A. CHAT WITH MR DIXON. M.P.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 869, 26 October 1888, Page 1

A. CHAT WITH MR DIXON. M.P.

(BY OUR SPECIAL REPORTER.)

Old Father Time is apt to deal roughly with some men, but with others who treat him kindly his touch is light and fine. It has been so with Mr G. Dixon, member of, the British House of Commons for the Edgbaston districtof Birmingham. Itmust be at least a dozen years since I heard him speak at a political meeting in the Town Hall of Birmingham, and when having a quiet chat with him at the Club on The Terrace the other morning I could not recognise in him the fact that time had slipped so quickly by ; and yet it was in the year 1866 that he, apparently then a middle-aged man, occupied the civic chair in the Birmingham Borough Council. That Mr. Dixon wears well, is, perhaps, due to his early training, with the bracing air of the north of England. A son of a well-known Whitehaven family, he was educated at the famous grammar school of Leeds, and at an early age migrated to the hardware village in the Midlands, where for many years he has been one of its prosperous merchant princes. From the mayoral chair in 1866 he entered the British Parliament in 1867 and retired in 1876. He again represented a division of Birmingham (Edgbaston), in 1885-6, at the last election, being returned, unopposed. Always found in the ranks of the Liberals, he is how classed as a prominent member of the Liberal Unionist Party. For many years past he has paid deep attention to the education questions of the day, and at present he is Chairman of the Birmingham School Board, President of the Chamber of Commerce, and President of the National Education League. Mr Dixon, although born in 1820, is a well preserved man of medium height and build, with a ruddy healthy complexion, clear blue eyes, clean shaven, 'save for a slight fringe of greyish whiskers. He has every appearance of many years of activity before him yet. His present visit to New Zealand is on business, pleasure, and information. He is the owner of an extensive run in the Wairarapa, which he was anxious to see. He wanted a thorough holiday after the work of his last Parliamentary session, and he wants information upon the educational system of this Colony ; and last, but not least, to learn what the country’s suitabilities are for the import of an agricultural class of immigrants. Upon the latter question it may be stated that Mr Dixon is a member of a committee composed of members both of the House of Commons and House of Lords, some 160 in number, who have submitted a scheme of colonization to the Imperial Government, with a view of finding an opening for the surplus population, of Great Britain. Mr. Dixon states that it is not intended to send idlers and loafers, or those who would compete with the labour of the cities, but men with their families who could be settled on the land. What the committee purpose is that the Colonial Governments should assist in the matter with free grants of land, and that the Imperial Government should guarantee a moderate rate of interest on the debentures which would be issued by the proposed Emigration Board for a limited number of years. The Board proposes to defray the passages of the emigrants, build their dwellings, and provide them with implements and piovisions until after the first harvest. On the other hand, the emir grants would be expected to repay the capital sum with interest thereon, the land being held as security. During his stay in town Mr Dixon will interview the Minister of Lands on the question and ascertain his views thereon, and. the quality of land which would be available in the event of the Colonial Government proving favourable tq it. Since his arrival in Auckland by the last trip of the s.s. Doric, Mr Dixon has travelled through the Waikato, and thence overland to Napier, via the Wairarapa to Wellington. So far as he has seen, he thinks the Colony is a suitable : field for such a scheme of emigration as ho is interested in. He expresses the opinion that the colonists should devote themselves to the export of wool, frozen meat, and wheat, for which England would always be their customer. There were complaints here of there being no work for the people, and coincident with that he found prevailing here the highest rates for labour in the world. Under the new tariff they proposed with that highpriced labour to compete against the manufactures of the Old World. It would be far cheaper for the community as a whole to devote its attention to supplying the demands of the English market 1

with our produce, and pay with that produce for the imported manufactures we needed. The colonies had a perfect right to object to pauper emigration, or to the social failures” of the Mother Country being shunted on to them. Nothing of that kind was intended by the organisation of which he was a member. It was intended to draw the emigrants from the agricultural class, as far as possible, on the ground that (1) they would be better off afterward, (2) beneficial to the colonies, and (3) the result would be to create a market for English manufactures. With regard to educational matters, Mr Dixon explained that there was a feeling amongst some classes at Home that after a certain age the sexes should be kept separate in the Board schools where practicable. In all cases it was insisted upon that separate exits and playgrounds should be provided. Speaking of the New Zealand school buildings, he is more in favour of the plan adopted in the large towns in England. In the public schools in Birmingham there is a central hall, about 70 by 35, and the class-rooms abut on it. This hall gives more room for assembling the children, for examinations, physical exercises, and public gatherings. These schools are used for public meetings, concerts and entertainments, and are found very suitable from this arrangement for’ such purposes. All the class-rooms are arranged so that the light falls to the left hand of the pupil, this being now considered in England the best system. The master facing the pupils, was not affected by the light, as appeared to him would be the case in our public schools. In Birmingham, the cost of education, primary and secondary, was under 10s per head, defrayed partly out of rates, State funds, and/school fees. Mr Dixon, who is accompanied by his son, will endeavour to see as much of this Colony as he can, and he regrets that his visit must be cut short by the fact of him being obliged to get back for the opening of the British Parliament in February next.