JUNIOR EMIGRATION.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXI, Issue 97, 7 December 1911, Page 8

JUNIOR EMIGRATION.

Mil. SEDGWICK’S SYSTEM DESCRIBED. AN INTERESTING ACCOUNT. The following excerpts are tnken from Mr T. E. Sedgwick’s booklet, “Junior Imperial Migration”: Explanatory.

The subjoined report on an important new development in Imperial Migration, dealing as it does with results of an actual experiment, should commend itself to all who have the interests of the Empire at heart. Whilst imperial sentiment, national prosperity and development are hindered and atrophied at Home by tlie existence of an overcrowded labour market, the colonies are suffering from a scarcity of labour which retards their development, production, and means of defence. The advantages of junior emigration have not yet become fully realised, nor have the requirements of the colonies been considered in the past to the extent they deserved. The colonies want young immigrants, whereas the Home authorities prefer to send married men, and require them to qualify for assistance by unemployment or pauperism. It has now been proved that town lads make ideal farm labourers. Apprenticeship', with the contingent banking of wages, are the keynotes of success and assure the repayment of the fares. 'The effect of the migration of sm additional 200,000 lads and lasses within the next ton years would be of incalculable benefit, "both nationally and imperially, and the colonies could easily absorb them without affecting wages. This would reduce our supply of labour more to the level of the demand and at the same time will give the men a better chance of employment at fair wages by the removal of, the competition of the young people. Every migration converts a menace to our labour market at Home into a colonial consumer of our manufactures It is not proposed to start any now organisation, but rather to link up and co-operate with existing organisations. Aspects of Emigration.

Imperial migration, that is migration within the Empire, is the only form of relief which is final in its effect and of service to all concerned, except the manufacturers who require an overcrowded labour market to depress wages, and those self-styled politicians who desire to force other remedies on the country and find their strength weakened by every case of a disheartened, unemployed or badlypaid worker becoming a prosperous farmer or artisan in the colonies.

Emigration lias greatly increased during the last decade, .but the excess of those reaching a working age over the additional number of situations available has been so large that between January Ist, 1900, and January Ist, 1910, the number of in-door paupers in England and Wales increased from 199,000 to 270,000, of outdoor from 509.000 to 539,000, and of casuals from 72,000 to 93,000, an increase of 123,000 in the ten years, and tliis increase in the national burden of poverty will continue to increase until an extended migration movement is instituted. Imperial migration would not cure unemployment, but if it were extended it would reduce it to manageable dimensions. Unemployment being due to a .complexity of causes calls for various remedial measures; including the enforcement and extension of existing Acts of Parliament, notably the Aliens Act, and the enactment of other measures similar to those long in force in New Zealand and Australia, such as the Arbitration Act for the conciliatory settlement of labour disputes without recourse to strikes, and Factory, Wages, and Shop Honrs Acts, and one requiring women to be paid the same rate,si of wages as men for doing the same . work.

Had our emigration policy been doubled in the past, our labour ma rkets at Homo would not have been so overcrowded, and our homo produce and manufactures exported to the colonies annually would be two hundred millions instead of only a hundred and twelve millions. Our exports to foreign countries are still two and a half times as groat as those to our own colonies. iNo men would be compelled to deteriorate because of their being no work for them. Wages and standards of living would be higher. Our Poor Law Relief would lie far less burdensome, and the colonies would be in a better position to defend themselves and to provide their proportion of the cost of the Navy, imperial preference would be brought within the range of practical politics, whereas at present the 14,000,000 whites in our overseas dominions arc not physically capable of supplying the full requirments of the Homo markets without abandoning their foreign trade.

The imperial defence aspect of an increased settlement in the colonies is also highly important, as the chief military weakness of the Empire is the underpopulation of its most extensive and most remote areas. At present none of the dominions is expanding in population as quickly as it might. It should also ho remembered that Macaulay pointed out with reference to the Italian Republics, “Their early greatness and their early decline are principally to he attributed to the same cause, 1 lie preponderance which the towns acquired in their political system.” A progressive and numerous rural population is the only trustworthy reservoir of military power.

