The Dominion THURSDAY, MARCH 26, 1914. COMPETITION FOR IMMIGRANTS

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2017, 26 March 1914, Page 4

The Dominion THURSDAY, MARCH 26, 1914. COMPETITION FOR IMMIGRANTS

Though J he competition oi the overseas Dominions ftrt British immigrants shows no signs of abatement, a counter movement, is being set on foot in Britain to put a check upon tlio continuous loss of population by improving the lot u£ the agricultural labourer. The exodus has now grown to such dimensions that a note of alarm has been struck, and there is good reason. Co believe tluit tlie outflow will bis winsideraMy diminished in the near future. In the meantime representatives of the various Dominions are making great, efforts to outstrip one another in their efforts to spcii-re the best type of immigrant, and a ci'biegram which appeared in The DojunioS' a clay or two ago stated that complaints arc being made in Britain regarding some of the methods which are being adopted to induce British workmen to try their fortunes in - the. outlying portions of the Empire. It is satisfactory t-o have the definite assurance of the New Zealand Department in London that, it- docs not countonance "surreptitious touting,"

and. that it is "contort with legitimate advertising," New Zealand wants immigrants, but they must be of the right kind, and the moans used to attract them should be perfectly legitimate and straightforward. It is of coursm.a good thing that the surplus population of the United Kingdom should be kept within the Empire. Every Britisher sound in mind and body is a valu-able-asset, and if he desires to better himself by leaving his native country every effort should be made to give him an opportunity of making a new homo under the British flag; but the_ feeling is growing th.it Gteat Britain is losing something more than its surplus. It is contended that she is parting with elements of her population that she ciwlwt afford to lose.

It seems evident that the exodus cannot go on for ever g,t the present rate, and the fact that the Dominions will not take any but the bast makes the continuous stream of gration a serious loss to the Mother Country. Politicians and social reformers are now giving the problem much attention, and men of -all political parties arc agreed that the time not far off when definite mealufes will be found necessary to cdußtor■aet this drift to other lands. The excess of emigration over iniSnigraticm in. 1912 was 8156,45-1, and the Board of Trade returns published in January show that no-giower than 388,813 British subjects emigrated from the United Kingdom during 1013, of wtojnt 284,663 went to other parts of the Empire and 104,159 to foreign countries. ..British North America absorbed th.e- greatest proportion, 100,303, Australia 56,709, New Zealand 14,2-44, and British South, Africa 10,919, Of the hundred thousand lost to the Empire, the United States-secured £H,ggo. During the last few months there appears to have been a decrease in the outflow. Tlie total -British emigration ■for December, 1913, was 8916,' which is much smaller than, the total for the saute month of the previous year --14,125; and during -the present year the-Canadian figures-have fallen 70 per cent,, cote-pared with the first two months ni 10i;'., while the Australian iignre-s show a drop of 60 fier cent. As far back as last July kiR CiEonGE le.ii), tins High Commissioner ■ for Australia, predicted that a falling-off would take place-, giving as one of the. principal re-a-soils the great improvement in labour conditions in Britain,

If the exodns is considered solely from tho point of view of numbers the drain on the United Kingdom tioes; not appear to lie V6fj severe, for it is far more -than counterbalanced by the . natural growth of population. During the nineteenth century the population of England and Wales increased by KS, 600,080, arid during the first -ten years of the .twentieth century the increase was 3,547,42(5, as agaiiist a,525,2-18 for the previous decade The real cause, of anxiety is to be found in the fact that the Dominions will have nothing to do with weakling! but will only take those who arc; physical ly and mentally .fit, and make a, special point of securing rural worko This means that in addition to the drift to the eiSies the British coun- 1 t-rv districts have to stand the. loss of tho us-r,ids of oversea emigrants attracted by the systematic advertising of tho representatives of the Do mini oils. _A good idea of what is going oil is contained ill th.e following Statement recently made by Mi;. J'OHn BuitxSj Preudeiit of theßo-ird of Trade:

In 1901 tiOiii Hie United Kingdom the! eihijjraLion was 1G per cent. af the MtUTi'sl itecase, Tlie average tot the lost: ■eleven yours was ,13 per cent, of tlvo )ia-■ tipffll -iiie'rdja.fie. The 1010 ein.igfatiah was 47 .per ecu!; oV Uie natural tntiease.. afid in 1011 >!: was fiO per rent. That shoVs that with Ireland shi'iuis and Swift-' land minus I'liprlund and Wales' aloiie f-iijjpJy a margin for em Ij-ratior. by lialuftil in.cteise' u£ bb't'hs , oter deaths. Where yon have a declining birth-rate toisieiding. with a very hi'sli rate fit' eiviigl'atfoi.l,. twtwithsiaiidiivs tliat- sou have mnoh lower death-rote' Hum you previously hud, if means an older population ivliic.lt emigration leaves behind:. In an article in (he Fortuiiihthj lieview, Mil./ Archibald Hupp states Unit tliore is. not only an increasing eomplttilit of shortage of fl&riettl* tural labourers, but that ft- scarcity of workers is also being felt- in many skilled industries. Ail these facts taken together should remind the Dominions that tho time must eoteie when t!}e supply of immigrants {turn the Unikd Kingdom will fee materially lessened, .and that they will eventually have to rely to a much greater extent than at present on the natural increase of their own populations or ou_ immigrants from foreign countries if their idle Inn us arc. to be profitably Settled and their other resources fully developed.