EMPIRE MIGRATION.

Evening Star, Issue 19412, 22 November 1926, Page 6

EMPIRE MIGRATION.

The Oversea Settlement Committee of the Imperial Conference is not dismayed by the very slow rale of progress achieved in the redistribution of the white population within the Empire. Putting a really excellent face on the matter, the committee reports that mass movements of population would be impracticable. However, an. acceleration of emigration from Britain since 1921 is recorded, and the need for a still more pronounced movement of people is stressed. Naturally it has been found that the movement is most rapid when the general prosperity is greatest, when capital is available, and when employment is plentiful. There appear to be two factors which retard this ambitious Empire scheme. One is the tendency of prosperous times to recede ever into the background. By prosperity is meant nob the accumulation of capital in a few hands, but the distribution of wealth equitably amongst the whole community. Heavy taxation, to which all countries in the Empire are now subject, not only reduces the amount of wealth in the community but appears to have the effect of concentrating it in fewer hands, and unfortunately not generally in the hands of those who hanker to invest it in a scheme mooted as indispensable for the well-being of the Empire, if not for its actual presei> ration as such. Another drawback, as the committee points out, is that the bulk of the British populatipn, especially that part of it which Britain can spare, is urban; whereas the overseas dominions primarily need agricultural development. There is, however, no dearth of instances of adaptability among British immigrants. Recently, when the British Parliamentary delegates were in Victoria, one case was brought under notice—that of a man who had worked for the greater part of his life in the heart af London as a needle pointer and a maker of the delicate machines used to prick the eyes in needles, and became a successful farmer in the Malleo country. “The very best man who ever came to us from overseas ” was the description of him by an Australian who has been instrumental in opening up thousands of acres of Malleo land for cultivation, and has made it a principle to find employment for British migrants and assist the promising ones on to farms of their own. The case mentioned

above was not an isolated one. Fifty per cemt. of the migrants to the Mallee country have proved OKcellent farmers, keen to adopt modern methods. There really does appear to be in Australia a firmer belief in the country’s ability to receive immigrants than is the case with New Zealand. “We have room for ten million settlers in the Murray Valley,” declared one prominent resident of N.E. Victoria who has helped in the making of humdreds of new Australians. Here on the other hand the cry is being raised that there remain hardly any vacant spaces that could be brought into profitable occupation. One facto, which should help in the retention of people within the British Empire is the virtual closing of the door to migrants to the United States. Those who do seek to emigrate from Britain perforce turn their stops towards some part of the overseas dominions with but few exceptions. Year by year Australia’s and New Zealand’s gains by immigration are increasing, while those by the United States are shrinking. In the' ten years ending in 1920 the American gain by immigration was 1.49 per cent, per annum, and in the same period the Australian gain was 2.17 per cent, per annum, and since 1920 the America! rate has decreased and the Australian rate has increased. One question that needs investigation is whether the greatest increase is likely to come from the source almost exclusively desired, Britain. Occasionally one hears protests from Australia against the influx of immigrants from Southern and Central Europe. These people have as a rule hardly any means and are not assisted to migrate by beneficent Governments. Stern economic necessity has driven them. But it appears that substantial inducements have to be offered by Home and overseas Governments before many of Britain’s surplus population will consider trying their fortunes abroad. Is it that they will not contemplate working so hard and living so frugally as the migrants to Australia from Italy and elsewhere in Europe? If so, it may be that their hardihood and independence have been undermined by the dole. It is early yet to assess the possible trouble there may be in the assimilation of immigrants from many sources. It is interesting to note that America has faced such problems and has at times been scared by them. In the earliest days there were doubts whether the contents of the melting pot would really melt. Eighty years ago American publicists were throwing upon newcomers from oversea the blame for the wholesale corruption of city government. Today the same phenomenon is to be obI served in Australia.