"ACROSS OUR NORTH."

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1549, 19 September 1912, Page 5

"ACROSS OUR NORTH."

THE SHADOW OF THE SWORD. ADDKES.S MY CANON OAKLAND. : Canon Garland, of Brisbane (Queensland), who is at present conducting an, organising campaign in New Zealand* under the uiiHiier-s of the Dibile-in-Schools i League, .was th"; guest of the New ZoaInnd Club at luncheon at) tho Y.M.C.A, • , ! yesterday, the Hon. C. Si. Luko presiding over a 'fairly large gathering of members. | Australia'* Need. Replying to the ollicial welcome extend- ' c-rl to him, Canon Garland, delivered a bracing address on Imperial Defence from ' I the Australian standpoint. Australia's need, he said, was population, a speeding- ■ up of the rate of increase in the peopling of that immense country which lay ci- i posed to the menace of the territorial aggrandisement of the Oriental races. Tho i aggregate population of Australia and New Zealand was about 5! millions, and the growth of that population was almost stationary when compared with that of Germany, the United Stales, hnd tho Eastern nations. Under the most favourable conditions it would tak« a white lace eighty years to double itself, i bat nnder even the very worst conditions a coioared race doubled itself in (JO years. While tho English women were presenting the growth of population, the woinen. of Japan, for example, had an opposite ideal, for the nation recognised that the appalling loss of life in the Husso-Japaiie-e war had to bo compensated for by a restocking of the people. Japan 10-day was more powerful in the I'acitio than Britain was in the Atlantic. Tho ' Chinese and Japanese shared in nn innato hatred of tho 'Australian, and if Great Britain wcro engaged in a European, war, and tho excuse offered for 'an invusioh of Australia from the East, the Commonwealth would bo crushed by sheer weight of numbers. Tho greatest, event in tho history of the world had just ' happened—China had become a republic. Japan, he fuggcslod, was behind tho Chineso revolution, and a junction of these two forces would, in cll'cct, reduce Australia's "White" legislation to so much waste paper. What was the use of this legislation, which he upheld, if Australia was without the means to enforce it?.

What Happened at Timor. "Three weeks ago, in the Island of Timor, 400 miles away from Port Darwin, 23,000 Portuguese soldiers were required to defeat an insurgent force, and subdue a rebellion inspired, 1 Bolemnly believe, by a foreign Power," said Canon Garland, "for the rebels were equipped with up-to-date weapons. The ascendancy of a powerful foreign nation in' that part of tho world would be a menace to Australia, for Port Darwin, the key to tlio NorthernTerritory, Would be at its mercy. I do not suggest who that Power is, but what wo 'havo to remember is this; Port Darwin, the back-door to Australia, is Hie front-door lo tlio teeming millions of tho Orient." . , ~ , What was to be done to guard the gate and the country within? asked (he f\peaker. The answer was summed up in one word—population. "Our birth-rate. has. fallen, and we nro now suffering- for our own faults," ho said. The problem, of tho emptv cradle suggested an examination of present-day condition's of living, and tho removal of the cause which postponed Ihe marriage ajjo till a comparatively late period in life. Labour and Immigration. Hut there was another problem which' affected the population question, and that was the problem of immigration. During the last ten years, from 1902 till 1911, tlio increase of population in Australia wai onlv 100,820, a paltry figure for that iminensoi territory. Canada, in one year, had received into her lerritory three times that number, and during (he last, ten vears (he aggregate increase was 100 limes that recorded for Australia. ' I.iMlo Mew Zcaland-I uso the phroso \n no disparaging sense—has accounted for ciiilit times as many immigrants in the Inst ten years as has Australia," said the speaker. Taking last vcar alone, Australia had only accounted for 70,000 immigrants, which was quite, inadequate. Three weeks ago a letter appeared in an English paper from the Builders' Labourers* t'tifon of Adelaide, stating, in effect, (hat the labour market was congested. "That statement was absolutely contrary to fact, declared Canon Garland, vehemently. There was a serious shortage of labour in South .Australia and in Brisbane; the shortage \vas so great that; it was impossible to proceed with buildings already contracted for. Whv was this? What was the reason? The conviction had forced l self upon him that tho very men who talked most londlv about tlio Brotherhood of Men were responsible for this state ol affairs—thev would not; make room fortho=e whom the country was in need of. (Loud Israel Zangwill. tho novelist, had offered to plant a Jewish colony-many of them British snbjecls— in unoccupied lerritory in Australia, but the Commonwealth Government, a Labour Government, had refused, andthese pccplo hod been compelled to look to Portuguese and American territory for room whereon to settle. "What wo want: is a bold immigration policy." declared the speaker. "N'o trifling tin-pot policy. We must fill our States not onlv for our oun immediate good, but for the strength and preservation of our great Empire. The full of our prestige in' Australia would signify the rise of the Orient and the decadence of the Occident."'

"/Fill Up Thy Frontiers." The speaker concluded with a dramatic recital of the rrmsiiip verves of tlx- Australian writer, feci Evans:— KYn though vre call this land our own, Tis but. a handful holds it still, For pood or ill. Prepare! Ere falls the hour of Tate, When deathshells rain their iron hopp, And all in vain tliv blood is poured, l'or dark aslant the northern Rate 1 sco the Shadow of the Sword, 1 hear tho Mortuclouds break in wrath, Across our Xorth. Fill up thy frontiers, man thy gale, Before lop lute. The speaker was loudly applauded as hn resumed his scat, and on the motion of the chairman was awarded nu enthusiastic vote of thanks.