The Evening Star FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1875.

Evening Star, Issue 3736, 12 February 1875, Page 2

The Evening Star FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1875.

The proceedings at the annual meeting of the subscribers to the Benevolent Institution ai’e worthy of more than a passing notice, as they point to some phases of social life that require attention. The first fact that must strike the reader of the report is that, concurrently with the growing prosperity of the City, there is an increase of pauperism. We have no opportunity of comparing the statistics of the past with those of former years, so that whether the proportion of dependent poor to the population is greater or smaller we cannot say. Most probably it is smaller, although not to the

extent that might fairly have been expected. That it is so large, when labor is so scarce in the market and wages are ruling so high, is partly owing to causes that should be considered preventible. The fact is that, through the carelessness or defective arrangements of the Emigration Department at Home, the Colony has been giving free passages to a class of persons who are described as “ trained paupers, ” and “ others physically unfit for labor.” In other words, we in New Zealand have been saddled with burdens that parishes in Great Britain have been glad to remove from their own shoulders. That here and there an incorrigible idler should contrive to impose upon an Emigration agent is conceivable. The idler is usually a moral pest—the very impersonation of selfishness and low cunning. He coyer® the meanness of dependence by some subterfuge tending to impose upon an indolent, well-meaning class, who pity the fellow and think to do him a service by recommending him as a fit subject for emigration to a Colony. In other cases masters of workhouses and Boards of Guardians think it a very good opportunity of getting rid of an idler when they can goad him to consent to emigrate.' Being a sort of Corporation, true to Sydney Suite’s definition, without a soul to be saved ; or a body to be kicked, they do not hesitate to practise a swindle upon a Colony. In emi-* gration, as in many kinds of trades, it is the fashion at Home to imagine anything will do for the Colonies or dependencies. One might imagine that, on examining the map, on seeing New Zealand marked upon it, they also saw, in large letters, “ Rubbish shot here.” No doubt rubbish finds its way, apart from emigration agency, b,ut it is disgraceful to a department en-; trusted with exporting a genuine article, that it should allow so much counterfeit stuff to be paid for. The nature of the relationship between the immigrant and the Colony is, however, forced upon attention through the undue proportion of idlers who have imposed upon or been upon the Agency. When the Colony paysj the passage of an immigrant, what; is the nature of the compact entered into? It cannot be supposed that the pleasure of seeing a loafer hanging ,nbout the streets and living upon the charity of others was the object of importing the man. Unfortunately loafers are too .conupon to be even objects of curiosity. The state of the case is, the emigrant has labor to\ sell, and the Colony is willing to give a certain price for it; so that when an emigrant sets his foot on board of ship at tho v cost of the Colony, he has entered into a yb't ua i agreement to keep himself by his oy/.n labor; the colonists knowing that the result of labor is for the good of all. If, how-. ever, he refuses to work, he has been guilty of breach of compact, and is tiouftd to repay that money, which if if he does not do so he has swindled the Colony out ,qf. He has actually come amongst us junder false pretences. Instead, therefore, of becoming a tax upon the benevolent, he ihould be classed among those who have noli visible means of suppprt, and attached; to a compulsory labor gang. We aro ; not sure that it would not be wise tokeep a debtor and creditor account of his earnings and his keep, and as soon as the balance in favoy of work amounted to the price of his passage, let him be sent back with the intima-

tion that New Zealand is not the place for refuse. Men and women, sound in mind, morals, and body, are what we want—not skulkers and loafers, willing to live at anybody’s expense who is tender-hearted enough to keep them. While it is true that none can be allowed to starve amongst us, it is equally true that they are bound to give a quid pro quo if they are able. There are several other points in the report that require notice, to which we shad advert.