Empire Settlement

Inangahua Times, 25 January 1937, Page 4

Empire Settlement

Mr Malcolm MacDonald, Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs, said in the House of Commons that the Empire Settlement Act would be extended for a further 15 years. The Empire Settlement Act was passed in 1922, and provided £30,00.000 a year fjr assistance to Empire migration and settlement, A condition of this assistance was that it should be matched by assistance of an equal amount from the Dominion which received the migrants. In the 10 years, 1922 to 1931, over 400,000 persons were assisted to seLtle in various parts of the Empire under the Act, ot a total cost of some j£6,000,000 to the United Kingdom Government. The total migration, assisted and unassisted, to Empire destinations in the 13 years 1919 to 2931 inclusive was about 2,250 000, or at the rate of 170,000 a year. It will be noted that the assisted migration amounted to not much more than a fifth of the total. “ The Empire Settlement Act,” says Mr L. C. Amery, who introduced it into the House of Commons, “ fell far short of fulfilling the high hopes with which I introduced it. But that was nob due to any fundamental defect in the Act itself. The machine was adequate for its purpose. but the economic motive power was lacking. The development of the Dominions was seriously retarded after the war by the burden of their indebtednesss. Costly schemes of land settlement for their own ex-soldiers absorbed much pf their energy and finance. Above all, the essential factor of a market for an enlarged Empire production was not made available . . . For four years 1931-34, there was an actual excess of returning migrants of over 80,000. Happily this reyersa flow has now stopped.*’