The Evening Star WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 1873

Evening Star, Issue 3354, 19 November 1873, Page 2

The Evening Star WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 1873

Du Begg’s interesting address last evening, in which he gave the result of his observations on the social, material, and political condition of the Province, should prove valuable to us, as expressing the opinion of one well able to judge correctly, through his long experience and the active part he lias taken in questions bearing immediately upon it. We fully coincide with the principles he laid down, although not with all the methods by which he recommends that they should be carried out. We do not propose to discuss those details ; they are not now under consideration. We have no doubt that many in this Colony would be much surprised at the account he gave of the social position of the working classes in Scotland, of the privations they have had to endure, and the little consideration with which they were treated bv those who own the soil. Dr Begg, and many noble men with whom he worked, did much to ameliorate their condition, and thus, being through his efforts brought into immediate contact with the social phases he described, lie is well able to speak with authority on the subject, as well to recommend the remedy. We feel some doubt whether their efforts would have succeeded so well to this day, had they not been materially assisted by emigration. The true value of a thing is never appreciated until it is lost; and before the means of leaving Great Britain were so multiplied and cheapened as to render an escape from a degraded social condition possible, landlords in England, Scotland, and Ireland esteemed population a burden, and strove to get rid of it through narrowing the means of settling people in the conn try — either by refusing to allow an increased number of cottages to be put up on their estates, or, as was done in many instances, by actually pulling down some of those already built. Mattel’s have changed since then. Those who were treated with less consideration than beasts of burden, left their shortsighted employers ; and now they, like us in Otago, aie seeking for help to cultivate their fields, and are compelled to accept the services of men who emigrate from the town to the country. They may bo “ difficult to catch, and good for nothing when caught, but the

necessity for employing them is the inevitable punishment that has followed upon breaking a social law. The earth was made for man, but employers strove to prevent others enjoying it lest they themselves should 'suffer curtailment of their pleasure on it ; they made the land a desert by driving laborers away, and are compelled in consequence to bear that very extra cost which they strove to avoid. Unluckily the line stalwart class who used to “ drive their team atield ” have gone in every direction rather than come here. We have not succeeded in making our name favorably known. We are informed by Dr Begg that this, to a great extent, has arisen through wrong impressions ; that the cannibal Maori is a bogie, whose white canine teeth waiting for human flesh present more terrors than the beauty of our scenery and the reputation of our wealth have attractions. No doubt exciting stories of wav and the horrors of carrying salted heads remain in the imagination long after the incidents on which they are based are forgotten, even in the locality in which they occurred. Those things of the past, like the stage negro rattling his chains, or guilty of mountebank absurdities in dress and demeanor, are long associated conventionally with the names of countries or races. It is a difficulty our immigration agents have to contend with, one of the obstacles that we make no allowance for in estimating the value of their efforts. They arc colonists generally ; they stand well in our estimation, but we forget that they have a name to make at Home, We know what they say is true ; hut at Home they say “This man is paid for his labor, it is his interest to make out a good story and many go away from his lectures doubting. They remember the Maori, with his white masticators, and fancy he has been kept out of sight, lest they should be frightened. We fancy that for most of this bogieism certain sections of the Press of New Zealand have much to answer. They have sacrificed Until to party feeling, magnified danger, cast slighting reflections upon onr immigration agents, and represented the Colony as rushing into bankruptcy. We will undertake to find in a week’s tile of North American journals the record of a larger number of cool, savage murders for trivial causes, of more brutal crimes, and of more atrocious swindles, than have occurred in New Zealand for twenty-five years; yet emigrants rush to America, where theii chances of success are far less probable than if they came hither. Our immigration agents could tell how their efforts were thwarted on man}' occasions by the mistakes, and, what is worse, misrepresentations of one of our contemporaries. We look upon it, therefore, that the best effects must follow the visit of the Rev. Dr Begg. His name is known, his Home reputation is established, and his philanthropy proverbial. "When he tells of a climate where on the low lands snow will hardly lie: where living is cheap, want almost unknown, labor highly paid, education universal, and class distinction scarcely recognised, the story may sound strange, but it will be acknowledged to be true. We in the Colonies have been so long accustomed to enjoy these blessings that they almost pass unnoticed j but those who never knew them, will be glad to learn that they may bo had ; and we, therefore, trust that Dr Begg’s visit will help to turn the tide of immigration in this direction.