EMIGRATION.

Auckland Times, Volume 3, Issue 131, 12 July 1845, Page 1

EMIGRATION.

The interests of Great Britain, and these of her colonies, alike require that Emigration, in a large and very touch extended degree, should become fe national measure—but we cannot

think it less than perfectly astounding, J in the present day, to see how little the j practical principles of this part of po- j iitical economy are understood by our j philosophers and legislators—especially i at the seat of the British Government.-*-Wild, and delusive theories abound, i but sterling and useful operation V ’ indeed sadly deficient, as the result home speculations!—We Nve so : J:! A G aO* oOi C J iosophy burst in devastation upon , Australia ; and now in our own case, | what less than ruin and despair is upon the land. Our early settlers, had, by moral influence, preserved the superiority of the civilized man, till the British Government interfered with hteir avaricious and disgraceful—and at the same time, weak and cowardly measures !-The land sales here as in New South Wales, totally broke down, by reason of putting on the screw with intolerable pressure. While the rulers in the land fostered animosities which never before existed, by lowering the character of the white man, and exciting the peculiar frailties of the Maorie race, namely—avarice—and overbearing self esteem ; but it is j worse than this—the protectoral ab- j

surdities on the one hand, and the Wakefield delusion on the other, has so excited the cupidity, and aroused the physical energies of the Mlories, that either a persevering and exterminating war must ensue, or the colony must jj he abandoned. We quote below some |j extracts from Mr, Lai tig’s (St. John’s -| Coll. Cam.) prize essay upon tins sub- j ject—that part of it which treats of > i ISiuu— Wiipe ju aei ll <>~,v••oO'g'Vi^ the miserable results of Lord Stanley’s bill, and justly sets down Mr. Wakefields theory, as little better than rank gambling; it totally overlooks those results of quiet, gradual, personal, unassisted enterprises which were stealing into the bosom of the land—to the mutual advantage of both races —, when the monster government we are saddled with, came and destroyed all; riding rough-shod at every step, over vested rights and established results ef prudent and patient industry !

Our readers will observe the selfish, grinding, parsimonious spirit which pervades the sentiments of the writer the essay is called “ An Enquiry into the Causes and Remedies of the Distress °f the Country lt might be more truly designated—An Enquiry how easiest to get rid of the results of the profligate Expenditure of England—without putting the authors and upholders of all the mischief to personal inconvenience.—When we have space, we shall return to this subject.

>vnen we consider the question of Emigration in a general point of view, it must be evident that it is, of all oihers, the most important, and most ioliniaiely connected with the destinies of the English nation. i'iis: appointed in i.siosj 61 it.,. nation evidently is to people the boundless regions of America and Australia with a race of men professing the purest religion, inheriting the richest literature ami proudest history, and endowed by nature with the largest share of personal energy, perseverance, moral courage, seihcoinmand, habits of order and industry, and in a word, possessing the highest degree of aptitude for prstes ticai civilization, of any race which the world has yet seen. Al.-eady the flood of Anglo-Saxon population sweeps westwaid across the continent of America, litre a great tide, swallowing up the solitary prairies, and conquering ev. ry year from the Indian and the buffalo, a wide belt of six or seven miles along tire line from the Rio Graude to Lake Huron. Already the outposts of the Australian continent are securely occupied, and the seeds of future empires planted in New Zealand, Van Dieman’s Gaud, and whetevera favourable situation presents itself to British enterprise, I he uneasiuess ami distress at home, the pressure of population on employment, the wonderful discoveries in science, and eveu the mechanical tea* dency, money-making spun, and restless disconteuui* the age, aie s to use eye of a philosophical

observer, so many incentives and aids in the accomplishment of the two great missions or the English race—first, that of filling new worlds with a civilized and Christian population ? —ses condly, that of bringing the religion and civilization of Europe in contact with the stationary forms of society aud religion which have existed for so many centuries in the ancient East, Nor cau it be well doubted that it is in a wise cooperation with these great designs of Providence, that We are most likely to find a solution of our • social difficulties, and relief from the evils which «,»«.* 15 s. When we desce d, however, from ‘“l." the subject of emigration »*. Linen hies, and it mast be at once admitted, that no feasible scheme has yet been suggested by experienced practical men, for conducting emigt'a (ion on the extensive and systematic scale winch i would be required, in order to make a sensible impression on the mass of distress at home. New Zealand has, during the last two years, succeeded to South Australia as the scene of what may be called colonial gambling, and the strain of emigration has been diverted Iron! Adelaide to Auckland and Port Nicholson; still, however, the whole number who went from this country in the year Jb4l, did not amount to 4000 persons, When we consider that New Zealand has no t xteosive pastures, and no valuable staple product affotding . an inducement to the capitalist to settle there, after the fever of speculation has subsided, it a,oncer* certain that this amount of emigration "Ail not be exceeded for several years to come, and more than probable, that it will not be maio- • a?: "d. On the whole, therefore, if we set down the annual amount of emigration to the Australian colonies, including New Zealand, at a third ot that to America, or at about 20,000 persons, we shall , make a liberal allowance for all that is likely j to take place for the present, under the exisiing j

