EMPIRE DEVELOPMENT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18340, 2 September 1921, Page 6

EMPIRE DEVELOPMENT

POWERFUL PARLIAMENTARY INFLUENCE. A MESSAGE TO NEW ZEALAND. TURNING GERMAN BONDS' TO ACCOUNT. IFbom Odb Own Correspondent.) „ . j ' LONDON. July 14. .Umpire development is in the air. Times are changing’. Men who wield power in “J 18 ® ou . ntr y are looking beyond the shores England. The atmosphere is favourauie. I rime Ministers from overseas are denmndinnr m chorus the need for a wider outlook, but they place their fingers on the weak points of Empire unity. At dinners, luncheons, public meetings one hears from tjieir lips sentences which have become familiar to the ear. There is somethm<r to be said for repetition. In the end the sentiment finds root in favourable ground, hind the message in time bears trmt. But development of Empire is no mere sentiment now. It is a grave necessy;y> 1 . an d those who direct the destinies of this country know that it is the only hope for England. Yet when all is said and done Empire development resolves itsel* lnto one great question—finance. -there arc schemes and suggestions abroad. On the terrace of the House of Commons one afternoon last week Mr Alfred Ligland. chairman of the Empire Development Parliamentary Committee, unfolded' for my benefit his scheme for financing the projects they hope to set on foot. It is a scheme which has found favour in many quarters, though it has not vet been made public. In the first place Mr Bigland, who is Unionist M.P. for Birkenhead, is convinced thpt in the course of the next 10 years Great Britain must send at least five million people overseas. How to send them, how to establish them m productive occupations, and how to find the money to open up new parts of the possessions are questions which are occupying the minds not only of members of the Imperial Conference and the committee set. up by the conference to go into the matter of overseas settlement, but a large proportion of the members of the House of Commons. EMPIRE DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE.

As Mr Bigland explained, a committee " as formed in 1916 to study the question of the development of the natural resources of the Empire. Lord Milner Was the first chairman, and he laid it down that taxation as it was and that carried out by succeeding Chancellors of the Exchequer would be unable to meet the financial liabilities of the country, and we must look to find a now strength legitimately' to increase our revenue. He did not forecast any definite line in which the development of the resources of the-Empire would increase our revenue, but confined himself to the principle that any successful formation of corporations, railway companies,, etc., receiving any guarantees of interest or concessions must be registered in London, and the income tax would J>e a definite increase to revenue if the State could see its way to encourage the legitimate formation of corporations undertaking great State services.

After Lord Milner joined the Ministry, Sir L. Starr Jameson was the chairman, and on _ his death Lord Queensberry took the chair. This committee sat regularly at the offices of the Rhodes' Trust and carried through a great deal of valuable ■work, but it was felt tha.t a larger committee more directly in touch in the House of Commons would be more useful. A number of members formed this into what is now Jcnown as the Empire Development Parliamentary Committee. Mr Alfred Bigland was appointed chairman. Mr H. W. Fox vice-chairman, Mr R. Waddington secretary, and Mr C. Jesson treasurer. ,- So keen- was the interest taken in this committee,” said Mr Bigland, “that 208 members of Parliament have subscribed to it. The raison d’etre of the committee is to strengthen the hands of the Colonial Office and the India Office and the Government generally in every line of overseas settlement—such matters as increasing tlm production of cotton in the Empire by guarantees, a loan to the Soudan'Government for railway and irrigation purposes,— and .submitting to the Government suggestions as to how Empire development may be best assisted.

AN INVITATION TO NEW ZEALAND. “’The executive, whose names I have mentioned,” continued Mr Biglaud, “will be only too happy to receive from New Zealand suggestions of what she could do better than she is doing, or to hear of some better plan for increasing overseas settlement, laying out lands, or the production of tobacco, sugar, and other commodities. I would like to say this: That if the influence of the House of Commons can be directed as tot how best, to push forward the great voliunp of settlers in the dominions it will make for strength and unity in pqace and in war.” UNDEVELOPED WEALTH.

As chairman of this important, committee it is only natural that Mr Bigland should have many marvellous stories of hitherto undeveloped parts of the Empire, 'the completion of a now portion of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway has opened up a rich timber country in the north-west of Canada, and made Queen Charlotte and Prince Rupert Islands easy of access. This part of the world came into prominence during the war, for hundreds of men went there to get the spruce used so much in the manufacture of aeroplanes. As the mountains are low, and the winds are warm, this country, in spite of its high latitude, is said to have a climate equal to that of Great Britain, and it produces, good crops of wheat. But it is the salmon fisheries which will first attract population, in due course ■ the valuable timber will be exploited, and in the end the land will bo cutivated. With the promise of a great population in this part of the world there arises the possibility of extensive trade direct with Australia and New Zealand From Labrador there comes a party who have been exploring this country for six years. The wealth of timber is beyond all credence, and off the coast the waters are teeming with fish. Inquiries have been made and a prominent shipping firm maintains that if proper freezing stores were established and 3000 tons of fish a week wore guaranteed they oould carry it to England at Id per pound. In Kenia (British East Africa) there is £40.000,000 worth of cedar timber in the forests. There are rivers in Northern Africa, which, by diverting, would bring thousands of square miles of desert into cultivation. These are some of the possibilities of the Empire which are constantly being brought before the Empire Development Parliamentary Committee. But they are fax beyond the range of private enterprise.

