UNEMPLOYMENT

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 12, 9 October 1928, Page 10

UNEMPLOYMENT

BRITAIN'S POSITION TO-DAY MIGRATION TO DOMINIONS OBJECTS OF LORD LOVATS VISIT The questions of unemployment and. migration were mentioned by Lord Lovat, British Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Dominion Affairs, when ' speaking at an Auckland Chamber of Commerce luncheon yesterday. Dominion Special Service. Auckland, October 8. Speaking at a Chamber of Commerce luncheon, Lord Lovat, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Dominion Affairs, said that beyond question unemployment was serious in Britain, but it had been serious before, and the country had got over it. In 1826, eleven years after the close of the Napoleonic Wars, Britain had had 1,800,000 unemployed; to-day, nearly eleven years after the close of the Great War, she had 1,200,000, but her population in 1826 had been only one-third to onehalf that of to-day. Unemployment appeared to have reached the peak. One of the effects of war was to reduce population, and it was estimated that the number of children coming to working age next year would be from 11 to 15 per cent, lower than at present; this would give some relief. A greater absorptive power of industry would also help, although not for an indefinite time.

It was estimated that there were in Britain some 200,000 people suitable for migration. These had all stood the test of hard work as miners or in other heavy industries. They belonged to a class of workers who were without equal anywhere. The Imperial Government wished to encourage these people to migrate, and also those others who, although not on the unemployed list, were ready and fit to seek their future overseas. All was subject to the wishes of the Dominions. “We believe the Southern Hemisphere is looking for men of this type,” declared Lord Lovat. “Pacific problems are increasing from year to year; there are vast increasing populations in Asia, and we must stand shoulder to shoulder and see what is best to be done.” Regarding land settlement in New Zealand, Lord Lovat said he had no knowledge of it except at second or third hand, and therefore he could not offer any ideas. However, he hoped a development policy would be framed, and that more people would be secured for the Dominion. “I can assure you,” he added, “that I will not support any theory that there is a fixed amount of work to be done, and that if new men are brought in they are bound to displace others. Such a i theory is the negation of progress, and is contrary to common sense.” General Smuts had told the Boers it was fallacious, and the history of the United States showed how an increase of population, went with the development of natural resources.

“I do not wish to anticipate,” Lord Lovat said in conclusion, “but I am sure that through talking with each other we can make progress toward our object, which is the development of your country and the assistance of that development by our forces and men at home.”