Wellington Independent SATURDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1871.

Wellington Independent, Volume XXVI, Issue 3361, 2 December 1871, Page 2

Wellington Independent SATURDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1871.

Tn several of (be papers laid before Parliament, during the past session, the following, amongst other remarks, with regard to this colony, frequently occur: Splendid timber forests, purest of himmenous coals, finest of climates, richest of quartz reefs, most valuable of gold fields, vast natural resources, inexhaustible sources of wealth, &c, &c. But what benefit are these to a country bare of population, or to a population without capital, industry, and enterprise ? " National prosperity," says Mr M'Culloch, " docs not depend nearly so much on advantageous situation, salubrity of climate, or fertility of soil, as on the adoption of measures fitted to excite tl& inventive powers of genius, and to give perseverance and activity to industry." If this is the case, there is Out little use in our possession of " a magnificent country" vwthout .wo possess also the knowledge and tho will to turn it to profitable account. "The health and knowledge of the people," says Disraeli, " is not the least precious part of the wealth of nations." Health and knowledge, combined with industry, frugality, aud skill, will make any individual or state prosperous. Industry is the source of wealth. Those who are disposed to under-estimate the effects of legislature on national prosperity have only to compare the slate of England with that of Ireland, and they will at once see that it is not so inefficient an agent as some modern writers would persude us to believe. The poverty of , Ireland is owing to a long course of I vicious legislation and misrule. It has 'as fine a climate, as ferlilo a soil, aad

as many other natural advantages as England, yet how great is the difference in the state of the two coun tries ! To what is this difference osving? We answer, to the effects of legislation. Life and property in Ireland are less secure than they are in England, and capital is consequently less abundant. But those evils are entirely owing to bad laws and tnisgovernment. The Irish in Ireland are less industrious than ihe English in England, but this does not arise from any inherent distinction between the two races, as the difference vanishes when both are transported to the opposite side of the Atlantic. The insecurity of life and property in Ireland, compared with England, is owing exclusively to ignorance and misrule ; aud to this insecurity is owing the absence of industry and the dearth of remunerative employment. Five-sixths of the soil of Ireland became owned by English settlers, while the children of the ancient proprietors vegetated in thraldom on the estates of which their ancestors had been masters. But this, though a great evil, was not the only one to which tho. Irish of former days had to submit. The local industries of Ireland were systematically suppressed, while those of England were systematically fostered by English legislation. If legislation, then, can foster or suppress local industries, it can also not less surely foster or suppress industrious habits. Let this truth be once admitted and the laissez faire system will not have a leg to stand upon. Facilities of communication, cheap means of transport, will stimulate industry where it already exists ; but industries themselves, in a new country, like people and potatoes, require to be planted. In nine cases out ef ten, what is transplanted requires extra attention and care until it has had time to take root, but not afterwards. So should it be with our colonial industries. As W3 have seen, they, as well as habits of industry, frugality, and forethought, can be promoted or suppressed by legislation. One of the first duties of a Colonial Government is the introduction of population, and their settlement on the soil. It is the best means in New Zealand of 'increasing the revenue aud diminishing the expenditure on internal defence. It is also one of the necessary means of promoting new industries. Much has been said about the advantages of introducing a continual and fertilizing stream of immigrant labor. But a stream, to be fertilizing, must not only flow, but have channels through which to run, or otherwise, instead of a fertilizing stream, it may be converted into a stagnant bog or dismal swamp, which would prove anything but bene ficial, The opening up of the country by means of bridges, roads, and railways, will furnish such channels if the land is, at the same time, thrown open for settlement. It id, as we have said, one of the means of promoting new industries. But there are severa\ other ways of accomplishing this object. The riches and extent of our coal seams, iron sand, flax fields, quartz reefs, and fisheries, only require to be widely known to attract capital and labor for their development. Our agriculture requires wise laws for its management. Woolleu and other manufactures can be best promoted, for a time, by protective duties. Paper and beet sugar require bonuses for their establishment, and we have not the slightest doubt that the small increase of duty imposed on soap will be the means of securing eventually a large export trade in that article. The nonsense talked about free trade and protection is sickening. Mill, the greatest of political ecenomists, avows that it is the duty of the State to be at the cost of acclimatizing foreign industries; and M'Culloch, the greatest of free traders, admits, as we have seen, that measures that will give perseverance and activity to industry are more important in promoting national prosperity than the greatest of natural advantages.