CAB23-58 — Page 96

Page 96

94

recommendations of the Industrial Transference Board, Sir Arthur Steel- Maitland proposed in his Memorandum that the answer to the Question should state plainly what was being done and should justify it as the only proper course to take in view of the circumstances of the distressed mining areas and the relative prosperity of other parts of the country.

The Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs

made a statement to the Cabinet in the course of

which he asked for:-

(1) Acceptance in principle of the

recommendations on the subject of Oversea Settlement contained in C.P.-198 (28):

(ii) Amendment, if possible before

Parliament rises and, if not, in the Autumn, of the Empire Settle- ment Act so as to enable the above recommendations to be carried out under the Act:

(iii) The appointment of a Board under Lord Lovat, Parliamentary Under- Secretary for Dominion Affairs, as a whole--time Chairman, with two permanent members to secure continuity of policy), one to deal with finance and the other with organisation, and with two unpaid Members of Parliament from opposite sides of the House:

(iv) That all these matters should be

settled, as far as they can be, subject to negotiation on the matter with the Dominion Govern- ments before Lord Lovat leaves for Canada at the end of July, and that Lord Lovat should be accompanied by a member of the Treasury staff.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer pointed

out that the proposals of the Industrial Transfer- ence Board, as well as those of the Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs, did not touch the immediate problem confronting the Government, which was, how to provide for some 300,000 persons most of whom were already unemployed and the remainder likely to be unemployed in

Page 96

Page 96

Page 96