At the recent Imperial Conference the Government of the Australian Commonwealth made an appeal to the Imperial Government to assist the progress of settlement, and the same sentiment may he said to exist in the minds of the Ministers of all the oversea States of the Empire. Undoubtedly the best method would ho for the Home authorities to outfit and, where necessary, to advance the fares of such migrants as may be guaranteed work by the London representatives either of such States or of the manufacturers’ associations on their undertaking to provide employment for a stated period at full rates of wages. In most instances there are political reasons for the colonial Governments to abstain from assisting in the immigration of factory workers. They could, however, obtain the names of employers of farm and domestic labour who would lie willing to deposit the amount of the assisted fares, and after first throwing open such situations locally, they could authorise the High Commissioners or Agonts-Gonernl to grant such passages to a number representing 7b per cent to Of) per cent of the balance of such applicants and thus keep up wages by keeping the supply below the demand. As assisted passages carry the right of selection and rejection, the necessary expenditure is a sound investment on the part of the colony in question.

Tlio selection of employers and care for (ho immigrants after arrival are a duty of the State receiving young people, and cannot ho equally \vell undertaken hy private bodies who arc not entirely disinterested, nor have they the necessary machinery available for registration, placing, and supervision. There is far too little co-ordination

between emigration hoards at Home md with the colonial authorities, and

proportion of their administrative .-•x peases to the grants made to emigration is very high. An amalgamaioa of ssome of such societies would jnabie tlie work to he concentrated, .vould avoid waste of cflort, and would free a greater proportion of income for the purpose of their establishment, vis., emigration. Many ol .lie officials and committees of such >odics are still woefully deficient in expert knowledge of the different needs md conditions of life and labour in flic dominions in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, Success in emigration can only he lohievcd, as in oilier forms of practial endeavour, by direct experiment ,vhereby the best types, ages and other lotails are discovered, and many pre‘nuceivod notions, such as the inability if town lads (to take farm work, are proved to lie absolutely false. Expsriuents similar to that described beam - should he made to other classes if migrants and. to other parts of the British Dominions overseas. The class's’ and ages which will give most sat- ' sfaclion in tropical and subtropical 'limates and in colder regions have /et to lie proved, and the extension if the movement to include females is only a question of time and of money. The colonics are beginning to realise the vast extent of our surplus population and that wc can supply all their requirements without going out■sido the Empire. ’The British people are gradually learning the unlimited prospects and possibilities which await the willing worker in the overseas Empire, especially on the land. We, at Homo now know that lie colonies will get what they want .ithcr from the Mother Country or Toni elsewhere, that they prefer young .inmigrants to old ones, and that they rill hot take our semi-derelict or itherwise unsuitable population. Although the percentage of our emigrants proceeding to other parts of :he Empire has risen from 30 per cant ;o 89 per cent in the last few years, nnoh remains yet to bo done, and :bis will be best done by a policy of unior migration. The advantages of unior over adult migration are bc•oir.ing recognised, as the young penile learn more easily, settle better, md can acquire homes of their own >cfove marrying. Moreover, humanly pleads, patriotism urges, ; and Christianity demands that the children should bo given a chance. Origin of the Experiment.

After many years of social work unong boys and lads 1 came to the ■onclusiopi that they needed eniploynent more than recreation, and that emigration affords the only hope of riture happiness to thousands of our Ics.'i'ving working lads at Home. Oth;r men, interested in Social Chibs and institutes for working lads, joined in .brining a 'committee to advance the orojcct. A scheme was drawn lip vhich has been generally followed in he experiment, and the approval of •olonial statesmen at Home and others vas obtained. For twelve months ,:he proposals wore advocated in the press, at public'meetings, and by direct personal interviews, but no advance was made, and it was evident chat the cause of the lads must be pleaded in person. Bearing in mind Sir Joseph dictum, that more can be done at one round table conference! than by twelve months' of memorandum writing, I doubled to visit- New.'Zealand, in order "o request the Government to make the experiment of placing town lads ni farms there. They gave authority for assisted fares at £lO each to bo granted to fifty typical lads, who, after icing selected by- me, wore personally interviewed, by the High Commissioner md the Emigration Representative of the Dominion.

The Central Unemployed Body and other public authorities declined to cooperate in thus i sending Tads to work iss lived by the Government, but the accessaryi funds weije'provided by private donors, the whole expense of Liverpool's contingent,being given by one anonymous benefactor through Canon Gibson Smith, who acted as honorary local representative of the scheme.

