EX-SERVICEMEN

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 24, 28 July 1927, Page 11

EX-SERVICEMEN

[THE EMPIRE LEAGUE

BIENNIAL CONFERENCE

PROBLEMS OF MIGEATION

(From "The Post's" Representative.) LONDON, 15th June.

Mr. L. S. Amery, Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs, opened the third Jjiennial conference of the British Empire Service League. Delegates from all over the Empire attended.

There was no body of men in the Empire, said Mr. Amery, "that could more effectively -work to maintain the unity of the Empire than ex-service men, for' among them the. sentiment of unity was strongest. Speaking of settlement, Mr. Amery said its success must necessarily depend, in a very large measure, on the help given by individuals availing themselves of the facilities afforded by Parliament under the Empire Settlement Act and working in co-operation. The most valuable form was nominated migration—nomination by such responsible bodies as the Y.M.C.A. and the Church Council, who vouched for the character of the settlers. .. It was in that direction also that the British Empire Service League could do work of enormous benefit, in nominating ex-service men for migration and in being responsible for them. In close association with the work of migration was the work of purchasing Empire goods. If we wished the settler to succeed, we must do what we could to help him to sell the goods he produced. There was no better or more effective way of doing that than . by buying such products ourselves. On the other hand, our friends oversea could, by encouraging the purchase of goods produced here, enable the Old Country •to continue her part in the maintenance of the Empire as a whole. Major Sir Abe Bailey, the head of the South Africa delegation, replied, to the welcome. They were not present, he said, merely to utter platitudes. In South Africa they were very surprised to learn that British policy in Kenya was to do everything for the natives and solely for the natives. It should not be forgotten that the British Government was also the trustee for the white races, and it was on the white races that the defence and development of the Empire depended. He was also very sorry to learn that the whole of our West African possessions were to be regarded practically as a sanctuary for the native races, and no white man was to be al-lowed-to acquire the freehold right to land, or to purchase land. This was just one of those facts which made him fear that English people were not holding their own throughout the world as they used to do. Ehodesia was the axle-pin of the Empire in South Africa. It was a country suitable for the small emigrant, and he was prepared to givo to the league twenty plots of 500 acres each, as land for the Empire. Ex-ser-vice men should, he added, teach their sons to be vigorous animals, and create in them the spirit to do as much for the Empire as possible. FORCEFUL POLICY. On the motion of Mr. H. Frase'r East (Australia, seconded by Captain V Crawshaw v\ Tew Zealand), a resolution was carried instructing the Empire Council to press forward a forceful policy as regards migration, to enable deserving and physically fit ex-service men to settle in the Dominions with their families.

