EMPIRE DEVELOPMENT

Otago Witness, Issue 3581, 31 October 1922, Page 41

EMPIRE DEVELOPMENT

ACQUIRING A NEW PERSPECTIVE. COLONEL AMERY ON OUR COMMON HERITAGE. (Ff.om Oub Own Correspondent.' LONDON, July 11. At a luncheon given at the Hotel Victoria, on Monday by the British Empire Producers Oiganisation, Colonel L. S. Amery was the g'uest of honour. In the course of tug speeches reference was naturally made to the question of preference, but the occasion was chiefly intended to give Colonel Amery an opportunity of speaking again on the subject of Empire settlement. Mr Ben H. Morgan (chairman of the council of the organisation) was in the chair, and all the High Commissioners and Agents-general were among the guests. Others present were Sir W. Allardyce, Mr J. S. Jeesep, Sir G. Bagden, Major J. R. Boose, Mr W. A. Bowring, Mr. C. J. Wray, Sir Thomas and Lady Robinson, Colonel J. Studholme, Mr H. Studhclme, and the Hon. E. F. L. Wood (Under-secretary of State for the Colonies). Mr Morgan, proposing the health of “Our Guest,’' said that their organisation was essentially concerned with Empire industry and the promotion, by propaganda, hf Imperial preference, by increased shipping facilities, and other ways, of Empire development and the interchange of products with a view to making the Empire selfsupporting in all its essential requirements. It was because they believed that Colonel Amery had made a magnificent contribution towards the realisation of that ideal that they desired to do him honour. It was to him they owed the passing of the Empire Settlement Act, a measure limited perhaps in its immediate application, but great in its potentialities for the future. Their organisation felt very strongly that the future development of the Empire was absolutely dependent on a better and a more even distribution of its poulation. He had recently travelled through Canada, and previously through the other dominions, and he had seen for himself the magnificent opportunities for settlement and the employment of British capital and energy in these great dominions. With a poulation increasing in Britain at 2000 a day he could see no chance of their being able to give full employment to the people. The Victorian era with the introduction of the steam engine, the steamer, and mechanical devices of production, had given us a prominent position in industry. That position would only be maintained, however, if we took seriously in hand the question of the better distribution of our population. The Empire Settlement Act was the first step towards a definite policy in connection with the distribution of population, and the Empire owed Colonel Amery a great debt of gratitude for the ability and tact which he had shown in piloting the measure through the House, without receiving opposition from a single political party. Mr P. C. Larkin, Sir J. Cook, Sir E. Walton, and Sir J. Allen associated themselves with the toast, and in very brief speeches they eulogised the work which Colonel Amery had performed in the cause of Empire development. SEEING ELEMENTARY FACTS. Colonel Amery said that the only quality he could really lay claim to was a certain single-minded capacity for seeing obvious elementary facts, drawing from them the most obvious elementary conclusions, and then trying to get those conclusions translated into action. The most obvious elementary fact in the world do-day was that something like a quarter the habitable surface of the earth was included in the British Empire. Tlie British race occupied or controlled some 6,000,000 or 7,000,000 square miles suitable for white habitation in the temperate zone, and as much again of territory, densely populated, in the tropics. Be tween them these territories comprised every variety of climate and soil, and contained unlimited resources of every foodstuff, rawmaterial, or source of power that could be required for the sustenance of an immense population at the very highest level of civilised welfare. What were the obvious conclusions an unprejudiced mind or a casual visitor from another planet would draw from these facts? He would probably begin by assuming that this favoured race was busily intent upon spreading itself as rapidly and as evenly as possible over its vast homelands, and concentrating its efforts upon the development of the boundless resources, temperate and tropical, which it had at its disposal. He would be surprised and perplexed to learn that three-quarters of our total white population lived huddled together upon one-fiftieth of the area suitable for their habitation, largely in the dingy, sunless streets and squalid courts of our great cities, where mind and brflv alike were stunted ancl atrophied for want of space and opportunity for free and! healthy self-development, while the remaining fourth thinly sprinkled over vast expanses, were unable, for want of sufficient mutual support to- make the most of the bounty Nature so richly offered. Possibly he might attribute this anomalous state of affairs to lack of capital to open up the less developed parts of Empire. INGRAINED INSULAR HABITS. But his perplexity would only be increased when he was told that the people of this country had invested thousands of millions in every country of the world outside their own Empire, and were even now, after the exhaustion of the Great War, devoting far more attention to the discussion of the credits required to rehabilitate Central Europe or prop up tottering Bolshevism m Russia than to plans for Empire development. Well, at any rate, the immense trade opportunities offered by their own Empire must occupy the first place in their thoughts. The main theme of discussion in England at this moment was not the development of Imperial trade* but the haunting fear lest if we imposed a duty of 33 1-3 per cent, on fabric gloves, the Germans would be so annoyed that they would stoxj purchasino- their yarn from Lancashire, and insist upon purchasing dearer and worse yarn from countries which taxed those same gloves 50 or 60 per cent. The truth of the matter was we had a great Empire, but we had still to learn to think Imperially. And that meant acquiring a new perspective. It meant abandoning all sorts of ingrained insular habits and queer prejudices and learning to sec the Empire as a whole, one common heritage for development by co-operative effort, and to keep that simple but unfamiliar conception steadfastly before our eyes. A PASSAGE AGREEMENT. The key of the problem was the better contribution of the population of the Empire by co-operation between all the Governments concerned, and it was in that cooperation that we were now making a good beginning. There were, however, thousands who could not afford the cost- of their transportation, and the first step was a scheme to assist in that matter. They hoped within

a few days to have a passage agreement definitely fixed up with Australia, and they hoped before long to see it extended to other of the dominions. The Old Country could supply a great industrial population to the dominions, but at the moment the need was for land-workers. He wanted to help child and juvenile emigration to the dominions, and he thought the best form of child emigration was the emigration of a family under the care of its parents. The fact that preference had become part of the policy of the United Kingdom had contributed not a little to the extension of preference in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the West Indies and many other parts of the Empire. We should have Imperial preference, Colonel Amery urged in conclusion, not only -in our Customs duties, but in the matter of investment of capital. They could do much more towards the develop ment of shipping within the Empire, not forgetting that latest and more rapid form — shipping by air. If this nation and the sister nations of the dominions would concentrate their minds and purpose on one great collective object—the development ot our boundless resources and vast territories —there could be no doubt whatever about the future of the Empire.