered the interesting suggestion that “there was only one way to obtain the labour necessary to develop New Zealand’s empty spaces and that was to open the doors of migration to able-bodied people from oppressed countries.” He added on this point

Recently I visited Italy, Germany and the Soviet Union. They remind one of huge concentration camps. Large numbers of people there and in other parts of Europe are anxious to emigrate. I suggest

there is excellent, material there for the development of the Antipodes. As its citizen rolls bear witness, this country has in the past drawn appreciable numbers of acceptable immigrants from the foreign countries mentioned by Sir Montague Burton, and from others. During many years of peace that preceded the Great War, there was a reasonable freedom of entry to the British Dominions by people from various parts of Europe. Tangible progress in appeasement and in the spread of understanding between nations probably is needed to re-establish the flow of foreign migrants into Empire countries. Such a. re-establishment might be welcomed unreservedly, though it is to be hoped that we shall long continue to draw a considerable proportion of our migrants from Britain and other Empire countries.

It was contended by Sir Montague Burton, in the interview mentioned, that the introduction of immigrants would progressively expand our available markets. “It is worth as much,” he is reported as .saying, “to have 200,000 settlers, each earning, say, £4 a. week, as an export market of £40,000,000 a year.” If advantages on this scale were waiting, so to speak, to be picked up, we should obviously be very foolish not to seize upon them. There is the rather important initial difficulty, however, that the introduction of new settlers does not by any means of necessity imply their establishment in productive and selfsupporting employment. Our great immediate problem in this country is not so much the development of “empty spaces” as the improvement of our economic organisation, to the point at which satisfactory employment will be available to all who need it. At present, in spite of having made considerable progress in the recovery of general prosperity, the Dominion has large numbers of men unemployed and thousands of others who would be unemployed if they were not engaged in subsidised work or on public works some of which will impose heavy continuing liabilities on the eoiiiinunity. The first practical step towards opening the doors to immigration must be sb to improve and strengthen our economic organisation that normal and self-supporting employment will be available to all fit and able-bodied Now Zealanders seeking it. When that has been accomplished, we shall no doubt be able to admit and absorb increasing numbers of acceptable immigrants with unqualified advantage to all. concerned.