The Lytellton Times. Saturday, January 22.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XI, Issue 648, 22 January 1859, Page 4

The Lytellton Times. Saturday, January 22.

It is a mere truism to maintain that as long as the resources of a new country are undeveloped—as long* as millions of- acres remain uncultivated and comparatively unproductive, . —a steady and. constant stream of immigration is required to keep up tne progressive state which is the only healthy one in a young community. But, although the truth of this position when stated cannot be contested, yet practically the delusion is common enough that scarcity of labour is a benefit to the labouring man, although the resources of the country may be wasted thereby. It is »• lesson that we have aIL to learn (and the sooner the better) that, economically 'speaking, what is of advantage to the community is of ; advantage /to the individual; Momentary gains arising from ah "unhealthy state •of public business .will soon he lost in the ; general waste of resources that must follow.

Now that we have a fair prospect of a sufficient immigration to keep"pace with. the. amount of capital introduced into the country, it will be necessary to place the wages of the labouring man upon a more 'satisfactory footing. The rate of wages for unskilled labour cannot, as heretofore, be arbitrarily fixed. without relation to the demand for produce and the price of provisions. - If wages do not rise and fall according to prices^our.position is. not a healthy one: an injustice must, hie done on . one side or the other—to the employers or ■ to the employed. And it is very certain thatan injustice cannot exist without affecting the interests of all alike. When .other considerations besides the price of produce and provisions regulate the rate of wages, there is * something anomalous and .unhealthy in the position that ought to be at once obviated if . possible. Scarcity of labour will raise' the * price of labour to a rate that locks up capital and prevents the development of the ■ country by making expenditure *on wages unprofitable. If wheat, is at a low price and wages are high, of course there. is an end of farming—an end to the increasing value of lani —an end of progress and well-being. If the, source of supply is kept open by immigTajfeidn the rate of wages is left to be determined W legitimate^ influence's. We recaounen4; the subject to'the consideration of the' Farmers' Club. ' «wwwi

. The necessity for a steady arid continuous t supply of labour was brought prominently |, before us ;by a paragraph in the l Otago ;f Colonist/which we republished in our last | issue. It may be remembered that not long i ago it was stated on good authority that the immigration into that province was overdone, and that the labourers imported were objects of pity. It may have been that some mismanagement took place j ships arrived too soon after each other, while sufficient barrack accomImodation was not provided. There is almost necessarily some difficulty in a new country to make labour immediately available. This difficulty must occasionally be met with, but # it does not justify the cessation of immigration j. in a country where capital is coming in and I i waste land is abundant. The paragraph in the i which we have alluded to, comf plains that already there is again a scarcity of >! labour in Otago, owing to the Local Goverar| ment having discontinued immigration. The | moral of the Otago story evidently is that l> the supply of immigration should be regulated j I but not discontinued; and that in a young I and thriving colony you can scarcely over4, stock the labour market with such means as 1| are available for immigration, if the new- ] | comers distribute themselves over the country, where their services are needed. I • In this province the want of labour a year "" I aß >o w^l on *ha labour-market this year. '■*'! Had there been more encouragement torarm- , ing enterprise last year, crops would not f have been so limited now; and the harvest :; would have opened up a large field of labour. II Happily we now have a prospect of sufficient £ immigration. If it is duly kept up, every % year will enlarge the demand and justify an ;', increased supply to make the number of the j| population keep pace with the promised siic- : { cess of this embryo nation.