THE EXODUS AND INFLUX.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XIV, Issue 3034, 25 July 1893, Page 2

THE EXODUS AND INFLUX.

'« The whirligig of time brings about ita revenges," and had Sir Harry Atkinson been alive to-day, and m the House of Representatives, he would probably have used the now proverbial quotation m regard to the unemployed It will be remembered that when Sir Harry initiated his great policy of • •retrenchment," and "saved the colony's I credit by a master-stroke of finance—a , self reliant policy which paredoff unwarranted expenditure, reducing the colony's disbursements to a point well within its income, which income was increased by legitimate taxation to bring it up to the level of the reduced expenditure "-it will be remembered that public works suddenly ceased, and thousands of men had to seek employment m the sister colonies. In those days the sister colonies were " booming." "Marvellous Melbourne" was inflated with pride m the apparent success of her policy of protection, and a craze m land and real estate was intoxicating her capitalists large and small. Her unreal prosperity was felt throughout Victoria, and the whole colony was advertised to the world as the paradise of the emigrant. Her demagogues welcomed New Zealand working men to her shores with loudvoiced effusiveness and demonstrative cordiality. Money was spent lavishly and work went «n with such speed and energy that employment was found for ! almost every New Zealand worker who could raise enough money for a passage to the other side. Sydney, too, the great freetrade centre, was able to absorb many of our surplus toilers— surplus m the sense that at tbe time there was nothing for them to do m a colony whose Treasurer had had to resort to heroically drastic measures to recover the lost balance m the colony's finance. And our unemployed people made their way with all speed to the more attractive colonies of Aus tralia. New Zealand is supposed to have lost 10,000 of hor population during that trying time, and the " exodus " was m everybody's meuth, and mentioned with a tone of regret. Perhaps the only man who looked upon the exodus calmly was Sir Harry himself, ior be it remembered, he frequently ga<re expression to his strong hope m the colony's future, and his firm belief that the men who were then leaving the colony m such large numbers would soon discover their mistake, learn by hard experience that New Zealand was far and away the better country for them, and seeing the superiority of this colony hasten back to her shores as soon as the prosperity he predicted as near came back to her m full tide. These men would come back, too, with greater knowledge and experience than when they left us, and be better and more loyal JSew Zealand colonist* than ever. Ihe departure of the men who formed the •• exodus " was not at the time, as things have turned out, an evil with no redeeming feature of good to mako it bearable. Jt removed a heavy glut from our labor market, and made employment passible for many men who were left behind. Now all this, has been changed m a most remarkable manner, and had Sir Harry been alive he would have had a chance to quote the proverb with which this article opened, against those who taunted him with causing the exodus. He could have pointed to the fact that the influx to our shores—an influx more troublesome to us than the exodus ever was—of men from all parts of Australia ; men who had left New Zealand m the dull times, and were now on the back track when dull times had overtaken them m the land m which they sought betterment of their condition, and when better times appeared to have dawned upon their own country i^was ample fulfilment of his prophecy of the ultimate turning of the tide. The revenge that foas been brought about by the whirligig of time m this matter is that ie has been found necessary to stem this tide of men who are seeking to find shelter m New Zealand from the buffets of adversity to which they have been subjected m the sister polonies. The measure of prosperity that has come to us has been greatly magnified m Australia; our land legislation has been elevated to almost the position of a bountiful providence pouring a cornucopia upon the country; the labor bureau, »mji the beneficence of its operations, has glamored thousands of the operatives of Australia; and the belief was widespread that a landing upon New Zealand shores was all that was required to be effected to change a condition of enforced idleness, misery, and want into one of busy comfort and happiness. This belief caused quite a rush of men to this colony—a rush that was almost a panic, for the number of stowaways the steamers have had to carry, as well as the number they did not carry but ejected before sailing, h*s never been larger since the days of the earlier gold rushes. Had the rush continued, as it certainly would had no steps been taken to stop it, New Zealand would have been m as bad if not worse case than Victoria or New South Wales at this moment. As it is there arc hundreds of men m the colony whom, with their dependents, want of employment h&* brought into olose acquaintance with the stings, of poverty, and Government are at their wits' end to get over this difficulty. But, had there been no rush from Australia, the probability is that we would have been, able to tide over the winter without any public mention of the word "unemployed," The men who cannot &nd work at which to earn bread for themselves and their children very naturally fail jto se« 'where the "prosperity" of which this polony has been boasting comes m, and those men frgm the other side who came over here with echoes of the word m their ears as it; was sounded m Australia, and visions of plenty before their eyes which never reached more than tbe visionary stage after their arrival m New Zaalind, could have no very glowing tale to tell to those they had left behind. Doubtless to the letters these men have written, and to the official "cryirg down?' t&e Minister for Labor had to j do by his au^ogncjements m the Australian press that V.c had up wsrk for more than our own population, dp we owe the fact thafc the influx has virtually ceased—79 being the excess of arrjvaji over departurea during the

' last month. But our failure to absorb ! all the labor m our market, our own [labor at that, shows that Sir Harry I.was only half a prophet after all, for he used to tell us that all New Zealand wanted to make her a great nation was p ;pulation. Yes, population makes a great nation, but population must be fed. The Hebrews became a great nation m the wilderness during their forty years' wanderings—so would we, had we a power behind the lawgivers to supply a daily ration for the gathering.