IMMIGRATION.

Southland Times, Issue 957, 25 May 1868, Page 2

IMMIGRATION.

(to the editob or the sotxthiand times). Sir, — When I last met the constituency of Oteramika I informed them I intended to bring under the consideration of the Provincial Council the following propositions, viz. : — the establishment of a perpetual and inalienable Immigration fund, and the creation of a liberal endowment in land for educational purposes, the revenues derivable from which would be sufficiently remunerative to preclude taxation on this head at least. Having been assured by | the G-overnment that another session of the Council would be called before the , sitting of the General Assembly, I postponed the consideration of my propositions, more particularly as I wa: desirous of allowing the subjects mooted to permeate the provincial mind in order that they might be calmly and dispassionately weighed. In order, however, to ventilate the subject with the view to its proper digestion before the next meeting of the Council, I must beg to be allowed to trespass on your space. First, as to my immigration scheme. I opine there are few people in the Province who would object to a steady and continued stream of immigration, instead af a spasmodic and fluctuating one, such as has hitherto . obtained, not only in this Province, but in every other in New Zealand ; the reason for which is discernible in the fact that the political element has been introduced and sapped the foundations of a fund which under my proposition would be perpetual. I have been recently informed by a gentleman — who, I have good grounds for believing, spoke with authority — that persons resident in the home country, but having a very considerable stake in the Province, would be willing to purchase land to the extent of from 40,000 to 50,000 acres, were they assured that the funds derived from such sales would be alienated from the ordinary revenues of the Province and invested inalienably for the purpose of immigration. Experience has shown that the immigration schemes throughout the various provinces of New Zealand have in every instance proved more or less futile and unsatisfactory : the explanation of which may be gathered from the uncertainty of the basis on which they rested. At first starting it was fondly imagined that the G-overnment would be able to recoup the advances made, if not from the immigrants themselves, at any rate from their sureties. It has been proved, however, as is usually the case with mundane affairs, that it is easier to anticipate than realise. If the immigrant did not remain in the Province, the recovery of the money was hopeless ; if he did, he had a vote, and for political purposes, it was injudicious to push him. If he liked to pay on gentle, very gentle compulsion, well ; if not, well also. As for the surety being forced to satisfy his bond, the thing was out of the question. He was in nine cases out of ten an .old settler who could command several votes, and might turn an election. This is no fiction. I once heard an immigration agent warn an officer of the Government, who instructed him to sue certain sureties, that if he did every one of them would vote against his G-overnment at the next election. Thus immigration has become spasmodic. "When a province is in funds it sends out for immigrants, when not a lull ensues, at a time, too, when probably they are most wanted Now it is evident that when a settler applies to the Government to advance the money to bring out his friend, offering himself at the same time as surety i for the repayment of the same, should I the immigrant be unable or unwilling to do so at the stipulated time, either he intends to honestly fulfil his agreement, or designedly to swindle the Government. If the latter, he ought to be made to pay ; if the former, he ought not to be tempted to a moral degradation. Nor is this all ; ! the unfairness of the present system j carries with it a sense of injustice. The | few who do satisfy their liability, conI trast. the conduct of the many who do not, I and the whole social fabric is demoralised; from the Government which bribes, by a remission of the debt for the sake of a vote, to the individual who accepts such a release. I propose to remedy this defect by appointing a Board of Commissioners, say three, in no way concerned in politics, who, having nothing to gain or lose by tampering with the lionesty of the immigrant or his surety, would, with energy and justice, fulfil the duties devolving on them ; and by insisting on the repayment of the advances made by the Government, would always be financially qualified to meet the immigration requirements of the Province. In fact, they would take as calm and dispassionate a view of the transaction as the manager of a Bank does when he comes upon the eudorser of a dishonored acceptance, should he be best able to liquidate it, without troubling himself to sue the other parties concerned. In reality, were the system properly conducted, the surety would act as a detective on behalf of the commissioners, and use every endeavor to insure repayment on behalf of the assured, knowing he would himself be mulct should his bail be forfeited. As to the appointment of the commission, I would suggest that the chairman be appointed by the Governor, one by the Superintendent, and the third by the Provincial Council. In regard to cost, the chairman having the greater part of the work to perform, would require to be paid, but as under the present imperfect system, the immigration agent is paid, the expenses under the new arrangement would not be increased, while the efficiency would materially. I propose that certain sums of money should be appropriated annually by the Council out of land sales, to be handed over in trust to the Immigra-

tion Board of Commissioners, Until a total of from £40,000 to £50,000 had been escheated inalienably to be expended by them in accordance with the requirements of the province, the moneys to be re-collected when due from the nominated immigrants or their sureties. Nor need the Board stop here. The supply of nominated immigrants is not likely to meet the general demand for labor at a more moderate rate than presently exists. Thus when the amount of funds at its disposal would warrant such a proceeding the Board could bring out, under the most careful supervision as to selection, assisted immigrants in numbers sufficient not to swamp the labor market, but to equalize to a fairer degree the price of produce and its cost of production. To enable the Board to recoup itself of the money so expended, and without the security of a surety, it might inform the applicant for a free passage clearly and unmistakeably that he or she would have to repay the money, when in a position to do so, and further, to prevent the immigrant from leaving the province after we had had the expense of bringing him out, he should be informed that on his obtaining an engagement he would have to consent to have the expense of his passage deducted out of his firstyear's wages and his employer might be bound to the Board to that effect. If the immigrant is an honest man, he can have no objection to such provisions for repaying his just debt ; if he is not he had better not be in- \ troduced into Ihe colony. This, however, is a matter of detail, to be determined by the ability and discretion of the members composing the Board. The Provincial Treasurer, at tlie last meeting of the Council, in reply to my question whether the local government was prepared to act on the suggestions on this subject contained in my letter of 29th Eebruaiy last to his Honor the Superintendent, hinted that the General Government was disinclined to entertain the proposition. I cannot but believe that he was mistaken. The scheme I propose is a Colonial not a Provincial one, inasmuch j as a project which ensures to any portion of the colony an uninterrupted and steady flow of immigration benefits the community at large. In the human body, if any member, however distant from the great centre, the heart, suffers or languishes, the whole sympathises with it. In the body politic the principle is the same. No integral portion of the colony of New Zealand can benefit itself without the whole participating in the advantage. It can matter little to the G-eneral Go- ! vernment into what province or county immigrants are introduced, so that the population is increased and the Custom's revenue augmented. It would be well for New Zealand if every province, according to its capacity, were to adopt a similar project. One of the strongest arguments against the abolition of provincialism would then be destroyed — that of the difficulty of peopling the colony from a common centre. Eor on my principle each province or county would have a local machinery to supply its labor market from an inexhaustible fund, totally independent of the common centre ; while the central government would be relieved from an arduous and irksome responsibility. As to the argument that the alienation of our land fund for such a purpose will lessen the possibility of our being able to pay the interest and sinking fund of our debt, I can only reply that the introduction of population is the most remunerative and reproductive way of investing the proceeds of our land sales. If the public creditor of New Zealand expects to f get his interest and principal out of the land funds of the various Provinces, I am inclined to think he will find himself mistaken. He must look to the population for a reimbursement. — I am, Sir, your's, &c, Walteb H. Peabson. Invercargill, 20th May, 1868.