THE OTAGO WITNESS. Dunedin, Saturday, December 10, 1559.

Otago Witness, Issue 419, 10 December 1859, Page 5

THE OTAGO WITNESS. Dunedin, Saturday, December 10, 1559.

Tke chief source of wealth to any countryis, undoubtedly, its population. As a general rule, the larger and denser the population, the greater will be the wealth of any given country. This axiom, true of all places, is especially so of colonies and new countries; hence' the desire of all young colonies to attract population. The soil may be fruitful — tlie climate salubrious • but without population to develope its resources, any country would be comparatively a desert. There is, however, a check to population, and unless the earth be sufficiently productive to support a dense population, or there be other sources from which wealth can be drawn, the which to give in exchange for food, and the other necessaries of life, there can never exist a dense population. Hence, thinly peopled countries are poor, and poor countries are, "by the same rule, thinly peopled. The truth of these axioms appear to be perfectly well understood by the various prounces of New Zealand, and all are endeavouring to attract and to import people as fast as possible. Emulation in this matter has an excellent effect, and tends to the great increase of the wealth of the colony as a whole ; but emulation is very often apt to degenerate into envy, or to suggest means to carry out an end which a high seiue of morality must condemn. At the present time the aspect presented by the various provinces in this race is peculiar, and suggestive of moral reflection. At the Southern portion of the colony, we see tho provinces devoting large sums for the introduction of immigrants : at the North, an opposite course is being pursued, of inducing immigration by promise of the gift of land. Which plan is the better adapted to carry out the end in view, viz., the rapid peopling the country, remains to be seen, and to be judged of by experience. At present the latter plan— if v> e may judge from the statements of its success at Auckland—has the advantage of being the most attractive. But it is ' alleged, and that too by the majority of the local press there, that the result is not a healthy one— not successful from its foundation in principle, but has been arrived at by a system of deception and misrepresentation. The correctness or incorrectness of these allegations we are unable to determine ; but the balance of evidence is decidedly in favour of the truth of the assertions. Naturally enough, the "New Zealander "—which represents the party in power under whose auspices the new system has been inaugurated—is exceedingly indignant that°the success of the movement should be called in question, and endeavours to holster up its assertions by the aid of correspondents, whose style gives their productions very much the appearance of ha\ing been contributed from the back shop of the " New Zealander." One of them, signed "An Old Colonist," bears evidence of the writer not being the man he purports to be, from his ignorance of the facts of the case, and from his resorting to the practice of avoiding defending his own position, and attempting to damage the neighbouring provinces by wilful mis-statements and misrepresentations of their advantages and capabilities. Amongst these absurdities may be classed the statements that Otago is not adapted to the breeding of sheep and the growth of wool ; and that the good folks from Australia, who came with the intention of investing, have gone away. To the first assertion it is only necessary to state that there arc 350,000 sheep in the Province, and that they continue to be largely imported. That some capitalists may have left without investing, may be true enough ; but that any anxiety to sell out exists, is not true, or £'3000 would not have been offered for a run without a hoof upon it, or any improvement made, — nor have been refused, as Me know to have been the case. r J he high rate— we may say the extravagantly hi oh rate — at which runs are being bought and sold, proves that with those most interested the idea of sheep-farming being a bad speculation is not entertained ; and that the price of labour is likely to be affected by the withdrawal of capital from the Province, may be at once contradicted and proved to be untrue by a reference to our land sales, yielding an income at the rate of between £60,000 and £70,000 per annum. That the " New-Zealander " should feel annoyed at losing population which it has been so industriously decoying to the Province of Auckland, is natural enough ; but that does not justify it in publishing statements which may be true of some particular Province of New Zealand, but omitting to mention the particular Province, with the dishonest intention of inducing a belief that the statement may apply to any one, or getting correspondents to make statements which are positively untrue. There is, however, some satisfaction in finding that misrepresentations of Otago cannot be made in Auckland without calling forth a reply. The remarks of " Another Old Colonist" are evidence that the last contributor has been in Otago, and is well acquainted with the facts of the case. The " New-Zealander" again rushes to the rescue, and argues that there being a given quantity of land unfit to depasture sheep on, proves that the land is bad ; whilst, if we understand the remark of the "Another Old Colonist" aright, the land in question is some of the best agricultural land in the Province or in New Zealand, but from its richness is unfit for the depasturing of sheep, — a fact of which the editor of the "New-Zealander" appears to be unaware. Tn calling attention to the state of the Province of Auckland with reference to its labour market, we had no desire to induce colonists well-to-do there to leave and to come to Otago : we had no motive

but to relieve the Auckland authorities from the embirrassment stated to have arisen from a mistaken move. It appears to us that Auckland can never retain an over-abundant population by attempting to fiighten them from removing to other Provinces, by a misrepresentation of facts, and disparaging her neighbours. Her doing so has very much the appearance of having a bad cause. We in Otago should not have the slightest objection to our Auckland contemporary tempting any of our settlers to migrate to Auckland by proclaiming the beauties and advantages of Auckland, because a satisfied population would not think of moving. We should strongly condemn any attempt such as was successfully practised by Governor Hobson in the early days of the colony, of inducing persons to migiate from one pro\inoe to another, unless fiom some mistaken movement — as is alleged to be the case in Auckland — an overpopulation has been brought in, who are leruing the pnnince. Such being tlie case, they might as well come to Otago as go to Sydney or Melbourne, it', on the other hand, the alleged stale of the Auckland labour maiket is not correct, but that there is plenty of good land at a cheap rate to be obtained, and that high wages and full employment can be had, then we have no wi.h to inleifeie with otn* neighbours — nor would any allurement olteied by us induce persons to leave under such circumstances.

It is quite absurd for our contemporary to suppose that the •' Otago Witness" intended b) its remarks to damnge Auckland. We may he sutfieieiiily canuid to admit that our journal does not circulate in Auckland to ,i;,y greater extent than the " New Zealander " does in Otago ; therefoie, but tew of the- people of Auckland v ere likely to read our observations. And, the success of the ii-iniigi-cition movement is much more dependant upon the reports made by immigrants to their friends in the home country, than it is upon the statement of the public journals of cither Otago or Auckland ; theiot'ore, the relief of any temporary distress which nii^ht exist at Auckland, by a migration to Otago, would in the long run tend to bencfit'Auckland. What the exact state of affairs in Auckland may be, we cannot judge: those on the spot will know ; but v.c may state what is the cisc in Otago. There is upwards of £30,000 iv the publicTreasury, which cannot be spent for want of labour, and the demand for labour is greater than the supply ; but as considerable misapprehensions occur from speaking of these matters generally, and no\ in detail, we quote the current rate of wages :—: — Mechanics, from 10s. lo 12s. ; common labouiers, from fis. to Bs. per diem, without rations. On some road works, the Government give 6s. per diem, and rations. Shepherds and farm servants, engaged by the year, get from €-10 to £C 0 per annum, v\itli lodging and rations.