The Marlborough Express. PUBLISHED EVENING. SATURDAY, JUNE 4, 1910. MONEYED IMMIGRANTS.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLIV, Issue 126, 4 June 1910, Page 4

The Marlborough Express. PUBLISHED EVENING. SATURDAY, JUNE 4, 1910. MONEYED IMMIGRANTS.

An important aspect of the immigration question, and one wnicn, apparently, does not receive the attention that it deserves, is the. amount of capital which is brought mto_ the country by the immigrants. In a letter to The Times recently a correspondent pointed out that .among the thousands of emigrants who crowded the weekly steamers sailing from England to Canada were a considerable number of capitalists. The letter is worth quoting in full :—No exact statistics bearing on this point (the writer goes on to say) are on record. But many emigrants who have gone out on the strength of information supplied by the Government office have made voluntary' statements of the amounts which they are taking with them. One man, for instance, has from £180 to £200; another about £150; a third £250; a fourth, from £500 to £750.. Two men, both going out to grow wheat in Alberta, will start with £1200 and from £1500 to £2000 in their'possession respectively. And so the tale goes on, till at the end of the season a total will be reached which can be, fairly described as enormous. It is not without interest in this connection to notice that a large amount is sent out to emigrants after their arrival by their friends in this country. The "remittance matt" in Canada generally gets his monthly allowance from Home through a bank, and the total can hardly ever b£ guessed. The smaller amounts sent 'out by money orders, however, are on record. The Post-master-General's last report shows that in the year 1908-09 as much as £286,220' was sent to British America (chiefly Canada) through his agency, besides £126,862 to Australia, £45,196 to New Zealand, and £92,605 to South Africa. On the other hand, far larger sums are constantly being received in Great Britain through the colonial post offices. Last year, for instance, as much as £991,278 came from British America, £270,225 from Australia, £187,019 ' from New Zealand, and £617,201 from South Africa. A large proportion of this money, at any rate fromV, the first three regions named, is sent over by successful emigrants for the express purpose of enabling members of <. their families to go out and join them. The money value of a citizen to the State is estimated by some American authorities, looking at the matter from what may be called a Chancellor of the Exchequer's point of view, at £300. At that rate-the 100,000 emigrants who are expected to leave tho United Kingdom, for Canada1 alone this year will increase the productive capital of the Dominion by £30,000,000, in addition to the £4,000,000, or more probably £5,000,000, which they take with them in money. • Evidently there is money in emigration, both for the country sending- the emigrants and for those ; receiving them, provided that care is exercised in the selection of, suitable people. This, however, as we showed in a; recent article:, Canada has not hitherto done; but Australia and New Zealand have been wiser. We? feel sure that the-Government will continue its policy of the "selection of the fittest," and none other thajp. the fittest.