COLONIZATION and ALIENATION. FROM THE SPECTATOR.

New Zealander, Volume 3, Issue 194, 8 April 1848, Page 4

COLONIZATION and ALIENATION. FROM THE SPECTATOR.

The evidence of Mr. Cuuard before L«rd Monrraele's Committee, shows how one of the presumed difficulties ot Colonizing may be nullified by ulnewriness and rnpfjiV- It is sometimes objected that the most accessible Colonies aie no longer open to emigrants (iireft horn Home, because of the v<»st prnport. on of the Crown L'inds already alienated; and in that respect I'nnce kdward'a Island has been regarded as the oppro. brium of the British Colonies. It was all alienated in one day. Now, by the evidence which we reprint in anotliei page, it is shown that even Prince Edward's Is.lai.nl is immediately available for put poses of settlement to a Iflife extent. This Colonial tffire " difficulty" is therefore met in its most formidable aspect, and effectually quashed. Mi. Cunaid and his son hoi 3 about a fifth of the island — (!h n- land is good land — the climate and social condition of the Colony aie good; its. commerce, though blill of a piiuutive kind, is iucreusir.g; its inhabitants live r*ell, ar« well lodged, rlothed and fed, and have ample opportunities for giving their olvldren a tiinple education. Mr. Cunard does not affoid to his tenants nny special (istjistance: the success of his settlement seuna lo be the rpsull of equitable terms for the sett er, of well-enforced regulations for preserving oider, of the practical example thus ciea'rd c for <niccehsiv &i ttieis, and also, perhaps, of a selection whic'i he virfnally exurcises in admitting settlers fr> Ins land". He irquires each head of a family to have about KI O in cadi. There are no public works on which settlers c. nbe employed in the ihland ; and this fund of «£lO is a substitute for such subsidiary employment, tj enab'j the settler to maintain his family. Mr. Cunard we >ay, offers no active assistance to hi 1 ? ss'tlers, be. yond th<» public facilities such as good roads, a good nei^hboi hood, and so forth. The land is uncleared, but the newly- arrived emigrant is sure to obtain that held from his neighbors, which be ii> expecttd subsequently to return in kind. He is allowed a long lease of his bud at n moderate rent ; and can at any time puiclnsc tlie fee-simp)e at the fixed rate of XI per aero. The landlord has at one period been threatened with " anti-renl" combinations, but firmness has suc-cc-sfnlly asserted the law, and he no-v finds Ins lemnts oi'detly, industrious, and thriving. Many purchase, the fee-simple, though they are in no hutry to do s,o, pieferiinj? to use their money in more directly profitable investments. Among his tenantry i 3 a gemletian woith ,£20,000, and many are persons ot substance. There appears to be no material diflerence in the capacity of Irisbmnn as compared with Englishmen and Scotchmen for the business of such settlemmt: the Iri-h tenants do not starve in h?lpless idleness, nor lepudiate I thur rents, nor shoot at their landlord, aVhough the i rude and remote Colony is not overrun with police and [soldiers. Mr. Cunard, one landlord in ihe island, is J willing to receive into hit settlements not fenei than a thousand emigrants a year. Is it possible to imagine a more instructive living 1 proof of what may be done merely by honesty, ingenuity, and diligence in devising good plans? Mr. Cunaul has tried his plan in that Colony which would be supposed to offer the grea'e=t difficulty from the ali j n,uion of lands : and with such signal success, that it litllp Pricce Edward's Island, "all alienated in one d,iy," though it was, absorbs some eight or ten hu'idied of our spontaneous emigrants yearly. But, of course, his is not the only one that mii?ht succeed. It is evident, therefore, tbat the co-operation of the Colonists might be piocured not only in their coiporale and public capacity, but individually as landowners. Other instances might be cited, in New South Wales, New Brunswick New Zealand, Canada, &c, but this case of Prince Edward's Island, tells a fortiori. These is, indeed, something to be done on our parr. To obtain the co-operation of tlielandownera to any extent, we must make the results profitable and ,il tractive to tliera. Tluce modes of conciliating landli rds to the vioik at once occur to us. First, Ihe emiginion, to furnish them with good materials, should be oftic.ally selected, superintended and directed. Secondly, various public works, in which the Mothi r country as Colonizer, and the Colony as Recipient of emigrant labor, would take a reciprocal intereat, might well receive the aid of an imperial sanction, which nould in various WBV3 facilitate the planning and suiveying, and the raising of funds. Thirdly, the Colonists, instead of being treated as a subordinate race, under the Colonial office, and socially inferior to the aristocrat c races of the Mother country, should, in all respect*, be treated on an equality—admitted to equal consideration m all mailers of fiscal or commercial legislation ; freely consulted by some sort of representation in the metropolis, even though plans for a formally representative body may for a time continue to be discountenanced—and the official and social station of the Colonists should be formally recognized here — their official honors, for instance* ceasing to be purely local) and being admitted lo [mperial recognition. In short, the Colonies called upon to aid in the work of equalizing the distribution of population, for fhe genelal benefit no doubt, but for ibe special and concentred benefit ol the Mother country, should be recogtrzed as being really " integral paiti of the empire." On such terms access might be readily obtained for British settlors to boundless tracts of lands although those lands may have been " alienated.",