The Daily News. TUESDAY, MAY 12, 1914. THE LURE OF THE COLONIES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 291, 12 May 1914, Page 4

The Daily News. TUESDAY, MAY 12, 1914. THE LURE OF THE COLONIES.

Year 'by year the tide of emigration from the United Kingdom hag been depopulating the rural districts, and to those wfoo are acquainted with the conditions of life there the movement is not surprising. In most cases farm employees had a dreary monotonous life, the adults existing on less wages than a New Zealand boy would accept at sixteen years of age, with no prospects of improving their position and no provision (until recently) for old age. At the request of the Dominions Royal Commission an enquiry into the reasofis for the depopulation of the country districts was recently undertaken by the Board of Agriculture, and the report which deals with the subject has lately been issued. It is an interesting document, although it contains very little new matter, the chief point being the admission that agriculture in England is not an expanding industry, capable of absorbing the natural increase of population. At first the drift of the exodus was to the towns, with the result that the labor market was congested, but that movement has been largely diverted to the overseas dominions, consequent on the activity and advertisements of emigration agencies. It is stated that the area of farm lands is shrinking, 388,000 acres having been withdrawn from agriculture since 1901, and about 1,060,000 acres from arable cultivation. Against this there bas been an increase of intensive cultivation, but this baa scarcely affected the output per head of population. The steady migration has naturally caused a dearth of available farm 'hands and a decrease in the number of those who possess a knowledge 1 of the manual arts of agriculture, but those who have crossed the sea to the dominions have at least a chance of advancement and the opportunity for acquiring an independence and position that could never have been within their reach in the Homeland, At the base of the trouble which caused the wholesale migration were low wages, bad housing, lack of outlook, and the difficulty of getting small holdings. It was the lure of the colonies where ,the Me was freer, the facilities for obtaining land easier, the scope for energy wider, and the.wages higher that drew the flower of Britain's country manhood across the sea. The wrench of home ties was blunted by tlie conditions of life, and what was England's loss is the gain of the dominions. After all, it is no loss to the Empire, but rather a decided gain. It is a mere transference of labor from where it was unproductive to where it was needed and could be utilised to the best advantage.