Captain D. Simson, hon. secretary of the league, announced that, in addition to Sir Abe Bailey's magnificent gift of land in Ehodesia, an offer of more than 1000 acres of land in Alberta, Canada, had now been made to the league. The donor was Mrs. Campbell, the widow of Colonel J. E. Campbell, who wished it to be a memorial to her late husband (Cheers.) Some of the land was not ±ar from Calgary, and it was very fortile and. artificially irrigated. Earl Haig, on behalf of the league, thanked Mrs. Campbell for her generous gift, but he was sure that the best thanks they could give her was to show that they were making a really good use of _ Major J. C. Tryou, M.P. (Minister of Pensions) gave some striking figures as to what Great Britain had done, and is still doing, for those whom the war left iTSr Mn i° r *? reavod- There wove 1,660,000 beneficiaries, including 46 000 pensioners now living overseas. There were still 29,000 officers and men until treatment even so long after the war War widows were remarrying at the rate of about four thousand a year. The C* ™H' speat by the Mother Country on pensions up to the end of March last was £725,000,000, to which had to be added £61,500,000 for the cuTrent year, and it was satisfactory to note that the cost of administration had been reduced from 15d to 7d per £1 or pension. Delegates to the conference were received by the King at Buckingham Palace. They were presented by FieldMarshal Earl Haig. There was no formality, tho King shaking hands and chatting with eacli of the delegates in turn. On Mr. T. F. Lister, who has retired from the chairmanship of the League and has become vico-president, the Kinc conferred the C.B.K, and Captain Dyctt, of the Returned Soldiers' and Sailors Association of Australia, received the C.M.G. CONSCRIPTION IN WAR. _At another session of tho conference Sir Percy Lake (Canada) moved a resolution commending the principle that, "in the event of the declaration of war, the properties, equally with the persons, lives, and liberties of all citizens, shall be subject to conscription," and recommending the constituent organisations to pass for legislation of a character consistent with this prin- i ciplc. .. Mr. Andrew Young (Scotland), seconding, said that during the last war the young men felt bitterly the fact that the men over 40 were allowed to remain at home and multiply their fortunes. • Major-General Clifford Coffin, "V.C. (Ceylon), moved, as an amendment, that on tho declaration of war the income and person of every citizen be taken into the service of the State, each individual receiving pay and allowances from the State at the military rate applicable to his or her employment." He said there were two dangerous words in the original resolution, and the first of these was "properties." A Communist Government might arrange with friends of theirs, at a safe distance, to declare war without any intention of fighting, and, when the war had been in progress long enough for the whole of the property of the people to be taken by the State, they would say: "Now we will stop." They would give their friends of "Redlaml" a share of the loot, and tho people would be without any, property. The second dangerous word was "conscription," 'which was a bugbear to the people of this country. If the income, as well as tho person of every individual wove taken for the servico of tho State, they would do away with any chance of" profiteering which was a bigger handicap in the' war than the enemy. Mr. H. Eraser East (Australia) said this was a burning political question in his country. During tho war conscription was defeated by referendum there on two occasions, and the Australian

delegates must oppose the motion, although sympathising with the idea that the whole of the nation's resources should be placed at the disposal of its own Government. It ought to be left to each Dominion, however, to lay down the lines on which it should act.

After further discussion, it was resolved, on the motion of Major W. K. Sanguinetti (Malaya), seconded by Captain M. F. Cressall (British Guiana), that the subject too nearly approached a political question to come within the purview of the Empire Service League. RELATIONS WITH AMERICA. On consideration of a motion welcoming the closest co-operation of the League with comrades in the United States of America, Lieutenant-Colonel Nangle (Newfoundland) said there seemed to be an impression in this conntry that the United States or America was an Anglo-Saxon nation. It was anything but that. It was not proBritish. On every occasion on which we had come in contact with the United States, England had gone down The limitation of naval armaments was only brought up because, if American ships put another ISin. on their beam they could not get through the Panama Canal and America would have had to build two navies—one for the Pacific th^fh m£ Ot t he Atlan«c- He moved that the matter be referred to the next biennial conference. The original motion -n-as, however, carried Mr. East (Australia) moved a resoS?.^ the Empire Council to bring to the notice of the United Serw!? q I?0mini0Ils a >nong the ex-Im-X 'T O6 -meu with a view to a further allocation of f unds for their relief. General R. H. More, general or%T£ ? f *? e TJnitea Se™ice Fun", said that a definite limit had been put upon the amount to be given to the oversea organisations. ft should bo remembered that there was considerable distress here at Home, but, at the same time, any special representations from oversea would be considered. The Canadian authorities had given 50,000 dollars for the relief of Canadian ex-Ser-™*A m,V n Gl'eat Britain > and h« commended the example to the other Domincarried resoluti^ ™s

Mr. A. P Connolly (Irish Pl . ee State) moved a resolution regretting S th f e P r? vj?i°/ ns of the Oversea Settlement Act did not apply to the Free Free State, they obtained the status of a Dominion and did not share in tho privileges of the migration scheme! Very large numbers of ex-Sorvice men m the Free State were in a very bad way. There were 50,000 unemployed e-vsoiaiers in Ireland, and it would be a great step forward if they could be included in the migration scheme. Cap! tarn J. L. Bonnet (Northern Ireland) tthp supported the motion, said that Northern Ireland got all 'the benefit that England got under the Empire Settlement Act, an d they wanted to TriF leV C°mradeS Of the So^h of Ireland. The resolution was carried. The next conference will be held in