ASSISTED IMMIGRATION.

Manawatu Times, Volume V, Issue 162, 21 September 1881, Page 2

ASSISTED IMMIGRATION.

SewraT;, times' during the present pppsion of Parliament, Ministers have, as it were " sounded" the House dii'^the yeßU'mptian of assisted immigration. In peruting Major Atkinson's Financial statement, it may be seen that the leaning- of Muuatew

was clearly incliearecl to be m favor of assisted Immigration; it was argued that to increase tho population, was the only method of materially lightening the burden of taxation. The argument, no doubt, coniainsa great: truth, and at the same time a great fallacy, for if the burden oF taxation is to bo lightened to any exißnt.il nri:<l h?siiMivid.-*d ;but it is a fallacy m think that a mere multiplication of heads must result m Ihe requited subd-'vifion ; every head must bear its due proportion of the bur.len. Bat, m order tha- this may be tre case, every head must be employed, or instead of an aid to tho Colony, he becomrs a load on tne State.' It is dear, therefore, that sufficient capital to give employment must co-exiat with the number of men to be employed, or disaster, and no good would be the result. If population were the only requisite to the prosperity of a Colony, "lien would India, or China be able to bear immense burdens and not feel them ; for as a matter of fact some of the most thickly populated countries are oft-times found to be the poorest, although very richly endowed by nature ; simply because the absence of capital, enterprise, and knowledge necessary to develop the treasures of the earth— and thus find profitable employment for the population. By all means, we say, let immigration he encouraged, but the immigrants introduced must be of the right sort, or the consequence would be fatal. Our labor market, is already overstocked to a considerable extent, and we do not want shiploads of paupers shot out upon the land, to further paralyse tho already glutted labormarket. We require, and we must naye — if our burdens are to be lightened — a class of men possessing both energy, and capital to fall back upon. At the present time we have no signs to show that the demand for laboring men is m excess of the supply ;but on the contrary, we have only to go to the largo towns to Hud hundreds of laboring men unemployed, but who, from want of funds, and other reason?, cannot got out to I the country to seek labor^ Until our own unemployed are fully euea2:od,and disposed of, it is afolly, to talk of bringing out more immigrants. Xone will welcome the day when assisted immigration may bo again resumed more than we shall — provided it be not. resumed un'il such times as masters find it difficult to nfi+o'*'i laborers — because, then it would show that we were on tin? high way to prosperity; but we repeat, our own laboring men should be fully employed before m^re immigrants are assisted to New Zealand. If the Ministry were to endeavor to get English capitalists to settle m the country, they would be conferring a lasting benefit. It may be argued that there is plenty of capital m the country, and this may be true, but wo want not only the capital, but tho owners ; as capital lying dormant is equal to none at all.