Empire Settlement Act 1922-55
SECRET Copy No. 5 6
CP . (56) 240
19th October, 1956
C A B I N E T M I G R A T I O N P O L I C Y : E M P I R E S E T T L E M E N T ACTS, 1 9 2 2 - 52
MEMORANDUM BY THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR COMMONWEALTH RELATIONS
1. The Empire Settlement Act, 1952, expires on 31st May, 1957, and, if it is not replaced, there will cease to be legislative authority for United Kingdom contributions after that date either towards the Australian Assisted Passage Scheme or towards the maintenance of child migrants in Australia and Southern Rhodesia. This matter has been considered in recent months by the Oversea Migration Board and' by an official Inter-Departmental Committee. Both have recommended renewing our contribution to the Australian Assisted Passage Scheme and continuing assistance to the voluntary organisations concerned with child migration.
2. I propose therefore that a Bill should be introduced and passed before 31st May, 1957, to extend the Empire Settlement Acts for a further five years, i.e., until 31st May, 1962. I annex a note setting out the facts and arguments in favour of this course.
3. The current agreements with the voluntary organisations which arrange the migration of children also expire on 31st May, 1957. I recommend that these should be renewed, provided that the organisations undertake to modernise their methods of child care in Australia and to bring them more into line with those accepted in this country.
Commonwealth Relations Office, S.W. 1,
17th October, 1956.
ANNEX
EMPIRE SETTLEMENT ACTS, 1922-52, AND SCHEMES MADE THEREUNDER
The Present Position
1. The Empire Settlement Acts, 1922, 1937 and 1952, empower the Commonwealth Secretary to make contributions to " Empire Settlement" schemes up to a maximum of £1,500,000 a year, " in association with the Government of any part of His Majesty's Dominions, or with public authorities or public or private organisations either in the United Kingdom or in any part of such Dominions." These Acts are due to expire on 31st May, 1957. Before the war a large number of schemes were operated under the Acts, and United Kingdom expenditure on them fluctuated considerably, the maximum figure being £1,280,000 in 1927. Since the war fewer schemes have been brought into being so that 50665 expenditure has been less, the maximum figure reached being £899,000 in 1950-51. At present the only schemes operated under the Acts are those described in paragraphs 2 and 3.
The Australian Assisted Passage Scheme
2. The Australian Assisted Passage Scheme has been in operation since March, 1947, and some 200,000 men, women and children have sailed under it. Up to 31st March, 1956, United Kingdom contributions towards the costs of the Scheme totalled over £3 millions. At first the costs, less the contributions paid by the migrants, were shared equally by the United Kingdom and Australian Governments. However, subsequent deterioration in the United Kingdom's financial situation led to successive reductions in the United Kingdom contribution, until in 1952 it was fixed at its present figure of £150,000 a year. The Scheme is
due to expire in March, 1957 and, although the Australian Government have not yet expressed their views, it may safely be assumed that they will be anxious to see it extended for a further period. They still attach great importance to immigration as a means of building up the population of Australia and have repeatedly expressed their preference for migrants from the United Kingdom. Child Migration
3. For many years there have been in existence agreements made under the Empire Settlement Acts between the Commonwealth Secretary and various child migration organisations. At present agreements with 9 such organisations govern
admission of migrant children to 39 farm schools, homes and other institutions in Australia and Southern Rhodesia. All these agreements provide for the payment by the United Kingdom Government of 10s. a week towards the maintenance of
each child under 16 years of age. Six of the agreements also provide for the United Kingdom Government to pay, £4 towards the cost of an outfit for each child. The agreements will all expire on 31st May, 1957. Since the war some 2,700 children have migrated under these arrangements. The present expenditure from United Kingdom funds is of the order of £36,000 a year. Child migration to Australia was investigated earlier this year by a Government-appointed Fact-Finding Mission whose Report was published in August (Cmd. 9832).
Renewal of the Empire Settlement Acts
4. From the budgetary standpoint, the Acts should be renewed if new agreements are to be made which involve a financial commitment extending beyond the period covered by the annual estimates. Although the existing' child migration agreements have been renewed from year to year since 1954, it is desirable for agreements of this type, and the Australian Assisted Passage Agreement, to run for 2 or 3 years at a time, to enable the organisation and the Australian Government to plan ahead. If the existing Australian Assisted Passage Agreement and child migration agreements are not renewed, there will still remain a moral liability for maintenance payments for the children already sent to Australia and Southern Rhodesia until they reach the age of 16. This would taper off over about 10 years from the present figure of £36,000.
