The Star. SATURDAY, JANUARY 11, 1879.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 3357, 11 January 1879, Page 2

The Star. SATURDAY, JANUARY 11, 1879.

It is with the greatest pleasure we learn that the Government, fully recognising the necessities of the country, have taken the initiatory steps to facilitate and promote immigration upon an extensive scale. The establishment of steam communication with the Mother Country, and the employment of large steamships for the purpose of bring, ing numbers of people ©ut to this Colony, marks the inauguration of a truly large, liberal, and statesmanlike policy. The appointment of able lecturers to spread amongst the people of Great Britain a knowledge of the splendid openings presented to industry in this new and prosperous land, and the affording the means of rapid passage in Bteam vessels, is the only reliable course to be adopted to induce the setting in of a large flow of voluntary and free immigration to these shores. We have referred to the fact that provided they could be brought here in the height of the season, when labour is scarce, and were suited to the requirements of the Province, Canterbury alone could absorb, with little difficulty, the whole of the immigrants brought into the Colony. This information is derived from the best authority, and there can be no doubt of its truth. The labour brought in every immigrant vessel is all greedily seized within twenty-four hours after it has been declared open for employment. We notice that in Wellington, Dunedin, and other cities, on the arrival of an immigrant ship, there is the same result. We"have already pointed out the great consequences which are certain to flow from the increase of the population bo long as care is taken in the selection of suitable immigrants, and, concurrently, to afford the necessary encouragement to the judicious development of the vast resources of the Colony. The purpose, however, of the Governmentin the policy now being adopted is evidently to place the system of immigration upon an enentirely different footing. The immigration vote at their disposal is only £175,652. This sum divided by £U— which we believe to be about the coat to to the Colony of each immigrantgives as a result about 12,-500 adultß during the year, but by taking a portion of the vote and investing it in bringing under the notice of those in the old country dissatisfied with their prospects and revolving in their minds the advisability of seeking a new land in which to build themselves a home, the advantages presented by New Zealand, free immigration is developed and encouraged. The free emigrant, it will be remembered, does not land upon our shores without a little capital in his pocket to start him in the now life upon which he is about to enter ; nor is ho picked out and tested and examined as to his adaptability to meet the exigencies of the country. Paying his own passage, the country is not only caved the expenses of the voyage but all the preliminary and incidental charges of tbe agency department. Tbe free immigrant belongs to a class altogether different from that from which the Government immigrant is drawn. Character may be taken as assured, whilst the capital he brings into the Colony at least recoups the very email outlay which haa been made to induce him to come. The mere fact that the Colony has now reached that stage when ifc can afford to bring into its service vessels of about 3000 tons, capable of carrying 600 immigrants over a long voyage, must of itself strike the mind of the intending emigrant in the old country as a striking proof of our developed wealth, our rapid progress, and our growing importance as a community. One practical example is worth a dozen theories or asserted statements. Lecturing upon asserted facts and persuasion upon minds already hesitating, will no doubt exercise powerfulinfluencee,but tbe presence of a large and powerful veasel capable of conveying a small colony in one trip will be a potent fact before their eyes extremely difficult to rub out. Steam communication across the Atlantic has been productive of vast results for America. The conveniences afforded, and constantly brought under the eyes of the weary and dissatisfied of a people where the struggle for existence presses hard, operated as a constant temptation to cross the sea. The result was that emigration to

America — more especially from Ireland — assumed quite the character of a rush. It has been estimated that for a considerable period of time as many as 20,000 per week, free emigrants from the British Islands, landed in New York. This was largely — if not entirely — due to the facilities afforded by steam communication. It is to be expected that the establishment of a well organised system of steam communication between this Colony and England will be productive of proportionately great results. Of course the proposal now is simply to bring out Government immigrants in steamships ; no mention is made of the free immigration to be promoted, nor is it necessary that there should be ; it is sufficient to know and feel that, as an almost certain and direct result, free immigration will be largely and cheaply encouraged and developed. At fche close of the last Bession of Parliament the Honourable J. Macandrew submitted three resolutions upon the subject of steam communication with the Mother Country with the evident design of encouraging immigration to these shores, for it was part of his proposals that the contract time between tho port of final departure and the port of arrival was not to exceed a stipulated number of days, and the Government were to guarantee to the ships 800 statute adults by each monthly Bteamer inwards during a period of five years from the commencement of the service. The Minister of Public Works asserted that " the scheme could not fail, and would prove of immense advantage in promoting trade and immigration," and we quite concur in the views he expressed. The power to deal with the subject has, however, been found to be quite within that possessed already by the Government. It is quite as competent for the Ministry to enter into an arrangement with the New Zealand Shipping Company for the employment of steam vessels as for sailing ships in the carrying of immigrants to the Colony. There cannot be a word of objection raised to the comprehensive scheme inaugurated by the Government so long as they have not exceeded the powers given to them by the Legislature, or committed the country to an unduly large expenditure, and we do not think they have. A ll we know at present, however, is the fact that a steam ship, tho Stad Haarlem, 2700 tons regißtei'j is the first vessel which has been chartered by the New Zealand Shipping Company for the conveyance of immigrants to the Colony j and that fome 600 for all ports are expected to be brought in her first voyage. We hope that the employment of this vessel wi)l not be a solitary spasmodic effora not to be followed up to the establishment of a permanent service, but is to be accepted as the initial step in the inauguration of a policy destined to bo fraught with the grandest results — now and in the future — to the people of New Zealand.