IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.
(By Gable.) LONDON, April 14. Colonel Sir A. Griffith-Boscawen, in moving the second reading in the House of Commons of the Land Settlement Bill, said that the facilities as to employment' on the land would be that a third of the whole time of a holder of from 20 to 30 acres on small mixed or dairy farms, and of five to 11 acres on fruit or vegetable farms, would suffice. Applicants would be given an opportu* nity, with certain limitations, to purchase after seven years at the then vafue. Equal facilities would be open to women who had six months' experience on the land. Several members had said they approved of the Bill beoause it fulfilled the pledge to provide land for ex-fightera, The Government would subsidise £ for £ a man's capital. The Government had bought about 20,000 acres for small holdings. There would be three categories, varying from half an acre to 50 acres. First, there would be farm colonies, enabling a holder to gradually increase tha size of a small self-supporting plot j second, the cottage holder, with three acres; third, holdings for men, with permanency tenure, who in war time wera allotment holders who had grown vegetable's on thousands of acres of park and waste lands. > Sir Newton Moore urged the establishment of an agricultural bank, which would be more helpful to new settlers than local banks. The Government should advise men who desired to take up land in the dominions, where large areas were avail* able. The Bill was read a second time. During the discussion in the House of Commons on the resolution authorising housing and town-planning expenditure, Dr Addison (President of the Local Government Board) said he expected thai 100,000. houses would be built in 1919, 200,000 in 1920, and 200,000 in 1921. The/' cost would be approximately £SOO to £6OO apiece, aggregating about 125 millions, which sum the Government would assist local authorities to raise. April 15. Mr Shortt, Secretary of State for the Home Department, in moving the second reading of the Aliens' Restrictions Bill, said that considerable difficulty was entailed by friendly aliens now resident in or desiring to come to Britain. ' About 24,200 enemy aliens were still interned at the time of the armistice, and there were 21,000 at liberty, whilst 19,000 were) repatriated, and.the number was rapidlvj ! decreasing, depending upon the ships available. A total of 200,000 aliens were now in Britain. There was no proper machinery for the exclusion of aliens prior to the war, though 22 Orders-in-Council had been issued. The Bill proposed to continue those regulations for two years, but a committee sitting under a judge would consider the cases of those enemy aliens who were willing to be repatriated. Many members supported a motion to reject the Bill on the ground that tha Government should boldly declare a policy, of the absolute exclusion of undesirable; races and legislate accordingly, instead of leaving particular cases to the Horns' Office acting through Orders-in-CounciL That was the only way of preventing England again from becoming a dumping ground. Sir Hamax Greenwood assured the Housa that there was no danger of the Homa Office forgetting the Premier's pledges. Mr Bonar Law added that there were 92,000 Russians in Britain, also 19,000 Italians, 16,000 French, and a large float* ing population of Scandinavians, Chinese, and other foreign seamen. The motion was withdrawn after Sir Hamar Greenwood had promised to limit tha scope of the Bill to one year.
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Bibliographic details
Otago Witness, Issue 3397, 23 April 1919, Page 13
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580IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT. Otago Witness, Issue 3397, 23 April 1919, Page 13
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