594 



NATURE 



[OCTOliLK 20, 1923 



coloured peoples are also distributed symmetrically 

 about the line, India being on the east, the Crown 

 Colonics and the Protectorates of Africa on the west, 

 so that it is the axis of symmetry of the Empire. 

 Not far from its middle point is the Isthmus of Suez, 

 where our direct line of sea communication is crossed 

 by the only continuous route for the international 

 railways which will connect our Indian and African 

 possessions, and adjacent to the Isthmus is the central 

 station of our airways. 



Such is the form and position of the British Empire, 

 regarded as a maritime organisation, which in fact it is. 



The Empire thus mapped has an intermediate 

 position among the commercial, national, religious, 

 and racial communities of the world such as is occupied 

 by no other State. The ocean routes must always 

 be the link between the two great land areas of the 

 world, and in the present state of land communication 

 provide the connexion between the numerous inde- 

 pendent systems of continental railways. The chief 

 of these systems is based on the ports of continental 

 Europe, of which the greatest communicate with the 

 ocean, and therefore with other railway systems, by 

 way of the English Channel. Thus the island of 

 Great Britain is intermediate between the principal 

 termini of the European railways and the other rail- 

 way systems. Its harbourage is unequalled by that 

 of any country of continental Europe, and its supply 

 of shipbuilding material and coal exceptionally good. 

 Thus the physical characters of the island accord with 

 its position on the commercial map, and the metro- 

 politan British in their intermediate position have 

 become the chief common carriers of international 

 commerce. 



The Suez Canal, where we have the principal control, 

 is the gateway between the railway termini of Europe, 

 the greatest manufacturing centre of the world, and 

 those of the monsoon region of Asia, the greatest 

 centre of population. It is also on the shortest route 

 between the railways of North America and India. 



How far-reaching is the effect of our intermediate 

 position is strikingly suggested by the fact that it is 

 the British naval stations which would, if available, 

 provide America with the best line for reinforcement 

 of the Philippines, the Achilles heel of the Republic. 

 The distance of Manila from the naval shipbuilding 

 yards of the United States is almost exactly the same 

 by Panama and Suez, but the Pacific connexion is 

 bad, owing to the great distance between the stations 

 of the American Navy. The relation of Port Said and 

 Singapore to America and the Philippines is only one 

 of many cases in which our position is intermediate 

 between the home and colonial possessions of a white 

 nation. Thus the important French possession of Indo- 

 China has to be reached from France either by way of 

 the Suez Canal where we maintain a garrison, or by 

 rounding the Cape where we have a national recruiting 

 base, as well as a station of the Royal Navy. The 

 true significance of our intermediate position has, 

 however, been generally missed owing to a one-sided 

 interpretation of strategical geography. An inter- 

 mediate station, particularly a naval station, has 

 commonly been regarded as a blocking position, a 

 barrier where freedom of movement can be interfered 

 with. The historical fact is, however, that the harbours 



NO. 2816, VOL. I 12] 



of the British Empire have also been a link betwct n 

 nations. In the War the British Elmpire was tl' 

 link of the allied and as.sociated powers, and i' 

 graphical position is unequalled for making a i 

 lent alliance effective or for chec kmating the action > 

 an alliance formed with a sinister pur|K)se. 



Tlie British Empire provides in Canada the 01 

 link on the political map Ijetween the European aiv; 

 American divisions of the white race. Of the \U- . 

 million people in the world, the whites numlier about 

 500 and the coloured 1150. The former are mainl 

 grouped on the two sides of the North Atlantic Ocean ; 

 of the latter, the greater part, about 800 million, ar- 

 in the monsoon region of Asia, which includes Indi.i 

 Indo-('hina, China proper, and Japan. 



In tropical Australia the British, in the exercise of 

 their discretion, have set up a barrier between the 

 white and coloured races. The problem of Australian 

 settlement is complicated by the circumstance that the 

 northern coa.st-lands lie in the Tropics, and have .1 

 climate which makes field work ver\- arduous to whiti 

 men. It is, moreover, uncertain if British famili' 

 would continue true to ancestral type in this climat' 

 If, however, settlers from the neighbouring monso< li 

 lands of Asia be admitted, it would be impossible t 

 maintain a colour line between tropical and temj)erai' 

 Australia, and the labour of the Commonwealth would 

 in time be done by coloured people. The Australian 

 British are far from the main body of the white race and 

 from Great Britain, the chief recruiting base of their 

 own nation. On the other hand, the distance by sea 

 between Towns ville, Queensland, and the Japanese 

 coast is no longer than the course of the coasting 

 steamers from Fremantle to Townsville ; and the 

 other lands of monsoon Asia are even nearer than 

 Japan. 



The relations between geographical environment and 

 national welfare indicate that the decision to erect a 

 barrier against coloured labour in tropical Australia is 

 best both for the white race in Australia and for the 

 coloured people of the monsoon region of Asia. The 

 admission of coolie labour would deteriorate the 

 national character of the Australians, for the greatest 

 nations are those which provide their own working class. 

 The descendants of the Asiatic coolies would on their 

 part have a stunted existence as a community unable to 

 share fully in the national life of their new land, yet 

 cut off from the main body of their own people. Far 

 better, then, that the Asiatic coolie should remain 

 where the family life of his descendants will be part 

 and parcel of national life. 



Neither should it be assumed that there is not room 

 in Asia for a large addition to the population. The 

 pressure of population in China is largely due to the 

 undeveloped condition of mining, factories, and com- 

 munications. The coal-fields are unsurpassed in the 

 world, and iron ore is abundant ; if they were worked, 

 and factories were based upon them, the new occupa- 

 tions and improved market for agricultural product- 

 would pro\dde at home for many of those who now 

 migrate overseas. The further development of manu- 

 facture in India would operate in the same direction. 

 The growth of a manufacturing population in China 

 and India would stimulate cultivation and stock- 

 rearing in the sparsely inhabited region under Asiatic 



