THE EMPIRE ESTATE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18942, 13 February 1925, Page 9

THE EMPIRE ESTATE.

BRITISH DEVELOPMENT PLAN, SUPPORT FROM DOMINIONS.:' , 1 ' r STATEMENT BY SIR J. ALLEN* fny TELEGRAPH. —OWN CORRESPONDENT, j LONDON. Dec. 20. High Commissioners and others have been interviewed concerning the proposals of the Government to assist in the developments of Empire trade, and their views have been published in the lead' ing London papers. Sir James .Alien, High Commissioner fop New Zealand, said it might be taken foe granted that New Zealand would be very glad indeed , to know that tho Imperial Economic Committee was to be set up. He was certain that Mr, Baldwin would not break his word to do nothing to increase the cost to the people of Great Britain of such staple foods as meat, ipples, butter, and so on, and if, through \be committee, he could create a better market for the Empire without breaking his pledge, all the more honour to him for doing it. i Questioned as to New Zealand's ability to meet a possible increase in tho homo country's demand as a consequence of the committee's activities, Sir James replied: "Wo can certainly increase our dairy products. Wo are doing it every year, and the trade, especially in butter and cheese, has grown enormously. Wo can increase our exports of lamb to a fair extent, but in this department thero is a limit beyond which we cannot very well go. If we continued to export as much of oiir lamb as we have been doing it becomes a question of keeping up our flocks. But if you want us to do more | we are certain to try to meet your wishes, i Tho flocks, which had been going down because of the enormous quantity of tho exports in lamb* have begun to increase again; the farmers' efforts in this direction are gradually succeeding. " I notice that Mr. Baldwin, proposes first to refer to the committee the problems of meat and fruit. There is no Dominion that I know of that can produce a better apple than New Zealand. Last year, in quality and price, it topped the market. If it can bo made a, payable proposition to send those apples here there is no better apple that I know of for production on a considerable scale. Iu New Zealand we are extremely anxious to encourage the small settlement, which is so suitable for fruitgrowing. For years our policy has been, as it will continue to be, to establish the small settler on the land. Fruitgrowing is a healthy occupation that does not demand a very large area of land for tho individual settler, and, as far as we are concerned, there is no better proposition than to encourage apple-growing." After considering in a leading article all tho proposals made by Mr. Baldwin, the Daily Telegraph asks: " Is there anything in these proposals to cause alarm to the m%st rigid free traders ? They merely represent a determination to develop tho family estate, on which, as its production is encouraged by the sales of increasing quantities of produco, an. ever-growing i population can be settled. , In the last j analysis, the Government's policy is one of home-making—home-making overseas, for as the sales of Empire-grown food and other things in this country rise, so the outward flow of settlers will in-* crease. In this manner a contribution will be made at one and the same time to tho settlement of our own problem of overpopulation and the Dominion problem of under-population.''