Conservative M.P.s Call For Emigration Support

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30401, 28 March 1964, Page 13

Conservative M.P.s Call For Emigration Support

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) LONDON, Mar. 27. A call for greater encouragement by the British Government of emigration to Australia, New Zealand and Canada was made by a number of Conservatives in the House of Commons yesterday.

The Government replied that emigration was a very personal decision, but 1,477,000 Britons had emigrated to the Commonwealth si- ce the war.

The debate was initiated by Mr David Renton, a former Conservative Minister of State at the Home Office. He said he was fortified by the knowledge that no fewer than 101 Conservative and Labour members had signed a motion for niture debate urging more emigration to the Commonwealth.

Mr Renton said emigration to other Commonwealth countries tended to increase Britain’s trade with those countries. He complained that Britain spent only 15s per emigrant to Australia. This compared with the millions quite rightly spent to help underdeveloped countries.

Only about 20 per cent of postwar emigrants to Canada had been British and there was no assisted passage scheme to Canada from Britain.

Only about 50 per cent of emigrants to Australia since tbe war had been British.

Last year as many as 172,000 applied for assisted passages to Australia, but only 5000 bad their passages paid because of the lack of funds in the assisted passages scheme. Mr Patrick Wall (Conservative) said it seemed that last year the Government sent only £160,000 to assist migration to Australia out of a total allocated by Parliament of £1,500,000 a year.