raid of is the influx of
population. He takes no count of the fact that all the wisest men of
the country admit the crying need of people--that labour everywhere is
needed for the development of giant resources. His loaf is his, and he
is quite righteously determined that no man shall take it from him.
He is not in the least degree determined that he shall not take away
another man's loaf; but that is a different question. England is the one
country in the world which can, under existing circumstances, or under
circumstances easily conceivable, seek to send any appreciable number of
new people into the colony. Therefore England is to be feared and hated,
and any scheme which may be promulgated in favour of further emigration
is to be resisted to the uttermost. Men talk of war as the answer to an
attempt to deplete by emigration the overcrowded labour markets of the
home country. No public man who sets the least value upon his position
dares discuss this question. The feeling is too deep-rooted and its
manifestations are too passionate. The scheme propounded by General
Booth afforded an opportunity for a striking manifestation of this fact.
Long before the nature of the scheme was known or guessed at, before any
of the safeguards surrounding it were hinted, it was denounced from
one end of the country to the other. It is not my present business to
express any opinion as to the feasibility of the plan. The point is that
the mere mention of it was enough to excite an intense and spontaneous
opposition. Australia will never, except under compulsion, allow any
large body of Englishmen to enter into possession of any portion of her
territories. The ports for emigration on a large scale are finally and
definitely closed.

The population of Australia is 3,326,000. These people have an area of
3,050,000 square miles from which to draw the necessaries and luxuries
of life. Suppose it be allowed that one half the entire country is not
and will not be habitable by man. Australians themselves would resent
this estimate as being shamelessly exaggerated, but the supposition is,
so far as the argument goes, in their favour. Take away that imagined
useless half and every man, woman and child in the community would still
have very nearly half a square mile of land if the country were equally
divided. It is evident that the populace is unequal to the proper
exploitation of the continent Let them multiply as the human race never
multiplied