WHITE POPULATION

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 124, 22 November 1926, Page 8

WHITE POPULATION

In some quarters there will be disappointment with the report of the Overseas Settlement Sub-Committee of the Imperial Conference. It foreshadows no mass movement of population. It has not even the hint of a grand scheme which will make Australia a second United States of America, and double the population of New Zealand in five years. The absence of great schemes is, however, rather a cause for gratification than for disappointment. It is better to get to work and settle hundreds than to spend months in grand oratory concerning the need for transferring millions. Because the Committee and the Conference have refrained from high-flights we are led to hope that migration has come down from the clouds to solid earth —where settlement plans must be made. An indication of this is the entire absence of reference in the report to overseas settlement as a corrective for British unemployment. The Committee, indeed, states specifically that distribution is most rapid when general prosperity is greatest, when capital is available, and employment abundant. This is a fact often misunderstood by people who ask why workers do not readily leave Britain when limes are so hard. History proves that migration is most popular when a country is most prosperous.

There are other indications that the Conference has endeavoured to get down to bedrock, and to examine in detail the various proposals for, stimulating settlement. Particular attention has been given to the. question of training. When the Dominions desire rural settlers and the United Kingdom has mainly urban dwellers to offer, it is natural that means for conversion should be considered. The Dominions, however, have not received the proposals with enthusiasm. They ; have admitted the value of a short intensive course which will eliminate unsuitable, persons and provide certain essential qualifications, but they have expressed the opinion that complete agricultural training can be obtainable only locally. This opinion must be supported by our New Zealand experience. 'It:hasj'been .found here that even well-equipped farmers must spend some time in studying local conditions before they attempt to apply their knowledge. The Dominion Governments, however, "are not prepared to assist financially in the training, though they are willing to provide instructors, implements,

and equipment." This seems to* leave the issue at a dead end. The Dominiqns say that migrants trained at Home are not the best material, but they will not themselves finance, the local training. Great Britain cannot easily establish training farms in the Dominions, so how is the difficulty to be met? Perhaps the complete report will give some indication. I A special scheme for the settlement in New Zealand of families possessing capital is mentioned, but details are not given. Possibly this refers to the plans which Mr. Coates was reported to be taking to London for development of waste lands. If the British Government assistance is to be limited, however, to an average of £200 per family there will not be. much done under this head. Generally, it may be stated that the report does little more than affirm facts and conclusions previously well known to all who had sought to get to grips with this subject. The hope for greater achievements in tb,e future is based upon the expectation that the Prime Ministers, having become acquainted with all the practical- difficulties, will now devote their attention to practical methods which will promote a steady expansion of settlement. More may be done by attention to small things than by vain search for the big and spectacular. j