SYSTEMATIC COLONIZATION, AND ITS RESULTS.

New Zealander, Volume 3, Issue 160, 11 December 1847, Page 2

SYSTEMATIC COLONIZATION , AND ITS RESULTS.

In continuation of the remarks on this subject in our last, we would now observe, with respect to the second grand principle of this system, namely, the employment of thewhole, or of a large fixed proportion of the proceeds of sales of land, in affording a passage, coat free, to the colonies,* to/ young persons of both sexes, of the labouring cluss, unable of themselves to defray the cost of their removal") — although at first sight, this may appear to be a sound principle; and one eminently calculated to conduce to the prosperity of our colonies, yet it is a principle which if acted upon to any great extent, is open to great objections, for it has been found in practice that a new colony may be very leadily overstocked with labour, especially when as in the case of the "systematic school," small capitalists are excluded, and where the land being bought up, for the most part, by mere speculators, who had no intention of cultivating it, or improving it, there would exist little or on demand for labourers, and consequently these individuals would find themselves on their arrival, without employment, and without the means of subsistence. Thus result has already occurred in colonies, established on the modern system where the strange anomaly has presented itself of a new colony with surplus labour. The injustice and cruelty therefore of sending a large number of labomers, and others in a state of utter destitution, from the shores of Great Britain to those of another country wheVe their sufferings and misery must be aggravated in a ten*fold degree, if there existed no adequate demand for Cheir labour, need not be commented upon. | On this subject, the opinions expressed by Lord John Russell in an admirahle speech in , the House of Commons, on brihging forward his proposed measure for the relief of the distress in Ireland, are deserving of great consi- 1 deration, being as they are the deliberate , opinions of a statesmen, who has had the advantage of having served in the Colonial office. After enumerating the various reme- j dies proposed with the view of alleviating the distress in Ireland, his Lordship proceeds to the subject of emigration, and states that on this subject he is -not prepared to make any proposition to the House, and for ihe following l reasons :— Ist. That pamper families could not be re- j moved .so as to produce any sensible effect j on the population, either by private or' public means. < , 2nd. If you were to greatly assist emigration, and to convey, say a million of men, beyond the ocean, "what furictt and what means i are there in ihe countries to ,whiah you re' mdve'them? ' j 3rd. If by a large addition to'the 'burthens of. the mother country, you were to rpmove hundreds of thousands of. men,. to the United States for instance, the -inhabitants of that .country would complain and justly that you were casting oipon them<paupers whom you ought to maintain yourselves. 4th. If you were to remove them to your own colonies, the same complaints might be made by them ; you would reduce them ' to ruin and create beggars in abundance, where we now had industrious and happy i settlers.' (See Lord John Russell's speech, ' Jan. 26th, 1847.) His Lordship then proceeded to describe the measures which he had adopted when he held the seals of the Colonial Department, to promote emigration by 'jtakinjj* charge of the emigrant at the port of his disembarkation, and by conveying him »from thence to the field of his employment. (He -shewed that there had been in cohsequetoce a large increase in the amount of emigration duriogLihe years 1845 and;l«4'6, .and affirmed, that under such circumstances, he should be afraid- of giving a stimulus to further emigration. Although we cannot altogether coincide in the views and opinions of his Lordship as herein expressed,^ and 1 - particularly in the opi- ' nion that if a large annual emigration were to take place to our colonies, they would have any just cause of ccomplaint, .o,l" that they would be reduced to ruin in consequence, we are yet of opinion, that this colony is not yet fitted to receive a large annual immigration of paupers, and therefore that the colonists' are tinder Jan' obligation to his Lordship for the care manifested lowards (hem, and for' his'fear that such a step would create beggars in abundance where we now have happy and industrious settlers. But this objection does nut

apply to the neighbouring colony of New South Wales, where from*' the scarcity of labour, the settlers can hardly find shepherds to *tend their flocks and herds. It is a common mistake to suppose that the first settlers in a new country should consist of the poorest class, inul that all that is to be, done in the formation of a new settlement of colony, is to send there an indiscriminate mass of human beings, in a state of utter deslitutution, and to leave them to their fate ! It cannot be too strongly urged that n settlement composed wholly or for the most part of paupers, cannot in the common order of things succeed. It would simply be a transfer of a mass of misery and suffering from the shores of one country to those of another, where lhat suffering and misery would be increased in a ten-fold degree, if there existed no adeu ate demand for their labour. It was not thus that the ancient Greeks and the Phenicians founded their colonies : the plan upon which they were established does honour to their humanity, instead of, as has been the case in modern times, too often violating its Bacred precepts ; many of their institutions were equal to the best we have at the present'day ; each colony they established enjoyed the same rights, laws, and privileges, as the parent state, and 'each increased in prosperity in propoition to the riches and the wisdom of the nation that had founded it. The Greek colonies early attained opulence and strength, because they were always free ( the new people at ito birth were independent and remained so ; the emigrants were dismissed not as servants, but as equals- They were the natural not the necessary allies of the mother country ; they spoke the same dialect, revered the same gods, cherished the same customs and Jaws, but they were politically independent. Preedom stimulating exertion, invited them to'stretch their settlements from the shores of the Euxine to those of the Western Mediterranean, and urged them forward to wealth and prosperity commensurate with their boldness and the vast extent of their domain. The colonies of' Carthage, however, had no sooner attained sufficient attention to merit consideration than the mother state insisted on a monopoly of their ' commerce. Such has eve» been the colonial ; system, and the fate of colonies both in ancient as well as in modern timeSf .

