Empire

British Migration Policy.

The object of Great Britain's policy of oversea settlement is the distribution of the white pop ulation of the empire in the most efficient manner both from the point of view of the economic development of the empire and of its security. The policy is essentially one of close co-operation between the Home Government and the Governments of the do minions. In Great Britain the population is congested, in the over sea dominions there is ample room for additional population, and unless the dominions are peopled with British stock they will be filled with alien people from other parts of the world. A redistri bution of population is recognized as necessary both in the inter ests of the empire itself and also for the reason that the reserva tion of vast areas for settlement by the British race cannot be justified if advantage is not taken of them. Whilst the policy is not a tempdrary one for dealing with depressed economic con ditions in Great Britain it is claimed that its fulfilment should do much to stabilize industrial conditions both in the mother-country and in the oversea dominions.

The British empire includes both countries of emigration and countries of immigration and has its own problems to solve aris ing from this fact. The position created by the restrictions imposed by the dominions on Asiatic immigration has in the past presented delicate problems. By the end of the 19th century the question of Asiatic immigration had become acute in the dominions and re strictive legislation began to appear. After much discussion the

principle appears to have been accepted by all the Governments concerned that the policy of building up new nations within the empire is incompatible with the idea that any British subject, whatever his race, shall have full right of ingress to any part of the empire. At the Imperial War Conference of 1918 it was laid down that 'it is an inherent function of the Governments of the several communities of the British Commonwealth, including India, that each should enjoy complete control of the composi tion of its own population by means of restriction on immigration from any of the other communities.' In Canada, foreign immigration is also causing some concern. During the ten years prior to 1914 British immigrants constituted the larger proportion of Canadian immigration, but the propor tion of foreign immigrants from Europe has been steadily increas ing until it exceeds that of British stock. In 1927 there were 52,940 immigrants of British extraction as against 82,136 from other European countries. This predominance is further accen tuated by the considerable emigration from Canada to the United States, of which only one-sixth, according to the United States statistics, is foreign. If immigration to Canada continues to main tain these proportions it is only a matter of years before the pre dominant race in the Dominion ceases to be of British origin.