201

A.—4

9 June, 1911.] Emigration. [6th Day. Mr. BUENS— cont. Commissioners is cordially improving and increasing; and the need for overorganized effort either by the Dominions or the Mother Country in the direction of stimulating emigration is, in the judgment of those responsible here, really not necessary. Where the Mother Country can help the Dominions with emigrants it does so by diverting the flow from foreign countries increasingly to the British Empire, and this is done in various ways. There are some fifty private societies and benevolent organizations, non-political, and in no sense possessed of fads or doctrinaire views with regard to emigration, and showing no particular preference for any Dominion engaged in this work; and I am under the impression that over-organization and any attempt either by the Dominions or by the Mother Country to do more than they are now slowly but surely doing would check many of those organizations, which in a way fill a gap that no State organization can possibly occupy. Beyond the 50 private societies and public agencies, there are 1,000 public libraries and municipal buildings that display literature and give information, as do many of the postoffices. Beyond that, directly stimulating emigration to the Dominions from the Mother Country there are 650 Boards of Guardians under my Department, which send —and this will please Mr. Batchelor —to the Dominions absolutely all the children they emigrate. In 21 years 9,300 poor-law children have been sent to the Dominions at a cost to the Mother Country out of the rates of 109,000/., or 111. per head of children emigrated. The quality of the children is indicated by one simple fact : Of 12,790 poor-law children who have been passed through the poor-law schools of London, only 62 out of the 12,790 have been returned by their employers, either through natural defects or through incompatibility of temper or disposition. They are a sample of what the poor-law guardians have sent into all the Dominions. Beyond the guardians, 130 Distress Committees have, since I have been President of the Local Government Board, sent 16,000 people in five years, at a cost of 127,000/., or 81. per head, and all of those have gone to the British Empire. Two hundred labour exchanges give information about emigration, and to that extent indirect help is given. Mr. BATCHELOR : They give information about all countries —not only about the British Empire. Mr. BURNS : All countries—not only the British Empire. But this indirectly helps emigration to the Dominions more than to foreign countries. All the private societies give prominence almost exclusively to emigration to the Dominions. Since the Conference of 1907 a very useful thing has been done, both for the emigrants who could not then go and for the Dominions to which they now can go. That is to say, in 1906 an army reservist—that is, a man who had done his three years in the Guards or his seven years in the line—was nol allowed by law to leave this country for any external country, whether in the British Empire or not, and then draw his reserve, pay. That, lam pleased to say, has been altered, and reservists can now go to any part of the British Empire and draw their reserve pay up to a number approved by the War Office; and in the four years since the Conference of 1907, 8,000 army reservists have been allowed to stay outside this country and draw their reserve pay until it expires, and of the 8,000 only 329 are not under the British flag. In rural counties there is an increasing tendency, as judged by the letters to the Emigration Office, for applicants from rural areas to apply, and the figures right up to date are that no less than 41,000 emigrants left the United Kingdom in the month of April last; and I should say that of the 41,000 emigrants who left in April last perhaps 85 or 90 per cent. —we cannot tell exactly at this momentawent to Dominions within the British Empire. I do not know that there is anything for me to add, except this : If I can advise this Conference, I will advise you to let well alone. Emigration to the Dominions is proceeding at a disproportionately ranid rate. There is no need for the Conference to do other than trust the Mother Country in this matter, just as the Mother Country trusts the Dominions to treat its emigrants well when they arrive there; and I have nothing but praise for the efforts of Mr. Bogue Smart in Canada, and for the Canadian and other Governments, for the