Tl:c idea lias' been spontaneously generated elsewhere simultaneously, dome - Poplar lads had been sent to farms in Western Australia, where they proved themselves pood workers, but some, in the absence of any obligations to remain, left for the goldlieldr... Some Birmingham hoys proved their suitability on farms in Western Canada. Lately hoys from West Ham have been similarly successful in Victoria, and lads from various parts have gone to New South Wales with equally gratifying results, whilst some hundreds-of hoys have been placed on farms in the West of England have again proved that town lads are most suitable fur farm work.

Labour Department’s Caro. On our arrival in New Zealand we found that the arrangements made by the Labour Department were'incomparably, the host ever devised by any State'for their immigrants. Fifty of the most attractive of the 250 offers of employment wore reported on by the Inspectors. After the boys had expressed their ideas as to North or South Island; sheep, cattle; or fruit farming and mates had been allotted to the same or neighbouring farms, i Kir ties were made up and sent in different directions under the charge of labour officials within a few hours of the arrival in Wellington, the whole distribution being accomplished without a hitch, and reflects the greatest credit on all concerned.

The boys' are protected as far as is humanly possible. The Secretary for Labour, acting under the written authority of the parents in each case, ipprenticcd the hoys for three years or until they come of age. Under the indentures the employer hanks the wages (except Is a week pocket money) in that ,officer’s name as trustee for the individual hoy, who keeps a wages book as a chock on the amount. Ho also undertakes to feed, lodge, instruct, and clothe the hoy, and the latter promises to observe due diligence in his work. The wages are graduated and several employers have already largely increased the original rates of pnv.

The Secretary for Labour is at liberty to' cancel the indentures should ho consider the hoy is not being properly treated; the employer can reHiest him to remove the lad in a fortnight should lie be guilty of such misconduct as would justify an employer in dismissing an ordinary servant. A copy of the terms of the .'.ppreutices'ijp is given on pages TM. Mach boy has to report to the Sec-

retary for' Labour every month, who provides stamped addressed lettercards for the purpose, and regularly replies. Any complaints of employers or employed are immediately investigated by the Department’s officials, who are independent and tinbiassed.

Tim boys undertake to repay the CIO expended on their fare, which prevents their feeling they arc unduly accepting charity, but is not an unduly oppressive burden.

Should any boy wish to send any money homo after his fare has been repaid, any reasonable rcouest will be it once granted by the Secretary for Labour; but should he bo able to accumulate his earnings for the throe

years of his apprenticeship, lie will nave on r.’;e average nearly 2100 in

the bank at the end of his throe years, inis nucleus fund will encourage the boy to add further savings to it, witii i view to obtaining land at n later date oh his own account.

.Most of the more prosperous fanners in New Zealand at the present day were themselves poor labourers a few years ago. Muscle and grit arc far more certain to lead to success on the farms than the mere possession of capital at the outset. It is also much easier, with the Government advances to settlors, leases in perpetuity, and other means of assistance, for a man to become his own master on the land than in the towns. The lads being young can become pioneers in the back blocks, as were the early settlers, and thus acquire larger farms for tiie same outlay. By several combining to form a settlement, the main objection of isolation would ho removed. The future prosperity of each hoy is therefore left in his own hands. Conclusion.

Much has been accomplished, but still more waits to be undertaken. The blessing of God has boon signally vouchsafed to the work, and much of the success has undoubtedly bean the direct answer to prayer. The peculiar suitability of town lads for farms has been proved, but it needs to be extended to farms throughout our country at home, and the lessons of the experiment must be made known also to the Governments and farmers throughout Australia and Canada. The scheme also needs to ho extended to girls for domestic sor,'ico in the colonies. On behalf of all 1 would heartily thank those who by their personal and financial assistance have helped this imperial movement to its present stage, especially the Press, both at homo and in New Zealand, and the employers. The lads of the first party also deserve t all praise for the way they have, with few exceptions, worked to prove the virtues of their type and their adaptability to farm work.

'At the same time I would urge all those who can assist its extension by financial assistance to do so, and would invite the co-opcratioii of all who arc interested either in aiding the deserving poor to obtain work or in supplying the greatest need of our overseas possessions—population.

That blot on our Statutes which requires a wouklbo migrant to another part of our Empire to qualify by oauperism or unemployment, and thus denies to the struggling worker and ho children of respectable ratepayers the splendid prospects offered to all >v our Colonies must be removed.

Our Empire must bo linked up by ties of blood and labour. The cankers of discontent and decay due In

unemployment must be rooted out and ho Empire made a self-sufficing whole. 1 All this can only be done by an extended policy of Imperial Migration, ni which alone our future greatness legends.