DESTINY OF THE EMPIRE

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 55, Issue 3929, 21 July 1937, Page 10

DESTINY OF THE EMPIRE

NEW FORM OF UNITY NEEDED. VITAL PROBLEM OF POPULATION. (Written by Arthur Fraser.) The evolution of the British Empire has been accompanied by organic changes in its political constitution, making for equality of status and the growth of independence in its parts. Thus, if the Empire is to hold together, a new form of unity is needed. The accompanying article traces the evalution and emphasises the necessity for a large increase in population in tlje Dominions, if the migratory urge of the teeming nations of the East is to be withstood. An intelligent reading between the lines of the reports of the jliscussions that took place at the Imperial Conference, just concluded, leads to some interesting speculations on the future of the Empire. There was dissension, and it was of a particular nature. Moreover, it came most strongly and very signilcantly from those two Dominions which in point of settlement are eldest in the family of British nations. Imperial unity, as it has been understood in the past, is slowly disappearing. Whether it will be replaced by unity in another form time alone will discover. The fact is that there are signs distinctly discernible in some quarters, signs that may also be assumed to be present, though at the moment latent in others, of a growing desire to work out national destiny without let or hindrance from the parent body or any other member of the Imperial family. There is nothing unusual or even disloyal in such an attitude; it is in fact a very natural phenomenon, and if examined more closely, will be found to be in harmony with the normal process of development dictated by biological law; for we should not forget that the conditions of new habitat may, and indeed do, encourage the appearance and persistence of new genetic variants. It is only to be expected that in time colonists will differ from their ancestral stocks. But, while they are natural, these tendencies, if not understood and related to another aspect of Empire, the aspect of population, may in time defeat their own object and become the focal cause, not of the disintegration of the Empire, but of its total disappearance.

If we are to interpret the signs correctly, we should remember that the British Empire >s a phenomenon of life, and will therefore inevitably conform to the laws of Nature. It is actually and naturally doing this, though because of variations in the ages of its component parts it is not doing it uniformly or at the same rate. The process has a remarkable parallel in the human body. During childhood and youth the body undergoes a process of intersification in which it gathers, stores and concentrates energy for the development and use of its various parts. As these parts develop, they tend to specialise and in a sense lead lives entirely their own. The body becomes, as it were, a city of individual units, each developing is special function. At one period in this specialisation there is perfect co-operation and co-ordina-tion as between the various organs; at this point the human body reaches the height of its power and a psychic balance is established. But from then onwards the process of specialisation starts to defeat itself; the organs one by one cease to co-operate for the common good, and their cencentration for a united power slowly declines; gradually the specialised, individualised organs seemingly become independent of one another, and old age becomes a dispersal of those energies collected in youth. THE FAMILY GROWS U.P. The same process may be witnessed in the family circle. As the younger members grow older they become more individualised, some specialised, more independent, and less concerned witli the actions and thoughts of the parent bodies. The ties of unity become those of sentiment rather than necessity. So it is with the Empire. Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, Ireland, and now India have all gradually become differentiated in form of government and of institutions. Each has slowly attained 'to a position of apparent independence of the parent body to which it still belongs. Canada and South Africa are but one stage ahead of Australia and New Zealand. As with the human body and the family unit the process of specialisation, once begun, must continue; there is no possible retraction. The units of the Empire will become increasingly distant from the parent body and from one another. The task of statesmen will be to find a new form of unity, based upon absolute independence and yet preserving that quality of co-operation and co-ordination which will permit the functioning of the separate parts for the general

welfare. It may have been that the Empire attained its psychic balance during that period between the Boer War and the war of 1914-18, and that now it is tending towards that dispersal of energy through over specialisation which in the human body denotes the period of declining years. Whether or not this stage has yet been reached, it is 'interesting to look into the future

