On Thursday night the Board of Agriculture issued a Report
on the migration from rural districts. The inquiry was undertaken at the request of the Dominions Royal Commission. The Report may be summarized as follows : Agriculture is not an expanding industry capable of absorbing the natural increase of population. The concurrence of the natural increase of population with a reduced demand, except in a few limited districts, for labour implies chronic migration. The question is whether sufficient employment can be found to prevent in all districts an actual reduction of the agricul- tural population. It is evident that considerably more men could find employment on the land than are now available. The peculiarity of the rural exodus is that the normal movement to the towns—which has perhaps rather diminished than increased—is supplemented to a large extent by a movement to the Dominions. This accelerated emigration is attributed to several causes, the chief one being the activity of emigration agents in advertising the allurements of Colonial life. They appeal to a generation which thinks nothing of distances. Canada to-day seems as near to the young countryman as London did to his father. Low wages are mentioned as a cause of discontent, but there is no evidence that emigration is greatest in districts where wages are lowest.
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