NORTHERN ADVOCATE DAILY WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 1934. EMPIRE MIGRATION

Northern Advocate, 7 February 1934, Page 6

NORTHERN ADVOCATE DAILY

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 1934. EMPIRE MIGRATION

Registered for transmission , through the post as , a Newspaper.

- The question of Empire migration, than which there are few subjects,. qX .greater, importance to the people of sparsely-settled Dominions,. • has . not. been discussed seriously for some, time past. Last,week,.however, it was given prominence in a. debate, in the House of Commons, when the Government .accepted a motion that the . time has . come when the Governments of Britain and ’the Dominions should co-operate in planning a' voluntary redis- . tributioh of . the white peoples of the Empire. In f,aCe ,of .this, the account given by Sir Henry Page Croft of flic. .year’s work of the Empire Development and Settlement Research Committee, a private organisation jn the Old Country of which .he is chairman, is of real interest. It would appear that .this committee .has home to the conclusion, that the effort to bring about some redistribution. of . the.'. Empire’s population must be. directed along fresh lines. The .only hope, according to Sir Henry Page Or~ft. is to start entirely new Bi'itish colonies, away from vested interests. in undeveloped territories not yet designated: Such a plan spells, a reversion to the earlier methods of colonisation which did so much to establish the Empire. So far as New Zealand is concerned, she can point to the settlement tyhich was fostered by private enterprise* in the early days of colonisation; indeed, as was shown in the special articles published in the Waitangi issue of. the “Northern Advocate,” it was the activity of private individuals .which, in ho small measure, spurred the British Government to secure the annexation of New Zealand. It is apparent, as the “Otago Daily TimCs” says, that different parts of the Empire need population for their occupation, development, and protection. But in some, mysterious way the absorbing capacity of the dominions seems to have disappeared. The curious position has indeed, that the tide of migration has tended to turn from the New World back to the Old World. Recently Mr J. fi. Thomas, Secretary of State for the Dominions, pointed out .that,'-whereas’ over a period of thirty years' the average number of men and women leaving Britain’s" shores had been between 150.000 and "200,000 per year, Tor the first time in history the process was seen reversed in .1932, when those , who returned j were 6000 in excess of those who departed. The population prob-j lorn is serious' in many parts of the world, and Australians in particular have reason to ponder the argument that great spaces cannot indefinitely be left empty. Sir Stanley Argyle, Premier of Victoria, has been sounding a warning as to the need of population in Australia ,if foreign peoples are to be kept out, and has counselled the recognition of the question of mi-1 grid ion as. of vital interest. -The recent riots in Westralia have brought into bold relief the difficulties which attend this question. The Melbourne “Argus” com-j ments that future migration to < be successful must comprehend j migrants who come to Australia intent upon making their own way, and that to attract that kind of migrant Australian conditions must offer opportunities, instead of hindrances as at present. These observations might be equally well applied no doubt, to the position as regards New

Zealand. Voluntary 'organisations have played an important part in settlement within the Empire in the past, and in their belief that they can do so again Sir Henry Page Croft and others will not lack support. But group settlement under Covernment auspices is regarded in the light of experience with grave doubt in these days. The opinion was expressed recently by Sir Geoffrey AVhiskard, Assistant Under-Secr.c-tary of State for the Dominions and vice-chairman of tin* Overseas Settlement Committee, a body which is responsible to the Government,, that the experience of the past ten years had taught one thing upon, which all would agree, namely, that while there were no doubt large numbers of potential settlers who could not settle overseas without help either from the Covernment or from a voluntary organisation or from both, nevertheless the less Governments intervened in the process of migration the better. Tins expression of opinion affords food for very weighty tii ought. '