Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1926. ENCOURAGING MIGRATION.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XLVI, Issue 10673, 18 February 1926, Page 4

Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1926. ENCOURAGING MIGRATION.

The pending' departure from Britain of some 300 families bound for Canada, proves the truth of the statement by the London “Times,’’ that the agreement recently entered into between the Canadian and British Governments and the Atlantic shipping* companies for the conveyance, of immigrants to the sister Dominion, is “by far the greatest step taken in the encouragement of settlers for the Dominion since the war.” The fares have been reduced by 80 per cent, so that it will be possible for a

farm labourer to land at Quebec for £3, or exactly the price of a thind class railway ticket from London to Aberdeen. But while “The Times” approves the reduction of fares, it points out that cheap passages alone are not sufficient to ensure success. It emphasises that the attraction now placed before the people of Britain will have to be supplemented by continuous and energetic effort on the part of the Dominion authorities in Britain. If experienced agricultural labourers are wanted they will not be found within hail of the High Commissioner’s office in Trafalgar Square, and a systematic recruiting* campaign all over the country is clearly necessary. So far* as the Oversea Setlemeiri Committee is concerned, it will also be called on to play an active and a vigorous part. The broad and sympathetic handling* of individual cases rather than insistence *upon obscure clauses in the Act

is what is really needed. Above all, a greater degree of personal contact with the Dominion and its authorities (which, of course, can only come from first-hand knowledge of the country, would be of the utmost value in the department.. At the moment there is a tendency to dwell rather too much on what Governments are prepared to do, to moralise too long on what is possible for the new settler to achieve. The best way of giving the settler the information that he wants is not by

speculating on what might be done in the future, but by placing on record the hard facts about the men and women who have gone before. The High Commissioner for New Zealand (Sir James Allen) has recently been engaged on a campaign in various parts of England and Scotland, but if this country is to receive a fair share of the eligible men and women in Britain the matter will have to be placed on a systematic basis, so that the attractions and opportunities offered may be constantly before the people.