VACANT LANDS

Evening Post, Volume CXVII, Issue 114, 16 May 1934, Page 8

VACANT LANDS

CALL FOR MIGRATION

SALVATIONIST'S APPEAL

(From "The Post's" Representative.) LONDON, April 5.

Iv an article in the "Empire Review" on the migration deadlock, Commissioner David C. Lamb (Migration Officer of the Salvation Army) makes a direct appeal to Mr. J. H. Thomas (Secretary of Dominion Affairs) to formulate a bold policy.

"Whether the forward movement be by way of chartered companies," says Commissioner Lamb, "by loans or grants, or other forms of co-operation, there can be no doubt about the cordiality of the reception the overseas Dominions 'would give to any scheme which gave reasonable assurance that new arrivals would not add to local unemployment problems, that the newcomers would not, in fact, appear in the bread lines, and would be looked after until firmly established on a sound economic basis. The Homeland position surely is that it is better to spend on something which, in the long run, should prove to be a good and sound investment, rather than on an unproductive dole and such like." Commissioner Lamb deals with the I chief factors which go to make up a baffling problem—an overflowing population, unemployment, a crushing weight of taxation, millions of pounds lying comparatively idle, native races looking for spiritual and cultural guidance, and the dangers of undeveloped land overseas. CALL FOR BOLD POLICY. The Commissioner addresses these words to Mr. Thomas: "The key is in your hand. You are not lacking in courage. You have the spirit of adventure, and your creative faculties are still active. You will readily concede that what is morally wrong cannot be economically right. What then? There have been others I have known who have risen from the ranks to be high in the councils of the State, but who, today, are forgotten. And why? Either they lost their nerve, or they found the machinery of administration too much for them—generally the latter. In this problem of Empire migration and settlement a new concept is essential. The existing order of civil servants is not > equal to the needs of this great endeavour. Their outlook is inadequate, although we all recognise the personal charm of the individuals and their desire to get things done. This recognition, however, need not blind us to the fact that they, can only be governed by regulations, and the problem of migration cannot be carried through successfully by governmental regulations.- It must be lifted out of the existing order of things. You can do it. <

"Do not be afraid of a bold policy. Take the Dominions into your confidence. Do not hesitate to talk of the dual problem of the unemployed and vacant lands.. They are inseparable. The Dominions are well able to take care of themselves, and will see to it, as tho Home Country, too, would, that only suitable people go overseas. If violence is not to be done to human life, or to the chances of life, or to the Empire, then our statesmen must redress what is now admittedly an illbalanced distribution. of the population. '' <■> THE SOLUTION. The solution of the problem (accord- i ing to Commissioner Lamb) lies in:— 1. An extension of the lifetime of the Empire Settlement Act, 1922., It expires in 1937.

2. An abrogation of the fiftyrfifty contribution clause, either in whole or in large part. The existing principle presses too hardly on the Dominions and on anyone who seeks to co-operate And ' .

3. The setting up of a whole-time board pulsating with life prepared to. escape from the present impasse and to take and save risks.

"At the moment," Commissioner Lamb concludes, "we are apparently suffering from brain fag, and from a failure of organising genius. A rapid and comprehensive survey of the new conditions overseas must precede tho formulation of any immigration policy. The conditions which must govern any transplantation schemes are so reasonable that one cannot imagine there wouia be any objection to them, and the advantages are so obvious that one wonders why in the Homeland we go on maintaining in idleness men and women who would gladly venture oversea."