course established upon farms of their own, no further expenditure by His Majesty's Government in Great Britain would be incurred. The ultimate cost per family of a combined housing and land settlement scheme of this kind would depend upon the proportion of families ultimately established upon farms of their own, and would necessarily be less than the cost of a settlement scheme which provides for the settlement of all who participate in it upon farms of their own.

It is generally recognised that the insufficiency of the housing accommodation in the agricultural districts of the Dominions is one of the chief obstacles to the successful settlement of families whether as farm workers or as owners of farms; and from this point of view, no less than from that of reducing the cost of schemes for the settlement of families, the provision of cottages for new settlers is of the first importance.

SECTION XII.

Schemes for placing New Settlers upon Farms of their own.

The 3,000 Families Scheme in Canada has thus far proved highly successful, though it will not be possible to say positively that it has succeeded until it has been in operation for several years and until the settlers under it have proved their ability, not only to farm successfully, but also to repay the capital expenditure incurred in their settlement. Subject to this reservation, the results so far are very satisfactory. Particulars covering the three seasons during which the 3,000 Families Scheme has been in operation show that up to the 30th September last 2,359 families have been dealt with, of whom 215, or less than 10 per cent., have withdrawn. Of these, over 100 are engaged in some form of agriculture in Canada, about 60 are in other employment, and about 70 have left Canada and in most cases returned to this country. Only these 70, i.e., just over 3 per cent., need be regarded as failures. A further 350 families will be settled under this scheme during the season of 1928 and another 500 during the season of 1929. It is hoped also (see Section XI) that schemes on similar lines to the New Brunswick scheme, and dealing with about the same number of families, may be arranged for other Provinces.

The cost of settling a family upon a farm is substantially lower in Canada than in Australia. Under the 3,000 Families Scheme the contribution of His Majesty's Government in Great Britain takes the form of recoverable advances not averaging more than £300 per family.

A scheme for the settlement of 6,000 families in Western Australia was entered into in 1922, and schemes for the settlement of 2,000 families upon farms in Victoria and 6,000 families upon farms in New South Wales were entered into in 1923. The

Western Australian scheme, usually referred to as the Western Australian Group Settlement Scheme, was a bold and useful experiment and has been the means of settling some 1,600 families, numbering approximately 8,000 souls, in that State. It has, however, been virtually in abeyance for the past three years.

The Victoria and New South Wales schemes have been largely inoperative, the number of approved families settled under the Victoria scheme having been only 401, and under the New South Wales scheme only 327. The chief reason why so few settlers have been established under these two schemes is their high cost This is also the chief reason for the virtual cessation of settlement under the Western Australian Group Settlement Scheme. It is estimated that the cost of creating a farm in Australia is not less than £1,500. No large settlement scheme can be carried out at so high a cost per unit, and unless some less costly system can be devised the settlement of British families upon farms in Australia can only be undertaken on a small scale and as an adjunct to general development.

SECTION XIII.

Tours of the Dominions.

Reference was made in the Report for 1926 to the successful tour of Australia by a party of forty boys from Public and Secondary Schools in the United Kingdom, organised by the School Empire Tour Committee, which was set up by the Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs in consultation with the President of the Board of Education. It is understood that seven of these boys have returned to the Commonwealth for permanent settlement.

In

The Committee which arranged the Australian tour was reconstituted during the present year, under the Chairmanship of Dr. M. J. Rendall, formerly headmaster of Winchester. December, 1927, this Committee arranged a tour to South Africa and Southern Rhodesia for a party of forty-three boys. Arrangements are now being completed for a tour to Canada during the summer and autumn of 1928.

The Society for the Oversea Settlement of British Women has made arrangements for a tour to Canada of a party of twenty-five girls from Public and Secondary Schools during 1928.

The Oversea Settlement Committee accepts no financial responsibility in connection with these tours, the cost of which is borne by the parents of the boys or girls who take them.

Arrangements have also been made with certain of the Shipping Companies for tours of the British Empire by small parties of University and Public School men at particularly favourable rates. The interesting feature of these arrangements is that members of

the parties who wish to settle in any Dominion can do so, and have the value of the unused part of their steamship tickets refunded to them.

In 1926 a party of forty young men from the Wye Agricultural College and Oxford University visited Canada during the autumn and took part in the harvesting operations. A small number remained in Canada for permanent settlement. This scheme was continued in 1927, eighty agricultural students taking the opportunity of gaining practical experience in this way.

SECTION XIV.

Work of Voluntary Organisations.

The Committee have continued to work in close co-operation with private organisations engaged in furthering British settlement in the oversea Dominions. They feel that these societies give valuable help in the promotion of Empire settlement, and that they should be encouraged to extend and increase their work.

A comprehensive scheme under the Empire Settlement Act, agreed with the Salvation Army in 1923, has been renewed during the year, as well as schemes with fourteen juvenile migration societies.

