THURSDAY, DECEMBER 17, 1908 THE SOUL OF BUSINESS.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVI, Issue 144, 17 December 1908, Page 6

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 17, 1908 THE SOUL OF BUSINESS.

While New Zealand claims to lead tho Empire and the world in many ways, the letter from our London correspondent which we published yesterday calls attention to one important department in which it lags far behind. The energetic steps taken by the various British colonies to secure settlers from the Old Country are calculated, he- says, to impress the colonial visitor to London, but "the .New Zealander cannot fail to notice that his own country is far less prominent than others." Canada naturally takes tho lead in tho competition. With her forests, her fisheries, and her jmmense and fertile piairies, the Big Dominion pre&ents such attractions to immigrants that she was able to accommodate more 'than 200,000 of them in 1906, and she is still greedy for more. But all Canada's great resources would not have attracted such a stream of immigrants if she had merely trusted to luck and to the' light of nature to bring them along. She has, of course, the great advantage over the other colonies of being the nearest to the Mother Country, but her proximity to the United States, which has been embarrassing in many respects, has also infected her with tho spirit of "hustle" which enables her to niak& the fullest possible use of that advantage. If there is one tiling in which tho Yankee, is an adept it is advertisement, and tho Canadian's prejudice against many lankee devices has not prevented him from profiting by the example. "Canada," says our "simply floods England, Scotland, and Ireland with literature extolling its opportunities for vigorous young men. Every paper that is read at all widely is emblazoned with advertisements from the Dominion and almost every ono of the provinces of Canada." Next to Canada, in this respect cornea Australia, which, though as heavily handicapped by distance as New Zealand, is far ahead of us in the advertising department. According to our correspondent, Australia is now almost as well advertised as Canada. "Even The Times has columns of reading matter paid for by the Agents-General of the federated States. New Zealand is conspicuously absent." Tho contrast in the more surprising when we reflect that personally our High Commissioner has cut a more prominent figure before the Imperial Gallery than any of the Australian representatives, and that we elevated our Agent-General to that dignity while the Commonwealth still remained content with the lower title. New Zealand enjoys tho additional advantage of a popularity with the British public which Australia does not enjoy. The merits of the little Dominion, as seen through British spectacles, and enumerated by our correspondent, are "the patriotism of New Zealanders in England, the memory of the South African contingents, th<? fame of the All Black footballers — now almost spent in the disrepute of last season in. New Zealand— and chief of all, the increased contribution to $he Navy." In the athletic department, Mr. Arnst may be able to help to keep our prowess to the fore, but we cannot hope for another war to renew our South African glories, nor can we go on indefinitely increasing our contribution to the Imperial Navy. Tho normal and businesslike way to push our wares is to advertise them, as Canada and Australia are doing. Oi Australia, our correspondent speaks as having "always been unpopular in England," but as counteracting the bad impression to some extent by active and judicious advertising, though confirming it by her aspirations for an independent Navy. To ouv correspondent's interesting statement of what other colonies are doirg, we may add a reference to the efforts of one of this country's most formidable rivals outside the Empire. Denmark wasireported two or three months ago to be organising a great advertising campaign in England and Scotland for the purpose of widening the market for its butter, and it was noticeable that about the same time our Produce Commissioner in London, Mr. H. C. Camei'QPj. was. umna the need of advartis-

, ing New Zealand butler upon the attention of the National Dairy Association. Advertisement in these days is the very soul of business, and neither the colony nor its producers can afford to allow a monopoly or a preponderance of it to their rivals. But in the department to which our English correspondent specially refers it is, unfortunately, the fact that the advertising of the New Zealand Government has been not too piofuse, but too unqualified. Settlers have been attracted, and aTe still being attracted, from the Old Country under a gross misconception as to what awaits them on their arrival here. We have repeatedly protested against tho cruelty of a State-aided system of immigration which does not fully inform its beneficiaries — or its victims — of tho conditions of life and labour in their intended new home, and does not protect the local labour market against an intensified competition in lines which are already over-supplied. The most careful selection of intending immigrants from the standpoint of the old kind of openings that the country has to offer, and the fullest possible explanation to them of the nature of those openings, are the essential conditions of any scheme of immigration that is not to be clumsy, unjust, and cruel. These elementary canons have not been duly observed in the past, but the lesson of the present depression will surely make itself felt in the future. Whether the country is depressed or whether it is buoyant, the State should treat its responsibility m the matter of immigration as practically that of indenting applicants for billets that can be found for them immediately upon arrival. If this caution is faithfully observed, more advertising will mean more and better immigration and increased prosperity. Otherwise it will only aggravate the folly and the inhumanity of the present bungling system.