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The Evening Star MONDAY, AUGUST 28, 1871.

We hardly know a more difficult subject to deal with than Immigration : but it is one that must be grappled with. The difficulties lie mainly in the jealousies and mistakes of the existing population. There can bo no doubt that in advocating it, many employers of labor are actuated by motives of self-interest. They have invested money in particular undertakings, anti cannot carry them on through scarcity of labor. They wish immigration to supply them with workmen, and this is necessary if manufactures arc to be carried on to a profit. The farmers also look to immigration as a means to enabling them to carry on agricultural operations, and the Government scheme of railway and public works construction is based upon a principle laid down as follows :

An indispensable feature of the Colonial policy of last session is the concurrent progress of immigration and of public works (such as roads and,railways), in due relation of each to the other, so that while on the one hand the construction of tho:e works supplies a market for labor, and their creation encourages industrial enterprise, so, on the other hand, the increase of population facilitates the construction of those works, and utilises them to the greatest extent when constructed. By the term “ immigration ”I do not mean the mere introduction of immigrants, but their permanent settlement on the soil. Public works without immigration in that sense would, I fear, he a failure and waste of public funds.

In all probability the fanners and manufacturers, if they expect to obtain labor at lower rates of wages than hitherto, will find themselves deceived on that point ; and as the men who live by labor oppose assisted immigration on that ground, they will find their fears will not be realised. The papers laid before Parliament show how difficult it is to carry on manufacturing works under present circumstances. When the Celccno arrived in Wellington with the Swedish and Norwegian immigrants, two flax-dressing companies applied to the Superintendent of Taranaki to place them at Opimake. They stated that they had laid out upwards of £BOOO upon these works, and their chief obstacle to success was the labor difficulty. It might have been supposed that in the North Island native labor might have been obtained at a reasonable rate \ but the following extract from their statement shews that, like all savages, continuous work forms no part of the Maori idea of duty:— About sixty men and boys are at present employed by the two companies at their flax works, and an extension of the works at both mills will take place if the supply of labour can he more dependsd upon than is at present the case. Natives have been and arc now employed in some of the mill operations, but every day’s experience confirms the impression that European labour must mainly be employed to render the enterprise successful, as no dependence can he placed upon tire Natives; for a feast, a tangi, or any other trifling cause, they will leave their work without any notice, and thus suspend the entire operations at the mills. Under circumstances, the supply of European labor is very precarious and unsatisfactory, as there is no settled population in the neighborhood, owing in a great measure to the fact that all land, with the exception of that occupied by the two companies, belongs to the Government, and therefore families cannot locate themselves there.

Hearing that immigrants have arrived at Wellington under the auspices of the General Government, the Flax companies believe that some of them might be advantageously located at Opunake; and as there is some suburban land around the township, they would suggest, for the consideration of the Government, the advisability of locating, say, twenty families there, granting them five acres of land each, under certain conditions as to occupation.

The terms were not accepted. The immigrants refused to be separated, and they are now comfortably settled at Palmerston, m Wellington. Mr A. F. Halcombe, Provincial Treasurer of Wellington, gives a full account of the settlement in a report to the Minister of Public Works, under date July 5, the following extract from which will interest our readers :—■

In previous letters 1 have put the Government in possession of the details connected with the location of the Scandinavian immigrants at Palmerston, Mauawatu. I now venture to submit the following general remarks, as the result of my observation in this experimental immigration. I do so with the greater confidence, because, since the placing of the last batch of these immigrants, I have twice visited their settlements, and had ample opportunities of watching and judging of their capabilities and progress. It would perhaps be hardly fair, judging

from these two shipments alone, to pronounce decidedly as to the respective merits of the three Scandinavian nationalities, and the peculiar q 'alilications of each for settlement in this country, because, as I have in a former letter remarked, greater care and judgment was exercised in the selection of the Norwegian party than was shown in the case of the others. In forming my opinion, therefore, I have had regard, not so much to the particular individuals with whom I have had to deal, as to the general habits and characteristics of each division, as gathered from conversation with the late comer.?, and from experience of a former but smaller Danish immigration to Manawatu under the auspices of Bishop Monrad. I think the experiment as a whole may fairly bo considered a great success. But I hare no hesitation in classing the Norwegians in the fir.t rank as likely to be useful and successful settlers in a country where bush prevails, or indeed in any other, since their experience in their own conn ry has been that of diligent farming on the open during the summer, the roughest of bush work in the short winter days, and the pursa t of domestic industries and trades during the long winter evenings. Accustomed hith rto to hard work, hard fare, and severe climate, they took upon New Zealand, with its absence of winter, its high wages, fertile lands, and good food, as a perfect paradise by contrast with their native land. The Norwegians would in fact compare favorably with Canadians, and will, I think, prove most valuable as pioneers ; while tbeirb;>V>its of thrift and of domestic manufactures add largely to their self-reliance, ami su) ply in part a deficiency which is recognised as existing in the majority of imra grants from Great Britain. In the next rank to the Norwegians I would place the Swedes, as sharing largely in their peculiar characteristics ; whi’e the Danes do not appear tome to poss-ss any special qualifications or aptitude for a Colonial life.

Notwithstanding the unfavorable season, the Scandinavian immigrants generally have already made great progress, not only as far as their own work is concerned, but also in the estimation of those with whom they have been brought in contact. On their first arrival there was a great popular prejudice, almost amounting to indignation, against them ; but this feeling has been changed, by the example of their steady persevering industry, into one of entire approbation of their introduction into the country ; and I believe that the importation of a few hundred more into the same neighborhood would be viewed with entire satisfaction. They have already commenced to clear their lands, ami have built themselves neat and comfortable wooden houses. They have besides been almost constantly employed on Government work when the weather permitted, that work being chiefly the splitting and squaring of sleepers for tramways. Several have also been employed by private personsat varioustimos,and all have given satisfaction to their several employers ; while the Norwegians especially have been found able to compete successfully with older settlers in the use of axe and saw.

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ESD18710828.2.7

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Evening Star, Volume IX, Issue 2661, 28 August 1871, Page 2

Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,309

The Evening Star MONDAY, AUGUST 28, 1871. Evening Star, Volume IX, Issue 2661, 28 August 1871, Page 2

The Evening Star MONDAY, AUGUST 28, 1871. Evening Star, Volume IX, Issue 2661, 28 August 1871, Page 2

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