EMIGRATION QUESTION

Otago Witness, Issue 2934, 8 June 1910, Page 19

EMIGRATION QUESTION

IMPERIAL CONFERENCE PROPOSED. LONDON, May 30. The Colonial Institute Emigration Con- , ference (Sir J. Bevan Edwards presiding) ; adopted Lord Brassey's motion to ask the council of the institute to appoint a representative standing committee, to whom the recommendations of the conference would be referred for consideration and further action. 1 The Rev. R. L. Gwynne, organiser of the Kent Colonising Association, remarked that for 45 per cent, of the lads leaving school emigration was in their case a j necessity, but at the same time preparation was essential. May 31. I At the Emigration Conference Lord j Dundonald declared that the unemployment difficulty in Britain might best be solved by the' great centres of population i acquiring fertile estates in the various | dominions and sending the unemployed ; there in times of depression. He believed | that such investments would repay themI selves. Mr W. F. Hamilton, of the Church j Army and Warden Societies, said he was ! against sending men without their wives i and children, there being many cases of desertion. Miss Mary Gaunt declared that thexe was plenty of food, work, and money in Australia, but the trouble with Englishmen going to Australia was that they were too much drj--nursed. iSir Clement-Kinloch-Cooke said he thought that some action ought to be taken with reference to the latest Canadian restriction. It was outrageous that a man's wife and family should not be allowed to join him unless he was working on the land. He sharply criticised the absence of the Agents-general from the conference. Mr . Coghlan (Agent-general for New South Wales) and Sir W. J. Taverner (Agent-general for Victoria) were not present at the Emigration Conference, as they consider that their offices are qualified to deal with all questions affecting emigration, and also that the intrusion of philanthropic agencies into the field of emigration may lead to a class of persons going to Australia who would compete with existing labour. The Emigration Conference has asked the Government to hold a subsidiary conference, to formulate proposals for submission to an Imperial Conference to be held in 1911. It also urged the Board of Trade to grant loans under the Labour Exchanges Act to workpeople going to the colonies to get work. •Lord Brassey urged the expediency of the Government making a beginning by granting £IO,OOO, to be administered under Government supervision by the existing emigration societies. June 1. At the Emigration Conference Mr' Goldman, M.P., said he favoured a central emigration bureau composed of representatives Ifrom Britain and each emigrantreceiving colony, the bureau to be connected with the local committees. Mr L. S. Amery, of The Times' staff, declared: " We are holding territories enough for half a dozen Empires without the population to defend them. What could Australia's four million of population do against the hundred millions developing in the East, or Canada's seven millions against the ninety millions in the United States?" He said that military organisation was a detail. The real thing was man-power. At the conference Messrs Allan. Bros, submitted a scheme for sending to Canada 2000 pioneers with their wives and 4000 children in 1910, and 5000 men and their wives and 10,000 children in subsequent years, each provided with a credit for the equipment of a homestead. The whole cost (including a fidelitv bond of £l5O per family), which would be advanced at 7 per cent, interest., would be repayable in seven years. The scheme could be administered upon a maximum credit of £2.250.000, which would eventually fall below £1,000.000. The scheme 'would provide 20,000 peov>le, pay interest at 3 per cent-., and furnish a reserve of £30.000 per annum, leaving £IO,OOO for administration in Britain. Colonel Murray, of the Labour Ex-«hano-es' Central Offices, stated that the

Board of Trade was considering. the relation of the Labour Exchanges to emigration benevolently, and was also considering Messrs Allan Bros.' scheme. It resembled the old crofters' cultivation scheme, which was an undoubted success. Sir W. J. Tavemer (Agent-general for Victoria), on being interviewed by the Standard of Empire, stated that he did not attend the conference because his staff and the Victorian Government's agents in Britain were quite competent to deal with the Government's immigration policy without outside interference. It was not for Sir C. Kinloch Cooke to dictate the' policy which certain States should adopt in regard to immigration. Unlike Sir W. J. Taverner, Mr Coghlan (Agent-general for New South Wales) and the other Agents-general furnished the conference with the particulars asked for regarding the class of settlers which their States desired and details as to the facilities and assistance offered to immigrants and the homesteads available. The Hon. W.' Hall-Jones furnished similar information. Mr M'Coll (Tasmania) states that his sympathy is with the conference, but it is undesirable that an official representative should take part in an unofficial gathering. The Times' Toronto correspondent reports that the British Government has protested to the Canadian Government against the latter's immigrant regulations requiring new arrivals except farm labourers to have £5 and a stated sum for each family. June 2. An explanation is given to the effect that it is inaccurate to say that the Government has protested against the new Canadian immigration regulations. The Government only asked for information, and forwarded protests from the British charitable and other organisations. Canada did not intend to change the regulations. The possession of £5 and a ticket to one's destination was necessary to enable immigrants to seek employment instead of settling in the congested centres.