EMPIRE MIGRATION

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 17, 21 January 1937, Page 9

EMPIRE MIGRATION

BRITISH ATTITUDE

COMMONS DISAPPOINTED

PUTTING DAMPER ON

United Tress Association —By Electric Telegraph—Copyright.

LONDON, January 39.

A small attendance of members in the House of Commons listened with disappointment to the proposal of the Secretary of State for the Dominions (Mr. Malcolm Mac Donald) to cut down the amount which it is permissible for the British Government to spend on migration by half.

Mr. Mac Donald indicated that the Empire Settlement Act will be extended for a further 15 years.

Mr. A.. A. Somerville (Conservative, Windsor), saying that the aim should be the development of the Empire so that there would be employment for all, added that he would like to see a great company formed called "British Dominions, Unlimited."

Mr. A. Bevan (Labour, Ebbw V ale) said he believed there was not the slightest chance of New Zealand, Australia, and Canada adding to their unemployment and debts by any migration scheme. Migration stopped because the migration of capital stopped, he said.

Several Conservative members expressed the opinion that Mr. MacDonald had put a damper on migration at a time when others were endeavouring to further a great Empire movement.

Mr. Mac Donald replied that the reduction in the grant did not imply a decline in the Government's interest in migration. He believed there was a prospect of a beginning being made in the near future in the case of at least one Dominion. j