Evening Post. THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 1938. MORE PEOPLE—WHENCE?

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 152, 30 June 1938, Page 8

Evening Post. THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 1938. MORE PEOPLE—WHENCE?

In the past the main source of migration to swell the population in the different Dominions has been the United Kingdom. In the cases of Australia and New Zealand it has | been almost the only source, other countries contributing only a fractional percentage of the settlers. For the first time in the history of Britain it is now suggested, at least semi-officially, in a report prepared by the Overseas Settlement Board, that the Dominions should absorb foreigners, i According to a cable message received from London today, the report "expresses alarm at the decline in the Empire's white populations and suggests that Britain may not be able to supply sufficient settlers." The board therefore recommends the Dominions "in addition to admit a carefully regulated flow of foreigners of assimilable types, preferably from countries whose inhabitants are of the same stock as ourselves." It should be explained that the board is a representative body and that among the members who have signed the report are several prominent people like Lord Ba.rnby and Mr. E. T. Crutchley, who have a personal knowledge of the oversea Dominions. For such representative people to confess frankly that "Britain may not be able to supply sufficient settlers" is a sign that the difficulty of populating the Empire with British stock has at length come to be realised in the Motherland of the Empire herself. It has already been realised in this Dominion for some time past since the publication of pamphlets" and articles by close students ,of migration and demography, like Messrs. A. E. Mander and Arthur Fraser. The declining birth-rate in both Britain ,and the if not actually as yet entailing the "decline ill the Empire's white population" mentioned in the cable message, certainly augured at an early stage a stationary population as a prelude to a decrease, and foreshadowed an end to Britain as a source of immigration to restore the balance of population ■ in the Dominions,

« The report of the Overseas ment-Board is of great importance to the-Dominions j and to New Zealand in particular, because' it may be taken as afr r authoritative intimation of the attitude of Britain and the British Government. The wording is weighty and serious, as the following passage reveals:

The problem of strengthening the Empire by migration from the United (Kingdom to the Dominions is difficult 'and urgent. and cannot be properly envisaged in isolation. The problem can only beysolved if the Governments and peoples realise its importance and co-operate wholeheartedly for a solution. It is;.- only from the viewpoint of strengthening the Empire as a whole that encouragement of migration from the United .Kingdom can be justified. The position of the. Dominions, as relatively thinly-populated areas, facing i a highly-competitive world, demands that the natural increase in the population should be supplemented by immigration, and the board urges that this should occur immediately while Britain is still able to supply migrants.

If this passage is studied carefully it will be seen that the attitude of the board is that' immigration is far more vital to the future of the Dominions than emigration is to the future of Great Britain. This interpretation receives a measure of confirmation from the next statement:

It is emphasised that it is a profound misconception "to say that migration would cure unemployment land depression.

It should also be emphasised for the benefit of opponents of migration in this country that . the statement expresses the British point of view and "migration" means "emigration" and not "immigration." At the present time it is felt that Britain needs her able-bodied men and women and the rising generation to help her to face her own problems of defence and industry. _ A process of internal migration is already [doing much to correct the disequilibrium of the "depressed areas with their high percentage of unemployed, and the rest ol the country where there is a keen demand for labour. The emigration of Britain's unemployed, the board s report suggests, "would only harden the Dominions' attitude and give migration a bad name." In these respects and in its advocacy of a "planned policy the report is a. clear corollary of the arguments presented in this country by the movements interested in migration. That Britain and the Dominions «should share equitably the financial burdens of migration is fair. The contention that "migration cannot be regarded as a matter of bargaining, and should not be directly related to the question of increased markets for Dominions produce, nor offset against the introduction of a given amount of capital" may he taken as a reply to the arguments of members of the Labour Government in New Zealand often publicly put forward. It is noteworthy that the report "opposes land settlement schemes, apart from exceptional circumstances." This no doubt refers to the failure of Australian schemes for the settlement of migrants and echoes the unpleasant impression left by them in Britain. The approval of "social insurance

proposals in New Zealand, Australia, and Canada" is designed to meet the natural objection of British migrants to leave a country where similar schemes have long been in force for countries where either there has hitherto been no counterpart or where the immigrants may be debarred by the residential qualification from receiving full benefits. The advocacy of "increased communications between Britain and the Dominions," and "an exchange of visits, including organised visit® by workers and school children," is all, to the good and fortified by the experience of the last few years. The cable message does not amplify the suggestion of securing migrants from countries outside the British Empire. This may be left to the early future; the task for the immediate present is to secure the best possible migrants from the Old Country while they are still available. It is high •time the Government took the problems of population and migration seriously.