INDIA AND AUSTRALIA.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5351, 22 May 1878, Page 3

INDIA AND AUSTRALIA.

A question which may prove important to the future both of India and Australia (says the Pall Mall Gazette) is briefly touched upon in one of the Indian newspapers. One of the greatest difficulties in dealing with'certain districts of India is that the population, owing to various causes, tends to increase! U p to and even beyond the resources of the locality in the way of food. Emigration to the Mauritius: and the West Indies, in spite of certain drawbacks at first, has on the whole proved advantageous both to the coolies who emigrated and , to the colonies which received this welcome supply of; labor! ‘ Sanguine people have even ventured to hope that the woful depression of the magnificent island of Jamaica may eventually be removed by' a well-regulated system of . importation of Indian laborers and their families. At present, however, the restrictions on native emigration from India are vei*y - severe, and : no' contracts for , native : labor can bo made ■ except for certain . specified places. , Among these Australia is not included, ithough the northern portion of that great continent' is specially suited to Indian colonisation., It now appears that an engineer who has had a great deal of experience in India wishes to employ several thousand natives in the construction of a new line of railroad running across Australia from Adelaide to Port Darwin. This line is, wo believe, about to be constructed under the control of the Government of South Australia, and, it is obvious that in view. of 'the great heat of the climate and the high cost of European labor it would be advantageous to eniploy coolies if they could be obtained. Under present circumstances, however, the contractor is unable to engage the laborers he may require without a special Act of the Indian Government. And even presuming that to be overcome, the objections which might possibly be brought by the Australians against the introduction of large masses of Indian cheap labor would have to be considered. : The subject is one which the Imperial Government can alone adequately deal with, and it is another instance of the growing tendency of all such widereaching questions to gravitate homewards for settlement.