SIDELIGHTS ON EMIGRATION

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume LIII, Issue 5531, 24 September 1929, Page 1

SIDELIGHTS ON EMIGRATION

•In pursuance of their promise made six weeks ago to assist the Government in. formulating improvements in the existing policy of Empire settlement, the Royal Empire Society, through the medium of the Chairman of their Migration Com-, mi'ttee, have handed Mr J. H. Thomas a summary o-f the \fiews collected from twenty-one voluntary emigration societies. The summary brings out in striking fashion how much more easy it is to define the difficul-

ties in the way of the expansion of emigration than to make suggestions for their removal. In some respects, indeed, it is unfortunately phrased, and is liaible to obstruct the abject .for which it was compiled. The statement that "generally the attitude of the Dominions is not sympathetic" to emigration hardly reflects the fact, to which prominence is given in nearly every individual answer to the Royal .Empire Society's j I that the attitude of Dorr.inion Governments is : dictated 'by economic rather than political

I factors. It is common knowledge that the decline of emigration to New Zealand, for example, is due not to any lack of sympathy with the ideal of spreading British population throughout the Empire, but to the economic difficulties in which producers in that Dominion have recently b3en involved. It would 1 be a pity if any casual phrase in the summary created the impression in the Dominions that there is anybody in this country who refuses to make allowance for their domestic circumstances or challenges in any way their

3 right to do what seems bast for thei 3 own populations. It would also 'be ; t pity if a summary was thereby dis 3 credited which may serve a usefu i purpose in emphasizing- cnce more s the weaknesses of the existing - sys- ■ tern of emigration. The rmiiT conclusion of the summary is tha-t the operation of the Empire 'Settlement Act has not been able to counteract a falling off in the desire to emigrate, which is due to the very great expansion of social services in Great Britain since the War. It' is therefore recommended that the Act .itself should 'be amended so as to permit of greater elasticity in the character and the amount of the assistance provided under it.. This is a subject to which the Government' might well givi serious attention.. It is distressing to note, not merely that ex.penditun under the' Act has' never exceeded i fraction of the permitted annua sum, fcut that the total of assistec emigrants has declined from the I "peak" figure of 65,543 in 1&26 tc 60,900 in 19.27 and 50,519 in 1928 There can be no doubt of the soundness of the proposal: contained in M'r iSomcrvPlle's abortive 'Bill of 1928, tc allow the British Government, at its discretion, to contribute more than half the cost of .projects, notably training schemes, likely to assist emigration. Not merely the voluntary societies, 'but also provincial Governments in the Dominions would certainly welcome such a possibility of adding to their funds available for encouraging settlement. It should not ibe forgotten that within the same sphere of Government action unassisted emigration can also be encouraged ; and: the reduction to £10 of the passage rates to Canada, which came in-to force on January 1, is reported already to have had promising results, Wilth regard to minor obstacles, it is satisfactory that the l voluntary societies report that there are now onily trifling complications in the imrcv'gration regulations of the various Dominions, and.

irrom their point of view, it is clear , that thsir desires are. concentrated | rather upon securing that, closer coauthority of . settlei s, the desiriabi'Mv of which was so strongly urged by Lord 1 Lovat during;.' his tour of . Canada. . But when all the difficulties inherent in the system; of emigration generally and in the position of the voluntary socie'ties have been cleared out of the way, the. main problem of how to •break down the disinclination of the British people to emigrate remains. On this point the sumrmry confines its advice to the wise suggestion that information upon Empire questions should, form- a normal part of the educational curriculum in this country. Upon the delicate question of the continuance of British social services to settlers, or the commutation of benefits 1 thereunder, it content's itself with remarking that such steps, if ■practicable, would undoubtedly encourage emigration. {

By inference, therefore, if not explicitly, this latest contribution to the problem' of Empire settlement recognizes that the question is one mainly of economics. On the human side, it is essential that the settler should be fitted either here or on the spot for life overseas. That is why it may be hoped that the Government, encouraged by the success already achieved by many voluntary societies, will realize the importance of fostering juvenile emigration, and will expand the policy of their predecessors in providing training' for adult men and women. On the nv.iterial side, it is clear that development must precede settlement, although development itself may well be accelerated. The ißeport of the Economic Mission to Australia, for example, urges that the funds available under the £34,000,000 agreement should be used' "for scientific research and large scale experiments to test "its results before they are adopted"--in other words, that an increase in the production or national wealth of the country is an essential requisite for increased settlement. "London Times."