An extract from the "Adelaide Register," which will be found below, declares a truth, and couveyg a warning applicable not only to the town for whicji it was especially written, but for every place' where human beings are congregated together. It appears that Adelaide, so very, healthy at first, is, by inattention to public cleanliness and drainage, becoming so unhealthy, " that it is rare to meet with a perfectly healthy individual," Now we confidently assert, that this town of Auckland, erected in the healthiest country in the world, has enough filthy lanes and dirty drains to keep up a perpetual plague, had it been situated in n less airy country, Even as it is, renovated as the air is by constant breezes, how many cases of sickness are there met with in the back streets of the town, which never would have existed but for the uncleanly cauies we refer to. We strongly advise the authorities, and beyond all, our fellow-towamen, that they had better look to it, — for depend upon it, let a fever be onoe originated by negleotfulness of proper precautions, which/are as simple as they are important, and it will visit other streets and other places than those which may be assigned a3 its natural abode.

Increasing Sickness in Adelaide.— How happens it that Adelaide up to 1811, with a population as dense as in 1847, continued as healthy as any town in tin world; while from 1841 to the present moment it has been gradually increasing in uiihealtlmiess f It may he objected that last year was an unusual one j that the summer was damp, and Jhat moist winds and calms prevailed to an extent never before known. But making every allowance for these irregularities in our climate, the fact still stares v* in the face, in all its hideousness, that Adelaide, summer and winter U, year by year, losing its claim to the character for salubrity* \which all persons, friends- and enerai<is> visitors ailrf residents/have conceded to it.' ♦ ' * * But we can ho longer close our eyes to the fact, that cases of fdver, formerly of rare occurrence, now are met at all seasons. — and that Influenza, in other years, a slight and trivial affection, is now bringing affliction into the boiom of numerous families j while .dispepsia is so universal that it it rar.e to meat with a perfectly healthy individual. ♦'' * * Now upwards of ten years have elapsed since Adelaide became a city, and we believe thtU scarcely one attempt has been madeUo cippty a cesspool or?sweep a yard. ' Every cellar is full df stagnant, stinking water, and the town .is'studded Vvith pools ot (he same character. As jackals, hyenas, cultures, pelicans et id genus omne, in-some measure cleanse the large towns! of the East, so, goats and pigs were at one time the scavengers) idf Adelaide. Can we be surprised, then, -that sickness has entered every dwelling, with its:train of domestic bereavements aod distress— or can we doubt that unless energetic steps .are taken to prevent the accumulation of .acknowledged sources of disease, that pestilence will 6omei day-scatter- the inhabitants.—Adelaide Register.

Entire Cattle. — A circumstance occurred a few days since which shows the necessity of some act to compel persons to confine their

entire cattle. A respectable settler riding in search of some cows, was furiously attacked by a horse, allowed to run at large by its owner ; and had* he not adroitly quitted the saddle, the consequences might have been very serious. As it was, he did not get clear," until the saddle was torn in shreds by the infuriated animal. We»are told that in the neighbouring colonies a"law is in force fur the purpose of preventing the roaming at large of .bulls and entire horses ; and some preventive measure is certainly required here. For even omitting the consideration of personal danger, the incessant annoyance which settlers suffer from the destruction of their fences, and injury to their crops, by these mischievous animnls, is quite enough to justify a claim for them tolegal protection.

. Programme of the performance of the Band of the 58th Regiment, for Thursday, 16th instant, at 4 p. m., on the space of ground in front of the Council Chamber. Orerture, "The Fair MM&ffrrtV' „ .'.W*fUeJI. Cay., Opera "Beatrice «lt feuda." .»,. , r , , peHnl. Cay., Opern, " Edwardo a Criitinn," \ . . Kosaini. Waltz, u X Deux terns," Jullien. Cay,, Opera, " Belsario/' Donizotti. Quadrille, " The Phantom Danperi," . . . , Jullien.