"We venture to express the hope that the knowledge and experience which have been acquired in the settlement of Canadian soldiers, and more recently in the handling of British settlement, may be utilised to the full in any future schemes for facilitating British settlement in the Dominion." At the Imperial Conference Lord Clarendon stated that he and the Vice-Chairman had returned full of hope as to the possibilities of oversea settlement in Canada.

Before the close of the year, the Canadian Pacific Railway and the Hudson's Bay Company had approached the Dominion Authorities with proposals for reserving land for the settlement of persons from this country. Negotiations in regard to these proposals are in progress.

SECTION IV.

Australian Development and Migration Commission.

In the month of July the Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia passed an Act entitled "The Development and Migration Act 1926," which constituted the new Development and Migration Commission. The powers and functions of the Commission, which is comprised of four members, include (a) In relation to the development of Australia

(i) the consideration of matters in relation to the development of the resources of the Commonwealth, whether by co-operation between the Commonwealth and the several States or otherwise;

(ii) the investigation of the condition and development of existing industries, whether primary or secondary, in the Commonwealth, and of the possibility of establishing new industries therein;

(iii) the conduct of negotiations, whether within or beyond Australia, for the establishment of new industries in Australia and the development of existing industries therein. (b) In relation to migration—

(i) The examination and investigation of schemes proposed under the new Migration Agreement between the Commonwealth Government and His Majesty's Government in Great Britain, as well as the framing and submission of other undertakings or schemes in relation to migration which appear to be of advantage to Australia.

It will be seen that the powers of the Commission in relation to development are at least as great as its powers in relation to migration. In this connection, attention is invited to the Report of the Oversea Settlement Sub-Committee of the Imperial Conference (Appendix X to the Summary of Proceedings, Cmd. 2769), in which stress is laid upon the relationship between

research and development. It is indeed plain that research must be in large measure antecedent to development. Attention is also invited to the Report of the Research Special SubCommittee of the Conference (Appendix XII in Cmd. 2769) which advocates an active prosecution of research in all fields of applied science and the fullest practical co-operation between the organisations respectively responsible for agriculture, fisheries, forestry, medical, and industrial research. The Report also advocated the quick and orderly exchange of the results obtained by research in the various parts of the Empire and the fullest possible discussion of problems of common interest.

The Oversea Settlement Committee themselves are conscious of the closeness of the relationship between research, development, and settlement, and are convinced that, if the redistribution of population is to be accelerated to the extent generally deemed desirable, this can best be done by successful research, resulting in increased development and consequently in increased settlement. They, therefore, feel it essential that they should in future be in close contact with all questions affecting research and development in the Dominions, and they are taking steps to keep in touch with the developmental side of the work of the Development and Migration Commission.

SECTION V.

Commonwealth Loan Agreement.

The £34,000,000 Loan Agreement with the Commonwealth Government of Australia, under the Empire Settlement Act, was discussed with the Australian Delegates at the Imperial Conference. It was agreed to modify the Agreement in certain respects with a view to increasing the number of Development and Migration schemes put forward. A number of schemes

have been sanctioned, involving loans amounting to upwards of £3,000,000, and further progress will depend upon the recommendations of the Development and Migration Commission. The schemes already sanctioned include land settlement schemes in Victoria and Western Australia, drainage schemes and schemes for new roads and railways in Western Australia, and a scheme of irrigation in the Eyre Peninsula of South Australia.

SECTION VI.

Group Settlements in Western Australia.

This scheme has not yet been re-opened, but a few settlers are accepted from time to time to fill vacancies on the groups. Mr. W. Bankes Amery, C.B.E., the British Government Representative for Migration in Australia, visited the groups in October and November, 1925, and his report (Cmd. 2673) was presented to Parliament in June of the present year.

The Report shows that since the formation of the first group in 1922, some 1,290 British families had by the end of 1925 been assisted to settle on the groups. In addition, some 376 British families had joined the groups, who had not been helped from Government funds, and also 578 Australian families. Of all the groups the two from Catterick appear to be the most completely successful. As a result of experience, sustenance payments, which were at first given to the head of each family at the rate of £3 a week for a period of about two years, are now given for the first three months only.

At the end of three months the settlers now work entirely on the development of their own holdings, being paid for their labour of clearing the holdings on the "piecework" system. The rate of payment has been fixed at as much as would enable an average man to earn 10s. per day for eight hours' work, within the limits laid down by the Western Australian Government. This system is carried on until the group dissolves. The reason for this change, which the Oversea Settlement Committee regard as a wise one, was to bring home as soon as possible to each group settler that he must rely upon himself and his own efforts if he is to succeed.

