EMPIRE SETTLEMENT.

Waikato Times, Volume 103, Issue 17441, 29 June 1928, Page 9

EMPIRE SETTLEMENT.

NEED FOR CO-OPERATION. RESTRICTIVE LEGISLATION. (From a Correspondent). LONDON, May 2. Continuing the correspondence in The Daily. Telegraph regarding Empire Settlement, Mr Cyril Bavin, general secretary of the Y.M.'C.A. Migration .Department, upholds the work of the '.''Overseas Settlement Department. •-'"During last year," he says, "the Y.M.C.A. answered 20,531 letters received from parents and young men seeking advice regarding oversea settlement, "and WO interviewed 4162 others who desired to discuss the prospects Of careers abroad. A very large proportion of these people have migrated as a result of the disinter-: ested and sympathetic,, advice given them, but this work would not have been possible without .the support of the Overesas Settlement Department.- ' "In our view, failure to increase the volume of migration from this country to the Oversea Dominions should not be attributed to the officials of the Oversea Settlement Department, but to the restrictive nature of the regulations laid down by the Oversea Dominion Governments. Is it wise to suggest spending thousands of pounds of the British taxpayers' money in superfluous advertising -while .the Do-: 'minions are imposing tests which exclude thousands of suitable people who Would emigrate,if they could? No one doubts the value of the excellent propaganda carried on by the Empire Marketing Board but we hope that the Overseas Settlement Department will never place itself on the same plane as the commercial concern which seeks by attractive poster displays to lure men into emigrating. "Surely it is not the business of the Oversea Settlement Department to persuade men to leave this country, but rather, to co-operate with the Dominion Governments in the formation of oversea settlement schemes, to facilitate the work of' all existing agencies in making known to prospective settlers the prospects and conditions of life abroad and to smooth the path for those who decide to go. "The leading article which appeared in the , Daily Telegraph rccenllv, touches 'the core of the matter when .it says that the failure lies probably not so much with the Overseas Settlement ' Committee as with the terms of the Act in accordance with the provisions, of which it functions. All societies directly en"a'"Cd in the- migration movement, are •earnestly hoping that Mr Somerville's Bill will meet with the success it deserves. If it removes the limitations referred to, the hands of the Oversea Settlement Department will be decidedly strengthened, and its power to stimulate migration considerably increased." :