MR FORSTER, M.P., ON COLONISATION.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 1843, 19 January 1880, Page 3

MR FORSTER, M.P., ON COLONISATION.

Mr W. E. Forater, M.P., presided at the November meeting of the Boyal Colonial Institute, and in the course of his speech said he believed that extended colonization had been a necessity, was a necessity, and would continue to be a necessity as long as we had our energetic race here, not degenerating, and increasing in population, with their wonderful faculty for colonizing, for bringing all the blessings of constitutional government into uncultivated lands, and for teaching other less cultured races the blessings of civilization. [Cheers ] That had been the way in which our colonization had hitherto gone on, and in which he believed it would still go on. Admitting the actual necessity of colonization, we must bring ourselves back to the practical steps to be taken. He quite admitted that trade followed the flag. He was glad to see that emigrants went out in spite of the protective systems unfortunately established in Victoria and in Canada. Indeed, our trade even with those colonies was much greater than with almost any foreign country. On the whole, his impression was that we oould not do much better than take away every possible obstacle to emigration, give all necessary information, and then trust to the colonizing feeling of the British public, and the quicker means of inter-communica-tion. He would trust to voluntary emigration in the future as we had done in the past. [Hear, hear.] Some three or four years ago he visited Canada, and he came away with the impression that there was a very great demand there for agricultural laborers, and not much demand for anybody else. He found then and he had heard since, that our clerks and skilled laborers, especially intellectual laborers, stood a chanca of being most miserably off when they got there. He trusted the time might come when we should have universal free trade with all the colonies, but they were aware that a young country must get its revenue in some way or other, and there might be supposed to be fiscal grounds for obtaining part of their revenue from a tax on imports and luxuries. It was impossible, however, to overrate the disadvantageous effect which protective duties had in making it more difficult to weld together the bond which ought to connect the colonies with England. At the present time he believed the colonies could do more than we could do to encourage emigration. There was no doubt that the United States had had a great advantage over both Australia and Canada for a time in consequence of the Homestead Laws, and our colonies might very well follow that example. [Heir, hear.] Sentiment had a great deal to do with the connection between the colonies and the mother country, and he could not help thinking that this would be a powerful stimulus to increased emigration, with some of tre best men that could go out to the colonies.