EMIGRATION TO THE BRITISH COLONIES.

New Zealander, Volume 4, Issue 314, 2 June 1849, Page 2

EMIGRATION TO THE BRITISH COLONIES.

(From the Companion to the Britith Alnnmack, 1849.) Once more the words Emigration and Colonization are heard on all sides ; people begin again to arotfss themselves to a smse of the impolicy of staying where every thing tayi the are not wanted, and to listen to the glowing accounts of- the countries beyond tea, where they are told they would be so welcome; capU talists yearn for some better investment of their fund? than England now affords ; tradesmen, for some different sphere of exertion than a market whrre their profit? are beaten down by intense c mpetition until they almost or entirely disappear ; workmen and labourers, for a field to afford them a chance eventually of raising themselves into comparative independence] The enterprising spirit of England, nlso, that which led to so many adventurous and sp rit- stirring expeditions in the time of Elisabeth, hat yet its exemplars, who, weary of the dull common-place of their lives at borne, listen with eager curiosity to the tale of the novel life of our young colonies, where men do indeed enter upon a new world, with new hopes, new opportunities, new strength, new enjoyments. And if all these — the or. dmary influences that impel men to Ivenk up their homes, and cross the ocean for thousands of miles, to establish new homes amid more genial circumstancesare just now unusually powerful, it is not to be denied that there are many additional special reasons why, for the sake of those who stay at well as for those who go, emigration khould be vigorously and rapidly promoted, and upon a larger scale than we have yet known. Look ut the condition of the railway world 1 Is it not certain that an enormous amount of able bodied labour, hitherto absorbed by th^e great w rks, is bein», and will continue to be, thrown upon ths labour market, in consequence of the ceisaiion of all sorts of railway S; ecula iuin, dm ing the depieiM-d state of railway proP'rty ? And an there be a more dangerous body of idlen than these nun will prove;— strong, ignorant, undisciplined, and t>a great extent free f.oni domestic ties?. Look a^iin at Ireland ! i to what a chaos do not al 1 things appear to be falling in that ever •wretched coun ry ? If the strong arm of help, directed by the strong hand of wisdom, it not ipecdijy itretcbcd oufc tQ

aave Ireland, what will become of her ? what may not tee iuffer, whose interests are bound up so intimately with her ? The increasing pressure upon our poorrates through the influi of the Irish poor, and those enormous money demand! which recur more md more frequently from Ireland, are monition?, painful enough in themselves, of the worie calamities threatening beyond if they are disregarded. Add to thil the political aspect of the times, which should make every man, the most selfish h« well at the most patri ti<-, exert himself to mitigate in all conceivable ways the pressure of social evils up»n the p< or, and we may KW plainly why so strong and we hope permanent a current of opinion ii once more setting towards enciMfiU<n i and ithy we may congratulate ourselves that the fact it so. We do not assert that enrgration is the most valuable of all aucial remedies; we do not pretend to estimate the exact amount of in valu» at all; sufficient be it for vi to know that here are multitude! of men, women, and children, seeking vainly to be employed, and that there are employers, miserable became they cannot get men, women, and children enough, to develope the capacities of their wealth. Emigration will bring these two together; ami every one must acknowledge the union to be mott desiiable. The modes of accomp iihing it form the su>>ject of the preient paper. We may classify these modes into two divisions—lndividual and Nt>t;onal Emigration.

