The Wanganui Chronicle. "Nulla Dies Sine Linea." SATURDAY, JUNE 17, 1911. SCOTLAND'S DISAPPOINTING CENSUS.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume L, Issue 12765, 17 June 1911, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle. "Nulla Dies Sine Linea." SATURDAY, JUNE 17, 1911. SCOTLAND'S DISAPPOINTING CENSUS.

The census figures for Scotland recently published in our cable columns emphasise tho uneasiness excited in the United Kingdom by the first, rough returns issued by the Registrar-General's department a few weeks earlier.. When it became known that tlie population of Glasgow, the second white city in tho Empire, was likely to fall short of the estimated increase for tbe decade by about 100,000, a note of positive alarm was sounded. The latest information shows that Glasgow's increase is undor 50,000, and Edinburgh's just 4,000, so the position is unmistakably a serious one. In a letter to a Midlothian correspondent, dated April 23,; the Master of Elibank, chief Ministeri- j al whip, spoke of the "terrible census figures," and declared that the drain j on the nation's manhood they revealed j was a thing which all Scotsmen must. regard as a "mortal danger." And what ho bad most immediately in mint! was not the apparent stagnation of tho citios, but the truly alarming depletion of the rural population. This is, indeed, the gravest aspect of a grave t situation. Under the heading of "Tho ! Bleeding of Scotland," "Public Opinion" of April 28 collected the views on the subject by a number of representative journals, and tho extracts quoted completely justify the description. Of lo ( rural districts enumerated, .when the ; last mail left England, in Aberdeenshire, for instance, Clatt showed an increase of 9 in the population of 425; \ and Oyno one of 42 in 770; and in j t^ach of these there were special reasons for enhanced prosperity. The re- ■ maining 13 suffered between them a < loss of 993, equivalent to about C per cent. This,'too, is a typical region,; and, according to the "Glasgow Herald," | the same cause of decline is cited again and again—the absolution of .crofts and ; small holdings and the emigration,! which commonly ensues. Tnverary, in

