THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1888.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9188, 18 October 1888, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1888.

The extent to which the movement in favour of eysi in.-'.tic colonisation on the part of the State lias attained in the United Kingdom is shown in a pamphlet which we have just received through the courtesy of the Eight Honorable the Earl of Meath, its author. It purports to explain the nature and objects of the "National Association for Promoting State Colonisation," of which his lordship is the president. As we have, from the first inception of this great movement, given it our cordial sympathy—maintaining that in the interests not only of humanity but of the colonies, it is one of the noblest as it is also one of the most statesmanlike projects of the age—we cannot but express our gratification at the imposing array of men of light and leading with which the enterprise is endorsed. The list of VicePresidents and Executive Committees includes a Duke, four Earls, six Bishops, the Cardinal Manning, a lengthy list of noblemen and clergymen, among them Mr. Spurgeon, Newman Hall, and other leaders in the religious world, with a roll of names of distinction in every department of life that presents such a formidable display of commanding influence, that the like of it has not for very many years vouched for the character of any other project in the Empire. We are quite aware of the difference between putting a name indifferently to paper, and giving an active support to the cause it represents ; and if a tithe of the patrons,' vice-presidents, and committees give their attention and influence to the movement, the result would be something prodigious. But the noteworthy thing in connection with this imposing list of distinguished friends and supporters is in the contrast which it presents to the time, but a few years ago, when emigration was taboo in certain circles, when it was regarded as an unnatural drain on the resources of the country, a species of wrong done to the employers of labour ; arid emigrants themselves were looked on as a kind of outcasts, whose exile was a penalty for their unfitness for society. The fact that the movement in favour of systematic colonisation has been taken up, not by the distressed classes at home, but by those representing the wealth, the learning, and the distinction of the country, shows how sternly the fact is forcing itself to tiie front that the congestion of population is fast becoming a public danger. As the author of this pamphlet says, " Whatever else may be a matter for doubt, one thing is certain, that the present condition of the poor cannot be allowed to continue ; something must be done, or this country will find itself onemorning landed in a social revolution* Unmistakable rumblings in the lowest social strata are to be heard even now. The superincumbent masses of the law-abiding, working, middle, and upper classes of society are at present too ponderous to be moved ; but who can say how long it may be— if no vent be given for the dangerous imprisoned gasesbefore the volcano may burst forth in its fury, and engulph an unprepared and unsuspecting world." The pamphlet before us is principally valuable for the authentic and authoritative information which it gives of the objects of the movement and the mode of operation which is contemplated ; and, as there has hitherto existed throughout these colonies a considerable amount of misapprehension, and we believe wholly groundless fears respecting this movement— we judge from the generally unfavourable comments in the public press—we hail the appearance of this little work as likely to prepare colonists for the favourable consideration of a scheme that is destined to have a most important bearing for good on the permanent progress and development of the colonies. The raison d'etre for the movement is briefly given in the fact that the population of the British Islands, painfully congested as it is at present, is enlarging every year by a natural increment of over half-a-million of souls. The strain is partially relieved by an average emigration of 230,000 a-year, leaving 340,000 every year to add to the glut, and increase the struggle for existence. A simple illustration of what that means is given from what was witnessed by two visitors from the Association at three of the London docks, who " with their own eyes saw the fierce conflict for employment which may daily be witnessed when J the dock gates are opened and thousands of half-starved men struggle and fight, aye fight like wild animals, scrambling over the heads of one another, and trampling each other down in their efforts to attract the attention of the foreman whose business it is to engage the hands for the day. The struggle ended, and the fortunate ones admitted j within the docks, the gates were closed, and from these three docks 700 hungry disappointed men were turned away to spend a day of enforced idleness and misery." It has been estimated that 8000 men are similarly turned away every day from all the London docks, ' and that on these disappointed men 30,000 famishing wives and children are dependent. And yet it is to London and the cities and larger towns that the people thrown out of employment in thecountry are moving in quest of work. These two considerations are unquestionably the moving principles in the action of those engaged in this great concerted movement ; a genuine apprehension that the social system of the country is resting on a slumbering

volcano, and a humane desire to relieve the fearful suffering entailed by the utter inability of many thousands to find work to give them food. In contrast to this crowded condition of the population is placed the fact that seven of the principal colonies contain four thousand four hundred millions of acres of land, sparsely occupied by eight millions of people, or 540 acres pr> r person, as against seventy-seven mil. lions of acres to thirty-six millions of people in the United Kingdom, or less than two acres for every unit of the population ; and the problem to he solved is how to relieve the suffering arising from the disparity of distribution of the people. That the task is a herculean one is admitted, and th*. futility of trying to effect it to a inappreciable extent without the aid .\r the Imperial Government is recognised. The scheme that is proposed is one based on the outline drawn out last year by » committee formed from the two Houses of Parliament, consisting of 25 peers and 135 member* of the House of Cornmons ; and from a perusal of this, and of the details elaborated by the National Association, it is evident tl.u not the smallest apprehension may be entertained by the colonies that it is in contemplation to Hood them with paupers. It is proposed that a Colonisation Board, with Imperial and Colonial representation, should be formed ; that public subscriptions to a " Colonisation Land Rent-charge Stock " should be invited in England, with interest at 3 per cent, per annum guaranteed by the Imperial Government; that preference should be given to colonists who contribute towards the outlay; that colonists after the second year should pay 4 per cent, on amount advanced, secured by a rent charge ; that rent charge should be redeemed by colonists within thirty years ; and that the Colonial Governments should give land free, or on the most favourable terms for settlement. In the carrying out of details it is intended that attention should be given not sc much to the permanent residents of cities and towns in the United Kingdom as to the thousands of people from the country who are crowding every year into the cities in quest of employment : that they should be provided with passages, farms, implements, seeds, and food, and everything requisite to sustain them in the active development of their farms, until from their products they should be able to support themselves ; and that there is no intentior of Hooding the colonies with the indi gent and the helpless is clearly shown it the following statement by the National Association :—This scheme is one oi colonisation and not of simple emigration. There is a vast difference between the two. ' Simple emigration does not commend itself to the working classes in this country or in the colonies. Emigration means the sending out from this country of our surplus population to compete in the labour market of the colonies with colonial working men. State Colonisation, on the other hand, means the placing of suitable persons with some capital at their backs, on the free-grant lands of the colonies. These colonists, far from competing with colonial working men, would in a short time become their employers and customers. They would require agricultural implements, carts, food and clothing, ivo., ur.d artisans, tradesmen, and labourers would find themselves the richer from their presence. Colonial working meu may therefore be trusted to welcome these newcomers when once they realise that they are to settle down into genuine farmers with some capital, come to settle on the land and not to compete with them. Colonial employers will welcome them when they learn that no paupers or ne'er-do-wells are to be drafted to the colonies, to be maintained by them in workhouses or gaols. ' These are the principles on which this State-colonisation scheme is intended to be worked : and we have not any hesitation in saying that it is exactly such as we require for the development of the best interests of our own particular colony. Couid any one conceive of anything more entirely in the line of what we are desiring from one end of this colony to the other, namely, the settlement of our rural lands by an industrious and self-sus-taining community ? So far from any one viewing such a scheme askance, so far from our waiting for the promoters of it to come knocking at our doors, we hold that it would be a duty to the colony for the Government to place itself at once in communication vith the leaders of this National Association, and seek to strengthen its hands by volunteering the utmost encouragement that it is in the power of the colony to bestow.