The Dominion THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1927. MR. AMERY SEES FOR HIMSELF

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 16, 13 October 1927, Page 10

The Dominion THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1927. MR. AMERY SEES FOR HIMSELF

After his experience in South Africa and his first glimpse of Australia, the British Minister of the Dominions has thoroughly convinced himself that personal observation is worth “years of reading books or dispatches or even conversing in London with visitors from the Dominions.”

There is no doubt about this. Books and dispatches may present reliable facts, conversations may elicit informative impressions and personal views, but from none of these agencies _ is it possible to sense the atmosphere of a country and its activities, to form a true mental perspective of dimensions, distances, and progress, to gauge the dynamic strength of a new nation’s vitality. For these estimates personal observation, on the spot, is the best and surest guide. Mr. Amery’s experience in South Africa will no doubt have revealed to him' the real strength and significance of the flag controversy, how much of it is mere propaganda and how much inspired by genuine feeling. It will also have shown him the profound difficulty of the colour question. Both these are questions touching our Imperial relationships, for their ultimate solution depends upon the ability of Imperial statesmen to find common ground with their South African colleagues. And these are but two of a number of important South' African matters at issue at the Imperial round table.

In his Australian and New Zealand tours he will encounter persons and opinions representative of questions peculiar to these Dominions. There is the matter of trade reciprocity, and the allimportant questions of naval defence, communications, and migration. On the last-mentioned subject he said in Albany, “I believe we can supply you with the best material toward the building up of a white Australian nation.” Nobody doubts this, but many regard the question as one of perplexing difficulty. He speaks of “a steady flow of migrants,” but we in New Zealand have found that a steady inflow of new population is a proposition subject to economic exigencies.

The subject of migration heretofore has partaken largely of academic discussion. Actual experience of comparatively modest experiments in Imperial migration has not revealed the true solution. It has merely shown us the pitfalls. It has been pointed out that the whole atmosphere of this question is different from that with which it was invested in the earlier days of colonising. The present theory of the matter, from the British standpoint, is that emigration policy must be directed to encourage Englishmen of all classes tq settle abroad in order to obviate the dangers of overpopulation and alleviate economic hardships. This, ■ remarks Mr. W. H. Carter, in a recent issue of the Contemporary Review, may seem strange to a people whose sons for generations past have readily undertaken the task of building up an Empire and colonising the most unlikely parts of the world. “Conditions have changed,” says Mr. Carter. “When a man knows that he may have to seek employment in the colonies for fear of not finding an opening at Home he will be hardly likely to see emigration in the light of a glorious adventure.” In other words, the problem has developed a new psychology, which is likely to increase its difficulty. The solution would seem to lie in tentative experimentation until theory and practice have been successfully , co-ordinated.