Poverty Bay Herald PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING GISBORNE, WEDNESDAY, JAN. 31, 1934. EMPIRE MIGRATION

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18310, 31 January 1934, Page 4

Poverty Bay Herald PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING GISBORNE, WEDNESDAY, JAN. 31, 1934. EMPIRE MIGRATION

It is rather a remarkable and somewhat disconcerting fact that during the past few years the trend of Empire migration lias been towards the Homeland. England last year had an actual surplus of arrivals from the Dominions and Crown colonies over the departures thereto. This reversal of the migration tide i.s naturally causing concern to statesmen in Britain and it is not surprising to learn that a strong movement has been set up, under the aegis of the Empire Development and Settlement Research Committee, to bring about a redistribution of the Empire’s population on a large scale. Although England has succeeded in restoring 800,000 of her people to employment in the past year sue has still far too many idle to regard with complacency an influx front abroad, and her problem for many years has been to dispose of her surplus population overseas. If has been the steady migration of British stock that has built up the Dominions and colonies, and opened up in them extensive markets for British manufactures, and clearly it is lo the advantage of bollt Britain and the other parts of the Empire that the outward movement of population should be resumed. Meantime the Dominions, whilst acknowledging that they have room for millions more, have clearly notified that they do not want further immigrants. They arc unable under present economic conditions to absorb them. Victoria, only this week, is sending back 300 who have been compensated for the disappointment they suffered in being unable to make a living on the land. It would seem, therefore, that if Britain is to have relief from overcrowding and if the Dominions are to be developed, as they are capable of being developed, there must be some large-scale planning, and Sir Henry Page-Croft, who is leading the movement at Home, appears to be on right lines when he suggests that the only hope is to start entirely now British colonies away from vested interests in undeveloped territories, and transplant families, founding villages, towns, and possibly cities as a great business organisation. He considers it possible to absorb from 250,000 to 500,000 people in ten years by this means. .Sir Stanley Argyle, Premier of Victoria, in an address at Melbourne last week, took an interesting survey of the situation and showed that the relation of empty spaces to the question of population was an issue permanently confronting the Australian people. It is, indeed, in view of tne developments in the East, an issue which has a vital bearing on the future of Australia, and Commonwealth statesmen must get their heads together and work in cooperation with British .statesmen, not only for some well-planned scheme of migration, but for industrial and marketing co-ordination between Australia and the Homeland. It is no use bringing out new settlers to Australia, no use planting new colonies in the Northern Territory, if the quantities of produce that the Commonwealth is permitted to export to England are restricted by quotas. The same remark applies in the case of New Zealand. This country wants more population but; Is going to have a definite check to its development and a handicap to the regaining of prosperity if quotas are imposed. Yet there is a strong movement on the part of British agricultural interests to check imports so soon us it is allowable under the Ottawa Agreement to do so. Until England is persuaded, that any restriction to be made should be upon produce of foreign origin rather than that from the British Empire there can be little hope of an effective settlement of the migration problem. Fortunately there is a growing realisation in Britain, that her own economic problems are not unconnected with those of the Empire, and that the solution lies in the direction of a more proportionate distribution of population, together with a tno rough marshalling of industry to provide means by which the underpopulated areas could be peopled by those who at present are being driven to centres where the limits of absorption have long since been reached.