and try to nee the likely results of an . over-stimulation of a natural process of evolution. CAN DOMINIONS STAND ALONE? It is not a question of whether we should try to avoid the inevitable. It is rather a question of whether any one of the self-governing Dominions is yet in a position to accept the consequences of ah isolation which seems to be the natural end of this process of specialisation. Each one of them must know that their power to govern themselves according to the will of their people is derived from a single fact, their membership of the Commonwealth of British Nations. Deprived of this privilege they are more helpless, because they are more valuable, than Uruguay or Albania. Their power, their prestige, their very existence, is due to the fact that fortyfive million people reside in the United Kingdom constituting a valuable market and a force that cannot be lightly ignored in any contemplated act of aggression. The four self-governing Dominions, together with their dependencies and the Rhodesians, represent an area of about eleven million square miles, or about the equivalent of the entire surface of the moon. In that area there are approximately twenty-two million white people, or about two to the square mile. In comparison the number of people per square mile in the habitable world has been estimated to be forty. But in Southern and Eastern Asia within an area little in excess of five and a half million square miles there exist 890 million coloured people representing about 157 persons to the square mile and almost half the total population of the world. It would not be entirely a digression at this point to consider some of the causes of migration from the point of view of biology. In the eyes of Nature man is as much an animal as any other living creature upon the earth. And Nature is not mistaken in regarding him in this light, for there is a measurable similarity between the motives actuating human and animal migration. If in a certain area the number of animals of a certain type becomes greater than can be maintained by the natural resources of that area, a disharmony is created as between that animal and its environment, which results in a depreciation of the possibilities of life. Animals seem capable of sensing this disharmony and the urge to migrate becomes present among them. They move, or at any rate a number of them move, to another area which is sufficiently similar to the one they have left to permit them to regain that state of harmony which is necessary as between themselves and their surroundings. We can draw a parallel with man. Between himself and his surroundings a certain harmony is equally necessary. If circumstances er conditions should so change as to destroy that’harmony, he, too, is possessed of the idea of migrating elsewhere. The changes that took place in Europe during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were of such a nature as to cause a migratory urge among the peoples of that continent. This period may well be termed the surging time of European population. At the time of the European migrations there were vast areas of sparsely populated territories in various parts of the world. The migrants took possession of them because the indigenous populations were insufficient to retain them for themselves. By the beginning of the twentieth century the whole world was politically and occupationally claimed. The peak of the European migratory urge was passed. ASIA’S MIGRATORY URGE. The migratory urge for Europe has ceased; indeed, there are signs on all sides that the population of Western origin is tending to decline. But because the urge to migrate has left Europe, it is not to say that it has left the world. On the contrary, there is abundant evidence to show that it is merely passing from the continent of Europe to that of Asia. There is a serious problem arising within the Empire itself. Conditions in India are such that the urge to migrate is already present. In the ten years between 1921 and 1931 the population of India increased by as much as 34,000,000; that is an average of 3,400,000 per annum. In the United Kingdom, the Dominions, and the Rhodesias there was an increase of approximately half a million white population in the year 1934, or about one-seventh the average annual increase of India during the ten years mentioned. Conditions in Southern and Eastern Asia are such as to indicate the imminence of a migratory urge from that quarter. Where are the migrants to go? Indians have already proved themselves better able to work and breed in South and East Africa than either the white or the black peoples; at’the present time the immigration regulations prevent their exodus from India to those parts, but can mere political regulations and prohibitions continue indefinitely to stem the pressure of numerical desire? Australia and New Zealand lie exposed to the pressure of Eastern Asiatic swarming, how long can they resist that growing pressure with their present populations? Canada has a dual problem to face. There is presently the drag of a numerically greater State on her southern border which is depriving her of a number of her citizens each year by its greater attractions and opportunities. But in the United States there is a curious situation arising. The northern States

there is an abnormal increase' of population taking place in . those States of the South. It is conceivable that a time may come when the northern thrust of population pressure will overspill the Canadian boundary. LAW OF NATURE AND LAW OF MAN. Whether wo choose to regard the Empire as a, single integral unit or as a congeries of States loosely collected under the imposing title of Commonwealth of British Nations is of rather greater importance than is perhaps generally appreciated. There is not a single Dominion in a fit state to throw off the bonds of union or take a line of independent action. Could Canada, Australia, New Zealand or South Africa hope for one moment to retain their territories either by the - sword cr by argument as nations acting independently of one another? The laws of Nature and of biology are strongger than the laws of man. Unless considerably more attention is given to the problem Of peopling the eleven million square miles that constitute the independent Empire by the various units having authority over its several parts, the biological need of migration in Southern and Eastern Asia will become an overwhelming force that will not brook resistance, and the weaker, population will be extinguished.

Changes measurable and immeasurable are taking place during every second of time. Population is in a constant state of flux. Every hour that passes registers a change in the age structure of society and the economic place of every individual in that society. An analysis of the three census years 1911, 1921 and 1931 in the United Kingdom and the several Dominions reveals the alarming fact that in all cases the balance in the age structure is steadily veering to what may be termed the death chambers of society. The numbers in the age divisions from 45 onwards is increasing consistently, while those age divisions from 0 to 25 are numerically decreasing. Immigration laws, restrictions and prohibitions will not be sufficient to combat indefinitely the impelling forces of the laws of Nature and biology. We cannot compel the adoption of birth control methods in other countries, neither can we change a philosophy that encourages breeding among its adherents. The only alternative left to us if it is our desire to prolong the existence of an Empire in which the individual is free to what lie likes, think what he likes, and say what he likes is to see that the "terri-

tories of that Empire are peopled by sufficient numbers to justify their retention by the existing population. We cannot alter the course of a natural evolution, but we can take those measures that are necessary to bring the course of that evolution within the bounds of human control. The gravest problem facing the several Dominions is not whether they should act in unison with the Mo.ther Country and one another or whether they should make public and perilous international demonstration of that degree of independence to which each has in theory attained, but how and by what means they can increase their numerical strength to that point when the occupation of their territories by their own peoples can be justified according to the laws of Nature. The immediate needs of the Dominions can be met only with the assistance of organised migration from Western States; their future needs rest largely, if not entirely, in their own hands and depend upon the national attitude towards the perplexing question of the birth rate.