THE IMMIGRATION SITUATION IN NEW ZEALAND. The immigration situation in the British Dominion of New Zealand is similar to that in the Commonwealth of Australia, the problem of the colony being the encouragement of British immigration and the exclusion of the Chinese. The area of New Zealand, including the Cook and other outlying islands, is estimated at 104,751 square miles, or a little more than the area of the State of Colorado. New Zealand was established as a colony in 1840 and in 1907 it was proclaimed as a dominion. In earlier years the population growth was slow, and in 1861 there were less than 100,000, exclusive of aborigines, in the islands. Subsequent to the latter year there was a rapid increase in this class of the population, as will be seen from the following figures: The population, exclusive of aborigines, by nativity, in 1906, was as follows: TABLE 1.—Population of New Zealand, exclusive of aborigines, by birthplace, April 29, 1906. It will be noted from the above table that 97.62 per cent of the population of New Zealand was born in Australasia, the United Kingdom, or other British possessions. As the native-born people of Australasia are for the most part of British descent, it appears the population of the colony is essentially British. The Maoris, or original inhabitants of New Zealand, numbered only 47,731 in 1906, and the Chinese only 2,570 in the same year. Consequently New Zealand is essentially a 66 white man's country." SOURCES AND EXTENT OF IMMIGRATION. As in the case of other parts of Australasia, immigration has been largely responsible for the growth of population in New Zealand, the "net immigration" or excess of immigration over emigration, by decades, from 1851 to 1900 being as follows: Immigration to New Zealand in recent years has been largely a movement of population from Australia, although a considerable number from the United Kingdom have been admitted annually. This movement is shown by the following table: TABLE 2.—Immigration to New Zealand, 1901 to 1908, inclusive, by country of last permanent residence. It will be noted that more than three-fourths of the immigration to New Zealand from 1901 to 1908, inclusive, was from Australia, 17.2 per cent was from the United Kingdom, and only 6.6 per cent from all other countries. However, although the great preponderance of immigration to New Zealand is from Australia, the following table, which shows the birthplace of recent immigrants, suggests that many of them originally came from the United Kingdom. TABLE 3.—Immigration to New Zealand, by birthplace of the immigrants, 1901 to 1906. |