CO885-(6-7) — Page 275

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

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Reference :-

C.O. 885

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RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE NIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO PRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-

Diffusion of

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editor or chief clerk, which, in either case, is now 270/. It is thought, however, that it would be well to have the control of the Office in the hands of one responsible person, who should give his whole time to the work and be at the Office all the time it is open, and who should be accessible to the clerk at any time when a question of any difficulty or complexity arises. It would also be the duty of the new chief of the Office to overlook the correspondence and to reply to any letters requiring information beyond the knowledge of the clerk,

10. Your Committee recommend that the Office should not be kept open to the public for more than six bours a day, namely, from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m.

11. So far as the Office expenses are concerned, your Committee believe that they would not, under the suggested re-arrangement, require to be increased, as the salary of the new chief might be 4507, of the second-division clerk, 1207., and of a boy, 40, making in all 6101. The present sum expended is 6457.

Collection of Information," two valuable 12. Under the next head, namely, the

One of these was that information. suggestions were made by witnesses and received general assent.

the telegraph should be employed to a large extent, so that the information published by the Office should be the latest possible.

This would remove a frequent cause of complaint, viz., that the information contained in the circulars of the Office is too old to be of much use.

13. This telegraphic information might be obtained from any good, reliable, source in the various Colonies, or through the Colonial Agents and Colonial Governments, if they were willing to transmit it.

14. The other suggestion was that from time to time visits should be made to our Colonies by competent men, who should gather all possible information of the various Colonies and be able to report to the committee of management the facts connected with the Colonies, and also the conditions of life and labour which would meet the emigrant in any particular Colony.

Your Committee lay stress upon the importance of keeping the committee of management in personal touch with its correspondents by means of such visits.

15. Your Committee are deeply impressed with the value of these suggestions, and would strongly recommend that they should be carried out if the cost is not too great.

16. It might be, however, quite possible from time to time to find intelligent persons intending to travel in the Colonies, who for a comparatively small sum would be willing to make a special study of the Colony or Colonies which they visited and convey the results of their inquiries to the committee.

17. Your Committee would therefore recommend that the committee of management should always be upon the outlook for such travellers.

18. Your Committee also are of opinion that, when it is possible, it would be very desirable to send out a working-man to visit the Colonies.

19. It has been suggested, and your Committee approve of the suggestion, that the the Colonial Office or through Colonial Governments should, either directly to their agents, supply more information than they do at present, and your Committee think that the Colonial Office might again draw the attention of the Colonial Governments to the work of this Office.

20. With respect to the distribution of information, but little improvement can be suggested upon the present system, but it was thought by some witnesses that the Office required to be inore generally known, and that the workmen's new organisations seem not to be recognised as soon as they should be, or that enough literature was sent to them.

21. Your Committee think that the committee of management should take care to disseminate as widely as possible the circulars published by the Office, and especially to see that they reach working men's organisations, such as provident societies and trades unions; and that the lists of persons and societies to which the circulars are periodically sent should be occasionally revised.

22. Your Committee are also of opinion that it might be well to advertise the Office from time to time.

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23. A more extended sale of the handbooks would be desirable, and a suggestion that they should be sold at the railway station bookstalls receives the approval of the Committee.

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24. Considerable diversity of opinion amongst the witnesses existed upon the question Branches. of the utility of the branches, but, upon the whole, your Committee, though not unanimous, consider that they have been useful and, under proper supervision, are valuable adjuncts

to the Office.

25. With regard to inspection, your Committee think that this might be done by some one of the committee of management willing to undertake the work, but having his expenses paid.

about 501.

If this method, however, proved to be impracticable, then, upon payment of his expenses, the editor might do the work. The cost of such inspection would be

The committee of management should be constantly kept informed of the work being done by the branch offices, and, as occasion required, either increase or decrease their number.

26. Your Committee also took into their consideration the question as to whether the committee of management of the Information Office could, if required, act as a board for carrying out any scheme of State-aided emigration set on foot by county councils or by the Imperial Government, but, as this subject seemed to be rather beyond the terms of the reference to your Committee, they did not pursue this inquiry, and only venture to express their opinion that, if occasion for such action arose, the committee of management might usefully develop their activities in this direction.

27. The Committee of Inquiry had the advantage of taking evidence from Sir Somers Vine with regard to the facilities of the Imperial Institute for carrying on the work of distributing information, but your Committee are of opinion that, although valuable information is obtainable at the office of the Imperial Institute, it is hardly of the kind required by the mass of working-men, and also that the means of distribution of infor- mation possessed by the Institute are not sufficiently wide to cover the ground or to render the existence of the Emigrants' Information Office unnecessary.

28. In conclusion, your Committee would summarise the foregoing remarks by recommending-

1. That the chairman of committee of management should be a clerk from the

Colonial Office, appointed by the Secretary of State for the Colonies.

2. That the offices of editor and chief clerk should be combined when a suitable

opportunity arises for making any change in the personnel of the Office.

3. That the telegraph be made use of for the collection of information, and that more frequent visitors be sent to the various Colonies to study the problems of each Colony and report to the committee of management.

4. That foreign countries to which there is any considerable emigration should be

included in the purview of the Office.

5. That occasional advertisements of the Office be inserted in the newspapers of the

more outlying parts of the country.

6. That Colonial Governments be requested to assist the Office, both in the collection

and distribution of information.

7. That the branches be maintained, but placed under a more strict supervision,

carried out by a member of the voluntary committee, whose expenses should be allowed, or by the paid editor.

s. That, if necessary, Parliament be asked to increase the grant to the Office.

16 April 1896.

JAMES RANKIN.