Speaking in the Legislative Assembly at Perth on the 27th October last, the Hon. W. C. Angwin, the Minister for Lands, Idealt with this matter as follows:

"The greatest disability in group work . . . . has been to make the settler realise that he is building a home for himself, to get rid of the idea that he is working for the Government for wages, and that, no matter how things go, the Government will be compelled to stand by him and pay him wages for all he does. Members are aware that last year I received a deputation . . . . who felt very strongly that we should pay a group settler for everything he did on the group, no matter what it was. I have known group settlers to refuse to put down a deep furrow to drain their land unless they were paid for it. The men who adopt that attitude will never make successful farmers, and will never make homes for themselves, which is the principle underlying group settlement. The aim is that the settlers themselves should put something into the land. The settlers had no capital except their labour and thus it was expected that the settlers, by their spare-time work-we were paying them for eight hours a day-would put in capital in the shape of work over and above that for which they were paid. There are 2,275 group settlers and many of them have carried that idea into effect. Others have done nothing

except what they were paid for."

In his speech at the Conference of Delegates of the Empire Parliamentary Delegation to Australia, held in the Legislative Assembly Chamber on the 18th November, 1926, the Rt. Hon.

Sir Evelyn Cecil, G.B.E., M.P., said, after visiting the group settlements:

66

I gather that the object of the State Government in the long run is to induce the settlers to buy their own selections and that that is the aim constantly in view. I am inclined to think this is my personal opinion-that where the settlers can buy, and have bought, their locations, they are likely to do more effective work than if they are working as a group. I recognise that the group system may be helpful at the beginning. It encourages the settlers to work together; they are not too far apart from each other; they are less inclined to notice the loneliness. But so far as the practical work is concerned, I venture to think that the individual sense of responsibility, of ownership of the holding, and of keenness to carry out the work along his own lines is likely to produce better and steadier work."

SECTION VII.

Schoolboys' Tour to Australia.

Arrangements were completed during the summer of 1926 for a party of schoolboys to visit Australia. The boys, who were drawn from a number of public and secondary schools in this country, left England at the beginning of August, under the charge of the Rev. G. H. Woolley, V.C., and Dr. Talbot Rogers. They returned at the end of the year. In the course of the tour, the boys visited all the States and were received everywhere with the greatest consideration and courtesy by the State Authorities and by private individuals. At Canberra they were the guests of the Commonwealth Government for two days. They travelled about 6,500 miles on the Continent of Australia, visiting the Government Agricultural Colleges at Roseworthy in South Australia, and Hawkesbury in New South Wales. They visited the group settlements in the Busselton and Margaret River areas in Western Australia and the irrigation areas in the neighbourhood of Shepparton and Dookie in Victoria. They spent some days on wheat or sheep farms in New South Wales and Queensland. They also visited the principal industrial. works in the various States, including the hydro-electrolytic zinc works in Tasmania.

The cost of the tour was defrayed by the parents of the boys, no part of the cost, other than the railway facilities and the hospitality generously provided by the Commonwealth and State Governments, being defrayed from public funds. The cost to the boys' parents was approximately £125 per head.

The health of the party was excellent, and the tour successful in all respects. Two members of the party intend to return to Australia next June with a view to taking up farming permanently, and about twelve other members of the party expressed the wish to return to Australia as settlers.

It is to be hoped that similar tours to other Dominions as well as to Australia may be arranged in the future.

SECTION VIII.
Training.

The question of training, or rather of providing some system of preparation in this country for those who wish to settle overseas, was dealt with fully in the Committee's Report for 1925*, and has been the subject of constant consideration during the year under review. Reference was made in last year's Report to the Army Training Centre at Catterick, where an agricultural course is provided during their last year of service for soldiers who wish to settle on the land overseas. These valuable courses were continued in 1926. The Ministry of Labour has provided two centres for training, the first of which was opened at Claydon, Suffolk, in November, 1925, and the second at Brandon, Norfolk, in February, 1926. At the beginning of 1926 93 men were undergoing preparation at Claydon, the full complement being 100. The numbers at Brandon increased from 60 in February to 150 in November.

A party of 43 men left Claydon for Canada on the 26th March, and a second party of 51 men left Claydon for Australia in May. In June a further 26 went from the two centres to Canada, and small parties went to Australia later in the year. By the end of 1926, 289 men had left the centres for oversea destinations, 191 proceeding to Australia and 98 to Canada. At the end of the year, 146 men were in training at Brandon and 105 at Claydon.

Full reports, which are generally highly satisfactory, have been received from Canada regarding the first party which proceeded to that Dominion.

The Imperial Conference has recommended that the existing centres should be maintained and, if possible, extended. The Conference also recommended that consideration should be given to the possibility of experimenting with a shorter course of training, with a view to increasing the number of those who proceed overseas. At the end of the year steps were being taken to give effect to these recommendations. In future the training course at Brandon will last seventeen weeks and that at Claydon ten weeks.

The question of preparing women for work overseas was also discussed at the Imperial Conference with the result that the Australian Authorities have agreed to contribute towards the cost of a scheme. Arrangements have accordingly been made for the Central Committee on Women's Training and Employment to set up a residential course for preparing about forty women at a time for domestic employment in Australia.

*Cmd. 2640.