Lastly, there is the national question to be considered. Surely it is important that our stock should be kept as sound and virile as possible, and that where a process of deterioration has been detected every attempt should be made to stop it as soon as possible and by every means in our power. SECTION 13.--IMMIGRATION. The Committee feel very strongly that any attempt to check the multiplication of mental defectives in the Dominion will to a large extent be labour thrown away if the greatest care is not at the same time taken to prevent the introduction of feeble-minded and other undesirable persons from overseas. The distance of New Zealand from Europe and the cost of the long passage have on the whole had a selective influence on the character of the immigrants and tended to keep up the standard of quality. As already mentioned, however, serious mistakes were made in the "seventies" of last century. Very striking testimony to this effect is contained in the report of the late Dr. Macgregor, Inspector-General of Hospitals and Charitable Institutions, presented in 1888, an extract from which appears in the Appendix of this report. In the brief space of fifteen years the dire consequences of the mistakes made in previous immigration without due regard to its quality had already become apparent, and in the most impressive terms Dr. Macgregor, who was an exceedingly able and far-sighted public servant, pointed out that the evil done by the introduction of an undesirable class of immigrant is never finished. "The impaired health, low morality, and insanity descend to the offspring, and are a continued drain upon this community." The benefit of a well-regulated stream of immigration into this country is not open to question. A substantial addition to our population is now more than ever needed if this country is to progress and its resources are to be developed sufficiently to enable it to bear with ease the heavy burden imposed on the community by the Great War. The point which it is desired to emphasize is that constant vigilance is necessary to keep up the standard of quality of the new-comers in view of the very natural desire to send off to a new land those who are physically or mentally unable to maintain themselves in the land of their birth. Such vigilance, it need hardly be pointed out, is especially necessary at the present time when the volume of immigration is greatly increased owing to the condition of affairs in the Mother-country. As a matter of fact, there seems no doubt that immediately after the conclusion of the war the system of control and medical inspection was not so strict as it should have been, especially in the case of the Imperial Government's overseas settlement scheme for ex-service men and women. The New Zealand Government, however, sent Home an officer from the Immigration Department to rectify matters and to provide for a more thorough examination of assisted immigrants.