AUSTRALIA’S PERIL

Evening Star, Issue 17792, 14 October 1921, Page 5

AUSTRALIA’S PERIL

THE MENACE OF EMPTINESS. TEXT OF NORTHCLIFFE’S WARNING The purport of the warning which Lord JTorthcliffe issued on the eve of leaving Australia was as under: ■— “This great, empty continent is set in a world which science and engineering make every day smaller. We live in an age which, compared with other ages, is educated and informed. Australia's magnitude and riches and the weakness of its garrison ale known to all overcrowded and ambitious nations in the near north. Probably Governments which circumstance may one day make hostile to the Commonwealth know more about the possibilities of this country as a home for scores of millions ‘of people than is known by most Australians. Australians do not seem properly awake to the fact that they tire in an age which has lately proved itself to be not distinguished by respect for international rights. To”-day moral right to territory'ia in itself no right at all. Moral right must be based on capacity in arms. Among people of relatively equal individual fighting strength capacity iu arras is measured by numbers, and by this standard Australia’s present position and her immediate future are precarious. 1 am deeply impressed with your magnificent natural riches; but 1 leave lovely Australia haunted and saddened by thoughts of your weakness. I have been struck by all you have done in a single century. It is a record of which any young country may he proud. But I am amazed at your indifference to the events and portents in the outside world, and especially in Asia. One can a'most smell the East on your northern winds, yet I have met scarcely a score of men and women in Australia with any sense of imminent danger in which this country stands. Within a fortnight’s steam of your Commonwealth you have thousands of millions of people, ail of whom are crowded and restless, and some of whom ary ambitious and powerful Their yearly increase by birth is more than 5,000,000, yet you go about your work and play as if lust of territory had not all down the centuries been the cause of war, and as if the history of the world had not been a story of tho overthrow oLtha weak by the strong. “MULTIPLY YOUR PEOPLE.” “ The situation is disquieting,” continued Lord Norlhcliffe. ' It is grave, but it is not beyond repair. If Australians could cease always to look inwards at themselves and their local politics and lock across seas more, it would, if I may say so without impertinence, he the saving or the nation. The Commonwealth may still bo saved for the Anglo-Saxon race, and your ideal of a While Australia realised. The key'to your White 'Australia ideal—sure parent of all your ideals—is population. You must increase your slander garrison by the multiplication of your people. Only numbers will save you. Tho .world will not tolerate an empty” and idlo Australia. This continent must, like other continents, carry its full quota of people and do its full share of production. You munt take immigrants—the right kind of immigrants; immigrants not for the towns but_ for the empty spaces. Y r ou have no option. Tons of millions will come to you, whether you wish it or not. You cannot hold up a human flood by a restriction clause in an Act of Parliament. Acts of Parliament have little or no international force. Ambitions and passions are awake on this question of immigration. MAKE A SAFE FOUNDATION. The accident of Janies Cook’s discovery has given yon in Australia tho fleeting chance to found a great nation in tho Pacific. Do not trille with it. Do not allow selfishness and the foolish pursuit of trivialities to distract your attention from tho one great subject which will alone give you security. Make your foundation safe, and play about with social reforms and State Socialism and all the rest of your present small parliamentary stock-in-trade afterwards. I am staggered hv the indifference of tho Australian people to this vital question of immigration. Contrast tho importance of immigration with that of any other subject now prominent in Australia—with tho proposed convention to consider amendments to the Constitution, with tho standardisation of tho interstate railway gauge, with improved communication (cither by steamer, cable, or ‘ wireless with the revision of tho tariff, with such matters as the basic wage, fair prices courts, maternity bonus, the promotion of_Stato lotteries, and tho control of pedestrian traffic in the streets. Some of these matters are of more or less national importance. All loom largely in Cabinets, in Parliaments, on the public platforms, and in tho Press. Tho public mind is full of them; yet, if I can judge by contact with your people, immigration, tho sure parent of all the future greatness of Australia, is entirely neglected. “ I am in receipt of many invitations to express my opinions as a disinterested student-visitor to Australia. I say, therefore, as you ask me, why not at once a bold constructive immigration policy? Wberfi. is the obstacle? Why all the hesitation and fumbling? Vijjv'not at once take steps to establish within two or three years a flow of at least 100,000 people a year to the Commonwealth, with rapid increase to 250,000? Is failure to move due to political fears? If so, such fears are surely a bold and an imaginative constructive proposal, be made greatly popular with Australian electors. OUTSTANDING FACTS. "Tho outstanding facts are: "1. Australia must have the people. “2. The people arc available. "3. Australia can absorb and prosper them, and their coming will profit all clauses already in the country. . “Australia is still in its pioneering stage. The pioneering spirit is still strong in tho people. Australians will applaud great physical development schemes. Immigration can be made popular. Immigration on top of unemployment, as is now being carried on in Australia, spells tragedy for immigrant, unpopularity for the immigration movom--’ and disaster for any Government foolish enough to engage in it. But immigration on ambitious Sues, with a clear goal in view, would mean prosperity for the immigrant and iiN creasa of prosperity, sure defence, and fl realisation of ideals for all Australians, and! great credit to the Government undertaking it. Immigration in Australia ia a nightmare to public men, only because it la being conducted, both in Britain and here, on tinkering, feeble lines. An annual inflow of 100,000 people would mean increased production from every primary and secondary industry, and more work for all classes of workers. It would mean a larger income to every business ami professional man in Australia, and an improved local market for every squatted and ffirraer. Immigration, in short, means wealth, as the United States and Canada, and Argentina long ago discovered. ’’