The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6, 1878.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5287, 6 March 1878, Page 2

The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6, 1878.

The emigration question in great Britain is now attracting a large share of attention in the public Press. Several leading newspapers are opposed to any large efflux of what they term the bone and sinew of the country. They would not have the slightest objection if, in the de-i partures from old England, there were included a fair proportion of the incapable! and infirm, but that those should bo left at Home, whilst the pick of the men and women leave, is regarded as nothing short of a uatiomji calamity. The fact that of late years the colonies have absorbed most of the surplus labor of Great Britain seems to have little influence on the antiemigration writers. Whether the good workman seeks fresh fields in the United States or in Australia, the national loss,, we are informed, is all the same. Their patriotism does not' extend beyond the British seas. However, it would be idle to appeal to the British artisan or laborer to stay at home on the ground that his remaining in the land of his fathers would bo for dhe general benefit.' Arguments of a, personal character must be found, and unfortunately those are not,wanting, No matter how prosperous a'community may be, there is always a percentage of men who'find it a very difficult matter to,get,along.comfortably. In New Zealand every man who is willing and able to work can obtain employment at good wages., There is little doubt that the arrivals in New Zealand within the past six or seven years .are on the whole a good class of colonists, but there has, also arrived a proportion of persons who have never done, a day’s .work in the mother country, and who certainly never intended to tackle work of; a laborious kind in the colony. The condition of this class of pebble" prior to emigrating consisted iii living upon their friends. - When they arrive here that resource is wanting, and consequently they must either work or starve. Under such circumstances they fail to recognise that 1 their condition has been bettered. Their life may be more independent, but then it is not so; easy, and the latter is the chief consideration with them. These gentlemen as a rule are neither artisans nor laborers, nor do

thuy possess any clerical skill. A wellpaid clerkship would suit tliem admirably, b'ufc in this line there is great competition oven amongst well-known and qualified men, and as a consequence those whose sole qualification ia bmng able to read and write have to go billetless, or else turn their hand to rough work. It is easy to understand that such a class of men would not send Home a flattering account of the colonies. Now and again accounts of the depressed condition of the working classes in this colony appear in the columns of English newspapers. Of course colonists; are - aware of the class who write these letters, and that they do not represent the actual condition of the working classes in New Zealand. However these efifu sions have a very mischievous effect, as affording writers adverse to emigration from the mother country a pretext for dilating on the. disadvantages of colonial life, and impressing upon the intending emigrant a belief that he had better stay at Home. It was only the other day. we picked up an English paper wherein was a letter, purported to be written in New Zealand, in which the writer seriously stated that the settlers were constantly in danger of being murdered by the natives. Such communications as the one referred to are taken up by the Press and freely commented on ; and here it must be said that many of the writers in the papers display a lamentable ignorance of everything connected with New Zealand. The Globe, an influential English journal, has recently uttered solemn words of warning of the ,risk run by laborers and others who may be induced to better their lot by emigration, and New Zealand is one of the places specially named as to be avoided. The Globe at the same time does not disguise the view it holds that an emigration of the beat class of workmen would be injurious to England, and that it believes emigration should be discouraged on that ground. The Colonies, a journal devoted to colonial interests, replies to the Globe in a well-written article, from which we extract the following “It may be a matter for fair difference of opinion whether a country' is benefited, by the emigration of its most industrious and energetic men One school of political : economists contends that to export the breadwinners and to leave behind the old and unthrifty is not the best . way. to promote: the national welfare. Another! argues that to create a flourishing market for the exports of England by the foundation of prosperous communities far more than counterbalances any immediate loss incurred by the emigration of its best members. Our own opinion is very blear on this point, in which we are strongly confirmed by the last report of the ' Registrar-General,, which states that ihlhe quarter euding Sept. 30, 1877, there were;,276,968 births and only 144,528 deaths, a proportion of nearly two to one. ; Into this serious question we do not propose to enter on the present occasion. It may be a'subject for a fair difference of opinion... JBut_ one thing admits:of no argument l whatever,, and that is, that the emigrant himself, the colony which is benefited by his presence, and the workman who remains at home and ia relieved from so much competition, are all undoubted gainers, even at a timb when it is stated that some noisy idlers are unemployed in some of bur colonies. This is abundantly, proved by the fact that so many of the local elected by very democratic constituencies, have 'voted', large :sums : for the importation of fresh hands, thereby'proving their opinion of the hollowness of the cry, a cry got up for the purpose, which has frightened the Globe and some others.” Without entering fully into the question, thbre can be little doubt that the largo emigration from the United Kingdom has in, the past benefited those ;who remained behind, and we can see no reason why the effect should not be the same,in the. future.