Evening Post. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 8, 1923. WANTED-A PLAN

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 33, 8 August 1923, Page 4

Evening Post. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 8, 1923. WANTED-A PLAN

If the Imperial Conference and the Economic Conference are to succeed in framing plans for Empire development, the representatives of the overseas Dominions must be prepared to offer practical suggestions. Principles may be discussed and accepted, but practical measures for the application of those principles must be devised. Empire migration is a subject upon which we are all agreed in principle._ It is admitted that Great Britain is overcrowded and that the "Dominions are underpopulated; but the mere admission of this unbalanced distribution of peoples is not sufficient to restore the balance. There must be a definite and workable plan. In so far-as the Wellington Chamber of Commerce proposal emphasises the need for this plan we commend it heartily, though we cannot see that a commission would be the best means of supplying the need. Under the Em-' pire Settlement Act New Zealand has negotiated a passages agreement with Great Britain which enables new settlers to be brought to this Dominion at a low cost. This agreement solves one part of the problem by providing an incentive to prospective migrants. Those who are seeking a new land are assisted by the British and New Zealand Governments in paying their passages, and, because this agreement is in operation, they are enabled to come to New Zealand even though their means are limited. Without such assistance they would probably turn to Canada; but the assistance granted turns the balance. " The passage agreement, however, has its limitations. It makes but little appeal to the prospective settler with capital—the ex-officer, the public school boy, and the son of the yeoman farmer. Such settlers give more attention to prospects than to the immediate cost of migration. And New Zealand desires to obtain its full quota of men of this class.

Another limitation of the assisted passages scheme is that it does not help .New Zealand to provide, for. the new settlers. It brings them here and leaves them to be settled by the Government or by the friends who have been responsible for their nomination. The Australian States, with the. exception of Tasmania, are going much farther. They are providing land, monetary assistance, and training upon well-defined plans for their new settlers. Western Australia's migration plan provides for the reception of 25,000 settlers each year. Victoria proposes to take 10,000 settlers with capital in five years, and place them upon farms. New South Wales has a farm-settlement scheme, but does not demand capital from the immigrants. South Australia and Queensland specialise in the migration of boys who serve an apprenticeship" and are then assisted to acquire farms of their own. We do not suggest that New Zealand can follow in the footsteps of the Australian States. There are no great unpeopled areas here for large-scale settlement. But we do believe that co-operation between Government Departments and local organisations would enable us to take many more settlers than we can now receive. There are openings in all parts of New Zealand for the right men, but it is too much to expect that one small Immigration Department can discover and fill those openings. Much more would be possible if all the Government Departments gave regular assistance, not only by providing, employment, training, or land, as could be done by the Labour, Public Works, Agricultural, and Lands Departments; but by constituting themselves the channel through which the assistance of local organisations—farmers unions, chambers of commerce, employers' associationsmight be directed. In the formulation of such a scheme a commission, such as the Chamber of Commerce proposes, could undoubtedly offer much help; but we think the work could be done by the expert officers now in the Government service without setting up a commission. -If it were done in this way there would be better prospects of its adoption, for commissions sometimes overlook the difficulties which confront the officials every day. The officials would be required to operate the scheme afterwards, and this would induce them to recommend nothing which could not be put into practical operation.