IMMIGRATION

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume I, Issue 189, 28 July 1911, Page 11

IMMIGRATION

The Secretary of the Brit'sh Immigration League of Australia made a speech in London on Juno 16th on the question of considerable importance both to the Ccmmonwealth and Great Britain. Summing up the results <.f extended and painstaking ,i‘ s ’rvai.i.ms, lie assured his audience that Australia is to obtain Hie imlitmn to her population, and of i»?c right lend, which is so urg mfiy rmjuir. cd, there must be a sou syi-tmi of organised immig-.ti mn It would, of course, be a great mistake to suppose that nothing is being done to attract such emigrants as are likely to become useful and prosperous citizens. The scheme by which numbers of the surplus youth of Britain’s overcrowded cities are enabled to seek their fortunes at the Antipodes,, after receiving on the spot some preliminary instruction likely to fib them for the pursuit, is alreadyproving a success. Equally hopeful are the prospects of the model township founded near the Queens-land-New South Wales border. But Mr. Easton has reason to apprehend a regrettable dissipationof energy in the multiplicity of philanthropic associations in Great. Britain for the encouragement of immigration. He would like tor see them combining their efforts; nor is he convinced that sufficient attention is paid, either here or in Australia, to the main principles on which every endeavour to promote migration should be based. It would seem indeed that the only practical means is State-aided immigration, even to the extent of giving the equivalent of a free passage. It is the best way of securing emigrants of the very best stamp. And the sooner Australians face the question squarely th» better it will be for all concerned. Public opinion in England will not be slow to support any well-con-sidered plan, for in every quarter there is an increasing perception of Australia’s immense capacitieaas a field for popular immigration which grows with the knowledge of her vast and amazing resources. It will be strange and deplorable if the disinclination of some Australians to encourage the influx of new but British blood should interfere with or delay the adoption of measures which could not fail to prove beneficial.