The Manawatu Standard (PUBLISHED DAILY.) The Oldest Daily Newspaper on the West Coast. MONDAY, SEPT. 21, 1885. POPULATION FOR NEW ZEALAND.

Manawatu Standard, Volume X, Issue 1460, 21 September 1885, Page 2

Manawatu Standard ( PUBLISH ED DAILY.) The Oldest Daily Newspaper on the West Coast. MONDAY, SEPT. 21, 1885. POPULATION FOR NEW ZEALAND.

In our Friday's .issue we had an article pointing out that the great .desideratum m this Colony is, " People for the land." We notice that the Wellington Post, m its issue of the same date, had an article on the same subject, and following much the same line of argument. Speaking of the Highland crofters, whom it was sought to introduce into the Colony by the aid of a special vote from Parliament, our Wellington contemporary remarks : — **'The crofters would be no better off here than they are at home if they were thrust down without capital or means on ten-acre allotments m the Waikawa district. They would be utterly unable to eke out an existence there, and would become a burden to the colony. The colony is better without them. On the other hand, there is no doubt that one of the crying wants of the colony is population. There is room here for thousands and tens of thousands if only they are of the right sort. The system of nominated immigration has proved an immense success. It has introduced large numbers of most valuable settlers. When people are induced to emigrate by friends or relatives already m the colony, it is pretty sate to conclude that they will prove the right sort of immigrants, and that there is an opening for them. If 'there was not, their friends and relatives would not be anxious to bring them out. It is not nominated immigrants who complain of the difficulty of finding employment or go ;to swell the ranks of the unemployed. "'On the contrary they almost in"variably get quickly absorbed m the population and become proL ducers and taxpayers. If we could double our population let it be remembered that we should reduce the pressure of taxation by one-half. Every immigrant who settles m the. colony and manages to make a liv- ' ing, helps all who are here to meet the expenses of government. The monetary value to the colony of! each suitable immigrant is very great, and there can be no more profitable expenditure than that which assists and encourages the immigration of a suitable class of settlers. In addition to nominated immigrants we want small farmers .with moderate capital, men who will be employers instead of seekers for employment. *. * * We should like to see some scores of them coming by every direct steamer, and it wopld be well worth the while of the colony to offer practical men, posses-sing capitals of say from £500 to o^oOOO, passages by these steamers at the same rate as they can obtain passages to Manitoba, the colony, of course, paying the difference. The money would be well invested. Delay m a matter of this kind means loss. Every shipload of suitable settlers who leave the United Kingdom for America are so many lost to New Zealand. 1 ' The Minister for Immigration. Mr Ballance, m his speech when the immigration vote was under consideration, observed that the great want of the colony was want of population, and if they were to carry out public works it would be necessary to have a constant flow of •the right class of immigrants — not nrt : zans, but labourers and single women suitable for domestic service. Steps should be taken to introduce ihe class of people we were most m want of. There was another class the Government might assist to come to the colony, that was the small capitalists — small firmer? with capi- ' tal ; and where such persons showed , they had $ capital of from JPSOO to

.£IOOO the Government should pay half the passage money. If these two systems were carried on hand m hand they would not run the risk of injuring the working classes. The whole vote for immigration as amended was (L 20,373,) which expenditure should be instrumental m introducing a very large number of desirable settlers into New Zealand The class of settlers we require is not those who are unable to make a living m their native land, but those who desire to improve their position m life, but who are prevented ' through one adverse influence and another from doing so. We want j men imbued with energy and the j spirit of enterprise, and possessed of perseverance and industry, and not lacking the necessary means to give them a start m the new land m which they intend to settle. These are the men who will succeed m New Zealand, and for such we say, without fear of contradiction, that no more encouraging prospects can be found anywhere than m this Colony.