MIGRATION POLICY

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 176, 26 June 1937, Page 11

MIGRATION POLICY

IMPORTANCE STRESSED. ADDRESS TO It.S.A. WELLINGTON, Juno 25

Urging upon the annual conference of the New Zealand Returned Soldiers’ Association the importance of immigration to New Zealand, Mr A. L. J-lunt, chairman of the Dominion Settlement Association, said the apparent impotence of the Imperial Conference on the subject of migration was a catastrophe and that petty party politics was the cause. The R.S.A. has, according to its annual report, consistently advocated immigration under a planned scheme or schemes. Mr Hunt remarked that the association did not need to bo convinced of the necessity of immigration, because it had already passed a favourable motion. Public interest was being aroused in other Dominions, and the Government of Great Britain was favouiably inclined. A promise had been given that the question would he considered at the Imperial Conference, hut those interested in the subject in New Zealand had bejn staggered by reading in the Press cables that immigration had not been mentioned in the official report of the conference. The fate of New Zealand might have been turned there. After all the preparation the question, second in importance to defence, had not been considered. Petty party politics had been at work in the conference. If lack of population was the cause of many of the ills New Zealand was suffering from, which his listeners would not deny, why was immigration not in the forefront of New Zenlnnd politics? Petty party politics was the trouble. Were his hearers going to allow that? Some politicians had token up the work, including the president of the New Zealand Returned Soldiers’ Association, Hon. AY. lurry, and Hon. W. E. Barnard, while Sir Allred Ransom had spoken about it the other dav. Some politicians were hampered by party ties. One heard the building of a railway Station described as progress, but was that alone piogress ? “WILL COMMIT SUICIDE.” Quoting lit. Hon. M. J. Savage’s statement at a meeting of the Overseas Settlement Board, in England, that as long as Britain restricted purchases of Dominion produce it was of no use planning to send out more people to raise more ol that produce, Mr Hunt said that that must have caused smiles because it was saying: “Unless you take our goods we will commit suicide.” Britain could live without migration, although the Prime Minister’s statement implied that migration was conferring a favour on Britain. New Zealand in the past had worked for posterity, but what would happen when the nation got into its mind that it was decadent and petering out? j nut was a deadly psychology that must bo reversed. Mr Hunt said lie had no political bias, but the absence of results from the Imperial Conference, so far as immigration was concerned, was a catastrophe. If New Zealand did not obtain immigrants within the next ten years it might not ever obtain them, even trom the European Continent. The president, thanking Mr Hunt, said that a remit on the subject would come before the conference, and lie was sure it would receive the attention its importance demanded. Answering a questioner who asked what guarantee would be given that the errors of previous immigration schemes, which resulted in unskilled men being brought into New Zealand and becoming a charge on chanty, would not be repeated, Mr Hunt said his organisation did not support past schemes. A man who was brought out must have a position to come to and not aggravate unemployment. “It” is difficult to understand why sucli a large number of the citizens ol the Dominion, and particularly many of the men in high and responsible positions, shun the population problem and show such great apathy to the subject which means so niuph to the future of the Empire and this Dominion,” stated the as:relation s annual report in a reference to migration. “The lack of finance handicaps the Dominion Settlement Association in its endeavours to cultivate the minds of the public of New Zealand so as to appreciate the wisdom and necessity ol increasing the population of this Dominion, and, in order to show a practical interest in the problem, jvour committee donated the sum of £2O to this organisation.”