COLONIAL LIFE.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVII, Issue 101, 30 April 1909, Page 3

COLONIAL LIFE.

THE EMIGRANTS OF SIXTY YEARS AGO. SPEECH BY SIR FREDERICK YOUNG. AN INTERESTING PAPER. From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, 19th March. Under 'the auspices of the Royal Colonial Institute Mrs. Douglas Cator read a. pa.per on "Some 'Experiences of Colonial Life" before a large audience at the Metropole Hotel on Tuesday afternoon. Sir Nevilo . Lubbock, K.C.M.G. , presided, and the attendance included : Admiral Sir N. BowdenSmith, Sir Arthur Douglas, Sir Frederick Young, Ma-.i ox-General 0. W Robinson and Mrs. Robinson, the Rev. Canon Brooke, Sir Ernest A. Noxthcote, Dr. T. H. Anderson, Mr. G. M. Ballardie, Captain Eardley-Wilmot, Dr. St. George Gray, Miss \\e«rton ("C. de Thierry"), Mrs. Henry Samuel, Miss E. Vaughan Jenkins. In introducing Mrs. Douglas Gator, the chairman stated that she was the author of "Everyday Life Among the Head-hunters of North Borneo," among whom she had had a unique experience. MRS. GATOR'S PAPER. Mr®. Douglas Cator, in the course of her paper, stated that people at Home spoke of the colonies as if they were something distinct and apart from England. On the other hand, nothing, perhaps, was more striking- than the totally different attitude of the colonies to this country ; there they had learned the all-important lesson which, no one perhaps who 'had never left Europe quite grasped — that the seas which flowed petween them and England did not divide, but united : and that, thanks to those same seas, the chords of joy or sorrow which were struck in England vibrated in. all their fulnees in the farthest corner* of the Empire. PATRIOTISM IN THE COLONIES. Patriotism was a living reality in the 'colonies' — not the feeble masque of it often seen heie — and perhaps there was no higher testimony to the unity and poweir of the Jumpire than the wholehearted devotion to those living in the colonies to their Mother Country. They rejoiced in her happiness, they grieved in her pain, and their hands were stretched out to help, whenever an occasion offered, and for her sako all her children were welcomed. " "You come from Home, you are white, you speak the same language, the sajno blood runs in. you veins ; no other introduction is necessary, either in our selfgoverning colonies or ap those vast! tropical areas where thousands of our countrypi-en ai© upholding the honour of the English flag by bringing justice aoid peace where only lawless chaos existed before their arrival." A CANADIAN OPINION. A Canadian who came to England for the first, time a. few years ago, told Mirs. Cator^that nothing had astonished him more, on his arrival, than to find that people here were really quito as sane as they were, ito had judged by those ne'er-do-wells and w-eak boys who, before their character had had any chance of forming, were turned loose into Canada- with, greatest of all mistakes, just enough money paid quarterly to enable thorn, without work, to 'eke out a miserable "existence by swelling fine profits of the drinking 1 ealoons and gambling hells to which they soon drift. No money and definite work might have saved many of them, and England, by shirking her own responsibilities, and by kicking too soon out- of the nest those who were too w«ak to fly, had often dono both them and Canada irreparable harm, as none- who had seen and known th&m could say they had, not. i had their revenge in the discredit they had done this country in the past, and ' were still doing. MARCHING WITH THE TIMES. How good it would be if England would march with the times, and if only fche would not cling to ideas long out •>( date ; one of them being that enemy to all progress, that she always knew best. For instance, how could she, often without any personal experience of Greater Britain, give a fair hearing to her needs and claims, or be qualified to judge, on subjects the conditions of which wero unknown to her ? Was it fair to men on the spot? And in the Crown colonies England's own officials, \ men with the experience only years of devoted service could give, after urging a thing as in their opinion specially necessary for the future prospects of their colony, again and again to be refused all help, after about as many minutes being spent over the subject in England by those who don't know as those who do know have snent years'. OUR SLACK OS PROG-RESS. Again, in the East, England's failure to mqrch with the times was very evident. It was impossible to live in vast centres, such as Hongkong and Singapore, without being struck by the fact. The trade out- there, instead of doubling and trebling itself as it would if .England Weren't too proud to learn, was stationary ; while_ that of foreign competitors was gaining ground every day, and England would not readjust her ideas to fall in with tho new state of things. This I country Was the world's manufacturers, but now were to be met in markets which i were exclusively hers the manufacturers of Germany, Belgium, France, the Unit- I ed States, and Japan, all important fac- i tors to bo reckoned with ; but with \ regard to China, in England's unique position, with its front door held by an Imperial colony, there was no need to fear foreign rivalry if only they realised that the present situation required more energy, more real effort than they had up to now given it. Putting on one side the debatable free, trade or protection question, one great reason for the lack of progress certainly was the want of business capacity, the carelessness and the conceit of some of the firms. "The more .1 see of the colonies, the more I see of the world, the prouder I am of being an Englishwoman," said Mrs. Cator. "Our national characteristics of justice and honour and pluck, and our sense of fair play have given us a power of colonisation ; a success where others fail, and a position in every quarter of tho globe which no other nation can touch." Miss Weston (late of Auckland, better known in literary circles here as " C. de Thierry ") observed that it was no good sending out remittance men. People were criticising the class of emigrants now leaving England, and Canada appeared to think that this country was overdoing it. For her part she thought that England still sent out a large number of very fine colonists. She could not help thinking that the system ol Free Trade had paralysed the intellect of England. A friepd of hers in New Zealand had told her that ho would rather have the English working man than any other. As working men they were splendid, and had no equals. It was a fact that the English working man was also in demand in other countries She did not believe there was any deterioration in the English emigrant; she believed that the English emigrant of to-day was made of the very same stuff as the men who made the British Empire. {Ajeplnuse.)

NEW ZEALAND COLONISTS. Sir Frederick Young said that he knew that sixty years ago the right sort of Englisman did go to the colonies. In those days he was actively engaged m sending out the first colonists to Mew Zealand, and he was pleased to see on the platform that day a New Zealand lady by birth. All the emigrants whom he assisted to send out were personallyselected and qualified for their new life. He challenged any one to say that the whole of New Zealand was not colonised by the best class of colonists. In fact, this assertion was proved by the first, second, third, and fourth generations as they saw them at the present day. The whole point was that this early emigration to New Zealand was selected emigration. He had a great deal to do with it, and all who were sent out had excellent credentials and were the right stamp of people to be colonists. Ii thero wero failures in Canada it was because the same kind of strict investigation had not taken place as they did for New Zealand some sixty years ago. In later years he had taken an interest in a society which was formed for the purpose of promoting State emigration on a very large scale. This society aimed at transplanting the surplus population on strict plans, and only sending out those emigrants who were absolutely fitted to be colonists. In his opinion this was the enly system to be followed with regard to the various colonies ol the British Empire. (Applause.) Mrs. Cator was cordially thanked for her paper.