The Evening Star SATURDAY, MAY 14, 1870.

Evening Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2190, 14 May 1870, Page 2

The Evening Star SATURDAY, MAY 14, 1870.

The question of Immigration came up in the Council last evening on the very trifling vote of £12,000 proposed to be expended for that purpose daring the year. It cannot be said tlnit tlio question was intelligently treated. The vote was opposed on various grounds ; some ot them philanthropic, some theoretical, and some that were put forward for political purposes. No doubt the petition of the unemployed influenced the kindly feelings of those who commisserated the position of men willing to work, but for whom there is no immediate employment to be had. Dunedin presents a striking contrast to its condition a few months back, The numerous buildings that were then in course of construction are nearly finished, and the circumstances of the times preclude tlio likelihood of any extensive buildings being undertaken for some time to come. But we are not, therefore, to conclude that employment is going to cease. The construction of the Port Chalmers lino of Railway will afford work for numbers more than are at present seeking work, and apart from that, there is plenty to do at good wages on the diggings. But this brings us in view of a difficulty that no Government has thoroughly faced—a. difficulty that has existed in every colony where the chief seats of labor be so widely distant from each other as in Otago. When work becomes scarce in Dunedin, and a man sees that he can obtain a certain rate of wages on the goldfields, be naturally wishes to migrate thither; but doing so necessitates leaving his family unprovided for or taking them up the country at enormous expense, on the mere chance of obtaining employment at the place to which he directs his steps. Even going on speculation by himself involves a serious outlay. His o itflt—for a man must prepare for the life he expects to lead—costs half a week s wages ; his journey up the country involves the outlay of a week’s wages, and even should he succeed in meeting with immediate employment, another week is actually sacrificed in time. But since it might chance that he took a wrong direction, and that the labor market was stocked, so that he had to travel further, smother week or more, with all its attendant fatigues and expenses, would be gone before he could earn one sixpence. Here then would be a loss of a month in a man’s annual earnings one twelfth of his productive energy wasted ■ one month’s loss to his family—one month’s labor lost to the country. The quoted price of productive labor on the goldfields, is three pounds to three pound ten shillings per week. Now it may be fairly put as a question of political economy, what a capitalist expects to realise from employing labor at that rate. It must be remembered that gold digging profits, to induce investment, must range much higher than the ordinary profits of trade and manufactures. There is so much work ; so much uncertainty in the result, that the chance of large profits iu the event of success, is the only inducement to enter into gold mining. The profit on a man s labor may be fairly estimated at the amount paid to him, so that for an outlay of three pounds or three pound ten shillings, a return of six or seven pounds at the least may be fairly calculated upon. If we estimate the number of unemployed in Dunedin at an average of three hundred for one month in the year—and avc imagine that to be under the mark—the Joss to the community is about two thirds what is proposed to be spent in immigration for the year. Now here appears to be the anomaly. Every gOA'crnment sees the necessity for immigration. In eA r ery respect it would be an advantage if corresponding arrangements Avere made for safely and certainly providing employment for those avlio come. We are not about to advocate any doctrine like that of Foubiee or Owen, We do pot believe

in the Government being employers of labor ; for what would be gained by the laborer would be wasted in log-rolling and officialdom. But why should arrangements be made for importing labor, and none fcr providing means for economising it when here ? Wo are to spend twelve thousand pounds in bringing men from Groat Britain, and 'when they arrive wo leave them without means of transport into the interior, and without information as to where their services aie required. There are two essentials to utilising - our present labor to the utmost—the moans of knowing where to go and the means of getting theie cheaply. The latter can only be obtained in perfection by the construction of railways, and we trust these will be formed as rapidly as it is possible for the Province to proceed with them. There might be other modes organised by a go-ahead people or Government; but, in their absence, the next best thing is to form a leliable mode of communication between those who want workmen and those who want work. It is a very singular thing that in an age like this, when the value of time is estimated to a fractional part of a shilling in monetary matters, it is practically neglected in national economics. We do not imagine that the whole amount of loss could be prevented by any plan, however perfect. But the salary of a competent man whose work it would be to arrange between employers and seekers for work, would be well expended, It is cruel to immigrants to leave them without such means of finding work, and it is a loss to those that are here. Such an appointment might bo the means of doing much good and preventing much evil. The difficulty is to secure the services of a competent man. and to make his income, at least in part, depend upon the work he docs.