1. INDIVIDUAL EMIGRATION. Wh» art tht classes thai emigration will most benefit f In every thriving community capitalist! must find ample opportunities for investment. Whatever the other classes of the community can do to make themielves wealthy, capitalist! can also do on a still larger tcale. They can buy land extensively, and dispose of it in imall lots, at gte»tly advmced prices ; thry can faim largely ; they can, like the pjitriaichs of old, co*er the boundless plains of Australia with their flocki and h'rds,; or they can, hy lending their funds to o'hfrs. obtain at once good security and lar^e interest. The brothers Sidney, in their n-w and able peiiodical, " Sidne/s Emigrants' J umal," tay that ten and even twelve per cent, may be obtained on good mortgage security in Sydnry, ai.d probably in Port Phillip. But the large and small capitalists differ in this : the one can still remain at home without abiolutely losing ground; but the other Iretuently cannot, the interest of his capital being too trifling to support him. These are the men to emigrate. What can a tradesman or agriculturist, with a family and two or three hundred pounds, for instance, do in England, if no special openings lie before him ? A whole lifetime of anxiety and domestic suffering seems to rise before vi in answer. The same man bujing a lit'le land and stock in one of the colonies, wiih average knowledge »nd industry, will certainly become independent, and may not improbably become lich. Every additional child under such circumstances is but 10 much additional wealth to him Another very large class of persons, consisting of all tho>e who hang in poverty on tlie skim of the chief profusions and callings of life, •uch as mm who have be n unsuccessful in the arts, literature, law, and medicine, clerks on small salaries, iont of dec lyed meichnnts or tradesmen, &r\, may als > go to the colonies with a full conviction of obtaining 1 a greatly improved posi ion, if only they are determined to do wlmtevir offers at first, even though th»y be. come shepherds in the bush to the Squatters of Australia Tuey may be ture of employment in that way if no other can be obtained, and they miy b' lure in that way of the opportunity of savin? money, wb eh, careful'y inve ted, will eventually enable them to r^r itepbyst'p to the position of independent (even if sma'l) landowners and sit each in his old age uu ler his own vine or fig tree. We need not point nit such a source of enj >yment for thi-tn-elves what an iuvru. menl for the oivihz ition of the colony, their sup rior tastes and knowledge m y prove, if iltey can bui brin; them into harmony wiih the citcumstanres of the r colonial life. Mechanics of every denomination are just'fied in looking to emigration as the easiest mode of bettering their condition. They, to^, can fill any of the offices that all men may fill when nolhi lg bttter offer*; whilst then- rmchanic«l skill will be r rom time to time in requisition, and well paid, ci her in money or money'i worth, wb<*re-er they go and whatever they do. In most case*, however, they will find the use of their own trade will be sufficient, not only to give them the neces*aiie« of life, but to afford them that start forward on the path to independence which all men se*-k, and very rightly seek, in. our colonies. If we were to particulars any artisan class as part cilai ly eligible, it would be that of miners, for whom a brilliant career il evidently opening in South Australia. Nor need the agricultural labouring class despair of rea Viz ng a great and permanent improvement of their condiiion in any of the chief colonies ; but especially as shepherds in the bush in Australia, where there is an unlimited demand fur their services. Lutly, single women are greatly in r quest for field and farm labours, for domestic service, fur shop-keeping, for dress-making, for governesses, and «c may add for wives, in the same country, where the proportion of the icxes is at present as about as two males to one female. We may here give a word of caution. Whatever the other advantages of a colonial lite, and they are great, it does not of course possess the same facilities for the gratification of one's habitual comforts, Ustei, and luxuries, as Old England affords. The mind must rest more on itself. Social converse will oftt-n extend no further than the sphce of a single family. Privations m' y often have to be borne through the immaturity of the anatigemen's for the dome tic economy of the country, and uuusually severe exortions may not unfrequent'y be required. But on the other band, the nature of the life has a powerful tendency to call forth and to reward, the qualities it demands, A new spring 1 ii given to existence, if the mind be at a'l in harmony with its objects at the ou'set. Who doei not know what power there is in the very feeling of independence ? that power is ever most strongly developed in the emigrant. Whither should Emigrants go f If we were to be guided in our answer by the facts as to where the great Undies of emigrants actually do go at preient, we should say first to the Untied States; second, to Canada, and other North American colonies ; and third, with a long interval between, to Australia and New Zealand ; to which countries the number of emigrants trom the United Kingdom in 1847, were, liking them in the same order, respectively as follows: 142 154; 109,680; aud 4,919; which, with 1,487 to all other placei, makes the total number of emigrants in 1847, 258,270. But while we take these fucts as an extraordinary evidence of the force of the emigrafon current how beginning, we cannot but point out, that they are notso much in accordance with whatisbett for those who eniigiate, as viith what is most within their power,; that it ii often their poverty, not their will, that contents to choose Canada or the United State! in preference to Australia or New Ze-iland. The coit of a tsteeratje passage, with piovisions, from Liverpool to Port Philip, in £20 ; from Lmrpnol io Quebec, about £5 or Jtb 10s. Here is the great reason, for the piefereme shown. Another and weighty cause is doubtless the extent of tl>e lelatio .slip* between those who have previously emigrated, and tho^e who, in subseqi*«ntly following their example, naturtUy follow their

