The Hawera Star. THURSDAY, MARCH 22, 1928. U.S.A. ATTRACTS CANADIANS.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 22 March 1928, Page 4

The Hawera Star.

THURSDAY, MARCH 22, 1928. U.S.A. ATTRACTS CANADIANS.

Delivered every evening by b o'clock in Hawera. Manat'"., Norma nby, Okaiavsa, Eltham, Mangatoki, . Kaponga, Alton ( Hurley ville Patea, Waverley, Mokoia, Whakamara. Ohangai, Meremere. Fraser Road, and Ararata-'

Canada, like America, has its immigration problems, but it has n.o-t yet gone to the- lengths adopted by the United States in .restricting the influx of foreign-born peoples. Just now Canada is not concerning herself so- greatly over the exclusion of undesirables as she is over the need for attracting British peoples in larger numbers and for holding .back her native born citizens from the attractions which exist for them over the border. Canadianborn Britishers are not subject to America's immigration quota systemj they are free to enter the States an any numbers, and the fact that they do migrate in a fairly steady flow is proving disturbing to the Canadian Government. Recently the Quebec provincial authorities and the Federal Government at Ottawa made grants of money to be used for the- repatriation of Canadians from the United States. This seems a peculiar form of immigration but it is logical enough under the circumstances which prevail in the big Dominion. There have been two currents crossing the- long frontier. Each year, some thousands of young Canadians are attracted to the United States by prospects of high rates of pay and opportunities for advancement. These- emigrants have been, for the most part young men, especially skilled workers, ■whose services have- been in great demand in all parts of the United States. At the same time there has been a steady stream of emigrants from the United States to the Canadian West. Cheaper land has been the magnet which has caused American farmers, most of them with substantial capital, to trek across l the border to take up land under conditions very similar to those they had left behind. These men make excellent farmers and are made welcome, as from an economic point of view they arc a valuable asset to the country. But in this interchange of population it is considered that

[Canada has lost many more than she has gained. For some time past, Quebec has endeavoured to prevent 'the emigration of her young people, which threatened to assume alarming proportions, and the 'decision to assist any willing to return will create no surprise. Admittedly the hulk of the Canadian population to-day has a pride in the dominion’s status as a British nation. But immigration from the United States and from the alien countries of Europe is proceeding at a rapid rate, and these people, usually without any love for Great Britain—in many cases rather the reverse—are .becoming a power in the land, particularly in the graingrowing provinces of the West. In face, then, of .the danger resulting from this peaceful penetration by peoples who cherish little esteem for British traditions and who are strangers to the sentiment of Empire, there appears to be sound grounds for the movement by patriotic Canadians to hold on to the Canadian-born, and to assist those of them, who have emigrated to the United States to return to their native land. The industrial development of the great dominion will undoubtedly exert a powerful influence in this direction, and by offering employment to skilled mechanic,s will correct a position that was no doubt responsible in the past for heavy migrations to the United States. The steps taken now to populate Canada’s vast territory will have an im-'portan-t .bearing upon the future development of the country commercially and politically.