SIR JULIUS VOGEL ON NEW ZEALAND.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XV, Issue 202, 25 August 1880, Page 4

SIR JULIUS VOGEL ON NEW ZEALAND.

Regarding a paragrat h in the Times bended " Emigration to New Z olnnd," and Growing o very depressing picture of the s'efe of that colony, $ir Julius Yogel wri'ps to that journal as follows; —The writ°r has very much exaggerated the dppreeßinn existing in the colony, and somo of lis statements are untrue, as, for px^mpl**, that the coef of the bare necessaries of life is exorbitant. His warning ♦' to the email capitalist at tome" not to come to New Zanlnnd is a mis'nk»n one, for never bos the colony offered a better chance to Buch person?. The s j vere depression which bos prevailed in tbe colony during tbe lust twelvn months ariseß from various causes ; chief-acQong these I may mention the withdrawal of muoh caoital after ibo failure of t~e G asgow Bmk, the low price of wool, the contraction of the usual financial facilities, and the arrival in the colony of many unsuitable colonists. Just as this depression whs commencing a sigularly severe depression prevailed in ibis country. Numbers of persons in New Zaaland communicated to their friends accounts of the great success they had met with, and thus a strong impulse towards emigrating to tbe colony arose. Under instructions, however, from my Government, I confined the selection of those emigrants to whom I gave as- I sisted passages almost emirely to domestic servants and to persons nominated by tbeir friends in the colony. Tbe result was that a large unselected and self-paying emigration took place last year of some 10,000 souls (whereas in previous years the average of similar emigration was seldom over 3000 to 4000), an unusually large number of whora were not exactly suited for colonial life,- Mfianwhile the reduction in tbe price of woo) and the dimnistied financial facilities lessened the demand for labor, and hence arose the cry of the unemployed. From a coloDial point of view there has unquestionably been somedisiress. I use tbe words ''colonial point of view " advisedly ; for tbe dietrees which the temporary excess of labor occasions in a colony is no more to be compared with the suffering to which the working classes in this country are too frequently subjected tbno the extraction of a tooth is to be com pared with the amputation of a limb. The one is temporary and more or less painful for the moment, the other bears not unseldom life-long consequences. Although there may have been some privation, there has not been anything like prolonged distress, on this or on former occasions. The Government has provided woik at something lees than the normal rate of payment, and, with some discontent, such work is

accepted But there are always in the colonies at the very brightest period accon people unused to manual work and not suited for colonial life, end who, therefore, fare badly at times of depression, aud as there are no workhouses there, or any organised syntem of relief by means of poor rates, tbe complaints of such people are beard far and wide. The so-called depressions which occur from time to time in nearly every colony, while they last, are very feharp, but equally ao is the re-aotion. Wool has now risen in price ; the returns from the present season's clip "will greatly exceed those of last year. The harvest has been most bountiful. A friend lately wrote to me, *« 40, 50, and even 60 bushels of wheat per acre are not uncommon, mine (500 acres of wheat) is estimated to give 45 to the acre ; while of oats, 60, 70. 80, and even 90 bushels are by no means exceptional." Lastly, money has been plentiful. "When tbe winter is over a sharp reaction is likely to occur ; still for the present persons without capital should not go to the colony. It is folly to suppose that an excess of labor has more than a temporary significance in a country like New Zealand. In the course of time it will support a population of over 20,000,000. How absurd to think it is over-populated with less than half-a-million. But the nice ad 7 justment of capital and labor is not an eaßy thing, and at times is likely to fall out of gear. At the present time labor requires eapital to its aid, or I might, perhaps, more correctly say, capitalists ; for, in the sense I wish to use that term, a man of very small means may be a capitalist. I can give no arbitrary exposition of amount. To all intents and purpose?, a young man, frugal, prudent, active, and not disinclined to " roughing it," may be practically a greater capitalist with £500 in his possession, than the father of a family, demanding on the onsefc expensive luxuries, would be with £5000. To a person of small means, content to live frugally and possessing a knowledge of agriculture, New Zealand is a paradise compared with anything he can hope for at home. He may own instead of rent the land he farms ; he may. revel in all the enjoyments of English country life ; aud he may educate his children with a knowledge that bright careers will be within reach of his boys and good husbands forthcoming for his girls.