THE FEILDING CHRONICLE AND ADVERTISER. WEDNESDAY, OCT. 1, 1879. IMMIGRATION.

Manawatu Times, Volume III, Issue 79, 1 October 1879, Page 2

THE FEILDING CHRONICLE AND ADVERTISER. WEDNESDAY, OCT. 1, 1879. IMMIGRATION.

It- is somewhat strange that a question so intimately connected with, and directly bearing upon, t^e prosperity of the cbldny as immigration* should have been passed over- m si-lence and hojt the slightest allusion made to it m the "Speech from, the Throne." But when we* find the late Premier, and the present Minister fOr PvvbHp- Works4-leading Statesmen from both, sides bf the House; •^strbngly insisting, as they did ii* their electioneering speeches, upon a continuous stream of immigration a,s the principal f actor m the colony^ prosperity* we niay- rest assured that the question will come to the surface during .the present Session, whatever Ministry shall be m power.' # . , We endorse the views enunciated by Major Atkinson and Mr, Macandrew with one qualification. We should like, to see the immigrants selected with judgment, We don't want shiploads of factory operatives, just at present at any rate, Neither do we require tho services of the sweetness of workhouses and poorhouses, as they but ill repay the cost of bringing them out. Our main need is now and will be for years to come farmers of experience, and at the same time of capital more or less, men ttftt will become producers. It is matter for regret that bur free immigration f sho^ldTiaYe been suspended at a time 1 when so many of this latter class are casting ahoi^t for new fields of labour ; but* we trust* th*? -^.pension will not be to continue much longer. We referred m Qur last to the deplojp- ! able condition of the tenant farmers at home. Owing- to. a ya^iety of causes they find themselves fighting a hard* uphvll* and losi^lbattle* and haye re** solved no longer to, struggh?.againstsuch overwhelming odds, the chief of which is unquestionably bi§h rents. Eeferring to these an Amenca.n contemporary says ;— " The %m* , publishes the balance sheet bf a farm of 6,C^ncres. of alluvial riyer loam* of high fertility, and m the best of condition. For three years the ayerage annual outlay upon the farm has- been £3,400, exclusive of the farmer's, family expenses, and the average income only £3,200, thfls shgwing an annual deficit of $W% Of the outlay £150 was for~taxes, ■ and £1,500 for rent. This is too heavy a burden. It is paid. by the workers-for those who do not work. It is levied upon the wages of the day laborer for ihe maintenance of the laud.d aristocracy and gentry, and the aggregate rent roll o,£ Great jjintian to-:day f or farming lands alone is £70,000,000." '"':; jpxuino disce omnesl This is a fair, specimen of* the class that ha™ succumbed to the pressure of high rents, tithes and ta^es— industrious* persever* ing, liberal men who will not take from the ground without restoring something -to it iv return. Th,«?se are the kind of men we want, and m New Zealand they j I would do well- For less than one-half of the sum they pay as rental ea,ch'year they would obtain a freehold of equal extent. They would have no £1,500 a year to pay for their 600 acres. Tbey would hare no tithes to pay— a by no means unconsiderableiteift fqr a. fajrm

of this extent— and no poor rates. They would be bound by none of these hard and fast conditions which one and aU find m their lease, but would be left to act as their experience should guide them. It would he a fine thing for NewZealand, and the farmers themselves, if we could induce those contributing only a one-seventh part of the farming rental of Great Britain to take a trip out here, and expend but one year's rent m, acquiring for themselves a freehold of equal extent, with the farm they left behind them m the Old Country; fox' they would be then working for them-> selves, instead of slaving and toiling year after year to simply enrich- their landlord, without the slightest advan** tage to themselves. This oan be done too, if our legi.la"* tors only go the right way about it.