Report of the Oversea Settlement Committee for the year ended 31st December 1927 Presented by the Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs to Parliament by Command of His Majesty April, 1928 LONDON: PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY HIS MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE To be purchased directly from H.M. STATIONERY OFFICE at the following addresses: Adastral House, Kingsway, London, W.C.2; 120, George Street, Edinburgh; York Street, Manchester; 1, St. Andrew's Crescent, Cardiff; 15, Donegall Square West, Belfast; or through any Bookseller 1928 Price 9d. Net Cmd. 3088 SECTION V. Visit of the Secretary of State to the Dominions SECTION VI. Visit of the Canadian Minister of Immigration SECTION VII. Work of Development and Migration Commission SECTION VIII. Geophysical Survey of Australia... Departures under the Empire Settlement Act during APPENDIX III. Schemes arranged under the Empire Settlement Act OF THE OVERSEA SETTLEMENT COMMITTEE for the year ended 31st December, 1927. At the close of the year the Committee was constituted as follows President THE RT. HON. L. S. AMERY, M.P., Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs. Chairman LORD LOVAT, K.T., K.C.M.G., K.C.V.O., C.B., D.S.O., Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs. H. B. BETTERTON, C.B.E., M.P., Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Labour. Vice-Chairman T. C. MACNAGHTEN, C.M.G., C.B.E. (Dominions Office). J. AMBROSE. Committee G. E. BAKER, C.B.E. (Board of Trade). MRS. HARRISON BELL. MISS MARGARET BONDFIELD, J.P., M.P. VISCOUNT BURNHAM, C.H., G.C.M.G. THE EARL OF CLARENDON. SIR WILLIAM CLARK, K.C.S.I., C.M.G. (Department of Overseas Trade). L. CUTHBERTSON (Treasury). C. W. G. EADY (Ministry of Labour). COLONEL G. EDWARDS, D.S.O., M.C. (War Office). SIR A. B. LOWRY, C.B. (Ministry of Health). W. LUNN, M.P. DAME MERIEL TALBOT, D.B.E. SIR CHARLES J. HOWELL THOMAS, C.M.G. (Ministry of Agriculture). OSCAR THOMPSON. CHRISTOPHER TURNOR. Secretary G. F. PLANT, C.B.E. Finance Officer E. T. CRUTCHLEY, C.B.E. Chief Clerk MALCOLM JONES, O.B.E. Offices of the Committee CAXTON HOUSE, TOTHILL STREET, WESTMINSTER, S.W.1. A 2 In January, Lord Lovat, K.T., K.C.M.G., K.C.V.O., C.B., D.S.O, was appointed Chairman of the Committee in succession to the Earl of Clarendon Lord Clarendon was appointed a member of the Committee. In August, Sir Charles J. Howell Thomas, C.M.G., Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, succeeded Sir Francis Floud, K.C.B., as a member of the Committee. In December, Colonel G. Edwards, D.S.O., M.C., succeeded Colonel G. D. Jebb, C.M.G., C.B.E., D.S.O., as the War Office representative on the Committee. In December, Mr. Malcolm Jones, O.B.E., retired from the position of Chief Clerk of the Oversea Settlement Department. HISTORICAL PREFACE. The genesis of the present policy of State-aided Empire settlement may be traced to the Report of the Dominions Royal Commission which was appointed in 1909 to inquire into the development of the natural resources of of the Empire, and reported in 1917. The Commission was impressed by the resources of the Dominions, but realised that man-power was essential to their development. At the same time, they felt that this increased man-power should, as far as possible, be drawn from the United Kingdom. The Commission, therefore, urged the need for more effective supervision and direction of migration by co-operation between the Home Government and the Dominions. The Oversea Settlement Committee was appointed by the Secretary of State at the end of 1918 to advise His Majesty's Government on the subject. As a result of the recommendations of the Committee, a scheme was introduced in April, 1919, for the grant by His Majesty's Government in Great Britain of Stateassistance in the form of free passages to approved ex-service men and women and their dependants who desired to settle in some other part of the Empire. The scheme was finally closed at the end of 1922, by which date free passages had been granted to some 82,000 souls. In 1921, a Conference of Prime Ministers of the Empire took place for the purpose of considering the possibilities of State-aided settlement within the Empire, and this Conference recommended t co-operation between His Majesty's Governments in Great Britain and the Dominions, both financially and in all other respects, in a comprehensive policy of Empire land settlement and Empire directed migration. This Conference expressed the hope that the Government in this country would secure the powers necessary for carrying out its part in schemes of co-operation, preferably in the form of an Act, which would make it clear that the new policy was intended to be permanent. In pursuance of this recommendation, the Empire Settlement Act, which forms the basis of the present policy of State-aided Empire settlement, was passed and became law on the 31st May, 1922. The Act, a transcript of which is contained in Appendix I to this Report, indicates the intention of His Majesty's Government in Great Britain to pursue a continuous policy in the matter of oversea settlement and its willingness to co-operate financially in any scheme calculated to further this object. The Act empowers His Majesty's Government to co-operate in agreed schemes for assisting the migration of suitable persons in the United Kingdom who intend to settle in any part of the oversea Dominions. Such Cd. 8462. † See Appendix V. to Cmd. 1474. |