The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 1905. GENERAL BOOTH'S SCHEME.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVI, Issue 225, 20 September 1905, Page 4

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo.

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 1905. GENERAL BOOTH'S SCHEME.

For the eaute that locks assistant*, For the wrong that needs rtniitanc*, For the future tit the autanee, And the good that we can do.

The scheme which the Salvation Army has set on foot for assisting emigration from England to the colonies has attracted a great deal of attention during the last two years; but it is now for the first time beconjing a matter of direct and special interest to Australasia. General Booth has proposed to the Federal Government that under certain conditions the Salvation Army shall assist 5000 families to emigrate from England to Australia, so as to relieve the distress and over-pressure that now prevail at Home. It is, of course, essential to the success of th.c scheme that the State Governments shall be prepared to allot land for the settlement of the immigrants ■ and over this provision a certain amount of difficulty has naturally bej?n experienced. The Labour Party in the Commonwealth is not disposed to look kindly upon any form of immigration; and in some of the colonies there is certainly too little land available for the existing population. The Premier of Sonth Australia has raised this last objection; but from Victoria and New South Wales the Federal Premier has received encouraging replies. Mr. Carruthers has notified Mr. Deakin that hia Government is prepared to throw open 2,000,000 acres of well-watered country to suitable immigrants, and he has already offered 50 farms to General Booth. He lii's also received an offer from a private source to purchase an estate and settle 30 families upon it —reselling to them at cost prio?. Mr. Bent, speaking for the Victorian Government, has stated that there will be no objection in his State to the proposed scheme if the immigrants are of the right sortIt is somewhat remarkable that at the very moment that Australia is making a. vigorous practical response to General Booth's request, a distinguished Liberal politician should be engaged in assuring his English audience that the selNJtnc is "farcical," and that Kngland has nothing to hope from the selfish exclusiveness of the colonies. It is very significant, however, that the authority to whom these sapient remarks are credited is a determined opponent of Mr. Chamberlain and Preferential Trade. But the people at Home have yet to understand that they cannot afford to attach much importance to the descriptions of colonial character and colonial patriotism invented and utilised for political purposes by the Little Engianders.

The details of General Booth's scheme h%ve been frequently discussed in the public press, and the general idea of them is sulficiently easy to grasp. When the venerable founder of the Salvation Arm.y. \ra s passing through New Zealand a few months ago he explained to the representatives of several papers that his .plan must not be confused with any system of pauper relief. He described it as an attempt to transfer the surplus population from congested districts of Country to newer countries,

which require men and women. This is no part of the "Darkest England" social sebeme. which deals with the elevation and employment of thp "submerged

tenth. ■' The people selected are not the offscourings of city slums, but families chosen from applicants of proved character and industry, able and willing to make an effort and find a place for themselves in the struggle of life. The great bulk of them are intended to go on the land, and many of them have received some sort of preliminary training at the "colonies" established by the Salvation Army for this purpose. Some of them are mechanics and artisans, btrt the majority are drawn from the agricultural labourer and small farmer class which, in happier days, formed the backbone of the British population. Last year a boginning was made by the Army with the despatch of 100 people to Canada; and while the General was in this colony he received word that another batch of 1000 had been forwarded to the Dominion. The railways and shipping companies have agreed to transfer these emigrant? it very low rates, the Canadian Government has given a snbsidy toward the work, and the Poor Law Guar-

dians in many districts at Home are lending their aid. The Salvation Army proposes to start these families on land in thfir new country, providing a piece of ground and the implements and stock required. Tho cost of this and their passages must be repaid in Instalments, under penalty of sacrificing their holdings, and the money as returned is to be employed afresh in the same work. General Booth insists most strongly that the emigrants thus assisted shall be of a desirable type—men and women such as our own Governments have spent sums in past years to assist; and many of whom have proved to be among the most useful and successful colonists that have ever reached these shores.

The scheme is thus a plan for "assisted immigration" on a large scale; and there is certainly a great deal to be eaid in its favour. The difficulty of organising the system and selecting the applicants is got over by the Salvation Army without any trouble or responsibility for the colonies concerned. The Army, as the greatest benevolent institution in the world, is able to make better terms and to conduct its buai-

ness more economically than any Government agent or private company. So far as England is concerned, there can be no doubt that any scheme 'Tvhich will relieve the pressure of population and more especially provide an outlet for the dispossessed and workless agricultural classes must react most beneficially upon the whole Empire. As to the colonies, we believe that, so long as the immigrants are of the right sort, we have every reason to support the scheme and to render it any reasonable assistance within our power. Canada has taken up the plan in earnest; and as the Canadian Emigration Commissioner has lately declared that the Dominion can provide for immigrants to the extent of a million men and a million women, General Booth has great confidence in the success of his scheme in that direction. In South Africa a well-known millionaire has offered to provide and lend money for any number of General Booth's immigrants free of cost; and from the West Indies and the Argentine urgent inquiries have been received by the Salvation Army as to the possibility of obtaining a regular supply of such settlers. What General Booth asks of the colonial Governments is to provide land or to advance money for his purpose. Any money thus advanced will be secured on the land and repaid with interest. But. the selection of suitable land is a serious difficulty; and many people familiar with the Australian prejudice against immigration will be surprised

to read Mr CarrutHer's statement that if his Govenment is satisfied with General Booth's proposals, the local land laws shall not be allowed to obstruct his scheme. By this time, however,

even in Australia the man in the street is beginning to realise the important fact that new countries cannot develop without population. It does not seem at all probable that Australia or even New Zealand will fill up all the land available for settlement by the natural rate of increase within any measurable timn. Yet Australia so far, while refusing to fill up her own vacant spaces, has closed the door against aliens, and has even discouraged the influx of'men and women of her own nation. It is self-evident that a country of such vast extent and such splendid possibilities cannot be allowed to remain unpeopled; and the wisest course that can be followed appears

to be to attract the best class of immigrants available in the Old Home of the race. This in the case for General

Booth's scheme so far as it concerns Australia; and in a minor degree the same arguments would appear to justify its application to New Zealand.