THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. MONDAY, OCTOBER 8, 1883.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XX, Issue 6830, 8 October 1883, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. MONDAY, OCTOBER 8, 1883.

The opinions expressed by members' of the Assembly during the debate on the vote for Immigration are fairly expressive of the views entertained by their 'constituents generally. There may not be many brave enough to hazard the statement made by the honourable member for .Timaru, to the effect that " there are enough people in the colony," but there are a good many who practically act on the belief that increase to the population by the introduction of immigrants is to be deprecated. There has no one yet arisen to say that immigration may do otherwise than increase the value -of property, and opposition to immigration is always confined to those who profess to have taken upon them the care of the wages-earning class, and these, in championing the cause of the labourer and artisan, persist in the assertion that the effect, if not the avowed object of immigration, is to lower the rate of wages in the colony, and protest that it is unjust to impose a tax on colonists including a large number of the wagesearning classes, for the purpose of paying for the introduction of immigrants with any such object. Of such is tlio honourable member for South Wellington, Mr. Hutchison, who " wished torecord his voteagainst immigrationbecauss he considered it almost a scandal that a large portion of this colony should bs taxed to pay interest on a loan for the purpose of introducing labour into the colony, when there was abundance here already. He knew perfectly well that it was done in the interest of that class who : wished to make money." In the latter remark the honourable member was pretty correct, as it is difficult to say who they are in the colony that do not wish to make money, but we assume that the speaker did not intend to say that it was meant and fitted to benefit the whole community, which is true,. but that it was only intended to benefit the property owner. Now, there are two fallacies in this statement that are very generally entertained. That relative to imposing burthens on colonists, for the purpose of introducing immigrants is easily disposed of. The assumption was that paying the passage of immigrants takes something from the pockets of colonists -\yho send for them. Including everything, cost of passagffj. medical supervision, &c., and making.

no account of the five pounds at present exacted. from the nomma e pas sengers, an immiganfc costs a . ™ axl , mum of twenty pounds. The interest on this sum at five per eent. is < me pound per annum. But roy of his arrival he begins paying three pounds per annum through the Customs and excise alone. If we take the gross revenue of the colony, every resident in the colony contributes an. average of between seven and eight pouruls per annum. But assuming that there is nothing whatever derived from him through Post or Telegraph office, railways, rates, fees, property tax, land sales, or rents, but merely looking on him as a consumer of tea, sugar, clothing, and other dutiable goods, he himself pays the interest on his cost of import three times over; or in other words, he not only takes nothing from the old residents' pocket, but after paying" full interest on the amount spent on himself, he pays twice as much more to relieve the burthen of the colony's debt —an indebtedness -which had been incurred before ever he came to the colony. It is, surely, time that we should hear no more of this claptrap about colonists being " taxed to pay interest on a loan for the purpose of introducing" immigrants. The second fallacy is equally disproved by facts. So far from the introduction of immigrants lowering the rate of wages, statistics go to prove the contrary; for, notwithstanding the fact of over a hundred thousand of the •wages-earning classes having been introduced at the public expense during the past twelve years, or one-fifth of the entire population, the ruling rate of wages is higher than it was before the influx of immigrants. This seeming paradox, of course, arises from the stimulus which has been given to every kind of industry, and from the increase of wealth which this has caused, which has vastly extended the sphere of employment and the demand for labour. With these facts staring people in the face, it is surprising that members could have stood up in their places in the House, andj given utterance to the platitudes about redundancy of population, and the mischief of immigration, which have currency enough with the unreflecting without.

Of course the objectors to the continuance of immigration were in a hopeless minority, and the vote of £78,700 for the operations of the year •was agreed to without division ; but the discussion brought into much prominence the importance attached to the careful selection of the immigrants to be introduced. It was shown, a fact which experience all over the colony confirms, that it is only among the classes ill-selected and unfitted for the colonies that the cry of the unemployed is ever raised, and that despite the occasional lulls and depressions in the labour market, those of the classes best iitted for colonial life need never ■want employment. The present alleged glut of labour in some of the districts of the South is no exception to the rule, and it was asserted by a Southern member that if two . hundred ploughmen a month went into Otago alone, they would not more than meet the demand. Similarly all over the colony there is the same demand in rural districts for labour really suited to the requirements, and though ■very differently from the case of the congested labour market at home, no man with strong hands and willing mind need ever want for an opening to competence and comfort in New Zealand; every year's experience confirms the necessity of guarding against the introduction at the public expense of any except the classes most suited to the requirements of the colony. This is especially to be watched in relation to the proposals now so rife at home for relieving the distress and pauperism arising from the overcrowded condition of the labour market. In the ten thousand persons proposed to be sent from London to the colonies, there are no doubt many whose introduction might be a benefit to this colony as well as to themselves. But it would be worse than a blunder if, merely because they could be obtained at no cost to the colony, any encouragement should be given to the introduction of a class which might become a burthen. In the case of those who come at their own expense, and over whom the immigration authorities have no supervision, there is an element of selection in the fact that they are in circumstances to pay their own passages. But where a movement is promoted by those who merely desire to rid themselves of a class that is a burthen, there is reason for apprehension that fitness for colonial life would be a very secondary consideration. For such as those this colony does not hold out inducements, and it is to be hoped that the operations of the home office will riot be made subservient to mere eleemosynary objects.

At the present time our immigration policy is mainly, confined to the system of nomination in the colony, For this purpose £200,000 have been allocated out of the loan of 1882, to be extended over three, years, about 5000 immigrants being shipped .each year. So far the nominations in the colony have met the requirements, and as five pounds are exacted from each nominee or his friends in the colony, the charge io eaeh is fixed at about the same amount as the cost of passage to the labour fields of America. This arrangement ia likely to be adequate to the requirements of the colony in respect of the supply of labour; but we cannot help feeling that it is to be regretted that no provision has been made for affording more direct encouragement to the introduction of settlers bringing capital with them. It is supposed that the establishment of direct steam communication may have the effect of introducing that kind of settlement: but while the conditions of emigration in respect of labour, are now equalised between America and New Zealand, ■we hold that a grave mistake is made in not equalising the conditions of the immigration of capitalist settlers, so as to induce an exactly similar stream of immigration to that which has given such prosperity and progress to the United States and Canada.