GERMAN BONDS TURNED TO MONEY. On December 1 Germany is to pay Great Britain £550,000,000 worth of bonds. - Of this £50,000,000 goes to the dominions. In due course Germany will pay about £1,200,000,000 in bonds to Great Britain and the dominions. Mr Bigland maintains that these bonds should not lie idle until they mature in 30'years’ time. The Gov r eminent should place their guarantee on the back and place them or the open market here and in America and elsewhere. Thus the bondholder would get the interest coming from Germany, but the British Government would have in hand a great amount of ready money, which should be used for development purposes in every part of the Empire. This money would go to finance corporations and parties of men wherever hitherto undeveloped country is to be found, but not to settle men on Land already opened up. The Government, of course, would hold the new lands ae security until such a time as the new owners were able to pay off the capital, but Mr Bigland suggests that at least for four years no interest should be paid on the money by the new settlers. Thus, instead of tying up in n napkin the bonds representing such enormous sum, they would be pressed immediately into use at a time when most needed, and the money used not once, but possibly many' times. Thus in the end the Government, besides having adopted a thoroughly sound business proposition, would be reaping the benefits of an extended Empire, and' the British nation would be extending its activity and power in many new portions of the world. Something more will certainly be heard of this scheme.

MEAT EXPORT LICENSES. TO THE EDITOR. Sib, —In your leading article in to-day'B Times, under the above heading, you state that the policy of the dominion is inimical to the of commercial trusts and combines in New Zealand. It seems to me that the granting of an export license to Messrs Armour and 00., instead of assisting the establishment of a trust, would tend to break up a trust already established—to wit,, the present combine of the freezing companies in New Zealand, which have formed a ring to control prices paid to pastoralists and farmers for their stock. It can easily be understood that these companies Vlo not .want competition in. the meat market, and that they have used their strong influence with .the Government to prevent it; The suggestion that Messrs Armour and Co., if a license is granted to them, are likely to oust these strong companies and secure a complete control of the market is absurd, as in the first place they could not do it, and in the second they have stated- that it is not their intention to start freezing works of their own, Whilst they can get the meat they buy frozen by the present companies. Then, again, export licenses have to bo renewed annually, and if it was found that Armour and Co. were using their license in a manner detrimental to the public interests of the dominion the Government would then be justified in refusing to grant a renewal of the license. The farmers are now beginning to realise that it would bo to their advantage if these large buyers are allowed to operate freely in the stock markets of the dominion, and it would not be, as you suggest, a fleeting personal advantage. —I am, etc., C. B. Dunedin; September 1. THE NEEDS OF ANDERSON’S BAY. TO THB EDITOR. . /Sin,—Your correspondent’s letter in your issue of August 31 is interesting. One can agree with his points to a certain degree. The inlet certainly needs to be filled in with spoil and so made into another Oval. There are, it is said, in the neighbourhood of seventy abres which would thus be made available for recreation purposes. And this lilling-in would do away with a very unpleasant smell which permeates the locality at low tide during certain seasons. No doubt a public hall which could bo, used for any purposes whatever would be a gain, though, up to the present, the old church has proved quite big enough for any gathering in the Bay. It has not .been overcrowded, nor is it as draughty as the average hall. It cannot be used for dancing, of course. This, in the view of some, is a decided drawback. A post and telegraph office would give the suburb quite a finished apearance. Whether it is really necessary is an open question. As a mere political move its establishment might help for a time, but the volume of business is the important thing.

But it would be interesting to know the mind of the majority of the residents of the Bay on its needs. There are times when certain parts can get no water. Yet they were promised it, and have to pay the usual rate for this commodity. There wore rumours that the pipes which appeared for a time about the railway cleaning sheds were designed to carrv water to the upper levels of the Bay. But they got only a very short distance along the road.

And (.here is the matter of side-channel-ling—Bayfield road, SpottiswOode street, the upper part of Tomahawk road. Stirling street, TTighcliff road, Dundonald street, Arawa street—there is no need to namo more—all are in need of proper sidechannelling. Some of these streets are unpleasant on a warm day. They are never sightly. '"Further, it seems a_ strange thing that such a state of affairs should _be tolerated in a town the size of Dunedin. There is the matter of gas. Silverton street, Arawa street, part of Tomahawk road, and part of Hunt street have it. I understand that three houses in Jeffery street have a service pipe from the Silverton main street. No plea avails to get any extension. There are no mains. Even Karitane Hospital cannot have gas. Hunt street got it because eleven houses were to be built there. Not half of these are built, to say nothing of being occupied, yet. But the mains are along the road, and have bean for some time.

And, finally, we have the question of sewerage. There are a few people who have septic tanks installed. The majority have the old system, and under the present arrangement the outhouses are cleared every twenty-eight days. Does it not seem a piece of medinevalism to leave these p'aces for four weeks before clearing them out? This docs seem impossible. Tet such ia the case.

Sewers cannot bo installed. Money is wanting. Probably there may _be some plea of lack of pines. There_ is usually some such excuse. The power is not wanting for the Bay is, I am told, now under the Drainage Act. There is a drainage rate, et anyrate. As I said. it. would be interesting to know what the majority of the residents of the Bay consider prime essential just now. —I am, etc.. Another Resident.