WOMEN AND EMIGRATION

New Zealand Times, Volume LIII, Issue 12395, 15 March 1926, Page 11

WOMEN AND EMIGRATION

Mr Lloyd George in advocating his land policy urged an audience in England at Christmaetide to think of tho “Madonna of the Slums” and her pallid children. The 'slums are teeming with unfortunate and wretched victims. The housing conditions in these slum aicas are appalling, and the. slums are festering sores which pollute our national life. Mr Lloyd George contends that the land monopoly blocks the way to the solution of 'these urban problems, and his land campaign will make a strong appeal on this ground alone. But even if we tackle the slums, the fact remains that under present conditions this country is over-populated. Our Dominions, on the other hand, are handicapped for lack of population; and tho task that awaits our statesmen is to secure a better balance throughout the Empire. Interest in emigration has been awakened by the announcement of cheap fares to Canada. Thus, persona going to Canada this year, with assistance under the Empire Settlement Act, will be able to cross the Atlantic for three pounds instead of fifteen guineas, which is the present rate. These reduced rates will be open to married men with wives, and children under seventeen will be allowed to go free

Canada wants a suitable type*, and especially those who have had farming experience. Inexperienced men between the ages of eighteen and thirty-five, however, are not barred; and there is a demand for young women who are prepared to undertake domestio service. Canada has discovered that when : ingle men gU on the land they do not settle, but drift bock to the towns from sheer loneliness. The family scheme of emigration offer* the greatest promise, and Canada requires young women .ns well as young men; :n fact, it is now admitted that no emigration scheme can be successful which does not embrace women.