LORD LOVAT

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 287, 4 September 1928, Page 12

LORD LOVAT

HIS MISSION TO THE DOMINION A DISTINGUISHED SCOT The Government bus been advised that Lord Lovat (pronounced Luvvutl, K.C.M.G., K.C.VO., C. 8., D. 5.0., will arrive in New Zealand on October 8, and will leave Wellington on his departure fron the Dominion on October 23. , , . Tile primary object of Lord Lovats visit to New Zeah.nd and Australia is to study the complexities of Empire migration from this end of the world —those parts of the Empire which may be considered to be only sparsely settled, and which should be the natural repository for England’s stir plus population. A good deal has been said unite recently in the House of Commons on this question, when (last month) was : ed the matter of rhe objection to immigration on the part of inborn organis." 1 ’ “’s in this quarter of the globe: nlso the difficulty f accommodating settlers without capital h this and other Dominions overseas. These are matters that will no doubt receive the attention of the dis tingnished visitor.

Lord Lovat is also an authority -n forestry and reafforestation, having been “ of the English Forestry Co-iii sion, and in that' connection will visit the Government plantations at Rotorua and Hamner, but as his itinerary only allows 'a fortnight’s stay in New Zealand, his will be a rather rushful visit. Lord Lovat is the fourteenth Baron ol S.otiand, and die third of the same title in the Unifed Kingdom. Among the ninnv honourable positions he holds is that of A.D.C. to His Majesty the King; a vice-lieutenant for Invernessshire: a trustee of the Rhodes Fund; an honorary major in the army: aiid h -n-v colonel and colonel-comman-der of Lovat’s Scouts (yeomanry), which he raised during the South African Wa , He served duriir '»e ('rent War as Director of Forestry (with the office of temporary brigadiergeneral). He was previously a lieutenant in the First Life Guards, and

afterwards commanded the Highland Mounted Brigade. ' ord Lovat was born on November 25, 1871, succeeded to the title in 1887, and in 1910 married the Hon. Laura Lister, dater of the fourth and lust Baron Ribbledale. His country sent is Beaufort Castle, Beauly County, Inverness. Balancing Empire Population. Addressing the Royal Society of Arts in London on January 31 last. Lord Lovat said that, the purpose :>f the Empire Settlement Act was not that of dealing temporarily with depressed industrial conditions. It .'.is to distribute the white population of the British Commonwealth in the most efficient milliner as between all parts. The essential need of the Dominions for an increase of population to develop their resources, mid the desire that this increase should be effected by means of British stock, were the objectives on which all were agreed. But the State could not do everything. It could not create the will to emigrate, aud the fact that the annual flow of population to the Dominions, in spite of a large increase of State assistance, was still well below pre-war level, had been regarded as indicating a definite lack of desire on the part of our people to go

oversea. It would be wrong to suggest, however, that the main difficulty lay in this country.* There were conditions oversea which were to a large extent responsible for the slow rate at which the population of the Dominions was being increased by means of overseas. settlement. The’causes of the falling-off (or at any rate absence of increase) in migration were various, but what were generally considered to be the two prime causes were : (a) bad trade conditions both here and oversea; and (h) the restrictions which the Governments of the Dominions found it necessary to place on the classes of persons to whom assisted passages could be granted. Work of Overseas Settlement Committee. Since the Overseas Settlement Committee was established in 1919, nearly 35(1.000 approved settlers bad been assisted by the Governments concerned to jH’oeced to other parts of the Empire. Moreover, from tlie broader points of view of (lie future of the Empire as a whole, its effect had been most valuable. The loans, (lie assisted paraages. tlie grants for training, the assistance to voluntary societies, were evidence of the desire of His Majesty's Government to co-oper-ate in the development of tlie overseas Dominions. It was n .idicatiou of the unity of the Empire, and it had played a prominent part in the development of the conception of tlie Empire as a great Commonwealth of British peoples. ' The Drift to tlie Towns. x It would be idle, however, to ignore the difficulties which confronted us in dealing with this problem. One of the greatest difficulties to overcome was the increase of the urban and the decrease of tlie rural population in this country and to a lesser extent in the Dominions themselves. The result was that large sections of the population were becoming increasing disinclined to the routine of country life and perhaps less adaptable and less fitted for a life on the land in the Dominions than were their fathers. In the Dominions the drift to the cities had the further effect of increasing the political influence of (lie towns, and the natural desire of the town-dwellers to safeguard their own standards of living resulted in an attitude of hostility towards any form of assisted immigration other than for work in primary industries. Tlie result was that the main openings for our people oversea were on the land. Although the land offered its rewards in the shape of independence and farm ownership for those who qualified by intelligence, thrift, and industry, there was no doubt that the numbers of our people who wore prime facie suited to such a life were limited, and in addition. work upon the land was heavy work and for the worker —except that as a farmer he was his own master — the return was often poor as compared with the industrial worker in the towns. The door was open into the Dominions, of course, for all classes of workers from this country who could pay their own passages, but the high cost of passages severely restricted the number of those who could go oversea without assistance. If lhe door could be opened wider for those travelling under “assisted passages” from this country, there would be a large increase in the number.) going oversea. The difficulties with which the oversea Governments were confronted were fully realised in this country, but his own personal feeling was that the future possibilities of lhe Dominions were enormous that they could with confidence remove some of the existing rest rict ions.