N.Z. MAIL PUBLISHED WEEKLY. FRIDAY, APRIL 27, 1888.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 843, 27 April 1888, Page 16

N.Z. MAIL PUBLISHED WEEKLY. FRIDAY, APRIL 27, 1888.

Some little time ago, while urging the desirableness of 'encouraging suitable immigration to this Colony, we suggested as one means to this end the appointment of numerous agents resident in different parts of the United Kingdom. Now that the Parliamentary session is rapidly drawing near, we desire once more to direct attention to this subject. The advantages which the Colony would derive from a large influx of population must be obvious, one would think, , to everybody. Yet some people appear unable to realise what would be gained by the doubling of our population. Apart from the fact that the public burden would thus be virtually halved, there would be an infusion- of new life and vigour in all directions. Trade would become

brisker through.,),the necessary pr< - brainary expenditure of the newcomers in settling themselves. There would bo an improved demand for every local product, and labour would be more fully employed. Even the arrival of a large number of people of the labouring class would not have the depressing effect upon wages that some thoughtlessly imagine, because at the outset these newcomers would require food, clothing, lodging, &c., before they could begin to compete in the labour market, and this would mean increased liveliness in trade with its necessary concomitant of enhanced abundance of employment. But it would never be proposed to encourage immigration of only one class. The Colony needs permanent settlers far more than labourers. "We want men—or still better, families —with some capital, whether £.10,000, or £IOOO, or Only £lbo, who will come out to settle here and to make this country their permanent home. Immigrants of tki3 class would benefit the Colony in innumerable different ways. They would add to its wealth aud prosperity by increasing its productions, by developing its resources, by creating or developing new industries, bj r affording more profitable scope to the industries already existing, atd by opening up fresh fields of labour and commerce in numerous directions as yet practically unexplored. The difficulty is: liow to bring about such an influx of “ new blood.” It has been said that if we will only let things alone and devote ourselves to putting the Colony’s affairs in proper order, so as to restore the public credit abroad, people will then come quite aa fast as they are wanted, and that the less done with regard to fostering immigration the better; that it is much safer aud wiser to let it take it natural course without any artificial promptings. From this view we emphatically dissent. As well might it be said that a sick patient should be simply let alone, so that nature might effect a cure in her ordinary course of operation. That may be done in rare instances, but in the great majority of cases the patient thus treated would simply die. There are times when a community like the individual does need some special medicinal stimulus, or tonic. The community, like the individual, may have become depressed through previous excesses, through wasting induced by improper diet, or through

mismanagement generally. The community and the individual might 11 pick up” wiihoutartificialaid.but the process of recovery would be very tedious and discouraging. The judicious physician in either case seeks, by a prudently stimulating and strengthening treatment, to “ give Nature a filip,” as it is said ; to afford to the patient’s system just that degree,of aid in its recuperative process which will enable it to do the rest of the work of recovery itself. That is what this Colony now wants, and we are convinced that the means at present provided to this end are wholly insufficient. Wo firmly believe that the establishment of sub-agencies in all the counties of Great Britain would prove a most useful measure. The London Agency-General does ably enough the -work that has hitherto been assigned to it. But with the gradual expiration of the Public Works policy, much of its past occupation is gone. The small farmer in Yorkshire or Devonshire who, havisg saved a few hundreds from the too common agricultural wreck, is anxious to try his fortune in the new Britain which New Zealand is represented to be, will scarcely ae6k the precise information that is so necessary to him, at the handsome offices in Yictoria-street, Westminster, where the Australasian Agents-Gene-ral maintain semi-ambassadorial state and dignity. If he should determine to travel 200 or 300 miles to Westminster, and should* with the aid of the ever-civil and attentive London policeman, discover the right number in that imposing row of buildings in Yictoria-street, and should ascend the long flight of Btairs to the offices of the New Zea, land Agency, his couragS and hopefulness oozing out as he mounts each stone step, he will not derive much satisfaction from the undertaking. He will hardly penetrate to the august presence of Sir Francis Bell, but he may reach the intermediate room of the Secretary, Mr Kennaway, or more probably will have to content himself with “interviewing ” one of the fairly numerous staff of clerks who inhabit the first room, and in this way be may or may not extract as much information a? is worth the long journey thither.

It would be infinitely better were there an accredited agent of the N- w Zealand Government at each county town to whom application might be made both for the latest information as to New Zealand and for admission to such concessions in regard to the passage out as may yet be arranged between the Government and the Shipping Companies. We have reason to believe that little difficulty would be experienced in inducing some local man of decent standing to act as agent. The accredited position would give him a certain degree of local importance, just as the right ,of selling postage stamps, &c., is desired, not so much for the sake of the trifling commission as for its usefulness in bringing people to the shop, where the chances are that, once in, they will buy something more than the stamps for which they came. All these little local distinctions are eagerly sought after in provincial towns, and many a local man would be only too happy to act “ for the honor of the thing,” and for the sake of being, publicly proclaimed as “ Resident Agent for the Government of New Zealand.” It would, however, be quite worth'while to make some small payment, whether in the shape of commission .or otherwise, for the services actually rendered, the payment to be strictly contingent on the rendering of the service, and proportionate in amount to the .. value of the service. The rate of remuneration would, of course, he a detail to bo decided by the Government if the principle of the scheme were once recognised. The agents should be instruett d to let it be known as widely as possible that they would furnish all information regarding New Zealand; they should be kept well posted up as to the Colony’s affairs ; they should also bo directed to give emigrants a letter of recommendation to the New Zealand Government, or rather to the repre-’ sentative of tho Government in the Land Office at the port, to which they might elect to go. Such a letter would be greatly valued by emigrants, and one result of its presentation in New Zealand would probably be that the authorities at this end would be enabled to estimate roughly the value of that immigrant to the colony, and consequently what commission should be paid to the agent who sent him out. The bearer of the letter would of course receive due attention at the hands of the local bead of the Land Office, who would instruct him as to the situation and character of the Crown land in that district available for lease or purchase, and would advise him generally as to the use for which the various qualities were suitable whether for corn growing, grazing, &c. —and would in other ways facilitate his movements in the direction of settling. There are numbers of once prosperous farmers and others in Great Britain who, by a long series of bad seasons and bad prices, aud excessive local rates, have beeu reduced to their last few hundreds, or who possibly have still a thousand or two remaining, but who see plainly that this remnant must gradually melt away under the influence of one or two more adverse yeartfl Men of this class would, in many cases, gladly jump at a favourable chance of emigrating to such a Colony as New Zealand, if the ignorance so widely prevalent at Home as to this country and the terrors of the voyage hither were authoritatively dispelled and replaced by some authentic practical explanations. And these are the men who form the backbone of any country—men whom it is most desirable to attract hither, aud who are most mistakenly drifting away to North America, merely because it is nearer at hand and they cau learn more about it. The establishment of county or local agencies in such towns and cities as Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, Leeds, Bristol, Plymouth, Bath, Exeter, Norwich, Leicester, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dublin, &c.—at, in fact, every city and town of any importance in the three kingdoms, would assuredly be a most valuable means of promoting the “ right sort ” of migration to this Colony. The proposal, as we have sketched it, does not profess to be more than a crude outline of what could be done, but its principle i 3 undoubtedly sound, and the scheme, if capably carried out, possesses the potentiality of immense benefit to New Zealand.