The Timaru Herald SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 1938 PERILS REPOSING IN EMPTY SPACES.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLV, Issue 21186, 5 November 1938, Page 8

The Timaru Herald SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 1938 PERILS REPOSING IN EMPTY SPACES.

Because of the potential danger that reposes in empty spaces in sparsely-populated yet pleasantly habitable Dominions within the Commonwealth of British Nations, it is not surprising that the Duke of Devonshire, Parliamentary Undersecretary of State for the Dominions, has again drawn attention to the need for the implementation of a comprehensive migration scheme —in other words a better balanced distribution of white population. It is perhaps pertinent to point out that although attention, and close attention, too, is being paid by the Mother Country and every Dominion and Crown Colony within the Commonwealth of British Nations, to the vital problems of defence and international trade, in spite of imperial conferences, discussions in London in which representatives of the Imperial Government conferred with High Commissioners and Agents General, debates in the House of Commons, nothing constructive so far has emerged to provide for that further development, without which neither trade nor defence can be maintained, namely an increase in the man power in the Dominion countries. Some months ago, Mr J. Henderson Steward, member of the British House of Commons, drawing attention to the weaknesses in the armour of the Commonwealth of British Nations, presented these somewhat staggering facts: “Despite all that has been done, despite the improvement in communications, the advance of natural science and the development of industries, 49,000,000 of the 70.000,000 white population of the British Empire still remain congregated in the British Isles. “Canada with an area of 3,500,000 square miles, maintains a population of only 10,400,000; Australia, with 3,000,000 square miles, only 6,700,000; New Zealand, with 105,000 square miles, only 1,500,000/ and South Africa, with 472,000 square miles, 9,500,000. “It is a staggering reflection that at the same time, England, with only 51,000 square miles of land, provides work and accommodation for more than 40,000,000 persons.” In ordinary circumstances, so glaring a maldistribution of people would probably bring about its own remedy. As a matter of stark fact, the reverse is true. Not only has migration practically ceased, but the birth-rate in almost every country within the British Commonwealth is falling; “In the United Kingdom the birth rate was once 36.3 per 1000, to-day it is 14.7. In Australia it has slumped from 27 to 17.1; and in New Zealand from 27 to 16.6. In Canada, save in the French Province of Quebec, the decline is no less serious. Only in South Africa, with a rate of 24.4 per 1000 is any improvement to be found.” Some idea of the seriousness of this problem will be gained from the considered conclusions of the authorities in vital statistics, who insist that a birth-rate of not less than 19.5 per 1000 is needed to keep the population at its present level. There are, we know, valid objections to planned migration on anything but the most insignificant scale, but objections must be overcome if the British Commonwealth of Nations is to survive; indeed, the United Kingdom Government and the Governments of the Dominions will be compelled to put their heads together in an attempt to evolve a wide and constructive scheme calculated to bring about a better distribution of population and a sounder basis of national and commonwealth security. Manifestly, it was the realisation of the danger that is imminent that prompeted the Duke of Devonshire to declare in the House of Lords the other day: “We can take it as a fact that unlss we can populate the Empire within a reasonable time, then someone else will populate it for us.”