system. It has been said, however, that tbs discovery of what has been somewhat pompously announced as ft new principle in the theaty of colonization, ts likely to lead to results far beyond anything that has been hitherto witnessed This principle, which was first propounded by Mr. Wakefield, jj consists in the atiempt to unite the interests, and i: proportion the supply of capital and labour, in a jj new colony, by affixing an artificial price to land. 1 I he chi:-f obstacle to the introduction of capital j into a new settlement consists, it is said, in ;he | limited supply, and the exorbitant pried, ot J-Tf J’hi?- Agß'n._.arist:s from two causes ; j *r«», Ut« want of means on the part oT't-iie'aip'ioj; u labnmers at borne to transport themselves to a Joe oil colony t secondly, the abundance ot uu;<>(.copied land, by which the labourers who arrive *>r< w-mpted to exchange their condition for that of miiependent proprietors. The remedy proposed for bom these evils is, to fix a comparatively high price for land, and to apply the proceeds in importing labour. By this means, it is strenuously maintained, all the evils attendant on early colonization will be avoided; a comp! te society, including within itself capita), intelligence, and ail the elements for profitable production, will be at once transported to the wilderness, instead ot growing np slowly and painfully ; emigration will go hand in hand with the natural influx of eapital towards a new and profitable field of in. vestment; and the importation of labour will be carried on as a mercantile speculation to an unlimited extent.

These are certainly brilliant results to be at tained by the simple process of monopolizing land, mr, in the last analysis the discovery amounts to nothing more. 'I be practical result of the experiment in South Australia nukes it superfluous to pursue the subject further, and to enter upon the details into which the main theory has been expanded with an affectation of mathematical precision. St is no doubt true that the unoccupied land of a colony coasti utes a fund which ought to be applied conscientiously for the beuelit of the colony, and not jobbed away in lavish gr> nts, or wasted in useless expenditure. It is also true that one of the most beneficial purposes for the general interests of the colony to winch the funds realized from laud sales can be applied, is the importation ot emigrants, end that under particular circumstances this object may become of paramount importance. To this extent we cordially subsetibe to the doctrines of the Wakefield scitool, •*.©sl ?4 l 'M)!jgb they have so claim lo be et*i"d'Kreu .:> ■ discoveries, we admit that great good has been done by the discussion which has forced tueui on the notice of the public aud ot the Government. But the idea of a theorist at home fixing the precise proportions between capital, labour, aud land in South Australia, and determining, by a sort of mathematical calculation, the best possible price at which a given lot of land shall fie sold in New ifeaiand, is simply an instance of the selfstifhcieut pedantry oi political economy, and H is ridiculous to talk of it as founding a new era in colonization. Indeed, the fundamental assumption that she presetvatioa of a strongly marked hue of distinction between the ciasa of capitalist and labourer is essentia! to the prosperity of a colony, is only true very partially, in an agricultural colony nothing is more desirable than that winch it is the especial object ef the Wakefield system to prevent—the fonßation of a body of small independent cultivators, it is only where a col. ny is fitted by nature for the production 0! some valuable staple product, Mich as the wool of Australia, which affords ample scope for the

profitable investment ot capital on a tai gear ale, that the system hag a obtuice of success, AU-

uiittiue, winch is the utmost that cau tee said, that the indirect method of raising the price of lend i» an improvement on the direct method formerly practised, of leaving each individual capitalist to import labourers for himself under engagements to work for him for a stipulated time, it can scarcely be maintained that the difference between the two* methods, which a.e the same in principle, is so great as to lead us to expect results, on a totally different scale from anything that has been hitherto witnessed. Evert si the amount of emigration under the system of private enterprise was..yastlv greater, if. S’Ati.ld *> be. of very limited as * means of - *.v~ '• phv)Oi’*f reason, (hat the class of emigrants win ai-.. taken principally from the very part of She borne population whom it would be desiral le to retain., fha demand in the colonies is for men of more tbas average intelligence, energy, aud good conduct! and parish paupers a.e as much a dreg ia Aus** traiia, as in Kent or Sussex, . m