EMPIRE MIGRATION

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 68, 17 September 1937, Page 9

EMPIRE MIGRATION

COMING CONFERENCE

LORD BLEDISLOE'S INTEREST

0 (From "The Post's" Representative.) a LONDON, August 11. t Advocates of Empire migration have l" been doubly disappointed this sum--0 mer. The subject was not discussed j at the Imperial Conference; it was t shelved by the jHouse of Commons. f So intense was their disappointment 2 and so strong are their convictions that migration is of the utmost ims portance to the Empire that they dcs termined that their views and opin--7 ions should be thoroughly aired. The > result is the three-day conference fixed 1 for October 11 to 13. Lord Bledisloe . was among those who gave their sup- - port to the suggestion that the con- > ference should take place. He apt proached a personal friend, Sir George j Broadbridge, Lord Mayor of London. > Sir George will open the conference . at the Guildhall in the City of . London. I Thorough preparations are being t made to direct public interest to the t conference. Every member of Par- , liament in Great Britain and the Dominions is being invited to attend. . These invitations are now on their 3 way, with a copy of the conference . agenda, to all' New Zealand's Minis- , ters, each member of the Legislative i Council and the House of Representaj tives, the chairman of the Dominion L Settlement Association, and of the t Five Million Club, both with their headquarters in Wellington, the Bank J of New South Wales, Auckland, the E Bank of New Zealand, Wellington, to the newspapers in the four chief „ centres, and to Mrs. Orpah Jones-Neil- : son, of the British Immigrants' Club, Dunedin. Cables have already been exchanged ' with Mr. W. E. Barnard, M.P., who ' has given an assurance, it is reported, ' that New Zealand will be directly re- ; presented at the conference. Mr. Bar- ; nard, it may be added, is regarded ;by English migration advocates as ' being the Dominion leader on the sub- ■ ject. There is also an opinion that while New Zealanders generally appear to welcome the idea of a resumption of migration, their view is not ; shared to the same extant by the . Government. : TWO RESOLUTIONS. ( Two resolutions are to be laid before the conference, the first that an- ; other meeting shall be held in Glas- , gow next June on the occasion of the ; Empire Exhibition, and the second 1 the same in text as that in which Sir Henry Page Croft, chairman of the Empire Development and Settlement Research Committee, asked the ■ Prime Minister whether he would ; grant facilities to debate the subject. 1 Mr. Chamberlain's reply at the time ■ was that in view of the state of public • business he could hold out no hope • of a special opportunity for discus- : sion. The resolution before the. conference will read: "That this confer--1 ence is of opinion that the time has 1 now arrived for an early resumption o£ Empire migration, and urges his Majesty's Government to invite representatives of the Dominions Governments to consider the possibility of making early preparation for settlement and to indicate its readiness to give credit facilities for approved schemes." It will be proposed by Sir Henry Page Croft and seconded by Sir Patrick" J. Hannon, M.P. KEY ADDRESSES. Twelve subjects have been set down for "key addresses.'" These are: "Cooperation for Empire Development and Defence—Manpower and Migration," by Viscount Home, P.C.; "The Land Settlement Association in England— ■Results," by Mr. L. D. Gammans (Director in Chief of the Land Settlement Association, United Kingdom); "Opportunities of .Settlement in Canada," by Sir Jatrick J. Hannon; "Opportunities in Australia" (speaker yet to be announced; "Opportunities in New Zealand.", by Lord Bledisloe; "Opportunities in South Africa" (speaker yet to be announced); "The Human Aspect of Overseas Settlement," by the Bishop of London and Commissioner D. C. Lamb (Salvation Army); "The Woman's Point of View," by Dame Beatrix Lyall; "Increased Agricultural Production in the Dominions and Increased Markets" (speaker yet to be announced); "Emsire Trade and Empire Migration," by I Viscount Elibank; "Ths Finance of Overseas Settlement," fty Sir John S. Wardlow Milne, M.P ; "Empire Migration—a Reply for Empire Unemployment," by Sir Henry Page Croft and Mr. C. G. Ammon, M.P. The object of these addresses is stated to be: "To lay before the conference the case for organised Empire migration with financed and supervised settlement overseas." There is to be a general discussion opened by speakers from the Dominions, and, of course, discussion on the resolutions. It is hoped that the conference will indicate to the House of Commons that the subject' of migration should be raised to the rank of "public business" and that there will be a debate upon migration next session followed by debates in the Dominions' Parliaments. ' Bj (pedal arrangement neuter's world service. In addition to other «pedal sources of Information Is used In (lie compilation of tin overseas Intelligence published In this Issue, and all rights therein In Australia and New Zealand are reserved,