The Star. SATURDAY, MAY 15, 1869.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 313, 15 May 1869, Page 2

The Star. SATURDAY, MAY 15, 1869.

*» Ik our yesterday's issue we pointed ot»t that the Press had urged that it was the duty of the Government to "go in largely for immigration," because — 1. It would bring down-the price of wages. 2. It would reduce the burden of taxation. "With reference to the first of these propositions — the. reduction of wages hj means of immigration — we are clearly of opinion that it is not the chity of the Government to interfere so ns to alter the relations between labour and capital. We regard the matter from a purely commercial point of view, and we should as soon think of telling the Government that it was *Sheir duty to import flour, so as to reduce the price of bread, or slops, bo as to reduce the price of clothing, as io tell them that it was their duty to import labour for the purpose of reducing wages. That 'is, not the busi3jcss of a Government at all, and those wlio have labour to* sell Would be perfectly justified in resisting by every legitimate means any attempt made by a Government bo interfere with the market value of their commodity.

We cordially agree with the Press in urging immigration on the ground that it will tend to reduce the burden of taxation. That is a perfectly legitimate field for the efforbs of a Grovernnient, and a perfectly fair as welL as beneficial ground on which to advocate immigration. Indeed, it is one of the chief duties of a Government to eudeavour, as far as possible, to lighten the burden of taxation as well as to distribute it equally. And, in a new country, it is very evident that immigration is one of the chief, as well as one of the best, ways of doing so. But we do not agree with the Press in thinking that ifc is no matter where the I immigrants are settled. Immigrants bring capital, therefore it is desirable that we should settle them here. They have wants which must be supplied, I therefore it is desirable that we should have the benefits which may accrue from supplyiug them. They extend coiouization and settlement and increase products, therefore it is a decided gain to us if tbey settle in this province. We put this argument forward- on the supposition that our money is to be used iv some shape or other in bringing the immigrants to the colony. If it is, then the indirect advantage of securing additional taxpayers anywhere in the colony is not at all equivalent to the direct and very considerable advantages of securing settlers here. We altogether dissent from the opinion of the Press, that it is desirable to hand over the business of immigration to the General Government. We do so on two distinct grounds *. — 1. Because the province is perfectly able to carry out immigration on its own account. 2. Because, by handing over immigration to the General Government - , we should be permitting nn estate which is exclusively our own to be dealt with in a way which is not calculated to produce the greatest possible amount of benefit for ourselves. In our issue of yesterday, we promised to shew how Canterbury could still carry on immigration on her own account with advantage. If we Bucceed in doing so, we think the people will agree with us in saying that it is the clear duty of our rulers to retain the direction of immigration, and to push it actively forward. We suppose it will be admitted that the waste lands of this province belong exclusively to tbe province, and that the colony has no legal or moral claim upon them. These lands are ours by an Act of the General Assembly, passed, with the full consent of all concerned. That is our title to them, aud it is as clear and valid as any title can be. The waste lands of the province being ours, we hold that we have a right to deal with them in such way as we believe will promote the general progress. Undisputed possession implies undoubted right to deal with these lands as we shall agree in considering the best possible way. The unsold estate of Canterbury, or rather the estate still open for sale, amounts to 7,885,446 acres. On a moderate estimate, that estate is worth £4,000,000. So that, when we are asked to hand over immigration to the General Government, we are in Jact j and in truth ashed to throw four mil- 1 lions sterling, exclusively our own, into I a common purse, to he dealt with hy a ■power over which we should have little or no control. That is what we are asked to do, and we earnestly hope that the people of this province wiil never forget the fact. If they do, if they agree to hand over the estate which belongs to them in the manner advocated by the Press, we solemnly believe that they will be throwing away their only chance of winning back prosperity. We are as firmly convinced of that fact as we are that the Pi'ess is the mouthpiece of those who do not wish to see the waste lands put to their legitimate uses of colonization, who wish, on the contrary, to keep th-' land locked up as it now is, jo that as few buyers as possible may be brought in to interfere with those who occupy but do not cultivate the soil. It is cultivators, and a large number of them, that we wish to see in the province. It is occupiers, and a few of them, that the Press goes in for. In another column will be found a table showing the estimated quantity of waste land still for sale north of the Kakaia, divided into four classes. That laud, on au estimate which 'will: be admitted to be reasonable, is worth

£1,000,000. We propose that it should be sold in convenient blocks, ranging from twenty up to one thousand or more acres, at what it will fetch. Half the proceeds, or £500,000, we -would set a ide for public works. These public works we set down as follows : — 1. The construction of a railway from Cliriatchurch to the Hurunui. [There is £30,000 already set aside for this.] 2. The construction of a tramway from the Rolleston Station on the Great Southern Line to the Malvern Hills, and thence to Oxford. 3. Tlie construction of a tramway from aj convenient station on the Great Southern Line to the centre of the great grain producing district of the province— Ellesmere. 4. Tbe extension of the Great Southern Line to the South bank of the Kakaia. The other half of the million to be derived from the sale of the land included in our estimate, we would set apart for immigration. Our calculation is, that in ten years all the public works which we have enumerated would be accomplished, and th&t upwards of 40,000 immigrants would have been brought in. These immigrants, looking at the fact that large public works would be going on, and that large tracts of land would be gradually brought within a commercially profitable reach of a market, could be comfortably settled without interfering detrimentally with the state of the labour market. Such, in brief outline, is our plan. We invite criticism, and above all we invite the most earnest attention of all who are interested in the progress of settlement ; of all who desire to rescue the province from the death sleep into which it has fallen, who desire to see our waste lands used by ourselves in promoting our own prosperity. a*^BUßani--B-a---B-M--B----H-Bn*--n-an--*-a-------B--a----B