THE GROWTH OF THE WORLD

Timaru Herald, Volume LII, Issue 5163, 9 June 1891, Page 4

THE GROWTH OF THE WORLD

We extract the following from an article on the recent census m Great Britain m tlio Daily News : — " When our first census was taken m 1801 we were less than eleven millions'in all m Great Britain. When our last was taken, ten years ago, wa were all but twenty-sir mil-ioc. m England and Wales a'one. The population of tbo wholo United Kingdom at that time was about thirty : fl re millions and a quarter. We Had increased at the rate of 931 a day for every day of tbe ten years. The curious thing is that all this time instead of our overtaking the means of subsistence, the means of subsistence have been Overtaking us. There is more to eat m the country than ever tbere was, though not all, alas, can get at it. A few decades more, and they will wonder how thero could ever; have boen any difficulty on that point. Our present condition of persistent growth is enough to jnike Mr Maltbus turn m his grave. His ghost should walk at the bare mention of the fact that m 1881 the population of the Empire waa 254,187,000. Worse remains behind. Ihe censuß of India has just been iaban, and the returns for that depondency alone is 285,000,00 C, or over 30,000,0.0 more than the population 'of tho whole Empire m 1801. Tho increase is, of course, m no small part due to annexations ; and, if we are to include the latest acquisitions iri Africa and m other', part*, wo shall probably be on tbe way to a total of 400,020,000 when the next fuU count waß made. What is to be done ? Beally nothing but to ask those who add jnillions to our number with one stroke of the pen to b ■• -"i careful as they can. To talk of governing ail these people is tbe merest joke. It is evident that, m some delightfully unconscious manner, they govern themselves. We have Mjlved one of the problems of the higher pnysic3: onr Empire is a sort of selfeiistent universe. To think of it as a thing to be looked after and schemed for m any considerable detail would be to lose all power of thinking. We can but rub on; ami surely never was a scheme of that kind attempted on suoh a scale. Perhaps all questions, when onlytheir proportions are vast enough, settle themselves m the same way We seem always to be playing for tho gambler's stake — •doublo or quits. If the entire solar system were accessible, we should certainly muddle our way jeto solar totals by the next decade."