17 APRIL 1926, Page 16

TIIE RIGHT USE OF EMIGRATION [To the Editor of the

SPECTATOR.]

Sur,—Mr. R. M. Bradley says in his useful letter that if emigrants are drawn gradually from an area of congestion the power of multiplication which has created over-population fills all the gaps and leaves things practically as before. But, surely, this objection to emigration has lost whatever force it may have had, since the birthrate. is now very low in all the countries of Western Europe . except Italy and Spain. Moreover, if we were to encourage our poorest classes to observe the principle of parental responsibility, which is the basis of an individualistic social system, England would soon be rich enough to spend large sums of money in spreading out her population, to the great advantage of herself and the Empire. The real reason why emigration is no remedy for over-population has long seemed to me to be that a country must be made still more over-populated by having its pro- portion of workers to non-workers (mainly children) reduced. —I am, Sir, &c.,

B. DUNLOP, M.B.

24 Alexandra Court, Queen's Gate, S.W .7.