What of Unemployment?

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 407, 14 April 1937, Page 3

What of Unemployment?

Ship Them Abroad says Glasgow Man.

An Old Remedy.

BUT CAN BRITAIN SPARE WHAT DOMINIONS WANT?

Emigration on a large scale to reduce the surplus population is the remedy that Mr. Henry Allen, chair-, man of the Clydesdale Bank, would apply to Britain’s unemployment problem. writes Mr J. Watt from Glasgow. Needless to say, most of the emigrants would be sent to Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. Mr. Allan suggested this remedy at the annual meeting of the bank’s shareholders in Glasgow the other day. He said that in spite of the improvement in trade which had been berth widespread and well maintained. Glasgow still had a distressed area at its doors. According to Mr. Allan, the chief cause of this is the fact that whereas in 1913 the Lanarkshire coalfields were producing 171 million tons, they are now producing only about nine million tons annually. ‘‘More Active Intervention.” “The dense population crowded into this area, with a persistently high ratio of unemployment and poor relief,” said Mr. Allan, “presents a social problem with which local authorities are helpless to deal, and which calls for more active intervention by the National Government. “The measures so far taken seem to be quite inadequate. The most hopeful remedy, if it can be applied, would be organised emigration on a large scale. The difficulties are obvious, but a genuine effort in this direction would justify much larger expenditures by the Treasury than have yet been considered.” This idea, to solve Britain’s unemployment problem by shipping her surplus population overseas is not new, of course, but it seems at present to be finding warm favour in certain quarters in this country. There are difficulties, as Mr. Allan recognises. New Zealand, Australia, and Canada have not solved their own unemployment problems yet, and it is by no means certain that the majority of the people who are out of work in this country are of the type that would be welcomed as settlers by any of the Dominions. Neither is it certain that emigration offers Britain a permanent solution of the problem of unemployment. Decline in Birth-rate. There is, moreover, one important factor that the advocates of emigration either overlook, or else conveniently forget, namely, the now inevitable decline in the population of Britain as a result of the fall in the birth-rate. Those who raise this difficulty may be accused of looking beyond the present to the distant future, but what are sixty years in the life of a nation? And it has been estimated that in that time, that is, by the end of the present century, the population of Britain will be only twenty-three million as against forty-five million at pre-

sent. In dealing with these vital statistics there is an important consideration. Owing to the decline in the birth-rate the of elderly people in the community is gradually increasing, or in other words the average age of the community is rising. This means that in the near fui ture the death-rate will rise, and that i unless there is a sharp increase in the ' birth-rate a swiftly accelerating dej cline in the population of the British ' Isles will become manifest in the second half of the present century. The question of the coming decline in the population is not raised on the assumption that Britain suffers from unemployment because she is overpopulated. and that, therefore, the unemployment problem will be autoi matically solved by this coming de- • cline. Over-population may account, in part, for the present number of workless in Britain, but it cannot account for unemployment in the British Dominions. A smaller population means less work—fewer shops and factories, fewer churches and schools, a smaller demand for transport and travel facilities, a smaller demand for coal and electricity; in short, fewer of everything, and a smaller demand for everything. Anyone who imagines that Britain can sit back and wait for ' the falling birth rate to solve her un- : employment problem is living in a | fool’s paradise. Can Britain Afford It? : There is a much more practical as- ; pect of the question, and it is this. , In view of her declining birth-rate, can Britain afford to send forth emigrants in any great numbers. For it must be remembered that yhen the Dominions are prepared to receive new settlers once more they will rightly demand th,e best type of citizen that this country can give them, strong healthy young men and women, the best of the future fathers and I mothers. Will Britain he able to afford such a drain on her population? It is a question of quality as well as quantity, and the answer certainly seems to be “no,” unless there is a marked rise in the birth-rate. Indeed, it is manifestly absurd to expect a nation that is committing racial suicide to people the vacant places of its Empire. And that word “nation” comprises [ all the British people, in New Zea- / land, Australia, Canada, and South Af- | rica, as well as in the Mother CounI try, for in each of these four Domin- ! ions the birth-rate among the British I people is dangerously low. Millions From Where? I I read the other day that the Hon. , R. Semple had said that he could visii- ; alise the time when New Zealand’s population would be ten million. But where are these millions coming from? New Zealand is not the only British Dominion that would support

a much greater population than she has at present. Would it be rash to suggest that Canada and Australia could support! fifty million each? And again, where are these millions coming from. To those who are content with a short view, emigration may appear attractive and logical. On the one hand we have these small islands with a teeming, crowded population. On the other we have the Dominions each ■well suited for white men and each with resources manifestly sufficient to support a much larger population than it has at present. The centre of the Empire is crowded, the frontiers are vacant, so move the surplus from the centre to the frontiers. That sounds logical and maybe it is, but, on a somewhat longer view, the low birthrate of the British people in conjunction with those vacant frontiers suggests disquieting possibilities