The Dominion. FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 1923. EMPIRE OPPORTUNITIES

Dominion, Volume 16, Issue 176, 13 April 1923, Page 4

The Dominion. FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 1923. EMPIRE OPPORTUNITIES

It would probably be a very good thing if as many members as possible of the British Labour Party were induced to tour the Empire and get into touch with conditions in the oversea Dominions, lhe experience, no doubt, would modify very materially the views some of these members hold and' express with regard to questions of Empire trade and the redistribution of British population. One Labour speaker in the House of Commons debate of which some passages are reported to-day was apparently' more anxious to resume trade with Russia than to extend and broaden Empire trade. Another (Commander Wedgwood) maintained that the unemployment problem would not be solved “by migrating people to the various parts of the Empire.” ' In earlier .debates of recent date, British Labourites generally appear to have exhibited a pitifully limited conception of what the Empire means and offers to all sections of the nation. During the Address-in-Reply debate in February, for instance, Mr. Muir, Labour member for Glasgow, said he “was opposed to the economic disabilities from which working people were suffering being used as a whip to drive them to settle in other parts of the Empire.” Absurdly as they travesty the facts of the case, utterances of this kind are liable to do a great deal of harm. The vapouring of Labour ' orators cannot, of course, alter the fact that great numbers of British people would be very much better off in the oversea Dominions than they are, or can hope to be, in the United Kingdom. There is an obvious danger, however, that many people may be deceived and misled by wild talk of which examples have been quoted. It is perhaps of more serious importance that the cooler heads of the British Labour Party are appaiently inclined to look with disfavour on schemes for developing the Empire and distributing its British population to better advantage. The remedy presumably will be found in making Labour members batter acquainted with the Empire and its possibilities- It is, of course, not only in the case of Labour members that the need of such enlightenment is apparent. A good deal has been heard recently of the contention repeated by Commander Wedgwood—that migration is not a cure for unemployment in the United Kingdom. In a measure, this is, of course, true. In Groat Britain, as in other countries, unemployment is partly due to defects in social and industrial organisation.

With its natural resources and working population bettor organised, the Mother Country would have suffered less than it has from the failure of external markets. Until existing defects in social and industrial organisation are remedied, unemployment in varying degree will be a constant feature in the life of the United Kingdom, irrespective of the level at which its population may stand. This, however, in no way alters the fact that a well-directed transfer to the overseas Empire of a proportion of what is now surplus population in the United Kingdom is capable of doing a great deal to facilitate a solution of the total problem.

It ought to be obvious to Labour members and all other members of the House of Commons that the economic problems of the nation may be attacked to much greater advantage in the Empire as a whole than by regarding the United Kingdom as a self-contained unit which must dree its own weird.

The methodical transfer of British population to the countries of the overseas Empire offers an undoubted means not only of enabling many individuals to better their lot and prospects in life, but of developing! wider markets for the output of the industries of the United Kingdom, It is a means of developing and strengthening the Dominions and at the same time of putting the United Kingdom into a much better position to attack its domestic problems of social and industrial reorganisation. ' No one, presumably, would drcam of suggesting that Imperial migration bffers a complete remedy for unemployment in the United Kingdom. It would be equally erroneous, however, to regard the redistribution of British population as a poor palliative which will leave the root evil untouched- If it is undertaken and promoted in the right conditions it will be a very important and helpful stop towards a solution of the total problem. An effective use of the resources of the Empire in building up a better economic and social life for the nation calls for patience and faith, for sustained and painstaking effort—in fact for a spirit exactly opposite to that manifested conspicuously by some Labour members of the House oi Commons, thou'gn not by these members alone.