Develop India 139 



never been known to say the wrong thing, but very often 

 says the right one ; and it was the right things he had to 

 say, and said so pleasantly, that we went to hear. 



The remarks that left the greatest impression on my 

 mind, however, were those connected with the question of 

 inter-colonial labour supplies, coloured or white. Several 

 speakers warmly supported the cause of a white Australia, 

 but not one seemed able to show, wisely they did not attempt 

 to show, how Australia was to be kept white, however 

 much they desired it, if the continent is to be opened up and 

 developed as she is capable of being ; because, in spite of 

 all the efforts to draw " whites " out there, its development, 

 especially as regards an excess of population, progresses 

 at a very slow rate. 



Sir George Reid referred to the establishment of an 

 Imperial Parliament, where matters concerning the 

 Empire at large could be discussed as is done in the 

 German Reichstag,' leaving more local matters to be 

 dealt with by each section of the Empire in a separate 

 assembly, as in the Prussian Diet. When that much-to- 

 be-desired day arrives, it is to be hoped that one of the 

 subjects to be freely discussed and properly organized on 

 an Imperial basis will be the question of inter-imperial 

 labour. Until something on these lines is done, extensive 

 areas and fertile corners of the Empire, particularly in 

 Australasia, cannot be brought into cultivation as rapidly 

 as they are capable of being, and ought to be, if the most 

 is to be made of their resources. By such means alone will 

 this country be able to assist its self-governing colonies to 

 do their uttermost to increase the trade of the mother 

 country, by attracting the labour and capital they need on 

 tlie one hand, and, by ordering our goods, to give employ- 

 ment to the less fortunate ones left at home on the other. 

 This, however, cannot be achieved until the lower classes 

 at home are trained to acquire some agricultural know- 

 ledge,'^ instead of being forced, as a rule, to drag out a 

 miserable existence as casual labourers and low-class 

 factory hands in the cities. 



Since the Home Government has established labour 

 bureaux to regulate and equalize the distribution of the 



' Also we take it in tlie French Senate : our old friend, Mr. L. T. 

 Knight, of Martinique, having been a representative there ever since we 

 first made his acquaintance, some twenty years ago. 



- See Tropical Life for Septeml)er, 1910, p. 175, with footnote showing 

 articles that we have published on this subject. 