route. It ii great consolation to know that a home and friends await you when you first land in a foreign country, no matter how short the timr, and how J limited the extent, for which you can avail yourself of j their aid. While giving due force to these considerations, we muiti howerer, resolutely keep in view the great objects of emigration, which are not timply 10 find a country and a home, bburt r in giving up our own, to find the best that we can ih exchange on o'her shores. A tittle extra exertion, and a little extra itelay, may remove the difficulty of extra cost of passige; but a life-time may fail to remedy the loss incurre 1 through a wrong choice of country. And as to friends, they lie everywhere in the culon ; e3 fjr wellconducted men and women. Nothing it more delightful and touching than to read of the hospitality in the backwoods of Australia, of the very men who had been years hefo'e transported from England for their attacks upon ihp property and poisrs ions of othtrj. And if fie genial tori 1 atmosphere thus affects our convicts when proiperity openi a door to their heart', what must be its influence over those whose affections have nev r b>en chilled towards the mother country ; who no longer feel that every mouthful shared with other* may be given only to leave their own children without food at some future day ; and who, while thrir growing interests attach them to thrir present horn?, are necessarily bound by all the ties of recollection and asi ciation with their former one; and teem, therefore, in every new comer from the dear old country, to receiv • tokens of friendly renaeiiibr-ncc, and to exchange with it mutual congratulations. In estimating the respective advan'ages of the different colonies, the chief top cs which it is necessary to censider are — the demand for labour, the prices of provisions, clothing, &c, the price, facilities for purchase, and value of land, and the cons quent pospects of agrcultuial and commercial speculation; and, lastly, the climate and general adaptation of the country to the requisitions of human wan's and desires. The rxtraoidinary difference there shown between the modes of dealing with the crown' a ands in AustralU and in the other chief colonies, naturully attracts attention. This is owing to the adoption of Mr. Wakefield's theory of colonization in the former colonies ; and was intended to insure due end permanent proportions between the capital and labour introduce I. What it has insured is, if we are to believe the statements of its very numerous opponents, the stoppage of emigration to— and almost universal dissatisfaction in— -the colonies where it hat been adopted. This is certain, that the amount received by the government for land in Australia, has deci eased ftom £115,825, when land was sold at 5% the acre, to about .£B,OOO a jear, now that 20i. is demanded ; and the amount of emigration defending upon that sourer, h s of course declined in the same proportion. So that independent of any question of the duty of government to deal with its own subjects in a liberal fpint, it appear* to stand in the position of exacting terms, so much beyond the value of the Innd, that, excej t for special purpoiei, the land s<lei hive in fiCt nearly ceased altogether in Australia. But even this is not the most unsatUfac tory part of the cue. Ordinarily land is only sold in Australia in portions of not less than 640 seres; so that there is a direct power of the government exerted to prevent the humbler classes of the community from investing their (savings in land, and so of preventing the establishment of that class of small independent proprietors (not cu'tivators me el}) which mak. s almost Without exception the happiest ot communities in every part of th<) world. It is true, land is so din small lots by speculato r, and by those who are induord or compelled by cirtum»t«nces lo part with their grants; but what continual dissatisfaction must not be generated in the minds of the hard-woiking population ot the colony, by seeing that it can only obtain in those indirect mode», and at increased pr.ces, what their more foriuu<tte b eiiiren can obtain in the simplest way. TnU is a matter it would be well that government should recons der. Both classes t-re at preterit dissatisfied ; the one, that through the undue price of land the stream of immigration has been nearly stopped; the other, thut unnatural obstacles are thrown in its way in pursuing a pat)) which lead* Hlike to mdiv dual and nail Jiial prospe iiy. In Canada, this illiberal price and these unjiint restrictions do not exist. The usual s'ze of lots is 200 acres; but lulf lots are obtainable ai ( a*ily v8 who c ones, at puces varying f<om 4a. to 6s 7d. per acre. So that by saving fiorn £20 to £30 for the land, and hs much raoieto commence o J eratums, and by avoiding to rely up n the land fur maintenance too bo >n, a roan has hs ma'enal be fere him ol c eating his and his family's independence } whilst in Australia the government in t fleet says, we will have no landed proprietors who cannot lay out JE64O for land to begin Kith ! How continually do we hear the prosperity of the United States attributed, not to their institutions, but to the opportunity afforded to their population of continual expansion over the vast extent of the public lands. Their system then answeis: we adopted it in Canada, why should we depart from it in Australia ? Why crea c difficulties by fixing artificial and hgh values upon land, 20s- per acre instead of Bs. ; and by virtually restricting the power of purchasing to capitalists ? At all events we see the effect. In the very country where the system prevails the capitalists, for whom the syttem was instituted, are utterly disgusted with it, and kept in perpetual anxiety by the insufficiency ot labour ; whilst labour itself is dissatisfied at what it conceives to be the partial interference of the system in favour of capitalists. (To be continued )