GENERAL BOOTH IN WELLINGTON,

Otago Witness, Issue 1966, 29 October 1891, Page 20

GENERAL BOOTH IN WELLINGTON,

Wellington, October 27.

General Booth addressed a representative^ meeting of citizenß this afternoon on the subject' of hts colonisation scheme. There was an ex«ceptionally large attendance, including moat of " wading business men of the city. Mr Justice' Richmond, who was in the chair, referred a*some length to the scheme. He said he had always held that the territory of a new colony was in no way the property of the small handful ot settlers who resided in it. His contentions was that they held it in trust for the whole; British nation, but be agreed that they were not called on to allow their colony to become tho lay stall for the filth of Europe, or to countenance anything that woald bring the wages of workers down to the level of those paid in Wnitechapel, but he understood that General Booth meant nothing of this sort. Colonists were bound to do their best to allow unin. habited tracts of land to be utilised, for thew must remember that the earth was theLordS and the fullness thereof. As he understood General Booth's proposals all the settlements were to be properly organised., and people deed only look to the Mormon settlements m the United States to see the auccess of organised settlement. He thought there would be some difficulty with regard to planting a settlement in thii colony, as we were 12,000 miles from the mother country, and only had a limited area of land. 1 ben we had submerged classes of our own, and the question was whether we were treating them properly. His opinion was, and he had often expressed it, that we were not doing on* duty by them. General Booth then gave a brief outline of his soheme, saying thafc he was here to remove* fears that might exist in regard to ib. He explained that before anyone could be drafted to* the oversea colony, he would have to undergo* a thorough training first in the city colony, and* then in the farm colony. A very good offer of land had been received in South America, while* a magnificent estate bad been placed at his disposal in South Africa, and since he had ceme toAustralasia other splendid offers had been made*, but before he closed with any of them he* wanted to look round the world. If New Zea~ land did not think it to her advantage to allow the establishment of one of these colonies on her lauds he would pass on. The general mentioned* that ever since his arrival in Australia he had been met with the remark that they did not want the criminal classes of England out here: but he pointed out that of the 3,000,000 people who would come under"his schome only 85P 0 were of the criminal class, and nearly ha.i of that number were children. He was Btai waiting to hear further before be deoided where he would form the first colony. He hoped! to get a tract of country for nothing, and perhaps have the people pay him for forming the settlement. With regard to Mr Justice Richmond's illustration of the success of the Mormon settlement, he contended that what the Mormons could do the Salvation Army should be able to accomplish with a hundredfold of success. He denied thai; he intended to people bis colony with the scum of England. On the contrary, he would nofc put a man on it that could not be put on any farm in England. The working men of Australia said .they did not want Booth's labourers coming out to enter into competition with them; but a complete answer to that was that it was proposed to take the oolonists straight away on to the land. If it was intended to bring them to the cities it would be quite a different thing. The whole question, he said, was whether New Zealand wanted an increase of population, and if she did he thought his scheme was the agency by whioh the increase would be obtained. At the close of his remarks General Booth answered a number of questions put by gentle* ! men in the audience, and a resolution was unanimously carried heartily thanking him for his address and expressing sympathy with hii scheme, and hoping that it would be successful. General Booth had an immense audience tonight foe his lecture " In Darkeßt England, and the Way Oat," the Opera House being packed in every part. Mr J. R. Blair presided, and among those on the stage was Sir Robert Stout. In opening, the Chairman said that Genera Booth's visit to the colony had had the effect of removing many erroneous impressions which had been abroad regarding bis scheme. Speaking for himself he could say that, although he had read the generals- book, he had failed to grasp the essential points of his plan until he heard him speak ia the afternoon. The general received a tremendous ovation, the most enthusiastic that has been accorded him since his arrival here. He dealt more in detail with his social Bc'aeme than he did in the afternoon, remarking that the horde of unfortunate people cost England some £20,000.000 sterling per annum in poor law charity. He said that if he had that sum at his disposal he would undertake to olear out the submerged tenth of England (the 3,000,000 of people that would come under his social scheme) in 20 years. His co-operative flag was portion of the soheme, and it appeared to him that co-operation was the remedy for all troubles between capital and labour. He repeated that he did not come here to ask the people of New Zealand to hurt themselves in any way. He came to look round on behalf of those unfortunates, and he really and honestly thought that in this smiling country, where there was room for millions of persona, there should be a home found for them. In proposing a resolution similar to that carried at the afternoon gathering, Sir R. Stout said he had been informed by those in charge of the meeting that the attendance this evening numbered about 2500. Proceeding to refer to General Booth's address he said he specially liked that portion of it in whioh he proposed as a remedy for over population in cities to send the people on the land to work it, and he pointed out that the General's soheme of having communal settlements ia the countries was almost exactly the same as that propounded by his Government in 1886 and 1887. He believed that the fact of this village settlement soheme not being carried out was responsible for thousands of valuable persons leaving New Zealand. The resolution was carried amidst hears.