The Dominion. THURSDAY, JUNE 1, 1916. A PRACTICAL IMPERIALIST

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2785, 1 June 1916, Page 4

The Dominion. THURSDAY, JUNE 1, 1916. A PRACTICAL IMPERIALIST

Sir Rider Haggard is ccrtain of a hearty welcome wherever he may go in New Zealand, bot-h for his own sake and for the sake of tho important. mission which has been entrusted to him. Thousands of New Zealanders owe him a debt of gratitude for tho pleasure they have derived from his novels. The majority of us know .him mainly as a writer. Ho 'has added to the wholesomo joys of life in this capacity, and we thank him fqr it; but he has also won distinction in a very different activity. He is a practical Imperialist, who has made a special study; of the land problems of the Empire. He is at present engaged in war work of an extremely useful character. He is making a tour of the Empire in an honorary capacity as. representative of tho lloyal Colonial Institute - for the purpose of ascertaining what facilities will be granted by thc i Governments of the overseas dominions for settling British soldiers on the land. Tho Empire will have some big problems to settlo after the war is over, ancl one of the biggest of them will be 1 tho reabsorption into industrial life of tho five million men now under arms. Tho war will -have shaken these men out of their old ruts, and thousands will never go back to their former occupations. The war will have broadened their mental outlook, stimulated their ambitions, awakened a. spirit of adventure, and created a desire for a fuller and freer life. Tho British soldiers who are now fighting side by side with South Africans, New Zealanders, and Australians will havq plenty of opportunities for exchanging ideas with their comrades .from tho Dominions, and many. of. them will want to .try their fortunes in the wider Empire. War breeds a spirit of unrest which generally manifests itself in migration _ There is ample room for all British.folk within tho British Empire. Wo cannot afford to loso any of them. Now is the time to think out measures for directing the flow of emigration into profitable channels. Every care should bo taken to avoid what happened after tho Boer AVar. In 1903 250,000 emigrants loft tho shores of tho United Kingdom, and of these something like 123,000 went to foreign lands, mainly to the United States. And yet tho great need of the Empire is population. n Wc remember when we were young," saitl Sir Rider Haggard just before he loft London on' his present mission, "how the outcry was, JKcep down tho population.' That is a deadly doctrine. The Empire has no room for Malthusianism. If wo aro to hold a quarter of% tho earth we must not let our population decrease, rather it should be increased. Wo are trying to hold it now with 60,000,000 white people. I\ say you must try to multiply them. You must put more peoplo in the Empire." Tne war has shown us the necessity of making tho Empire more self-supporting and more self-suffi-cient. Its resources are incalculably great, but we aro not making anything like full uso of them. Population is one of tho surest means of defence. It is highly desirable that the vacant spaces of tho Empire should as far as possible be peopled by men ancl womon of British blood. In'order that this may bo done, organisation is necessary. The Mother Country and the overseas dominions must co-operate in some comprehensive scheme for directing and regulating tbo stream of emigration from fiTo United Kingdom. I The restoration of,,nfiace oonditions.

after tho war is over is a matter that cannot safely be left to chance. Now is the time to plan and prepare. There will be a splendid opportunity for now departures on a great scale. It would be a bitter disappointment to progressive minds if some big steps forward are not taken. New hopes and aspirations have been created in the minds of men. Wo do not want everything to bo just tho same as before. Lord Curzon voices the sentiments of thousands in all parts of the Empiro when ho expresses the earnest hope that most things will be very different after the war. To meet tho new situation, new plans, now schemes, new policies will have to bo Hevised, and there must be a readjustment of many of the basic principles 011 whieli our public lifo has hitherto rested. There are some problems which must bo grappled with at once. One of them is this question of tho settlement of tho soldiers after the fighting is over, wliicTi has brought Sir Rider Haggard'across the ocean to us. He is well awaro that the problem is beset with difficulties, but ho is sufficiently optimistic to bslievo that tho obstacles -can bo overcome.' It is satisfactory to know that he has met with great encouragement in Australia. A recent cablegram announced that tho Premiers' Conference thero expressed itself in favour of an organised effort to iriduce soldiers contemplating emigration from the United Kingdom to make' their future homes in the, dominions. The conference intends to 1 ask tho Imperial authorities to create an .organisation that will be in a position to act in conjunction with tlio Australian Agents-General for the purpose of arranging for the emigration of sucu numbers and at such times as the State Governments may direct. It is, of course, necessary to regulate the stream in accordance with tho capacities of the different States for absorption. Some of the Australian States have given specific undertakings, but oh the whole Sir Rider Haggard prefors a general assurance of co-opcration. He may confidently rely upon the hearty sympathy of the people of New Zealand. ' This "Dominion is a small country when compared with Canada and Australia. Its unsettled areas of good land aro not. very extensive, and there are the claims of our own New Zealand troops to be considered. But it can carry a much larger population than it now holds, and wo certainly prefer Britishers to immigrants from foreign lands. Tho New Zealand Government is not likely to be less sympathetic to Siß' ; Ridep. Haggard's mission than the Governments of the Australian States.