The Liri:-BL00D of the Empire. 



309 



that should be printed in letters of gold on all literature 

 ent to thegeneral classof immigration agent alluded to, 

 and every immigration society not having studied the 

 question of their fellow-countrymen and Canada alike. 

 'I'he question is too complicated for any one com- 

 missioner to handle for this great Dominion, and it is 

 reasonable to expect the Dominion Government will 

 eventually a[)i)(iint a Royal Commission of Immigration, 

 with representatives from each pro\incial parliament, 

 to confer and draw up a definite plan with the Hritish 

 authorities and trade interests for a more compre- 

 hensive scheme than the bonus system at present 

 largely in vogue in Great Britain. 



BRITISH GOVERNMENT'MUST AID THE WORK. 



It would seem that the British Government has 

 only just begun to understand the importance of the 

 question of immigration ; at the same time, it must be 

 arlmitted. in spite of the lack of correct methods, 

 there has been a great influx from Great Britain into 

 Western Canada, which is a credit to tlie Canadian 

 immigration authorities, especially when one considers 

 that few, if any. are really acquainted with British 

 as well as Canadian conditions. The time has < ome 

 when the British authorities must give their best 

 co-operation to the Canadian authorities, and not 

 consider the question as one of simply getting rid of 

 misfits and surplus population. It seems expedient 

 that the British Government had much better spend 

 money in assisting men who are willing to work, but 

 find employment ' hard to get in Great Britain, to 

 emigrate, rather than pay millions for the maintenance 

 iif poor-houses. 



AUTHENTIC INFORMATION MUST BE GIVEN. 



The prairie provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, 

 and .\lberla, and the great timber and mineral lands 

 of British Columbia, require the selecting process 

 alluded to far more, perhaps, than the Eastern 

 jjrovinces ; here the rules of the game of life are 

 harder than in the Motherland or the East, and the 

 man or woman who accepts the hardy climates, or 

 allows the lure of the new provinces to tempt them, 

 needs real British grit. There is the strenuous atmo- 

 sphere of new-born cities, requiring brawn and muscle ; 

 tiiey arc not the places for the " corner man " nor the 

 V cak-hearted ; there arc new worlds here for a million 

 I the most rlesirable of the middle classes to-day, and 

 hough they will find the VV'est a fierce adversary, it 

 ■.ill recognise tiie real Britisher, and although it means 

 i.ird work, it means quicker and more generous rewards 

 ili.m anywhere else in the world. These are a few of 

 the real truths that should be plainly set forth in 

 i;nmigration literature ; it would bring out the best, 

 and it is this class that can build up a strong Canada. 

 It is important that new-comers should be perfectly 

 clear regarding where they are going, and the con- 

 ditions of life, lal)our or btisiness to which they propose 

 to commit themselves before coming to Canada. Where 

 tliev arc educated more than at present in this respect 



there will be no fear of glutting the labour market in 

 excess of the prospective demand. 



RURAL IMMIGRATION NEGLECTED. 



A greater advance could be made if more particular 

 prominence were given to the smaller growing cities 

 and rural districts of the provinces in the literature 

 sent out to the British Isles; at the same time more 

 attention should be given to the country towns ahd 

 rural districts of Great Britain. When this is done 

 we shall get the sturdy classes of fifty years ago, and 

 not until, for they seldom, if ever, come from the large 

 cities. Immigration must keep pace with progress ; 

 one must not be allowed to overlap the other, other- 

 wise it will lead to congestion, which is to be avoided 

 at all costs. The most approved system will never 

 quite eliminate the " misfits," but it will be. reasonably 

 admitted that a systematised method of selection will 

 be instrumental in preventing hundreds from coming 

 to this countrv belonging to the category of those 

 who " won't fit in." 



For those following agriculture the position is 

 different, there being thousands of farmers in the 

 Eastern and prairie provinces who cannot obtain 

 sufficient labourers, and domestics are badly needed 

 from coast to coast. It is well to bear in mind, 

 population is not by any means the most accurate 

 barometer of the prosperity of a country nor of a 

 community ; rather should it be gauged by a high 

 standard of good citizenship. Canada is a new- 

 country, and as development proceeds will be ready 

 for a million of the real, sturdy middle classes of 

 Great Britain annually, but they must be told Canada 

 is a rough and unpolished country for the tenderfoot 

 and weak-hearted. Home living conditions and social 

 life are quite different. This is a matter of cold fact, 

 and people who have not a taste for hard work should 

 not come. Canada takes into her arms men and 

 women of many nations, but naturally prefers all the 

 Britishers she can get. Ministers responsible realise 

 that a gain of 85,000 to even 100,000 new-comers a 

 year will take a long time to make a nation. 



Australia is spending over £200,000 on immigra- 

 tion. Canada, through the Dominion and Provincial 

 Governmgpts, railways and public authorities, is 

 spending even more. The Dominion Government 

 expenditure for 1911-12 alone w-as £270.940— a sum 

 totally inadef|uatc to efliciently control the question 

 of immigration, but the obligation also rests upon the 

 Ministers of Great Britain ; will they think out how 

 best they can co-operate ? 



It is f|uite time the British Government faced the 

 facts, al)uli^hing the short-sighted policy of leaving 

 the entire control of immigration to societies ever 

 begging for funds, or leaving the (]uestion to incom- 

 petent agencies. A department shouhl be organised by 

 the Government for the better control of immig'ration, 

 taking under its control every immigration society, 

 enlisting their help, but at the same time directing 

 their endeavours by well-thought-out rules, with 



