THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. TUESDAY, AUGUST 23, 1888.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9144, 28 August 1888, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. TUESDAY, AUGUST 23, 1888.

Even those who have been sceptical as to the probabilities of success attending the mission of Mr. W. L. Rees to England, cannot but admit that so far he has shown ability and tact in presenting his views in high and influential quarters. As stated in our yesterday's cable messages, he has been requested by the Marquis of Lothian, Secretary for Scotland, to explain his colonisation scheme to the Parliamentary Committee appointed to enquire into the best means of promoting State colonisation, with a view of emigrating Crofters to the colony. And the more startling announcement is further made that he has presented a request to the Imperial Government that they should guarantee three per cent, upon a million capital to be raised with a view to assisting Imperial colonisation. The Parliamentary Committee to which reference is here made was appointed a few weeks ago, and is the result of the increasing pressure that has during the past few years been brought to bear on the Government by the numerous and powerful associations that have been formed to devise means for relieving the congestion of the population in England by emigration. With these a principal consideration has been the possibilities of producing a reciprocal feeling in some of the colonial dependencies, so that not only a welcome but facilities for the acquisition of land might be afforded to their efforts for settling an industrial population. As already stated by us, Mr. Rees' proposals may have come at a peculiarly opportune moment, and the results of his meeting with the Parliamentary Committee may be looked forward to with very considerable interest. As regards Crofter immigration, which is usually associated in the public mind with the establishing of fishing industries, it has been the custom to regard the Southern parts of this colony as specially if not exclusively possessing the qualifications requisite for fishery settlements. The idea may have taken root from the fact of their colder climate bearing more resemblance to that of the island homes of the Scottish crofters who are eking out a precarious living in the far north.

partly by fishing and partly from the I inhospitable soil. But we fail to see why fishing settlements should not be quite as suitably founded in .the North Island of New Zealand, where our waters are known to be swarming with edible fish. It is known that about fifteen or twenty » miles north of Gisborne, off the coast of the district operated over by the company represented by Mr. Rees, there is a shoal 01 bank of considerable extent, which, as a fishing ground, probably could not be anywhere surpassed j while the various bays and inlets of the East Coast are everywhere teeming with fish. The establishment of fishing settlements in such a district, adequately supplied with the proper appliances for curing fish, could not, with proper management, be otherwise than a success; while the location of such an industry in our provincial district would be hailed with satisfaction by every well-wisher to the country. With respect to the request preferred to the Imperial, Government that they should guarantee a thr.ee per cent, loan of a million to assist in colonisation, the project seems so ambitious as to almost take our breath away. But it is to be recollected that this is exactly on the lines on which these Imperial Colonisation Associations have been moving hitherto at home; for they have been asking not so much for direct Government expenditure on the object as for its extending assistance to the associations which propose to raise the funds and carry on the operation of emigration and colonisation, as huge joint stock concerns, operating on commercial principles. The opportunity of obtaining land suited for their purposes may be an important factor in a scheme of some one or another of such associations being pressed on the Government; and it is probably in connection with one of these associations that Mr. Rees' proposal has been submitted to the Government, suggesting a guarantee on capital to be raised by the Association. When we consider the force with which public opinion has been advancing at Home in favour of an Imperial system for the relief of the congestion of population, the unreasonableness of such a proposal disappears ; and, even though the special district for which Mr. Rees is moving in high and influential quarters may not secure all the advantages he anticipates, we should not be surprised if the movements afoot result in a colonising scheme of no ordinary magnitude being directed towards New Zealand.