Race Relations in the Commonwealth
SIR,—As Dr. Jane Meiklejohn has taken me to task regarding the racial policy of the Dominions, will you grant me space to make a brief reply ? With the greatest respect, I submit that all the Dominions where there Is no colour problem are determined to maintain their racial integrity by preventing or regulating the immigration of Asiatics and Africans. In South Africa, where there is a considerable native population, the Government of the Union has resorted to a policy of racial segregation.
Of course there is no colour-bar against the Maoris in New Zealand, for the simple reason that they have never been a social or economic danger to the whites. The intelligent and picturesque race was fast dying out, until the authorities passed- drastic legislation to try to save it. The efforts made on its behalf by the New Zealand Government have to a certain extent borne fruit, but at present the native people only number about 55,000, as agaiist a total European population of approxi- mately two millions. They are, therefore, no threat to the whites.
So far as the Dominion of Canada is concerned, your correspondent cannot be ignorant of the fact that the remnants of the Indian tribes that once roamed the forests and plains of the North American continent are now mostly confined to native reservations; and have very little contact with the whites. Also, I rather suspect that the majority of Canadians would become a little warlike if one were to hint that they
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