COLONIZATION.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 52, 20 January 1872, Page 11

COLONIZATION.

The question has been frequently discussed, whether immigration to New Zealand ought to be left in the hands of the Provincial authorities, or be confided exclusively to the Colonial Government. Jt does not, however, appear to have once occurred to the disputants that neither, necessarily, is so well qualified for the task as the agencies which might be employed for the purpose. The success which has attended the colonizing operations of either, has not, on the whole, been much to boast of. Governments, for some reason or other, do not appear to be cut out for the work. Whether or no, private enterprize and Joint Stock Companies, both stimulated by the hope and prospect of gain, have done more for the colonization of the waste places of the earth, than any Government has ever effected. This has been more especially the case as regards New ZeaUnd. For this reason we are disposed to think that the Colonists Aid Corporation, and other private bodies, having like views and objects, would prove more effective colonizing agencies than any which the General Government will be likely to establish. Their primary object is not so much the benefit of the country, as their own profit. It, however, fortunately happens that in order to secure the one they must necessarily promote the other. It has been the same with regard to those means of internal communication, and those gigantic industrial undertakings which now exist in England and the United States. Joint-Stock Companies, in the hope of profit, and with no idea of benefiting the country, have accomplished what no Government could have undertaken with any prospect of success. It may flatter our vanity to persuade ourselves that we are engaged in what Bacon called “ a heroic work” in founding for ourselves new homes in a new country; but it was because we expected that such homes would prove, on the whole, and in the long run, better than those we deserted, that we were prompted to leave our native land. The expectation of finding gold was the principal motive which prompted the nations of Europe to colonise the' New World. To this also, more than anything else, has been owing the rapid colonisation of California, Australia, and New Zealand. The lust of conquest, the spirit of adventure, a craving for excitement, a discontented disposition, the desire of independence, and the love of freedom, may each have had some share in the peopling of new countries; hut the desire of riches, disguise it as we may, has not the largest share in the undertaking. It is not the case with colonization only, but with civilization also. The hope and prospect of gain is the soul of commerce, and the chief sustainer of all enterprises and industries whatever. Thus, we are told, Columbus, on finding nothing either in the animals or vegetables of the newlydiscovered countries which could justify a very advantageous representation of them, turned his views towards their minerals, and in the richness of the productions of this third kingdom he flattered himself that he had found full compensation for the insignificance of those of the other two. He represented St. Domingo as a country abounding with gold, and it was on this account that the Spanish Government determined to take possession of it. “ The hope of finding gold there,” says Adam Smith, “ was the sole motive which prompted the undertaking.” All the other enterprises of the Spaniards in the New World, subsequent to those of Columbus, were prompted by the same motive. It was the thirst for gold that carried Oida and others to the Isthmus of Darien, Cortes to Mexico, and Almagro and Pizarro to Chili and Peru. When these adventurers arrived upon any unknown coast their first enquiry was always if there was any gold to be found there ; and according to the information they received concerning this particular they determined either to quit the country or to settle in it. We have the authority of Adam Smith also for the assertion that the first adventurers of all the other nations of Europe who attempted to make settlements in America were animated by the like views though they were not equally successful. The first English settlers in North America offered a fifth of all the gold and silver that should be found there to the king, as a motive for granting them

their patents. It is true that the English settlers did not find gold ; but it is not the less true that it was the expectation of finding it which induced them in the first instance to leave their country; and the growth of the English colonies in America was not a hundredth part so rapid as it would have been had their expectations in this respect been realised. The fact is upon record, though it has been but little noted, that those countries where gold existed, or was supposed to exist, were, as a general rule, more rapidly peopled than others which possessed greater natural advantages. Just as we have seen in our day population concentrating itself on the West Coast of the Middle Island ; while the much more fertile portions of both islands have remained comparatively unpeopled.

So also it has been the expectation of gain. The hope of profit, which has caused shares to be taken in colonising, as in other Joint Stock Companies ; and in proportion as these expectations are realised are the advantages conferred upon the country which becomes the seat of their operations. This is more especially the case as regards colonising companies; but we think that, within certain limits, it will be found more or less true with regard to all joint stock enterprises whatever. Possibly the principal founders of the colonies in South and North America, and certainly the Pilgrim Fathers of New England, were actuated by other and loftier motives than the love of gold or gain; but this canno u be said with regard to their followers, and with regard to colonists generally. They embarked in the enterprise because they believed it would pay ; and for the sake of the gain they undertook the risk. This does not show they were more avaricious, but more spirited, or more sanguine than those they left behind them. So with the original promoters of the New Zealand Company, the Canterbury Association, and the present Colonists Aid Corporation. They had, or have, other and higher aims than the mere acquisition of wealth, but this cannot be said of the great body of their shareholders. They embark in the enterprise because they have faith in its success, and because they believe in proportion to its success will be the extent of their profits. As, however, they cannot realise their expectations without at the same time conferring a corresponding advantage upon the country in which they conduct their operations, this circumstance alone appears to us to prove that colonization can be more cheaply, expeditiously, and efficiently carried on by such companies than by any agencies the Government could possibly employ for this purpose. If the colony dues not participate in the whole of the profits, it also avoids all the risks of the undertaking, and escapes at the same time from that suspicion of being guilty of peculation and jobbery which more or less sticks to those who have either the handling of large sums of public money, or the disposal of a large amount of public patronage. This suspicion at times is not wholly without foundation, as was glaringly shown in the case of the Im. perial Government of France, and more recently still in the case of the municipal Government of New York; and whether just or the reverse has such a paralysing effect as to unfit the parties laboring under it for the efficient discharge of their duties. Next to gold and private enterprise, joint stock companies, and for similar reasons have been found the most efficient of all colonizers, because they have a direct personal interest in the success of their operations. This is not the case with the members of Government. They have no such personal interest in the success of their colonising operations. They will suffer no personal loss by their failure, nor receive any direct personal advantage from their success.