27 



CONDITIONS UPON WHICH THE HEALTHY GROWTH OF 

 THE POPULATION OF YOUNG COLONIES DEPEND. 



BY R. M JOHNSTON, F.S S. 



(Read 14th July, 1903). 



It is a great pleasure to me to listen to 

 any paper written by Mr Green, for 

 whatever subject engages his attention is 

 sure to have been studied with more than 

 ordinary care, and his conclusions are such 

 that we must always entertain them with 

 the greatest respect, even when we may 

 have some difficulty in adopting them in 

 their entirety. While dwelling upon the 

 great future possibilities of this particu- 

 larly favored portion of the Common- 

 wealth as regards climate, soil, and other 

 natural advantages, in all of which 

 considerations I am heartily in aecord 

 with him, I was (as regards the 

 immediate attractions to immigrants 

 from less-favored centres of far distant, 

 densely-populated countries) pleased to 

 note his caution as to the class of 

 immigrants that should be specially 

 encouraged to make a home in our 

 midst. He has carefully shown 

 that " it is not wise to mdiscrimi- 

 nately invite all sorts of people to 

 come to Tasmania, or to any other parts 

 of the world." . . " Experience gained 

 in large communities may be of value, 

 but before launching out in a new country 

 it is absolutely essential to obtain a 

 knowledge of local conditions." Among 

 such conditions, as regards the intending 

 settler upon the land, he mentions the 

 necessity of paying special attention to 

 the differences in soil and climate. He 

 further very wisely observes that : " It is 

 undoubted that the prosperity of new 

 countries must depend largely upon agri- 

 culture, especially upon what are termed 



small industries— industries where profits 

 are derived from the economical working 

 of the soil, and which enables large 

 families to live comfortably on small 

 acreages." These conclusions of Mr 

 Green are strongly borne out by 

 facts and figures which have come 

 under my own observation. While 

 I am in perfect agreement with 

 Mr Green in the beHef that it is very 

 desirable to encourage immigration, and 

 that this favored little colony, although 

 by far the smallest member of the Aus- 

 tralian Commonwealth is capable of sus ' 

 taining in comfort a population of twelve 

 times its present number, still great 

 caution must be exercised as to the 

 character and the numbers of immi- 

 grants introduced at any one point of 

 time, It is true the United States of 

 America receives yearly a stream of 

 immigrants from the crowded centres of 

 Europe of over 400,000, without much 

 disturbance to the natural proportions of 

 its various divisions of occupations. But 

 even the 487,918 immigrants absorbed by 

 her in the year 1901 only represents 0.64 

 per cent of her enormous population of 

 76 millions, aud only represents 14 per- 

 sons added to every 100 square miles of 

 her territory. It is of interest also at 

 the present time to note the curious 

 composition of this important yearly 

 stream of immigrants absorbed by the 

 United States The following table shows 

 the origin of the 487,918 immigrants from 

 European countries in the order of their 

 relative importance as regards num- 

 bers : — 



