Australia's Population
Mr. Arthur Calwell, who is now Australian Minister for Immigra- tion, has lost no time in grappling with a problem of first importance for Australia's future. The war has brought home to his country- men a danger of which they were well aware before—that of under- population. Australia needs more man-power. The task is one of extraordinary difficulty. The birth-rate there, as in so many civilised countries, is decreasing, and Labour, fearful of excessive competition in the labour market, has always jealously scrutinised programmes of immigration. Moreover, Australia does not want the indis- criminate infusion of foreign blood, and would prefer immigrants from Britain in the first place or from selected European countries in the second. But Britain has no longer a surplus of man-power and also fears the effects of a declining birth-rate. Mr. Calwell, in a recent statement in the House of Representatives, looks to more remedies than one. First, he asks for a social service programme which will induce Australians to have larger families. Secondly, for an ordered policy of immigration under an agreement recently made with Great Britain to facilitate the passage of British servicemen and suitable civilians as soon as Australian demobilisation is completed and houses have been built. A scheme is also outlined for inducing British manufacturers to transport plant and personnel for production in Australia. The expansion of Australian industry would produce a better balance in the economic life of the country and would facilitate the expansion of its labour army. The problem bristles with difficul- ties, both for Australia and for Great Britain. But it is in our interest that Australia should be peopled with a population of British origin. Mr. Calwell conceives the problem in its broadest terms, and sees that it must be approached from many industrial and social angles. Separate, apparently, from this general scheme is the Australian Government's plan, described in an article in The Spectator earlier this year, for settling in the country many thousands of orphan children, mainly British, from Europe. There is great hope in this.
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