PEOPLING THE COLONIES.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVI, Issue 66, 18 March 1905, Page 9

PEOPLING THE COLONIES.

THE POSSIBILITIES OF ORGANISED KMIoIIATiOX. (From Our Special Correspondent.) LONDON*. February 10. Tilt' Dvprrrowdfd <tate of the labour irark?: in the Old Country, the growth r>i the 'Troa' army of tJc uneaiptoycd, i> sonincr to dinvr attention here to colonisation scheme?. Thf> immense disparity of popuUirion between the United Kinpduni an.l its large ?elf"ovfrnin? dependencies require? no cmphasisinir. The i-olouies want none of EujilandV nn<le-irabl*>&. bur they readily admit t!if: nr<-d ot .1 great im-rcasc or population in order to develop effectively ihciv natural resources. Nor will icov rifiiif to concede that under pres«n! nnd;: ions tbo population of the Unitcl KiDgdosu i- in exces* ot it.neel?. I" follows, then, that an overflow- of lubour ivoiu ihi= congested Kind would relieve the pressure at tliis end and Ueln to t'ue va.~t area? now r-rvini' '■■ut f'jr seitlement in ("inada and always providing tbat ihc overflow wj.s of 1110 rignt quality. ai\d that its vulu:ue '-va.- carefully regulated. L'nli-s the transference wa; of mutual benctk to MotherLand and colonies, it could not L-lairu their mutual .-uppyrr- But can such a transference be'effected on an Imperial scale with due regard 10 quality aad systematic regulation "f supply? This is the ijuestiOTi which Mr David Christie Mur- . ray set-- himself to answer in the current "Ivoferee." He propound? a "f orcanisfd emigration which in- lir-t hro:irii..d in N>'\v Zealand some I ;;r.'-fTi v-frirs a■_'■). and sliwil'j re n! intf-nst ;o i-olnnul readers ib :i -t:iiMi> uiTeuipt to iin>l a β-ilutiin f< :' I ;ki Iraperiui problem 01 lh«> lirst ntaj:- ---; Mr Christie i> t-areiul to in- ! sist that no pian for an approach to a ■ ooraparaiivt; equal ot our popu- ; lace cau be entertained unless it car. jbo shown to be beneficial alike to '.ho j colonies and to England. His idea is. to develop an nvprflow which should ocn tinuc so long as ir satisfied the need of the case on either, side, and shoulc of itself create the by which I the ejnigrants .vouJd be supported.

There would be a Board of Emigration, consisting of representatives of all the countries interested. This Board would invite reports as to suitable sites for new settlements —the idea being to keep the immigrants out of the colonial towns and make them establish new centres of population. A locality having been selected, a band of pioneers would be sent out to clear the land for those who were to follow. This work completed, the pioneers would move on to clear another area, and their place would be taken by settlers and artisans: but no man would be despatched from the Old Country until his work was ready to hand, while any colonist willing to join the enterprise should be given a first chance of employment. If only the plan were car-

ried out gradually, and the obvious pitfalls in front of such a scheme were avoided, its author is confident that the whole of the surplus population of these islands could be absorbed by the colonies, not merely with safety, but to great advantage. He favours the formation of a large yeoman class, farming its own land a id living in rentfree tenements. How a policy of Crown tenure such as obtains ir. New Zealand would affect the scheme is a point into which he does not enter.

"A working scheme.'' says Mr Christie Murray, in conclusion, ''is only practicable by a union of the forces "of the Mother Country and the self-governing colonies. It would pay us well to give absolutely free passage, in addition to the certainty of immediately remunerative labour, to all eligible persons. It is essential that we should not exaggerate our ideas of the early possibilities. A few hundred pioneers might be employed over the vast fertile "tracts which lie open to us, and might be employed in perpetuity. A few hundred artificers might follow- them, and their occupation would also be permanent. But when once the country was made fit for habitation there would scarcely be a limit to the demand for new settlers, and we might go on peopling redeemed spaces for .ereaerations to come. The initial outlay would be so -mall as to be insignificant, and it would far more than repay it-eif in the end by the relief it would afford to our overcrowded labour market, and its consequent reduction of the numbers of the workless who now live upon the rates or are dependent upon charity.'" The Transvaal and Orange River Colony, meanwhile, are following Canada's lead in offering special inducements to desirable immigrants. Sir Gilbert Parker, M.P., returned from South Africa on Saturday, after spending four months, a? chairman of the South African Association, in perfecting details of a scheme for placing new colonists on the land. He does not think the agricultural possibilities of the new provinces compare favourablr with those of Canada or New- Zealand, but they are to be compared with Australia Under the project Sir Gilbert has in hand. the settler will be given twelve months' training in colonial farming, will be assisted in his passage out. and for his first year in the country will be given full board and lodging." At the end of this time he will haye = the option of purchasing a farm from a thousand to fifteen hundred acres in extent at about £1 per acre, payable in halfyearly instalments. "South Africa." says Sir Gilbert Parker, "has scarcely beOTn to carp for herself scientifically." Except in certain parts of Cape Colony, agriculture is ! forty years behind either Australia or j •-panning pure and simple, <sare j for .* few districts iv Cape Coloriv, is not well done. If is an extraordinary reflection upon the industry of the country that it does not even feed itself. South Africa gets tinned fruits and tinned meat- and cold-storage beef and mutton from Australia, butter from Canada. Denmark, and Brittany. and corn from Canada: and the ti-ail of civilisation from the Zambesi fo Table Bay is marked by empty tin can-.''