The Bay of Plenty Times TUESDAY, JANUARY 7, 1947. IMMIGRATION AND THE FUTURE

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXXV, Issue 14259, 7 January 1947, Page 2

The Bay of Plenty Times TUESDAY, JANUARY 7, 1947. IMMIGRATION AND THE FUTURE

Political commentators in Great Britain and the Dominions are raisinsr the question of Empire migration. Australia, in particular, is asking for British migrants but the British Government is pleading for more manpower, and it it is not offic.mil> discouraging migration to the Dominions it is not apparently encouraging it. Indeed so desperate is the manpower shortage in the Homeland that some of the trade unions have agreed to Italian skilled craftsmen entering British industry at the same wages as British workmen. The Government has long been pressing the trade unions to accept Poles in the mines and-on farms and the unions are now beginning to recede from their previous opposition to such

At the same time the British Government is disturbed about the stubborn problem of unemployment in Wales with its 50,000 workless men. and also the situation in Scotland where some n,OOO are reported-to be unemployed. Many of these Scottish unemployed have been trained in the type of skilled engineering, particularly suited to the Scottish industrial genius and are reported to be just the kind Australia wants. They are the equivalent of five per cent, of Scotland’s insured males and four per cent, of insured females, arid- they have told Australian officials who have sounded them that thev are not only willing but also eager to go to Australia. Britain’s defence chiefs have been urging decentralisation of British industry. They argue that in the event of another world war atomic explosions and guided missiles threaten the very existence of the British Isles. The idea 'of spreading vital industries over the whole Empire should occasion no long range difficulty. With the exception of Eire the British Commonwealth of Nations has proved in two world wars within living memory that its selfgoverning units stand together in essentials. Where Biitain stands we stand, where Britain goes we go,” said a former Prime Minister of New Zealand as recently as 1939. and Hie same basic principle holds good to-day if the Empire or its institutions aie seriously threatened. Pt is in immediate ways and means that difficulties are encountered. For instance there is the problem of housing. W ith Australia and New Zealand at present short of houses for their existing populations it would be worse than foolish to bring thousands of immigrants into the two countries to shift for themselve. There is also the problem of shipping. This latter will probably reduce Australia’s yearly target of 70.000 down to nearer 7000 for the next twelve months at least. But this should not be allowed tb crystallise into a permanent impasse. If industries can be shipped out —when the shipping problem has been overcome—* along with the immigrants to work them, prefabricated houses or the materials for building could come too. ■> Intelligent planning, and Empire organisation possibly on a war-time basis, could be made to solve the problem. Clearly, the whole question of British migration to the Dominions must be tackled afresh and urgently. Nothing less than a major British Dominions’ conference will meet a situation which is full of contradictions and is becoming chaotic.