EMPIRE SETTLEMENT.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 19814, 30 December 1929, Page 15

EMPIRE SETTLEMENT.

GOVERNMENT AND ASSISTED SCHEMES,

DOMINION PROBLEMS

'.rEOM OVB fW CO3BESPOKDEST.) LONDON. November 21. The Empire Settlement Bill seeks to amend the Act of 1022 by extending its benefits to persons desirous ot engaging in agriculture in the LniUd Kingdom; it also empowers the S.cretarv of State to exceed the maximum contribution allowed under the .\ct in the case of training persons m the United Kingdom. The second reading was moved a few davs ago bv Mr A. A. feomeryille (M..P. for Windsor). It was not only a poncy to send people out of the country, he explained, but also for helping to migrate from our cities and towns to the countrv voung men and women and whole families, who are fit and willing to undertake the adventure. This was not a class matter, but a matter for the whole nation. The institution ot the £lO passage scheme to Canada had been verv successful. In the nine months it had been in operation over 46,000 persons had taken advantage of it. The Bill proposed to give the Secretary of State power to bear the whole or anv part of the expense of sending migrants under an approved scheme, and it also empowered him to give greater assistance to voluntary societies who were doing good work. It was also proposed to up an Empire Settlement Board by which, he thought, the best business minds of the country could be brought to bear on the question.

A Complicated Problem. Mr Ponsonby (Parliamentary UnderSecretary for the Dominions) said the Government could not possibly think of voting for the second reading of the measure. The Overseas Settlement Committee, of which he was chairman, were engaged in a very careful examination of the activities of the Overseas Settlement Department, and considering whether Governmental interference with assisted migration was to be encouraged or otherwise. He deprecated the question of migration being dragged into politics at all, because it was a very complicated problem. There could be no question of sending, or driving, or inducing people to leave the country. But at the same time there was a number of adventurous spirits, especially among the boys, who were anxious to go out and try their fortunes in the Dominions. They must take into account the willingness and desire of the would-be settler.

Then there was the question of fitness, the method by which the settler could be transferred from Britain to the Dominion of his choice, and finally the desires and needs of the Dominion Government*. There must be close consultation with the Dominions as to whether they wanted assisted emigration, and to what extent they wanted men, families, women and boys to go out. At the moment there were grave economic problems in Australia, New Zealand and Canada, which, naturally, made them hesitate to take advantage of any influx of new population.

The Overseas Settlement Committee were engaged in examining this very big problem, and he hoped that it would be possible for them to draw up a policy in the near future. It was a mistake, he thought, to introduce into Empire settlement the questiom of British agriculture.