Particulars of these and other schemes with voluntary societies are given in Appendix III to this Report.

Besides participating in these statutory schemes, the Committee have made grants-in-aid of administrative expenses to the following voluntary organisations:

Society for the Oversea Settlement of British Women, Church of England Council of Empire Settlement and Church Army,

Young Men's Christian Association,

Methodist Brotherhood,

Boy Scouts' Association.

1820 Memorial Settlers' Association,

Public Schools' Employment Bureau,

British Dominions Emigration Society, and

the newly formed Catholic Emigration Society.

The Committee have also watched with sympathy the steps taken by the British Legion to facilitate the oversea settlement of exservice men. During the year the Legion assisted twenty families to proceed overseas after the men had been trained at the Ministry of Labour Training Farm at Brandon. The Legion paid for the maintenance of the men's families during the period of training and for their equipment prior to departure. In addition, they have made a number of grants to ex-service men who were going overseas under the various Government schemes.

The expenditure from Public Funds in connection with voluntary societies, under statutory agreements and otherwise, during the year under notice was approximately £71,500, and the number of State-assisted settlers who were helped by these Societies was approximately 12,000.

SECTION XV.

Women's Hostel in Cape Town.

Reference was made in last year's Report to the decision of the Oversea Settlement Department to contribute a sum of £5,000, representing one-half of the total cost for a Hostel for Women at Cape Town.

Thanks to the efforts of the Cape Town Committee of the Society for the Oversea Settlement of British Women and of the headquarters of the Society in London another £5,000 has been collected and the Hostel was opened in October, 1927, by Her Royal Highness Princess Alice, wife of the Governor-General of the Union of South Africa. The building is known under the name of "Rhodes House" (Settlers' House Club). Its object is to receive, and to serve as a club or meeting place for women settlers from Great Britain, for new settlers as well as for those who have been in the country a year or two. The Secretary of State and Mrs. Amery visited the Hostel during their visit to South Africa, and have expressed approval of the building site and of the general arrange

ments.

SECTION XVI.

Publicity and Education.

The new Publicity Branch which was established on the 1st April, 1927, has co-ordinated the publicity work of the Department and of the Society for the Oversea Settlement of British Women. This has facilitated contact with the Press, which is supplied with particulars of all fresh developments. New pamphlets have been published designed especially to meet the needs of boys and women and ex-service men who wish to settle overseas.

The demand for the Committee's monthly bulletin, the "Oversea Settler," continues to grow, and it has been found necessary to increase the circulation to 8,000.

The Annual Report for 1926 made reference to the Committee's desire to promote in the schools a wider knowledge of the Empire and its opportunities, and to the discussion of this question at the fifteenth Annual Conference of Educational Associations. To give practical effect to the interest thus aroused among the teaching profession, the Committee, with the concurrence of the Board of Education and the valuable co-operation of the Committees of the Four Secondary Associations and of the National Union of Teachers was able to meet in conference representatives of many of the principal educational bodies in Great Britain. The Conference,

which took place during the autumn, resolved that those engaged in educational work should do all in their power to promote in the schools an interest in rural life and an appreciation of the importance of agriculture to the British Commonwealth of Nations; it also recommended that the teaching of history, geography, science, and economics should be so designed as to give children as complete a knowledge as possible of conditions of life in the Dominions over

seas.

This Conference was followed up by informal conversations with representative teachers, with a view to securing closer co-operation between the Committee and those interested in education.

It is the intention of the Committee to arrange for the establishment throughout the country of local Empire Settlement Committees composed of voluntary workers. The Women's Committees, already started in nine Counties by the Society for the Oversea Settlement of British Women, can, it is hoped, be enlarged into committees capable of advising all intending settlers. This has already been done in Wiltshire, North Lancashire, Lincoln, Essex, and Dorset. In Somerset a new joint Committee has been appointed. Preliminary steps have also been taken to establish similar committees in some of the larger boroughs, and thus provide local centres in town and country, where information and advice on all questions of oversea settlement can be obtained easily and without formality. The committees will also organise local meetings, being supplied with speakers for this purpose.

It is hoped that the numbers of these committees may be considerably increased during 1928.

SECTION XVII.

State-Assisted Foreign Emigrants.

The Government of Norway has made a grant of 20,000 kronen towards the cost of an office, which has been, or will immediately be, established in Winnipeg for affording information to Norwegian. emigrants to Canada. Various municipalities in Norway are now giving financial assistance to such emigrants in the form of grants, guarantees or loans, especially the latter.

During the autumn of 1927 a Commission was appointed by the Netherlands Government to consider the question of establishing a training farm in Holland for intending emigrants to Canada. The Commission's Report has not yet appeared.

SECTION XVIII.

Summary.

The First Section of this Report indicates the extent of recent movements of population, both generally and under the Empire Settlement Act. The figures quoted at the end of the Section