5. The Acts have been on the Statute Book since 1922, and failure to renew them would be interpreted, both here and overseas, as a change of policy and a change of heart, even if no change were intended. The Acts are only permissive.
It is therefore recommended that a Bill to renew the' Empire Settlement Acts should be introduced in the 1956-57 session in time to receive the Royal Assent before 31st May, 1957.
6. Although expenditure under the Acts in any one year has never reached the limit laid down, any attempt to reduce the limit would give rise to criticism that the Government were unsympathetic to emigration. Moreover, with rising prices, the present figure of £1+ millions does not mean as much now as it did in 1937, or even 1952, and it would be wise to allow a substantial margin over the highest figure (£899,000) spent in the past 15 years. It is accordingly recommended that the maximum figure to be included in the new Bill should be the same as before, i.e., £A millions. The Treasury, however, would prefer that the annual limit should "be no higher than £500,000, on the grounds that in the past five years expenditure has averaged about £270,000 and is at present at the annual rate of only about £200,000.
7. The 1922 and .1937 Acts had a duration of 15 years, and a similar period for the new Bill might be an earnest of the Governments genuine belief in the benefits of migration to the Commonwealth. However, it is difficult to see so far ahead, and it may be considered unwise to fix the Government's migration activities for so long a period, in case conditions in the meantime improve, and a more active policy becomes possible or even necessary. It is therefore suggested that the new
Bill, like the 1952 Act, should have a duration of 5 years. The Ministry of Labour would prefer to see the Acts extended for 15 years, and hold the view that extending them for no more than 5 years would make the new Bill appear to be another interim measure suggesting impermanence and uncertainty in the Government's migration policy.
Renewal of the Australian Assisted Passage Agreement
8. Against Government subsidisation of emigration may be argued our own manpower shortages and a doubt whether the United Kingdom contribution has any significant effect on the numbers emigrating. It is, moreover, not wholly appropriate nowadays that one independent Member of the Commonwealth should subsidise emigration to another. On the other hand, a strong Australia, continuing to be predominantly of British stock, is of great strategic and economic importance to us. Furthermore, the Australian immigration policy has been followed by all Australian Governments and is supported by most Australians, and to stop the United Kingdom contribution would cause resentment and a strain in relations between the two countries. An incidental advantage of our contribution is that it enables us to keep some check on Australian recruiting of immigrants in this country. It is therefore recommended that if, as may be expected, the Australian Government approach the United Kingdom Government to renew the Assisted Passage Agreement, we should accede to their request.
9. If the Agreement is renewed, the Australian Government would undoubtedly like to see the United Kingdom contribution increased above £150,000 a year. For this reason, it would be difficult to secure a further reduction, and an attempt to do so might also lead to the political difficulties described in paragraph 8. It is therefore recommended that, if the Agreement is renewed on the same lines as at present, the United Kingdom Government should be prepared to renew their contribution of £150,000 a year. It would appear that no practical alternative to a money contribution by the United Kingdom Government can at present be devised.
Renewal of the Child Migration Agreements
10. The Fact-Finding Mission's Report referred to in paragraph 3 contains a number of criticisms of the arrangements made by the voluntary organisations concerned with child migration in Australia. These criticisms are at present being considered in consultation with the Australian authorities and in the light of comments by the voluntary organisations, but, whatever the outcome of this consideration, it is unlikely to warrant the discontinuance of the present well established system of child migration to Australia. The system has existed with Government support both in Australia and the United Kingdom for over 30 years, has influential support from churches and prominent laymen in both countries, and, by most accounts, has benefited the children who have made use of it. It is recommended that the agreements with the voluntary organisations concerned with child migration to Australia should be renewed when they expire on 31st May, 1957, on the understanding that the organisations undertake to modernise their methods of child care and to bring their arrangements in Australia more into line with those accepted in the United Kingdom. Since we in this country cannot make sure, in the ordinary way, whether those undertakings are honoured, we shall have to persuade the Australian authorities to take over the responsibility. Similar
arrangements will not be necessary in the case of Southern Rhodesia since the organisation concerned with child migration to that country has decided in agreement with the Southern Rhodesian authorities, not to send any more children
there after January, 1957. Those children already there will continue to be eligible or United Kingdom maintenance payments whilst they are under the age of 16 years.
Commonwealth Relations Office,17th October, 1956.
