The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1905. EMIGRATION TO THE ANTIPODES.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVI, Issue 30, 4 February 1905, Page 4

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1905. EMIGRATION TO THE ANTIPODES.

rmr the cause that lack* mfittmmm, for the wrong that needs retittamee, Ft the future in the Oietatte*. And the c-oed that we ow 4».

I The conference of Australian State Premiers at Hobart is to discuss the important subject of immigration. A | reaction is noticeable throughout the Commonwealth among the more thoughtful against the cry of "Australia for the Australians/ Sir Horace ! ; Tozer, the Queensland Agent-General, j I has arrived from London to discuss this subject with his Government; and one :of the main portions of the mission of | jMr T. A. Coghlan, the eminent statis- j tician, who is to reorganise the New I South Wales Agency-General, will be ;an investigation of the question of emigration to the colonies. Quite apart from the subject of distance, a strong feeling against Australia as a country to settle in has grown up of late years, and it will now take a great deal of overcoming. Sir Horace Tozer is perfectly outspoken on this subject. " Writing just before his departure from London he emphasised the evil effects that restrictive Federal legislation was having on the public mind. "No one," he declared, "but a resident here, ■ feeling the pulse of emigrating classes, can have the faintest conception of the prejudice now existing against Australian emigration, principally owing to this restriction clause. ,- Statistics show very plainly the effect of the feeling respecting emigration to Australia of which Sir Horace Tozer | speaks. Last year there was a gain Iby excess of arrivals over departures in the Commonwealth of only 1360. But even this was an improvement on 190*2-3, when a lus-; of 4.5C5 was shown. During the decennial rcriod 1892-1901, the gain of the whole of Australia by immigration was only 3,000. Over the aamc period this colony benefited by an addition to its population from out- I side of 35,079, and in ISO 2-3 to the very ! considerable extent of 19,264. Aus- i tralasia sadly needs additional popula- j tion to exploit its resources. While j Europe has 99.00 persons to the square , mile, Asia 48.57, Africa 14.77, and i j America S.9C, the figures for Austral- I j asia are only 1.45. In New Zealand, j j the population is 7.39 persons to the i I square mile; these figures arc better than any in Australasia, with the exception of Victoria, which is comparatively densely populated with 13.67. I And while this is going on the popula- j tion of Australasia is not increasing ! more than 100,000 annually by excess of births over deaths. On the subject of the economic value to a country of the increase of a thrifty I population there is no need to. dilate. j The United States, one of the richest I nations in the world, is the dumping ! ground of immigrants from all countries. In 1904 a vast army of 572J9S steerage passengers entered the States, practically the whole of whom might be regarded as intending to make America j the land of their adoption. It is estimated by Government officials that the immigrant brings with him on the average a sum of £50, so that in 1904, from this source alone, the United States gained in wealth at least £28.639,900, to say nothing of the potential value to the State of the life of a healthy human being. Canada, among British possessions, recognises the necessity for the populating of her immense territories. jln 1902 she spent a sum of 494,842 dolJ lars, or nearly £ 100,000, in encouraging i immigration, and during that year she I benefited to the extent of an addition I to her population of 67,379, or almost double the number who made AustraI lasia their home during the ten years j from 1892 to 1901. * j ! While in this colony our legislaticr. j jis of a somewhat restrictive character. ' : and we suffer, though in a lesser dej gree, from the same prejudice which has j left the population of the Commoni wealth practically at a standstill, the I Government has done more of recent : years to encourage a desiruble class of immigrant than our continental neighbours- The influx of industrious settlers from the United Kingdom under the reduced passage regulations has been ■ s a steadily increasing stream. But it is a question whether we should not benefit ■ much more hugely than %c do from the quarter of a million emigrants who leave the Old Country annually to make a I fresh start in various corners of the i globe. More money spent in attracting ! emigrants of the proper class might i prove a judicious outlay, and for this I reason the outcome of the missions of ! Sir Horace Tozer and Mr T. A. Coghlan, j and the deliberations of the Premiers' J Conference, inasmuch as they affect this question of immigration, has for us a special interest.