156

A.—s

Sixth Day. 25 April 1907.

Mr. DEAKIN : I hope not. ihe second part is "That the Imperial " Government be requested to co-operate with any Colonies desiring immi- " grants in assisting suitable persons to emigrate." Here we take a step further. The Imperial Government is asked to co-operate with every Colony desiring immigrants. If there are any portions of the Empire which do not desire immigrants, to them we have nothing to say. But most of us are eager tc obtain them, and far more eager to obtain them from the Mother Country than from elsewhere. They blend with us in the working of our social and political institutions, they enter into our life in all its phases without any sense of separateness or strangeness, and hence we are most eager to obtain them. The extent to which the Imperial Government will co-operate has been left unspecified for the reasons previously given. That is a matter on which we can prefer a request for co-operation, but cannot expect to do more than suggest generally what, from our point of view, we wish them to undertake. Whether they will do what we ask, or only part of it, is for them to decide. The co-operation we see*k is, first of all, in regard to the practical channels by which emigration is sought to be effected in this country. These should be adequate to their task. The only body that I understand is connected with it officially, is the Emigration Board under this Department, I have been inquiring from the Agents-General of the several States of Australia their opinions as to the efficiency of this particular agency, and regret to say that their unanimous opinion is of an unfavourable character. They think, at present, that no effective assistance is being given to them by this Board. They go so far as to doubt whether it is possible for it to be given by a Board constituted in this manner. They object even to the publications which it has submitted, and have felt this so strongly that they have undertaken publications of their own, at their own expense, which they consider far more likely to attract emigrants than those of the Emigration Board. Speaking, as they do, as men of high standing who have the supervision on this side of whatever is being done by the States of the Commonwealth in respect to immigration, I regret to learn that their verdict is so unfavourable. They suggest that some Board, responsible directly to Parliament, cr responsible" directly to a Minister, should be charged with this duty; that they, or some of their representatives, should be associated with it in the most direct fashion, and that they should be consulted before statements are put forward which sometimes they have found themselves obliged to challenge. By way of illustration, since I have been here I have been supplied with correspondence which has taken place with reference to one of the most recent of the circulars issued by the Emigrants' Information Office. It is dated 12th of April of this year. Of course, personally, lam dependent upon the material that is put into my hands when speaking of the operations here. The official statement published is that " The Queensland Government has a " system of free passages to bona fide farm labourers and their families who " are approved by the Agent-General in London, and guarantees them employ - " ment in the State at full wages; but up to the present the indents for such " passages have been limited to men willing to work on the sugar farms in the " north. The climate there is hot and moist in the rainy season, from " January to March, and hot and dry at other times, and is very different from " that to which farm labourers are accustomed in this country. It is very " questionable, therefore, whether they would be able to work on arrival under " the tropical conditions that prevail in North Queensland. The work of " harvesting and crushing cane is still more trying, and is paid for at a higher " rate. The free passage' emigrant need not engage in it unless he wishes, " and, indeed, the work is not suitable for persons from this country who have " not resided for some time in the tropics. Assisted passages are also offered

Emigration.