MIGRATION

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 108, 8 May 1923, Page 7

MIGRATION

COMING OFFICIAL TOUR

NEW ZEALAND TO BE INCLUDED

(FROM OUR 0-WX COK.H.I6FOHDESI.)

LONDON, 22nd March.

In a few days' time a specially selected delegation will leave for Australia at the invitation of the Commonwealth Government to examine the schemes for settlement already in force there (or in contemplation), and the arrangements which have been made for the reception and absorption of settlers. By the time this delegation has completed its survey it is hoped that the conference in London will have made appreciable headway. This organised concentration of activities to deal with the great problem of inter-Imperial migration is probably unparalleled in the British Empire. Those who are going out are:— Mr. William Windham, C.8.E., Miss Gladys Pott, 0.8. E., Mr. James Wignail, M.P., Mr. Frank B. Smith, C.M.G., and Mr. R. G-. Somervell.

Although as yet there is no official intimation that the delegation will visit New , Zealand I learn on good . authority that the Dominion will be included in its torn 1) and that the official announcement to this effect will be ;nade after the party has arrived in Australia. Miss Pott is a very well-known authority on investigations of the kind about - to be undertaken, for she has made official visits to Canada and South Africa, and lias been unofficially in India. On return, she has supplied valuable reports on conditions and prospects in those countries. It is becoming generally recognised that if the lands at present uncultivated and unoccupied in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand could be made to contribute their quota to the wealth of the Empire the result would be of the highest importance. There would be the direct yield in commodities, an absorption of persons unable to find employment in Great Britain, and the creation of additional markets for certain classes of goods manufactured at home. All. things being equal, every emigrant from Graet Britain becomes a represents, tive of that country in the commercial sense, probably, in some instances, unconsciously so, but nevertheless an agent. Dealing in a leading article with the all-important matter, "The Western Daily Press" (Bristol) remarks: "Of course, it is easy enough to recommend emigration as a panacea for the industrial congestion at home, but it is not quite so easy to overcome the prejudice against quitting the Old Country. This is a matter of sentiment which is praiseworthy on the. whole ; but surely it would be better for those concerned to enjoy the chance of a fuller and more hopeful life in the Overseas Dominions than to be condemned to lead a precarious and not very happy existence at home. The. problem is many-sided, and suitable emigrants are under no obligation to sever themselves from their families. Swift and cheap intercommunication betwen the overseas Dominions and the Mother Country has greatly reduced the asperities which fell on the earlier settlers. As time goes on these facilities will be multiplied, and emigration does not- imply by any means banishment from the Old Country, or seris ous alienation from it. What Canada and the overseas Dominions want are immigrants who have .been born under the British flag—wljite men arid women, prepared to engage ..in reasonably hard work, at least for a time, until the conditions of their environment have undergone improvement. The worst of it is that if we systematically emigrate the best types of our men and women at Home, we lay ourselves open to the risk of admitting" from the 1 Continent aliens who are inferior in physique, who have lower ideas of the standard of living, and who are by no means, averse to the undercutting of the prices in the. Labour markets. That is a danger, however, against which we have our own remedy, if the Government is willing to enforce that remedy. This aspect of the problem will have to be considered very carefully, lest Great Britain be led into the sacrifice of the substance for the shadow —or, to put it more palinly, lest we be induced to send away our own vigorous and> healthy people smd to accept in exchange for them persons of »n inferior type. The Governments of the overseas Dominions ap-pear to claim the right to' pick and choose amongst what is alleged to be our 'surplus population in Great Britain, and we must make sure that this severely discriminatory selection does not leave the Motherland with the nucleus of an undesirable residuum, prepared to subsist on the dole rather, than earn the wages of honest labour. But when safeguards in this respect have been devised, it would appear that the policy of Stateaided emigration on a gigantic scale is worthy of encouragement and development." WHEN A MAN "MAKES GOOD." At- a farewell dinner at the Lyceum Club last night Miss Pott said the object of her mission to Australia, was to find out the facts touching the migration of women to that country. Incidentally, she expressed it as her strong- conviction that married men who migrated to Australia should take -with them their wives | and families, as previous experience in other Dominions had. convinced her that the presence of his wife and children was a stronger incentive to a man to "make good" than any other incentive of which she had any knowledge. I Under the. Empire Settlement Act I passed in 1922, the Imperial Government has power to co-operate with the Governments of the Dominions and other organisations in formulating and carrying out agreed schemes for assisting suitabls persons in the United Kingdom to settle within the British Empire. The expenses incurred are shared between the Governments concerned. An agreement between the Imperial and Commonwealth Governments covering a scheme of assisted passages to Australia has been in operation since 19th July, 1922, and consideration is being given to agreements relating to land settlements in various States. The delgation will consider what lines of development afford the beat hope of progress, having regard to the different classes of settlers- and their general welfare and prospects in the future. They will also confer with the Australian authorities as to the best means of carrying out the common objects in view, and will endeavour to collect as full and authoritative information, as possible on all present and future aspects of the, settlement problem. It is thought that a personal interchange of views will be of the utmost advantage in promoting the co-operation which is essential to a comprehensive policy of emigration and settlement.