186 THE LAND AND ITS PROBLEMS 



take considerable time to make the public miderstand 

 the potential value of such a Board ; nevertheless I feel 

 that it is an objective to keep in mind and bring 

 before the country ; and definite efforts should be made 

 to educate public opinion in this direction. 



Shortly after the signing of the armistice an official 

 Oversea Settlement Committee, under the Colonial 

 Office, was set up. A certain proportion of the migration 

 leaving this country is under the segis of this committee, 

 but it has not adequate powers. An Act is required to 

 give greater powers to this committee and so further to 

 organize migration ; but the Act is hanging fire — other 

 and more important (?) legislation must take precedence, 

 and there is no time for it in the present session ! I 

 understand that the Government has such an Act in 

 mind, and that it would be much on the fines of the 

 Oversea Settlement Bill which was introduced in 1919 

 and dropped. And although the 1919 Bill in no way 

 attempted to formulate a migration and settlement policy, 

 nevertheless such a Bill, if passed, would confirm and 

 strengthen the position of the existing Committee, 

 which at present is only a departmental committee. 

 Nominally it would be the Official Central Migration 

 and Settlement Authority, and if it becomes so in fact 

 and really does guide migration to the best Imperial 

 advantage, it would not require much alteration to turn 

 it into the Board for which I am pleading. But so long as 

 it remains merely an Oversea Settlement Authority, large 

 economic questions of development and conservation 

 will be clearly outside its sphere. 



If we accept the fact that, at the present moment, 

 public opinion will not brook the formation of such a 

 department as an Imperial Conservation and Develop- 

 ment Board — of which Settlement would be an important 



