THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES TUESDAY, JANUARY 15, 1923. WHITE AUSTRALIA.
The challenges which are periodically directed against the White Australia policy are evidence that the last word has not been said on the practicability of its attainment. In certain circles, no doubt, Lord Leverhulme’s misgivings will be scouted as expressive of a purely capitalistic view and as entitled, therefore, to no particular consideration. Nevertheless the view expressed by this influential English industrialist is worthy of being pondered and it cannot be lightly disregarded. As an ideal of the loftiest conception White Australia must command respect and \ excite sympathy, but if in practice it is doomed to failure it may bo mischievous and even dangerous. To people a great continent and retain the purity of the whife race is an aim of the highest character and the success of it would constitute an important British achievement. Its consummation must not, however, be too long delayed, and it is this point which creates serious searchings of heart among those who are more than favourable towards the ideal-. The question cannot be settled permanently by abstract reasoning, and it is not sufficient in order to justify the ideal to prove merely that white men and white women can live in a condition of virile health in the Northern Territory. In this practical age, if Australia is to be kept white, the country must be developed by white people. Neither is it sufficient to populate the fringe of the country and to seek to prove by isolated cases that the rest of Australia can be inhabited by British stock. The population simply must be there for the dual purpose of proof and for the protection of the country. Generally the Labour Party may be accepted as the most uncompromising and consistent supporter of the White Australia policy, but it canuot be regarded as the mast intclii-
geut interpreter of the responsibilities that are involved in the pursuance of the principle. Were it otherwise the party would, more than all other parties, give its support to schemes for the immigration of British stock and would pay some attention to the necessity for defence. Population and a reasonably strong defence force would strengthen the case for a White Australia as nothing else '-can. Without these the prospect is not by any means clear. All the very excellent reasons—biologic, social, and industrial—in favour of the policy will avail little if Australia remains empty and without a defence force to back up her ideal. Lord Leverhulme believes that coloured labour is necessary to develop the resources of Australia —to do the donkey work, as he puts it—and as a captain of industry he views her vast stores of potential wealth which simply await the application of labour and machinery to transform them into means to satisfy the needs of the human family. Scores of millions could be supported in the fullest degree of comfort by an application of such a plan of development, but in view of the Labour Party’s opposition to very mild immigration policies it may be anticipated that Lord Leverhulme’s ideas will be derided as the rankest heresy. And yet time may prove that he was the truest friend of the White Australia policy, realising clearly the difficulty of developing a tropical country without the assistance of coloured labour. The bungling and failures in the development of the Northern Territory of Australia should at least have created doubts as to the possibilities in that direction. There is no lack of well-wishers outside the Commonwealth towards the White Australia policy, but it is to be feared that within Australia itself too many have adopted the policy from purely selfish motives and too few are prepared to translate the belief they have expressed into deeds of accomplishment.
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Otago Daily Times, Issue 19069, 15 January 1924, Page 6
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630THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES TUESDAY, JANUARY 15, 1923. WHITE AUSTRALIA. Otago Daily Times, Issue 19069, 15 January 1924, Page 6
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