The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. MONDAY, JUNE 12, 1911. IMPERIAL EMIGRATION.

Auckland Star, Volume XLII, Issue 138, 12 June 1911, Page 4

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo.

MONDAY, JUNE 12, 1911. IMPERIAL EMIGRATION.

Wr the mmb that lecU mestetemoe, Wr the tcrono that _md. rctUtmnc*. Wr the Tntmre in the di-taoct, Am* Out good that toe m» da.

The resolution submitted by the Australian delegates to the Imperial Conference in favour of encouraging emigration to British colonies rather than to foreign countries naturally commanded the support of the whole body of colonial representatives. As a matter of fact, this suggestion merely reaffirms one of the motions carried at the last Conference in 1907, and the comments made upon it by Mr. John Burns indicate that the Imperial authorities have attached considerable practical importance to it. For Mr. Burns was able to show the colonial delegates that the proportion of j British immigrants secured by England's oversea dependencies had increased within the past four years from 54 to SO per cent, and that the type of emigrant had improved as well. These figures evidently produced a favourable impression upon the delegates, for after Sir Joseph Ward had pointed out that 80 per cent was quite as large a share of the United Kingdom's surplus population as the colonies could expect to receive, Mr. Fisher and Mr. Batchelor agreed to modify their resolution so as to express full approval of the good work already done by the Imperial Government in this direction; and eventually an amended resolution to this effect was carried at the suggestion of the Colonial Secretary. In considering the way dn which the Imperial authorities deal with emigration, it must always be remembered that the problem is by no means so simple to England as it appears to us. As Mr. John Burns has pointed out to the Conference, England has but a small annual surplus of births, and with the depiction of the natural sources of supply it would be clearly unsafe for the United _Bt_g_o__ to export men and women too lavishly. And quite apart from the necessity for keeping up the level of population at Home, we must remember that the Labour party and many of the advanced Liberals are not inclined to look favourably upon a systematic policy of emigration. For the Labour leaders have always recognised that while emigration relieves the pressure of population in the congested areas at Home, _t must inflict a certain amount of harm upon the industrial classes by depriving them of a Ja.rge proportion of their best ■men and women. Even in these days of quick transit and rapid ca___.u__ca.tion, only people of exceptional iutellugence can come to appreciate the advantages of life at the other side of the world under eonditiojis entirely unfamiliar to them. Generally speaking, it is the more energetic and enterprising section of the I people who are induced to emigrate, and at is precisely these that the country can worst afford to spare. These considerations are quite sufficient to explain why itthe Imperial aWihorities idSeprecate a reckless and indiscriminate policy of cmi- ' gration. 'though they are naturally anxious that' the British Colonies should secure the largest share of their exported surplus. But while we freely admit that the Emigrants' Information Department at Home is doing a great deal for the Empire in this way, we can hardly he.p observing that, following the accepted traditions of British officialdom, it is evidently anxious to keep its work entirely to itself. The Federal Minister for External Affairs complained, probably with reason, that' there is not enough precise information about the various •aolonies available for intending emigrants at Home, and he suggested that this defect might be remedied df representatives of the various Dominions were attached to the Emigration Department. But Mr. Harcourt was opposed to any such change. It is true that he was able to | offer a plausible excuse for his objection, by pointing out that the presence of representatives of rival colonies, each bent upon exploiting the Department for the benefit of his own country, might lead to unpleasant and dangerous competition. But we do not think we are uoing the Colonial Secretary any injustice when we suggest that the motive which chiefly actuated him was the desire to I retain the -complete management of such affairs in the hands of British officials. This bureaucratic conservatism has always been characteristic of the Colonial Office, and the strenuous opposition offered to Sir Joseph Ward's scheme for a complete reconstruction of England's colonial administration illustrates precisely the attitude that many successive Colonial Secretaries ,have taken up toward any attempt to secure for the colonies themselves a share in the management of their Imperial interests. We may console ourselves with the reflection thai these discussions will necessarily do a great deal of good; but we are evidently still a long way from the point at which England will be prepared to "run" her Empire with the active cooperation of the .Dominions on partnership lines.