ABSTRACT
Empire migration was evidently part of a long-term development strategy bringing economic and consequent social benefits to Britain. Advocates of Empire migration as social reform were reasonably confident of the potential of their proposals because for much of the period, certainly up to the end of the 1920s, they seemed to be working with the grain. More pertinent were attempts to encourage a greater flow of British emigrants to new homes within the settler societies of the British Empire. Such measures have long historical roots, but campaigns became more conspicuous from the 1880s and culminated in a major state commitment, the Empire Settlement Act of 1922. Emigration enthusiasts regularly contrasted population densities in Britain with those in the dominions. During the war and post-war years, the body and other interested parties repeatedly reminded the government of its duty to offer, sustain, or enlarge its support for Empire migration in general and for the voluntary emigration societies in particular.
