"NEW BRABANT"

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 12, 15 January 1915, Page 4

"NEW BRABANT"

BELGIANS FOR CANADA MR. WAKEFIELD'S NEW SCHEME. (ttlOV OUR OWN CORREBPONDINT.) LONDON, Bth December. The outbreak of war ha* so engrossed the attention and energies of the people of England that the time is noi, at all opportune for furthering colonisation schemes, and accordingly Mr. Edward Wakefield has laid aside for the moment his project for establishing a new Canterbury settlement in Vancouver Island. He was, indeed, on the point of sailing for Vancouver wheh war broke out, but so many of the supporters of the movement in the Church were concerned in the war, either directly or through their relatives, that it was decided to allow the scheme to remain dormant. Meantime Mr. Wakefield is proceeding with the completion of the leases and pushing On the survey, so that when peace comes again the project will be in train. But though the British are too engrossed in their great national ordeal to indulge in colonisation, the war has brought to England a mass of Belgian refugees for whose future there is some concern. .Many of ,them are only awaiting the return of peace to go back to their homes (if • they remain) and their avocations ; but many others have no prospects at all. Where they cast their, future lot is a matter of indifference ; all outlooks are blank. Mr. Wakefield has accordingly conceived the idea of a Belgian colony in Western Canada, and he has already obtained the support of important Belgian and British sympathisers. He has already Selected a large tract of land in Vancouver Island *or the Belgian colony, which would be called "New Brabant," after , the province in which Brussels is situated. The position is a good one. close to Quateino Sound, where eventually the steamers from Japan and China will reach the shores of America, and those from Australia and New Zealand will touch on their way to Victoria. It is also where the Canadian Northern Railway will eventually touch the island. Though it is 150 miles from _ the Christchurch Settlement, the Belgian scheme should benefit the v other "My proposal is," said Mr. Wakefield to me, "to send out 25,000 Belgian refugees, that is, 5000 families ; and we have a charter for building a railway in the island which will enable the railway company to employ the able-bodied Belgians for two "years at a much higher rate of wages than they have ever dreamt of in their own country. The Government will give them 20-acrc farms free of expense ««nd taxation, so that while the men are working on the i*aiJway the women and children can work on the farms as they do in their own country, where most of the intensive culture is carried out by them. There are also magnificent forests in Vancouver Island which will support a good trade in wood pulp." Mr. Wakefield said arrangements had been made for Roman Catholic clergy to accompany the emigrants, and the scheme had the hearty support of Cardinal Bourne. In this connection he reminded me of the regard which Edward Gibbon Wakefield had had for some of the well-knowrj Roman Catholic families (such as the Welds and the Cliffords!, who helped to found New Zealand. AN OLD NEW ZEALAND SCHEME. To show thab the idea of 'emigrating Belgians was not altogether new to him, Mr. Wakefield referred to a project that had been considered in New Zealand thirty years ago. In the early King Leopold of Belgium conceived the idea of emigrating the whole of the surplus population of Ins Kingdom year by year, and he sent to New Zealand, to investigate the prospects, M.' Gmil D'HaarVen, of x\ntwerp, 'a distinguished business man. Sn Hercules Robinson, who was then Governor, sent M. D'Haarven to Mr. Wakefield at Timaru, and they went *ully into the scheme. They inspected many localities and eventually settled upon a tract of land in the Hakataramea Valley, nearly opposite to the Hon. R. Campbell's place at Otekaike. Mr. Campbell himself approved of the project, and together they got the Government to give the land. Everything was settled, even to the position of the public buildings. After spending fully a year in New Zealand M. D'Haarven returned to Bel-, gium and reported to the King. The latter spoke very flatteringly of the work M. D'Haarven had done, but said it was just too late. Sir Henry Stanley had just persuaded him to go into the Congo basin scheme and he would devote all hla fnon<?y and energy to that. That was the beginning of tho Belgian colony on the Congo. Mr. Wakefield, therefore, is merely reviving tho scheme of King Leopold, with the extra chance of success that the Belgians are actually in this country and languishing for em ployment. He is very hopeful that he will be able to arrange, when he is in Canada in January, Fof the surveys to be pushed ahead and the necessary legislation to be carried.