The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED DAILY. THURSDAY, JANUARY 28, 1926. SIR ANDREW RUSSELL AND EMPIRE MIGRATION.

Gisborne Times, Volume LXIV, Issue 11013, 28 January 1926, Page 4

The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED DAILY. THURSDAY, JANUARY 28, 1926. SIR ANDREW RUSSELL AND EMPIRE MIGRATION.

in view of the launching at Home of a crusade in the interests of the better distribution of population throughout _ the King’s realms, the addresses which Sir Andrew Russell is giving in various portions of the Dominion on “Empire Migration” are of particular interest. It will be agreed that the problem is so complicated as to make it most difficult to solve. On the one hand, there is the Motherland with a million and a quarter workers for whom no work can he found; and, on the other, there are the Dominions which require only further capital, brains and labor to enable them to forge ahead. Sir Andrew Russell holds that' the statesmen at Home have by no means a thorough grasp of what is required to enable the best possible use to be made of the vast resources and potentialities of the Empire as a whole. It may also be said, with an equal amount of truth, that there is a strong feeling in the Dominions that these young British lands should not be made dumping grounds for all sorts of tradeless, inefficient and moneyless people who have proved failures in the Homeland. The crux of the whole problem, it would seem, is that the Dominions should be given preferential monetary assistance so that they may further develop their industries, primary and secondary, and extend, their public works and services so that they may prove in a position to absorb many thousands of British migrants who lack nothing but a good opportunity to do well for themselves. “Capital,” says Sir Andrexv Russell, “must be attracted to this Dominion and it must either precede immigration or come with the immigrants, though the second alternative is tile less desirable.” The first essential is, however, a “stocktaking,” which would show to what extent development might proceed in various directions and which branches should first be taken in hand. Then adequate finance must be assured at the cheapest possible rates. In regard to the former, the authorities in the Dominions would require very little help in the shape of advice from overseas. But, as to the latter, the success of the further development of the Dominions rests in very large measure with the British financiers. Britain had no difficulty, during the Great War, in marshalling and controlling her monetary resources. If she so wished, she could also, to-day, take steps that would ensure that the Empire’s interests should come first in \ that respect. But, no, the British financier, as we have go frequently pointed out, w ill not .voluntarily give preference in the matter of loans to tire British Dominions. One would like to believe that patriotism would suggest to the moneyed people at Home that it would be best to assist the Dominions even if the rate of interest which they could afford to pay happened to he less than that offered by foreign countries. Experience, however, teaches the reverse, as witness the poor reception which Dominion loans have recently been given in London as compared with the feverish rush that has been made for foreign loans. If the Dominions could secure their full monetary requirements at reasonable rates, they would quickly boom, and the sequel would be that immigration would no longer prove a problem. Migrants of the right type will always make for lands which .give promise of providing them with a chance to do well for themselves.