EMPIRE’S PEOPLE.

Taranaki Daily News, 18 October 1921, Page 5

EMPIRE’S PEOPLE.

BETTER DISTRIBUTION, CURE FOR NO WORK. FACTOR IN PEACE. By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright. London, Oct. 16. The Morning Post has begun a series of articles dealing with the re-set-tlement of the Empire to secure a more even distribution of its white population as the greatest need of the present day. The initial article points out that such a scheme would cure unemployment and do more to secure the world’s peace than any international agreement. Empire statesmen should make this, the keynote of their policies. The British Islands are seriously over-crowded, while the Dominions are seriously under-popu-lated, yet, a fraction of the energy, resolution and organisation which saved the world’s civilisation during 1914-18 could effect without hardship at present a redistribution of the British white population. Imperial statesmen, with few exceptions, fumble with petty compromises and tiny palliatives when they talk of Empire settlement in terms of hundreds and thousands. The Morning Post says a sound scheme of emigration should disclaim any idea of dumping paupers. The basic principle should be that the Empire wishes to give every citizen a fair chance in life. The writer favors the community system of settlement, something along the lines of the Wakefield settlement in New Zealand, with the modifications necessary to meet political susceptibilities.