Argyllshire, lost a sixth of its people

(hiring the'decade, and the $wo other r returns published for that county show <: a, corresponding decline. From eight £ districts of Roxburghshire (says the I '.'Northern Whig") > decline is recorded s in every instance; while with regard to cl the Kelso region "rural depopulation t is the prominent feature of all the re- } turns." Exery district* except Wick; i in Caithness, for which informattion was available at the end of last month,' : : showed a decrease; in many cases a ; heavy one. Thurso, for instance, fell ; from 5,407 to 4,693. During the same period Keith declined 7 per cent., Montrose .Parish 10 per cent., and Towie 25 per cent. Fragmentary as they are, these returns are yet sufficient to indicate a very serious situation! Taken in conjunction with other recently-published statistics, they are nothing less than alarming. We learn, t for instance, that fewer births —in round numbers, 124,000—-were registered last year in Scotland than for any year, since 1890; and that the birth-rate (25.16 per 1,000) was the lowest on record. "All are agreed," says the "British Weekly," "that the very best of Scottish blood and brain is ; going, leaving the old, the disheartened, and the impoverished." "In his report for last year the clerk to the; Synod of Glasgow, and Ayr said he ha^ granted more emigration certificates during 1910 than in any other twelve months of his ministry. In relation to a church-going people like the Scotch this statement is particularly eloquent. And the tendency it illusti'ates is completely borne out by a summary of the emigration figures for 1910 published by the registrar-general in March. The net outward balance of British sub-. jects amounted to 233,944 persons. 01 these England provided 149,774, Scotland 68,380, Ireland 29,987, and Wales 3.189. This represented an increase on the previous year's exodus of 65.3 per' cent., 75 per cent., 22.4 "per cent., and j 53.4 per cent, respectively. And when; these returns are considered in relation; to the populations of the four divisions of /the" British Isles they are found to be more significant still, for they show, that, while England and Wales together lost .43 per cent, of their. people in this way, and Ireland lost; ,'..69 per cent., Scotland suffered to the: extent of 1.21 per cent., This clearly demonstrates the unhealthy condition of affairs in the north. "Will Scotsmen tamely aqjjjesce in the depopula-' tipn of their country?" demands the "British. Weekly" in its emotional way.? "Will they be satisfied to let it gradu- : ally become a playground for English-; American, and Jewish millionaires? | Will they continue to watch with in-, difference the ■steadY sinking of life and hope, the creeping/ melancholy death that "is invading their glens? j This is a question that ought to be far above party. Is .there no Scottish statesman strong enough and bold enough to' unite his nation on remedial measures? It Will be a great thing to staunch the flow of blood. Once that is dona better days will come." In the letter already referred to the Master of Elibank assured his correspondent that> the ...Government was "fully alive to tho urgency of the question," mid spoke impressively of his belief in "security of tenure,'' "fair rent," and the rest of )t. ' But it is to b9 feared that the problem is of too difficult a nature to be solved by means of Radical specifics. Scotland is by nature a roor country, and to that Is principally due the industrious, thrifty, and resolute chara ter of her people. lv- , crease of wealth has, of course, followed the enormous advance that has been niada in manufactures, and there has consequently been a steady drift of population from the country to the towns. The people who remained on i the land, however, have been a'moot ■as hard put to.-it of recent,years to make ends meet as ever they were, , and with rich new countries like- Canada and the United States lying only a week's voyage away* and earnestly inviting them to try their fortunes there, it is not surprising that they should' have gone in their thousands raid tens of thousands. Though 'varying greatly in strength, the stream of Scottish emigration to the west has ever since the battle of Culloden, in 1745, been practically continuous. When Dr. Johnson paid his memorable visit to the western islands in 1773 he rei marked on the signs, of depopulation on every side of him Emigration in tho early forties of last century set in on ! a large scale, .and was v substantially as-! I sisted by the Government. As lately as j 1886, when rural conditions in Scot-.' j. land greatly exercised the minds of , politicians, Mr. Gladstone (in a con- ' JI versation with Lord Wemyss)j while i . j defending t!io landlord and tenant ,! system as the only right or.c, declared j . ( that "as for these crofters, if they] | choose to remain at home and starve instead of emigrating and flourishing, j lie had no right to run counter to their! j feelings and export them." Passionately devoted as they are to their na-! tive land, tho Scotch have never been | ian unadventurous, stay-at-home people, j and no statesman of to-day would j dream of discouraging them from cmi-! grating. They have, in Professov j Lcd.ic's words, proved themselves "the most arlaptible race in tho history of Europe,, and most eager and most ready I Ito learn from their neighbours and al- j j lies." They consequently make tlu>' best possible colonists, and are wcl«omed in any new country in the j world. To indicate the force they • have become in Canada, it is sufficient-, ! !to state that in 1909 six of the nine' ! l rovincial governors were either j Scotchmen or men of Scottish descent,; smcl many of the greatest industrial undertakings in that country—tho Ca-' | nadian-Pacific railway, for "example^- i j :;re largely controlled by men of tho' | same race. During the first three | months of this year 14,787 persons of ■ Scottish birth left the United King-' clom, and of these 5,995 went to British North America, 1,885 to Australia, nud 1,011 to British South Africa;1 while the United States took the re-1 making 4,32-1. This shows that while' Canada is doing very well out of Scot- j land, and Australia and South Africa

are dong . very fairly, • the United. States is still profiting far too heavily afc the expense of some of the best Hood in the,."United- Kingdom. In tlta same number of "Public; Opinion," indeed, are published extracts from an article in the "New Yorlt Independent," showing whencg the republic procured its best immigrants. From 1790 to ' 184.0' the British Isltw wore the chief" :'source of supply. After that Germany . and Scandinavia : began 'to contributa ?jea\ily, but during recent years there ba's been a steady decline in respect o£-all these countries Austria-Hun-gary, Russia and Italy hare taken . i heir places, and in 1910 immigrants of these nationalities outnumbered those of north-westeyn Europe by four to one. So great has been the drain or. Italy that the Government has taken steps to discourage the flow. The railway and shipping companies are forbidden under heavy penalties to,expatiate in any nay on the attractiveness of countries beyond the sea, and immigration agents of other nationalities invariably receive tho ™ld shoultier. Germany has for some years past i been using administrative influences to the same end, and even Japan is dong all she can to keep her people at . ■ home. Great powers which mean bo retain their rank in the world simplyi cannot afford to let people go in un- > limited numbers, and the United Kingi dom itself may soon feel called upon l to exercise some supervision over the , innumerable agencies at work inducing • the flower of the population to cmi- ) grate. Little is known yet of the [ English, Welsh, and ..Irish census re- • turns, but, as another contemporary • %cry reasonably assumes, if they show anything approaching the rural de--1 population revealed in Scotland somei thing' will no doubl be done very i promptly' to stem the tide.