The Daily News. THURSDAY, APRIL 13, 1922. BRITAIN’S SURPLUS POPULATION.

Taranaki Daily News, 13 April 1922, Page 4

The Daily News. THURSDAY, APRIL 13, 1922. BRITAIN’S SURPLUS POPULATION.

The problem of how to overcome unemployment in Britain has many complications, and it would seem that the closer it is studied the greater the difficulties appear to become. That emigration provides an avenue whereby large numbers ean be transplanted overseas and so help to develop the sparsely populated countries within the Empire, is obvious, but then arises the question as to whether the Mother Country is prepared to be deprived of the services of large numbers of her best men, for those are the class that are needed by the Dominions, and who might certainly be expected to benefit by the prospects that are offered in undeveloped countries. The real difficulty that faces the authorities at Home is a large proportion of unskilled and unreliable men, many of whom have a rooted aversion to work and all of whom are devoid of ambition. This class is not wanted overseas, but what to do with them defies solution. At present they are a burden to the taxpayers, and it would seem they are likely to remain so for some time to come. According to Mr. Harold Cox, a prominent British political economist, the State is, by a lavish system of doles, encouraging the least desirable classes in the Old Land to multiply indefinitely. History, however. has shown that these classes require no inducement to multiply; it is part and parcel of their being. Many suggestions have been made for dealing with this question, but not one of such a feasible and practical nature as to warrant consideration. In his recent article in the Sunday Tinies, Mr. Cox only succeeded in creating a mild sensation, without in any way contributing any helpful advice. His only remedy is birth control, and as that is practically impossible, the inference is that no remedy exists. That’ he has decided views against Stateaided emigration is clear, but when he says “the colonies have no right to beg us to tax ourselves in order to supply them with our best people,” he deliberately misrepresents the situation. The last thing any of the Dominions would wish would be that the people of Britain should be taxed in order that some benefit might accrue to the overseas units of the Empire. That they, or most of them, are interested in obtaining suitable immigrants is a matter of course, and while they have not the slightest desire to. rob the Motherland of the best people, they rightly do not seek for immigrants that are more trouble than they are worth. The main object the Dominions have in encouraging emigration from Home is to obtain assistance in production and development, and it is only those who can be of real service to the country that are likely to be welcomed. At present Labor and industrial matters are so unsettled that it taxes employers to find

either the money or the work for the idle hands that are, unhappily, only too numerous. In connection with the emigration movement in Britain, the Government found it necessary to appoint an “Overseas Committee” in order to undertake a closer responsibility in connection with the movements of British subjects wishing to settle overseas within the Empire. Inasmuch as emigration is voluntary it cannot be claimed that, the Dominions are robbing ths Homeland of its best men; they merely offer greater scope and better prospects for such citizens as are fitted with the necessary powers for making good. Britain’s main problem of over-popu-lation must be dealt with on the spot, but not by the method advocated by Mr. Cox. The utmost that can be expected is the institution of palliatives, for a solution of the problem is not in sight.