PLANNED EMPIRE SETTLEMENT

Stratford Evening Post, Volume II, Issue 224, 20 April 1933, Page 2

PLANNED EMPIRE SETTLEMENT

The Man on the Land

'mf j |c~ | I To-day’s Markets I I Butter: 69/-70/- \ j Cheese: White 40/Coloured 46/Markets quiet

Next in importance to the work of promoting trade within the Empire, and a necessary complement to the achievement of Ottawa, is the improved distribution of the Empire’s population. Migratory movement from the British Isles has practically ceased ; unemployment in ihe Dominions has temporarily dammed a normal outlet, for the surplus population of Britain; while for lack of administrative machinery and the co-ordin-ation of effort the vast potential resources of tlm overseas Empire remain undeveloped. This is the situation, sketched in greater detail and shown with its glaring inconsistencies, for • which Mr, L. St. Clave Grondona ha- -i■:

himself to find a remedy. His latest hook, “Britons in Partnership.” was referred to in the December issue of tlie Empire Mail, and it is considered to be of so much significance, to the future prosperity of the British Commonwealth of Nations as to justify a more extended notice. Idle Men and Idle Lands

Ambitiously enough, the author puts forward a programme for the rational development of the Empire, with this four fold aim: 1. Mobilising the wealth and resources of Groat Britain and the overseas Empire; 2. Co-ordinating “men, money and markets” so as to organise efficient production and distribution of the Empire’s wealth; 3. Providing a firm basis on which secondary industry may safely reconstruct; and 4. Breaking the back of the unemployment problem. It is, he contends, supremely illogical that wc should have idle men and idle lands capable of producing so much greater a proportion of our food and raw materials while Britain imports hundreds of millions of pounds worth of foreign-grown produce. Therefore, “rural primary production

must, be organised r■ it has never (■,(*oii organised before; it must be rationalised to adjust if to consumption. And an priuury production with-

in the Empire falls short of consumer requirements in so many respects, it follows that there mu'st be more primary production and more primary producers. But rural industry cannot ho loft to haphazard either in production or in marketing, and, therefore, there must be some co-ordinating force, which will stabilise finance and direct operations on a grand scale.” Chain of Chartered Companies Mr. Grondona’s proposals have, been worked out. in considerable detail. They embrace the formation of chartered companies in Britain and in certain overseas countries, all working in partnership. The Home for United Kingdom) Company would acquire by purchase and other means the right to supervise development and productive work over a very large area of farming lands in Britain Large properties would be subdivided, and the company would train, finance and establish new settlers thereon, not as smallholders, hut as farmers. It would market the whole of the output, pay the farmers a guaranteed interim price, assist them to become shareholders in the company, ensure good farming, and strive to maintain continuity of supply of standardquality graded produce and to meet the precise requirements of trader and consumer. The Home Company would be authorised to take a half-shareholding In all approved overseas Empin chartered companies established hurt or this plan, and would select and train settlors on behalf of these associated companies-—notably for Canada and Australia —for migration and

establishment under company aus An overseas company would ac quire lands by appropriate moans, am 1 its relations wild its settlers would In parallel with the relationship as between the S'nited Kingdom I oinpan} and the farmers under its acids.

Settling Fifty Thousand Families All produce exported to Greet, By tain by ovei’seas companies would l.n consigned to the United Kingdom ( un pany for marketing—as charter* d company produce; and the United Kingdom Company would do its ul most to foster reciprocal trade. The companies would work to, say, a ten-year programme of development They would endeavour -do establish at least 50,000 “new” families in rural industry annually; say, 12,000 in Great Britain, 23.000 in Canada, axici 15.U00 in Australia. These people (excepting those who become additional permanent employees on mortgagors’ fully worked farms) would bf expected to become indepndent, efficient work-proprietors within twenty years. Working in concert, the companies would seek progressively to increase the value of the Empires ruial pioduction by an average of over £20,000,000 annually. The goods produced would be those for which there was a known market in Great Brita n. Government Guarantee On the financial side', the author of the scheme puts forward some equally definite proposals, While Hie initial financing of the plan would involve Government, co-operation, the British Treasury would not be asked to enter into tiny commitne nts over and above ''ypenditure already authorised (and

f liiii'focl) li’ndcr ih<* Empire Settlement I Act, 1922. I"- ol her respect-i. the UiiI ..Hcing of the v.Uile involving vi'l"/ ]: i "fie moil nts, Collld (Ml. Gromlomi Lit Bov* s> be- effected within the orbit of ordinary financial practiCQ without an> disrupt ion of Empire money markets. Briefly, it is suggested that the British Government should guarantee the capital of investors in the United Kingdom Company, and an appropriate rate of interest, for twenty years, on conditions analogous in some respects to the provisions of the Trade Facilities Act. The Overseas Settlement Committee is authorised’ to spend J 53,000,000 a year ow migra-

Co-ordination of “Men, Money, and Markets”

tion and development schemes. Three ‘millions a year would provide a guaranteed interest at 3J per cent, on a capital sum of £85,000,000 without any serious disturbance of the British Government’s existing financial arrangements. Eventually, a far greater sum would, of course, be involved in the capital arrangements of the United Kingdom Company. Expenditures and Profits In order to maintain the general principle of the now defunct r i rade Facilities Act, it could be stipulated in the United Kingdom Company’s charter that a minimum of, say, 25 per cent, of all moneys subscribed under flu; British Government’s guarantee’for the ultimate use of any overseas portner company should be expended in Groat Britain. Ihe distribution of piol it a of all chattered companies would be limited. The foregoing are the main outlines of Mr. Giondona’s scheme, and they have been filled in very methodically in the several sections of the volume. Part I. surveys the entire field of rural enterprise ,and shows the surpluses and deficiencies in Empire production in relation to United Kingdom requirements. The Plan of Operation Part 11. deals with the establishment and organisation of the chartered companies, and with company departmentalisation; while i’ari 111- 111 ) some respects the most interesting part Of the book —sets out plans tor the development of Home farming, training settlers for overseas, preparing settlements overseas and establishing the new communities, and tnc recruitment of trainees. A brief conclusion (Part IV.) draws a picture of the chartered company plan in operation. Imagination, closely linked with a sense of realities, are the outstanding characteristics of this comprehensive plan support and constructive criticism’of which iu invited by its authoi.