WHITE AND BLACK.

Greymouth Evening Star, 1 July 1911, Page 5

WHITE AND BLACK.

A DIFFICULT PROBLEM. (Per Independent Service). LONDON, .Tune, 19. The question with which the Imperial Conference was chiefly engaged to-day was that of Indian emigration. The Earl of Crewe, Secretary for India, by whom the subject was introduced, said he had come to the conclusion that if any question threatened the well-being and actual existence of the Empire it was the difficulty between the white and black races. ' The British Government recognised that it was impossible to maintain a free interchange of all subjects. Nobody could dispute the right of the dominions to decide whom they should admit as citizens, though an improvement could be effected by the cultivation of a mutual understanding and by a recognition of the general claims of British Indians to friendly treatment as loyal subjects. Sir Joseph Ward pointed out that New Zealanders objected to the way in which the blacks competed with them. White and coloured labour could not work together, and each should stay in its own zone. Sir Wilfrid Laurier agreed with these views. Mr Batchelor, Commonwealth Minister of External Affairs, advocated a frank recognition of the attitutde adopted by the dominions, as there was no possibility of that attitude being altered. They were anxious to remove anomalous restrictions, but local conditions must be considered first-