MIGRATION IN THE EMPIRE

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21090, 15 February 1934, Page 9

MIGRATION IN THE EMPIRE

I _— I RESUMPTION URGED BY I COMMITTEE i i FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE CRGED frrm'ED rr.r.ss association —by ei.ectbic TELEGRAPH—COI'YBIOHT.) j (Received February 14, 5.5 p.m.) | LONDON, February 13. i The report of the Migration Com--1 mittee states that since the migra- , Hon of people to the Dominions has ! largely ceased the expected expanI sion of the Dominions has not taken ': place. 1 Australia's population has hardly ; increased in line with that of Canada. Australia has established a I great range of secondary industries 1 which have no hope of finding a i n-'arket with that country's present ! population. While the cities continue to grow the country areas are .',l. a standstill and are unable to I absorb the increasing products of I (lie (owns. I Australian industries are unable to export in the face of world com--1 petition. ; The chief need of the Dominions ;' is more population. Their strategic j position cannot be dismissed. Naj lions with rapidly increasing popuj Jations covet empty spaces. i This is specially true of the marI lial Japanese, who, ignoring the i League'of Nations, have pressed on 1 with their designs in Manchuria in ! search of an o'lllet for their proI ducts and people. ■ The most vulnerable points of the ■ Empire are north-west Australia, ! New Zealand, and the north-west- | ern seaboard, of Canada. ; Since the war Great Britain has I spent £1,000,000,000 for the main- ' tenanec of the unemoloyed. The I London market has lent £200,000,000 ;to Germany, Austria and other j European countries, in many cases j with disastrous results. If this | money had been used to guarantee j interest on big-scale migration it would have been a great conlribuI lion toward the solution of the un- | employment problem. The report | advocales a non-party permanent | Empire settlement board to investiI gate finance and carry out the establishment of completely new sctlleI menls within the Dominions, as oui- ! lined bv Sir Henry Page Croft. M.P.

I The status of the committee which i.isucd the report, is not known. There has lately been a resumption of interest in migration in England. In the House of. Commons on January 31 the Government accepted Sir Arthur Shirley Benn's motion: "That the time has come for the Government to gel in touch with the Dominion governments to plan a voluntary redistribution of the white peoples of the Empire and the stimulation of shipping and trade under the flags' This arose from a report by the Empire Development and Settlement; Research Committee, which is a private body consisting largely of backbench Conservatives. Its chairman. Sir Henry Page Croft, M.P., explained (.n January 12 that its object was redistribution of the Empire's population on a large scale. He said haphazard migration was unwelcome, and the only hope was to start entirely new British colonics, away from vested intensts. in undeveloped territories no! yet. designated, and transplant families and found villages. towns, and possibly cities as a great business organisation. Governments were unstiilcd tor this work, but credit facilities and certain governmental financial assistance toward training migrants was desirable. It was hoped '■> absorb from 21)0.000 to 500 000 people in 10 vears.l