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395

19 June, 1911.] Indian Emigration and Immigration. \\lih Day. EARL OP CREWE— cont. It so happens that I have had the advantage or the disadvantage, as the case may be, of having observed this question from two different standpoints ; first, for some years when I held the office which Mr. Harcourt now holds, and since then as Secretary of State for India. In both offices I have reached the conclusion that there is no question which could be discussed at this Conference more difficult, or I might even, I think, venture to say in some of its aspects more critical, than this question of Indian immigration, and the treatment of those of the Indian races, or indeed of any foreign native race who find themselves within the various selfgoverning Dominions. I remember some years ago making a speech at a large Colonial dinner, in which I enforced that view, and went so far as to say (if I remember aright) that if there was any question which seemed to threaten not merely the well being, but the actual existence, of the Empire as an Empire, it was this difficulty between the white races and the native races, because, I ventured to point out, as between the Dominions and the Mother Country there could be no question, whether it was a question of commerce or a question of defence or any other of the questions which we now discuss, which could not be solved by good will and by good sense on both sides. But this particular question, especially as regards India, is in one sense insoluble ; there is no complete and perfect solution of this difficulty between the white races and the various native races. Now, I understand that this memorandum which I have before me has been circulated to all the members of the Conference, and those who have read it will recognise that it deals both with the general principles of the question, and also with special instances of difficulty which have arisen in the various Dominions with regard either to the ingress of Indians or to the treatment of Indians when they are there. In my present remarks I propose to confine myself entirely to the first branch, namely, to the question of the principles, because the particular instances involved are more matters for the special Department involved either here or in the Dominions themselves, and from that point of view they are less suitable, perhaps, for such general discussion as takes place here as being more of a domestic character. Now I desire to say, first, that I fully recognise—as His Majesty's Government fully recognise—two facts : the first is that, as the Empire is constituted, the idea that it is possible to have an absolutely free interchange between all individuals who are subjects of the Crown —that is to say, that every subject of the King whoever he may be or wherever he may live has a natural right to travel or still more to settle in any part of the Empire—is a view which we fully admit, and I fully admit as representing the India Office, to be one which cannot be maintained. As the Empire is constituted it is still impossible that we can have a free coming and going of all the subjects of the King throughout all parts of the Empire. Or, to put the thing in another way, nobody can attempt to dispute the right of the self-governing Dominions to decide for themselves whom, in each case, they will admit as citizens of their respective Dominions. That is one of the facts which on behalf of His Majesty's Government I fully recognise. I also recognise this : that we are or may be easily prone in this country to underrate the difficulties which confront the Dominions in this matter, because we are not troubled to any extent by a similar problem here. It so happens that there never has been any influx of coloured races into this country on a scale which has awakened any of the difficulties which, as I well know, confront you gentlemen in the different self-governing Dominions. From one point of view, of course, ifc is an advantage to an Englishman, because he is able to take an impartial view, but at the same time it may lead him —as I indicated at first—not to attach sufficient weight to the very real and undoubted difficulties which you have to encounter in settling these questions. As regards the whole question of Indian immigration, the Dominions feel, as I understand, two separate but at the same time closely interwoven objections to the influx of a large native population into their areas. In the first place, such an influx may mean, and in practice often has meant, the rivalry of cheap labour. Now this is an entirely separate difficulty from the racial difficulty to which I shall allude