TRANSFER OF INDUSTRIES

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 56, Issue 4008, 4 February 1938, Page 7

TRANSFER OF INDUSTRIES

AUSTRALIAN MIGRATION SCHEME BRITAIN’S OFFER. British Government representatives have urged the transference of whole industries to the Dominions as a more effective and efficient method of migration than merely migrating individuals for isolated jobs. If an employer transferred his factory and plant from Britain to a Dominion the British Government was prepared to pay up to 75 per cent, of the cost of the migration of the workers. These statements were made by Mr. Cyril Bavin, in an address to the board of the Sydney Y.M.C.A. at luncheon recently. Answering questions, he said the ide& that British boys should be brought to Australia merely to go on the land was long ago exploded. At any event there was more employment for ordinary youths in Britain than applicants could take. The difficulty was that the jobs were not always where the boys were. If it were possible to transfer youths from their homes to where the jobs were available, there would not be a single employable youth idle in Britain to-day. 0 There had been many conferences in Britain on the migration of young people to the Dominions. The Government representatives at these conferences freely stated that the only means by which general migration to the Dominions might be effectively carried out was by migrating industries as well as employees. That policy was now being generally favoured, as the idea had been abandoned that Britain should be the manufacturing centre for the Dominions whilst they supplied the raw material and purchased the manufactured articles.

The Motor Industry.

Mr. Bavin mentioned the motor industry as one that might be “migrated” from Britain to Australia. There should not, he said, be a single motor chassis imported to Australia. They should be built there. It was the same with many other industries. It was realised in Britain that it was vitally important that there should be more population in Australia, and it was also becoming increasingly apparent that the best means of securing employment for increased population was by increasing secondary industries. The object of his visit to Australia was to ascertain the opinions of the Federal and State Governments on migration generally, and also what co-operation might be secured from the local bodies supporting migration in the after-care of migrants when they come out to Australia.

Condition of Aid. Mr. Bavin said he understood the British Government was prepared to defray up to 75 per cent, of the cost of migration schemes provided they were conducted through some central authority, such as the British Settlers’ League, with the co-operation of the different churches, the Y.M.C.A. and other bodies. Archdeacon Charlton, in proposing a vote of thanks to Mr. Bavin for his address, said that, whilst the best migrant that Australia could have was the infant, it was also necessary that there should be new blood introduced to Australia, so that the virility and progressiveness of the Australian people might be maintained at a high standard.

Mr. Bavin is general secretary of the community services under the National Council of the British Y.M.C.A. In his conferences in Australia, New Zealand and Canada, on migration, he also represents the Church of England Council on Empire Settlement and the British Overseas League.

Mr. Hubert Fairfax, president of the Sydney Y.M.C.A., presided at the conference. At the close he conveyed to Mr. Bavin a resolution passed by the board assuring the migration movement of the whole-hearted support of the Sydney Y.M.C.A.