OVERSEAS SETTLEMENT.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 15748, 13 February 1922, Page 3

OVERSEAS SETTLEMENT.

EMIGRATION PROBLEM. Elec. TeL Copyright—Unites Press Assn* Australian and N.Z. Cable Association.! LONDON, Feb. 11. Hie report of the Overseas Settlement Committee says the present situation is unsatisfactory both in this country and overseas. There is congestion of population and grave unemployment here. Special measures of relief, however necessary they may be, are very costly and afford no permanent cure. The overseas lands are calling out for development and cultivation. In Canada the need for larger numbers of Bettiers is vital and urgent; in Australia the lack of population is a source of danger. The Empire’s safety and her very existence depend upon the successful solution .of difficulties arising from congestion in the United Kingdom, and lack of British population in the Dominions. Tlie best remedy fpr the present evils lvill be found in a strong policy of State-aided Empire settlement. The Premiers* Conference laid the foundation for such, a policy; it remains for His Majesty’s Government to give a lead to the Dominion Governments by the adoption of measures to supplement that, resolution. The committee believe the interests of the' Empire will be best served by co-operation between the Governments of the United Kingdom and the Dominions in carrying out a scheme of Empire settlement upon the largest scale their finances will allow. The chief steps should be: (1) Legislation enabling the Governments to co-operate in a permanent policy; (2) to convince Labor hero and overse'as that the laissez faii e policy M ill bo abandoned, and one of the chief objects will be to provide the working classes with fresh openings and brighter prospects in a healthy life upon the land; (3) to closely consult Labor and to reinforce the Labor representation on the Overseas Settlement Committee; (4) to insist on improved methods of selection and improved arrangements for receiving and placing settlers on the land with the provision of training in household M’ork for "’omen: (5) to encourage particularly the settlement of the young..