FOR IMMIGRANTS

New Zealand Times, Volume L, Issue 11454, 26 February 1923, Page 8

FOR IMMIGRANTS

LANDS OF OPPORTUNITY VICTORIAN PREMIER STRESSES ADVANTAGES OE DOMINIONS. COMMI'N ITY OF INTEREST. Bv Telegraph.— Press Assn.—Copyright. Australian and N.lfi. Cable Association LONDON, February 20. The Colonial Institute nave a luncheon to the lion. H. S. W. Lawon, Piemier of Victoria, at the Goldsmiths’ Mail. Prior to proposing Air Lawson’s health sir Godfrey Lagden, vice-presi-dent and cliairman of the council, reh rred 'eelmßy to the toss unstained by the death of the Hon. J. G. Jenkins, Agent-General for South Australia. Sir Godfrey congratulated Air Lawsop on his distinguished career in \ ictoria. He had shown himself possessed of the manly attributes which qualified j a "man for leadership. He had displayed prowesi in the cricket field, the foot- | ball field, and the running track. He had come now not to see games, but to get money, and he was almost sure he would get it by pursuing his emigration policy. “If there’s anything ho needs, he has only to command us,” said Sir Godfrey. “Those who go out ere not lost to us; they are only moving to another department of the business.” MISCONCEPTIONS. Air Lawson, in reply, said he had come with a definite mission to get money. He hoped to get that money. Notwithstanding the Australian representation in London and the visit of Australian soldiers to Britain, whom they regarded, in some measure, as commercial travellers, he still found a good deal of misconception about Australian affairs. “AYe have to do something to advertise ourselves,” he 6aid. “One must admit that we in Australia play only a small part in the general scheme of things, but we hope in the future to fill a greater part. Wo are working out our own destinies in a manly, practical way, in the hope that one day wF shall make our Commonwealth a valuable outpost of Empire. . A COAIMON HERITAGE. “AVe have great empty spaces and enormous undeveloped resources, but we can only hold this great heritage by peopling it, and we ask your people to come to our shores. They will not come to an entirely strange country, for our traditions are. those of your own land ; our foundations were laid by your own people; our ideas and aspirations are much the same ps yours. Fo ours is not a strange land for your People to go to. • In my judgment, it is a great opportunity for the young people of the Alotherland to migrate to Australia. They will he made to feel at home. The people who don’t want to go wo don’t" want. If people go there, they have got to make good. They must go to our shores in that spirit.” Air Lawson briefly and concisely outlined the development and progress of I the irrigation settlements in Victoria, I and the desirableness of Britain assist- I ing the overseas Dominions in Empire development, which was a far more I profitable form of investment than unemployment grant* and Poor Law relief. “Wiey ought not to under-estimate in this country the value of the Dominions to them. Their interests were identical. All must stand or fall together. But let there be no possibility of falling. There were now conquests to be made, and this great Empire could only advance by standing shoulder to shoulder, marching steadily on in the arts of peace. INADEQUATE NEWS. He contrasted the experience of travelling towards London in regard to the supply of wireless information. They had a full knowledge of European intelligence, but never a word from Australia. In this respect, however, the remedy lay with the Australian wireless authorities. Mr John McWhae, Agent-General for Victoria, in moving a vote of thanks to the chairman, paid a tribute to the institute’s work as a great connecting link with the Dominions;.