Manawatu Evening Standard. SATURDAY, JAN. 27, 1934. EMPIRE MIGRATION.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIV, Issue 50, 27 January 1934, Page 6

Manawatu Evening Standard. SATURDAY, JAN. 27, 1934. EMPIRE MIGRATION.

An ambitious , migration project and one which has occasioned surprise in one Dominion at least is lhat outlined this week by Sir Henry Page-Croft, M.P., chairman of the Empire Development and Settlement Research Committee, in reviewing the operations of the committee in the past year. It is, he says, hoped to absorb from a quarter to half a million' people in migration schemas within ten years, the object being the redistribution of the Empire’s population on a large scale. This was one of the chief plans of Imperialists who already have done much to develop the Empire, and it is refreshing to find that such an organisation as the committee retains its existence for such a laudable object, especially at a time when emigration from Britain has almost completely •ceased, albeit there are many who will look askance at a proposal of such magnitude, with every Dominion under the _ flag confronted with the major problem of unemployment. Sir Henry’s outline makes it evident that here is no mere attempt to revive the big migration schemes fostered by the Imperial and Dominion Governments with considerable energy until a few years back when the depression compelled their cessation. “The only hope,” he says, “is to start entirely new British colonies away from vested interests in undeveloped territories not yet designated, and the transplanting of families, and founding of villages and towns, perhaps cities, as a great business organisation.” This statement envisages a great social experiment—the planning out of the future lives of thousands of people. The scheme will not only place them overseas on undeveloped lands—it will contain aftercare provisions and must, if it is to succeed, include some method of training and careful selection of the migrants. Planned migration by private enterprise is not new, of course. There are numerous instances of it in New Zealand in the early days of settlement; but in these plans the immigrants were left to develop their own resources for themselves. Under the Empire Development and Research Committee’s proposals the scheme will be run as a big business, which means that the selection and training of the migrant and his family would be but a step towards the big objective—commercial colonisation on a grand scale. Private enterprise alone, however, is not to be asked. to bring such a scheme into fruition. Although Governments are unsuited for such colonisation work, Sir Henry Page-Croft says, credit facilities and certain Government financial assistance towards training migrants are desirable. Here we come to a very big bar to the hopes of the sponsors of the scheme. In every part of the Empire Governments are facing the need for economy and finding work for those already inhabiting their lands. Again, severe fluctuations in prices for primary products —the supplies of which further land settlement would be bound to swell—and other economic difficulties have rendered it necessary to stop the flow of migrants. ' New Zealand, as an instance, has felt herself impelled to extend her immigration restrictions for another two years. In the country whose relief is sought by a transfer of population to lands overseas a virile agricultural policy is being pursued, with strong effect on the markets for Imperial primary products. These and other difficulties present themselves readily as arguments against the Page-Croft proposals, and it would seem that until economic conditions straighten* themselves out and the Dominions are enabled to absorb the workless already dependiug on the State for help there can be no reopening of the door for wholesale migration. It is no wonder that the Canadian Gov-

ernment officials have expressed surprise at the scheme mooted. There is one object to which the Empire Settlement Committee could with advantage direct its efforts, however, and that is by assisting with advice, and information those potential settlers with reasonable capital who are seeking an opportunity for themselves- and their families in such countries as New Zealand. If •possessed of the necessary finance and the right spirit and capabilities these potential settlers are worth helping.