WORLD PROBLEMS

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 136, 5 December 1929, Page 22

WORLD PROBLEMS

CONFERENCE IN BERLIN

INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE

(From "The Post's" Representative.)

LONDON, 4th October.

Tho Hon. W. H. Triggs, M.L.Q., hae returned from a visit to Berlin, whera, at the invitation of the Empire Parliamentary Association, he attended the International Parliamentary Conference of Commerce as representative of' >Jew Zealand. The only other Do•jiinion representatives were the Hon. •sir William Lothlain, M.L.0., of Western Australia, and the Hon. T. T. J. Ley, ex-Minister of Justice in New South Wales, J;ho Right Hon. Robert "Vlansin, ex-Postmaster-General, Canada, Mr. Leslie Blaekwelll, M.L.A.. South ifrica, and Sir Richard Squires, Premier of Newfoundland. No fewer than !orty-ono different Parliaments were represented., so that the gathering was even more cosmopolitan than an assembly of .the League of Nations.

Tho ineetiiigs were.held in the Reich-, stag. lii tho morning what were termed •'Scancos dcs Commissions" were held in committeo^ppms of tho Palaco of the Reichstag, and in the afternoons a full plenary session was held in the Meiclistag itself. The principal sub-, jects discussed, first in the committee meetings and afterwards in the plenary session, were the "Rationalisation of Industry," codification of the law of '•obligations" to contracts; the "rural exodus" from the towns to the country; international regulation of wire^ loss; migration.

The only subjects, on which Mr. Triggs spoke were the "rural exodus" iiiel migration. The "rural exodus" was 'he general subject of regret among the delegates, and various suggostiona for cheeking it were brought forward. Mr. Triggs was the only speaker who sug? gested that there might be another side to the question. He pointed out that even in a new country like New Zea^ land, where practically all the rente, dial measures i'ecommdnded by the Per. manent Commission were already in operation, there had been, according to the Government Statist (Mr. Malcolm fc'raser), since 1900, an "urban drift" which was rapidly rising in momentum, tie admitted, the dangers, especially in the older countries, of a continuous decline in the rural population, but suggested that^the drift to the towns might riot be wholly evil, at least in a young country like New Zealand. It was only natural that young people, with no natural love of country sights and sounds, wh > consequently found country work dull and monotonous, should seek for more congenial employment. Some of them might be capable of doing far more valuable work for their country as well as for themselyes in the secondary industries or the learned professions. A natural ambition for advancement on the part of young people pften led them further afield, and the parents often desired to see their children occupy what they con; Bid6red 3 better position in life- than that they had themselves been able to attain. Without this desire the general progress of the race would be retarded. As an illustration, he mentioned the career of Sir Ernest Rutherford, the great physicist, whose brilliant work is appreciated at much in France and Germany S3 it is in England. Had this son of a Taranaki settler been contented with a farmer's life in New Zealand the world of science, would have suffered an immeasurable loss. There were other cases, not so conspicur ous as this, where the. world at large Would have been the poorer if sons of farmers had not left the farm to seek their fortunes elsewhere. IMPQSSIBI.E PROPOSAL. In regard to the question of migration, Mr. Triggs found that the Pei-r manent Commission;, who presented a Toport on this subject, had not included Australia and New Zealand among the ''countries of migration," He regretted that the Australians were not present, but said he wag sure they T?ouia take exception to tho resolution proposed by the. Permanent Commission for adopr tipn, as ho felt bound to do on behalf of New Zealand. This resolution was to the effect that the countries pf : immigration ought to "lend all their efforts" tq immigrants from detaching themselves from their national "milieu and cuU ture/J and that they should receive sub^ Btantial support in carrying on their national system of education, elementary and secondary, and that their religious services should be conducted in their own language, Mr. Triggs said that foreigners who came to settle in New Zealand had the fullest religious liberty, but tho idea of their remaining in self-contained separate communities dotted about the country would, in the opinion of the New 'Zealanders, be good neither for the country nor for the immigrants themselves. It would not bo tolerated. It wag desired that those who came to settle in the country should become New Zealandora. One pf the Brazilians ajso objected to tlto resolution, and ultimately a French delegate came to tho rescue with an amendment free from the objections of the resolution to which exception was taken, and the amendment was adopted. It was to the effect that the countries of immigration should respect the full liberty of immigrants not to sacrifice their feelings for the country of their origin, nor their national culture.