The speech of the Commonwealth Premier at a Con- ference
of Treasurers of the Australian States, reported in Thursday's Times, is a timely protest against the foolhardy Labour policy which would ruin the Colony by its ex- clusiveness. Australia, as Mr. Deakin said, needs above all things capital and population; but the birth-rate is decreasing, and immigration has shrunk to inconsiderable figures. Emigrating classes at home understand only too well what the Labour legislation means, and they naturally decline to submit their fortunes to its caprices. No man can be expected to emigrate to a country where, even if he is admitted, he will be looked askance at. At the same time, we believe that this Protectionist outbreak is alien to the best Australian feeling, and that there are sufficiently strong and provident forces in the Colony to resist it, and enforce the doctrine that the future of Australia lies in economy and immigration. With Mr. Deakin's plea for a greater interest in, and knowledge of, Australian affairs on the part of the Mother-country we cordially agree. Colonies have their fashions, and of late years the eyes of Britain have been too exclusively fixed on other parts of the Empire.
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