AUSTRALIA ASIANS, KEEP OUT ! , UNDERPOPULATED AUSTRALIA SPEND $30 MILLION IN 
1963 TO ATTRACT NEW CITIZENS, SINCE WAR'S END HAS INCREASED ITS 
POPULATION FROM 7.5 MILLION TO A MERE 11 MILLION . THAT 
ADDS UP TO FEWER INHABITANTS THAN PENNSYLVANIA HAS, IN AN AREA 
66 TIMES LARGER . NONETHELESS, AUSTRALIA CLINGS TO SOME OF THE 
WORLD'S MOST RESTRICTIVE IMMIGRATION LAWS, HAS TRADITIONALLY DISCRIMINATED AGAINST ASIAN AND 
OTHER NONWHITE IMMIGRANTS IN ORDER TO PRESERVE WHAT IMMIGRATION MINISTER ALEXANDER 
DOWNER HAS DESCRIBED AS " AN ANGLICAN EUROPEAN COMMUNITY EMBODYING ALL 
THAT IS BEST OF THE OLD WORLD AND THE NEW . 
" AUSTRALIA'S " IMMIGRATION APARTHEID " DATES FROM THE LATTER HALF 
OF THE 19TH CENTURY, WHEN 50,000 CHINESE FLOCKED THERE TO WORK 
FARMS AND GOLD MINES . WHITE COLONISTS, FEARFUL THAT THE NEWCOMERS 
WOULD DEPRESS WAGE LEVELS, CLAMORED FOR RESTRICTIVE LAWS . TODAY FEWER 
THAN 80,000 ASIANS LIVE PERMANENTLY IN THE COUNTRY, AND EXPERIENCE LITTLE 
RACIAL DISCRIMINATION, BUT ONLY A FEW " DISTINGUISHED AND HIGHLY QUALIFIED 
ASIANS " ARE EVER GRANTED RESIDENCE PERMITS . WHIM CREEK . 
THE WHITE AUSTRALIA POLICY IS OFTEN CARRIED TO ABSURD, ESOTERIC EXTREMES 
. RECENTLY, FIVE JAPANESE TECHNICIANS EMPLOYED BY A JAPANESE-CONTROLLED MINING CONCERN 
AT, OF ALL PLACES, WHIM CREEK IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA WERE CONVICTED 
OF VIOLATING AN OBSCURE 1904 LAW SPECIFYING THAT " NO ASIATIC 
OR AFRICAN ALIEN SHALL BE EMPLOYED IN ANY CAPACITY WHATEVER IN 
OR ABOUT ANY MINE CLAIM . " AS A RESULT, WESTERN 
AUSTRALIA'S STATE LEGISLATURE LAST WEEK REPEALED THE LAW, BUT VIRTUALLY NEGATED 
ITS ACTION BY ADOPTING AN AMENDMENT SPECIFYING THAT ASIANS MUST STILL 
GET GOVERNMENT PERMITS TO WORK IN THE MINES . THERE IS 
EVEN LESS HOPE FOR LIBERALIZATION OF NATIONAL IMMIGRATION POLICIES, WHOSE PRINCIPAL 
VICTIMS ARE THE PARENTS AND CHILDREN OF MIXED MARRIAGES . ONE 
TYPICAL CASE THIS MONTH INVOLVED AN INDIAN COUPLE WHO CAME TO 
AUSTRALIA IN 1962 TO LIVE WITH THEIR TWO SONS, BOTH OF 
WHOM ARE MARRIED TO AUSTRALIAN GIRLS, ONLY TO BE ORDERED OUT 
OF THE COUNTRY . SAID THE FATHER : " I'VE FOUND 
HELL IN AUSTRALIA . " SKEPTICAL NEIGHBORS . CRITICS OF THE 
WHITE AUSTRALIA POLICY, INCLUDING LEADING CHURCHMEN AND EDUCATORS, OBJECT THAT ONLY 
THROUGH SELECTIVE ASIAN IMMIGRATION CAN THE GOVERNMENT HOPE TO ATTRACT ALL 
THE SKILLED CITIZENS IT NEEDS . MOREOVER, THEY ARGUE, AUSTRALIA CAN 
NEVER REALIZE ITS POTENTIAL AS A LEADER OF SOUTHEAST ASIA SO 
LONG AS ITS NEIGHBORS ARE CONVINCED THAT AUSTRALIANS ARE WHITE SUPREMACISTS 
. PRIME MINISTER SIR ROBERT MENZIES IN FACT ORDERED MORE LIBERAL 
INTERPRETATION OF IMMIGRATION POLICY, BUT HE INSISTED DURING THE RECENT ELECTION 
CAMPAIGN THAT HE WOULD NEVER PERMIT ANY BASIC REFORM IN THE 
LAW . TO DO SO, SAID HE, " WOULD CREATE IN 
AUSTRALIA THE KIND OF DREADFUL PROBLEMS THEY NOW HAVE IN OTHER 
COUNTRIES . / 