PLAIN TALK

Greymouth Evening Star, 14 December 1938, Page 11

PLAIN TALK

SELFISHNESS OF DOMINIONS. Plain talk to Australia —and also to New Zealand is indulged in by the writer of an article in the “Nineteenth Century” on the subject of immigration, “While it appears,” he says, “that, a species of genius attached to the endowing of the Dominions with complete political freedom, the fact remains—the Statute of Westminster notwithstanding—that most of the selfgoverning countries under the British Crown are still, and will long continue to be. dependent both economically and strategically upon Great Britain. This is certainly’ true of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.” For all the constitutional independence of the Dominions, the article proceeds, foreign countries know full well the quarter on which they in fact depend for their existence; and this does r.c,t make the task of GreaL Britain in maintaining friendly relations with foreign Powers any’ the easier. Because none of these latter can understand why Great Britain, paying- the piper, does not call the tune. 'i'ln-. attitude of certain of the Dominions is very like that oi the dog in the manver, and this is, specially true of Australia, whore a mere 7.000,000

people are holding up the proper development of a country rather larger (han the United States. Whether Australia could ever support .” population co ll-valei)l. to that ot the United States of America, i- purely an aca 'emit quest ion at. this stage. No one with any kuowkltdge of this island continent would deny that it could support quadruple its present population; and so could New Zealand, which now has only 1,500,000 inhabitants. Indeed Canada’s 11,000,000 might at least he doubled without any great penetration into the far north. On the other hand, South Africa, with its .1,500,000 whites and D,000,000 natives, lias not much room to spare. it is Australia, however, which must appear to the rest of the world as.the most selfish of all countries. Geo-

graphically’ this vast island would seem to be the natural outlet for the surplus people of Eastern countries whose teeming hundreds of million inhabitants have no chance of achieving in their own lands those higher standards of living which contact with Western civilisation has made them arpir.e to.

Nevertheless, Australia puts up a colour bar and says, in effect, “none but white men admitted.” This would not be so bad if white men were, in fact, admitted in anything like the numbers requsite to the White Australians’ establishing a moral right to maintain to exclusive a policy.

WAGE-CUTTING FEARED

But what are the facts? So jealous are the Australians of the living standards they have succeeded in establishing that a majority of them regard every’ new arrival as a potential wagecutter, and, in consequence, immigrants are frequently subjected to both social and economic ostracism. Aiul any Government which essayed to encourage the immigration of Britem; and Contientals on the scale which sheer commonsense demands would lose office at the next elections; and both Federal and .State elections are held every’ three years. I know there are hundreds of thousands of Australians who deplore this attitude of their compatriots, but the 1 (ter arc. in the majority, and the re-1 suit is that more British-born people have left Australia than have gone! ;i:t i during Lite past seven years; and) there is a public outcry every’ time ai hundred Italians or other Contin-! etituls arrive. ■ • New Zealand’s migration policy is' similar to that of Australia, but, being! a much smaller and relatively much more densely’ peopled country, it is a great deal less in the limelight. Canada has, of course, admitted consider-1 abule. numbers of Continental settlers, but there have been singularly few from Great Britain, or even frdni the Continent, in recent years. In the estimation of most people in Grdat Britain, the V. hito Australia policy is understood and sympathised

with, but what is inexplicable is that the Australians, determined as they j are to exclude Asiat’cs and coloured peoples, are not st:ahiing-every nerve to build up their population at least .rein Great Britain, as well as (..’ontii.it.ntnl countri<-..-. A wire mixing ot' foreign im inirr-'its in isolated areas, coupled with an insistelnc<? on English being taught in schools, would ;.’. obubly produce a new generation v. hese members in the aggregate would be far more loyal to the country’ of their common adoption than to any of the individual countries . from among which their progenitors had migrated. Far be it. from this writer —who is an Australian—-to discount the wonderful development which has been achieved in parts of this island continent by u population much smaller than that of

G;eau.;- London. And we may all rest assured that it will never be forgotten that 460,000 Australians —every man a volunteer —sprang to anus in the common <aus<\ of Empire in the dark days of .1 hl 1-18. All 1 want to stress is that I lie present policy of Australia is doing so much to aggravate Lie •’have-not” countries that not only Australia but Great Britain may have to pay dearly for such folly.