THE The Drey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. MONDAY, JANUARY 8, 1872.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1075, 8 January 1872, Page 2

THE The Drey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. MONDAY, JANUARY 8, 1872.

The Hon. William Reeves, Minister for the Middle Island, has delivered an address to the farmers and gentlemen composing the Ellesmovu Agricultural and Pastoral Association at Leeston, and in this respect he has only followed the example of one of the greatest of English politicians, the Hon. Benjamin Disraeli, for it is either at the meeting of the Bucks Agricultural Association at Aylesbury or the Farmer's Club at Hughenden, that the great Conservative leader foreshadows his policy, aud so it is at a bucolic meeting at Leeston that the Minister of Public Works and Immigration for the Middle Island has ventilated the Government course of action. Mr Reeves was careful to inform his audience that they must not expect a Ministerial statement, nor must his words be taken in that light, and then without more ado he plunged into his subject ; nevertheless, j however Mr Reeves may think that he qualified his statement, .still the fact remains that he is the Minister whoso business it is to deal with the subject of Public Works and Immigration so far as the Mjddle Island is concerned, and his remarks must be taken to assume something more than that he might have wished to imply. After explaining the circumstances of his appointment, he proceeds to deal with what will yet prove a white elephant to the Government and the Colony — the question of immigration —•and while he did so he made several remarkable statements. Immigration is the great desideratum; and with such an audience the subject told. Arrangements had been made with Colonel Fielding for purchasing a portion— -100,000 acres — of the Manawatu block, and that gentleman was about to return to England in order to send out 5000 immigrants, and should he do so the Colony must be prepared to support them till they are in a position to support themselves, and Mr Reeves' own words are: — "These people, from the very nature of tho conntry, will not be able to raise their own grain sufficient for food for some years, and the result will be that they will come to be fed by the gentlemen farmers of this island." This ( :» rafchar—naradoxical, ftpjL lit i either means that " tho gentlemen ! farmers of this island" must maintain them while they are making a home, j as the class who will be sent out are of the poorer kind, and cannot be expected to maintain themselves, or else it means that a market will be created for the grain; but then, as the immigrants will possess but little of the "circulating medium," Mr Rseves does not inform " the gentlemen farmers" how. they are to be recouped for the grain they will have to supply. The Agent- General is also to send out 8000 immigrants during 1872, and the question arises, " Where are they to be employed?" Granted that it may have the effect of stocking the labor market and reducing the price of labor, but even so they must displace the labor at present employed, and what is to become of the diaplac -d. He tells us that the AgentGeneral finds a difficulty in obtaining labor in England, and that he has directed his attention to Norway, Sweden, and Germany— tho inevitable Scandinavian— and here Dr Featherstono is happy. Not content with flooding the country with thousands of immigrants from the Home country, but it is to be overrun with Scandinavians. There is no doubt but that th 9 Ministry see the difficulty, but they must go on, and so the money will be frittered away. Mr Reeves has uounded the key-note — he has hinted rather peculiarly at tht» coming evil which he will have to grapple with, but would it not be better to pause ere the country is overrun with a paupered starving population. Mr Reeves remarks on the Railway system will be found elsewhere, upon which we will comment another time.